Main opposition New Democracy party leader Miltiades Evert yesterday expressed fears that the name "Macedonia" would finally prevail.
"It is one issue how we will address Skopje, another how they will call themselves and a third how the international community will refer to it. In the end, the term 'Macedonia' will prevail," he told a press conference during a visit to the Thessaloniki International Fair. "We will not be talking about two names, but about many names," he said.
The New Democracy leader accused the government of "abandoning" the original positions that had been agreed to at the Political Leaders' Council chaired by former president Constantine Karamanlis and bringing "fait accomplis" to the country's political parties.
He added that ND will not rescue the government "from its own mistakes, because it will be accused of being an accomplice."
Replying to questions whether he would resign, together with a group of ND northern Greek deputies, if the name "Macedonia" did prevail, Mr. Evert clarified that he had never been an "official handler" of the Skopje issue, noting that he had kept a distance from the handling of the government, the former leadership of ND, and former ND foreign minister (and now Political Spring party leader) Antonis Samaras over the issue.
Mr. Evert reiterated that the New York negotiations should have been focused on the "large package", which would have included the name.
"What should be done today," he went on, "is that the government should call, with successive demarches, on the governments of the US and the European Union member-states not to recognize Skopje under the name 'Macedonia'." "This is the least the government can do, instead of mocking the Greek people," Mr. Evert said. "Public rallies do not solve problems," he said.
Replying to questions on Greek-Turkish issues , Mr. Evert reiterated that Turkey "is the main threat to Greece", adding that Greek-Turkish disputes "cannot be resolved without a prior settlement of the Cyprus problem."
Mr. Evert recalled that during his recent talks in Paris with President Jacques Chirac, the French president, at Mr. Evert's suggestion had changed his previous position on the time-frame of Cyprus' admission to the EU, since Mr. Chirac originally considered it a prerequisite that the Cyprus problem be resolved before the Cyprus EU admission dialogue begins.
The ND leader pointed out that he was not against a dialogue with Turkey, "as long as both sides are prepared in advance for such talks."
Greece, he said, "should enter such a dialogue well-prepared within the framework of a single national foreign policy with a concrete long-term strategy and, of course, as long as Turkey shows good intentions," he said.
Turning to other issues, Mr. Evert criticized the government's economic policy, saying that the Greek economy was "dead". "Thousands of shops are closing, unemployment is rising and also hitting farmers," he said.
According to the ND leader, growth through investments and the modernization of the economy, should be the main target. "Stability programmes are necessary but inadequate by themselves," Mr. Evert told the press.
The ND leader also expressed the conviction that he would soon lead ND to power, saying that the party had the solutions to every problem facing the country. "The Greek people will bring us to power, because we target our proposals on making a modern society for which all of us will be proud," he added.
Calling on the government to step down from office "so that the country will escape the current impasse," Mr. Evert said: "ND is ready for battle, its programme is ready, and at this stage all its officials are prepared to govern the country."
He did not rule out the eventuality of early elections due to "the (deteriorating) image and state of dissolution in the government."
Commenting on former prime minister and honorary ND president Constantine Mitsotakis' recent statements, Mr. Evert said: "Mr. Mitsotakis has governed this country, but left certain issues pending. ... Just because he is no longer prime minister doesn't mean that he cannot intervene. I respect his views... but in the end I make the decisions."
Mr. Evert turned down Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras' call for a vote of confidence in the government, saying it would cause PASOK officials to rally around their leader and Mr. Papandreou to say that his government has received a vote of confidence. "If the ruling party's deputies voted against the government, I would submit it myself," he added.
Mr. Evert visited the installations of the 60th Thessaloniki International Fair yesterday morning, accompanied by Thessaloniki Mayor Constantine Kosmopoulos, Eurodeputy Antonis Trakatelis and ND deputies. "The TIF is the window of Hellenism," Mr. Evert said after meeting HELEXPO executives. "It is one of the best we have."
He said that the TIF should expand its activities abroad, organizing exhibitions in major markets. "Each year the fair becomes bigger and proves the great prospects its has," he said.
He stressed the need for the upgrading of the general infrastructure of the northern capital.
In a response to Mr. Evert, government spokesman Telemahos Hytiris said that the main opposition ND party leader "neither presented any solutions, because he has none, nor managed to escape from ND's past when it was in power."
"For the next two years, Mr. Evert will go on watching PASOK's government accomplishing a tremendous work for the present and the future of the country. We wish him to be, at the end of this two-year period, the one to face PASOK as the ND leader," Mr. Hytiris concluded.
Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras said Mr. Evert confirmed "once again our charges that, on the orders of the Americans, he constitutes the government's support in implementing a plan for the overall settlement of our national issues, in compliance with US interests."
US presidential envoy Matthew Nimetz told reporters in New York on Saturday that his mediatory role has been completed with the signing of the interim accord between Athens and Skopje last week to normalize their relations.
"The accord, called the Interim Accord, is a very unique document," Mr. Nimetz said. "It's probably the only agreement between two countries that doesn't mention the name of the two parties ... because one of the issues is, of course, the name of one of the parties."
He hailed the "stateman-like approach" of the leadership of both countries for working with the US and UN to reach the agreement.
Mr. Nimetz said the interim accord dealt with issues of great interest and importance to both countries "but they aren't issues of money, or borders, but they are issues of symbols and names and other relationships." "Therefore, it's an important, unique agreement," he said.
Speaking on the general context, Mr. Nimetz said it involved issues that "come out of many, many, many decades of problems in the Balkans."
"The so-called Macedonian question was a question that was a concern since the beginning of the century when the Ottoman Empire broke up and the various countries took place in the world community. And the people of these regions forming these countries obviously have taken decades to find their rightful place.
"The break-up of Yugoslavia led to a decision that each republic within Yugoslavia could decide whether it could become independent or not and the republic within Yugoslavia, called the People's Republic of Macedonia became an independent country and took the name "Republic of Macedonia" in its constitution. Greece objected to this name and other things came up, the flag, symbols, propaganda, trade relations with others.
"One of the concerns we had in the United States and the entire world community was whether this could lead to a hostile feeling in the South Balkans, especially when we had a situation in Bosnia, Croatia, which had turned into hostility. Fortunately, i n my view, there is real leadership in these two countries, real statesman-like approach and whatever the differences - which are real differences - we shouldn't minimize that, the leadership in both countries decided to try to work out a solution to the problem through negotiations and under the UN and US mediation they reached this agreement.
"So, I think, the process is a very important one and the fact that very many problems could work their way to some type of resolution, is important. There are issues for the future... These problems are not ending, but what we have now is a much, much better situation than it was a week ago and certainly a year ago. So the progress in the relationship is very important."
In Athens, government spokesman Telemahos Hytiris confirmed Mr. Nimetz would not participate in negotiations between the two states over the name issue.
Meanwhile in Skopje, an ANA dispatch said President Kiro Gligorov said that with the signing of the interim accord Greece's sanctions against the state have been "legally withdrawn." "Legally, the 'embargo' has been lifted with the conclusion of the agreement," he said.
In his first televised statement following the interim accord, Mr. Gligorov was quoted by the ANA as saying compromise was the only solution to opposition between two states, adding that secret diplomacy has not been exercised in this case.
In relation to the flag issue, Mr. Gligorov said he "did not find understanding from any state or international organization, not so much because they believe this is a Greek symbol, but because no one can understand how something which existed 2,300 years ago can be turned into an issue of current controversy."
"Are we going to turn this into a Cyprus-issue-like question? Is this going to be the price of our persistence that this is our symbol? The symbol is beautiful, but without international understanding, we would be conducting a quixotic struggle for something which in the history of the region has many times constituted an object for Balkan wars," he added.
Mayors of major cities and towns of the Macedonia and Thrace region will come together today to discuss developments, following the recent interim accord between Greece and FYROM. The meeting will be chaired by Thessaloniki mayor Constantinos Kosmopoulos.
Mr. Kosmopoulos, one of the first local administration officials to express concern over the content of the agreement, said he expected broad attendance at the meeting.
Whatever the name with which the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ultimately gains international recognition, the issue will remain an open wound between Athens and Skopje as long as the two states remain NATO's protectorates or instruments in the hands of the superpowers in the new world order, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary-General Aleka Papariga told reporters yesterday. Ms Papariga also accused the government of supporting NATO shelling and attacks against the Bosnian Serbs.
The main opposition New Democracy party lashed out against the government on Saturday, over its proposal to save the Skaramangas shipyards from closure, accusing the government of adopting a solution that will lead to greater problems.
ND spokesman Vassilis Manginas said that if Greece's proposed solution to the shipyards issue is endorsed by the Commission in Brussels, today, "it will lead to greater problems", calling the proposal "last-minute darning".
The government said Friday night that the "only viable" solution to save the state-owned Skaramangas Shipyards from closure was to sell 49 percent of shares to the yard's 3,000 workers and the controlling stake be held by the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank (ETBA).
After a week of consultations with bankers and ministers, National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou said he would be proposing that 49 per cent of the largest shipbuilding and repair yards in the Mediterranean be bought by a company formed by the 3, 025-strong union, Triena, when he meets European Commissioner Karel Van Miert in Brussels, today.
The management of the yards, he said, would be handed over to the private sector, following international tendering.
The agreement includes a restructuring programme anticipating a gradual reduction in stuff.
"The government does not have a policy for the specific issue," Mr. Manginas said, "and simply does not want to solve the problem."
Political Spring party spokesman Notis Martakis criticized the government for the delay in adopting the proposed solution, which Political Spring had endorsed.
"At the last minute, the government proceeded with the implementation of a Political Spring proposal for partial privatization of the shipyards with the participation of the workers," he said.
He added that to successfully implement this solution, an obvious prerequisite was the implementation of an investment plan before the end of the year.
The Communist Party of Greece, in a statement yesterday, described the government's proposed solution as "a brutal blow against the workers."
Commenting on recent developments in the issue, Coalition of the Left and Progress called on the government of PASOK and the former ND government to apologize for not meeting EU deadlines for maintenance and modernization of the shipyards, leading to Greece being insulted by "the provocative and insulting attitude of Commissioner Karel Van Miert, which was left unanswered."