Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-13

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Support for FYROM's EuroAtlantic course depends on name issue, dep. minister stresses

[02] VPRC poll shows ruling ND ahead by 3.5 points

[03] Gov't: No instances of bird flu in Greece

[04] Papandreou, PES delegation meet Turkish leadership

[05] Greece to seek BSCE meeting on bird flu threat

[01] Support for FYROM's EuroAtlantic course depends on name issue, dep. minister stresses

"Otherwise, we draw a deep red line that we are determined not to cross. At the end of the negotiating process between Skopje and the EU, there is the option of holding a referendum, a useful institutional tool that Greece does not give up the right to," he added.

At another point, the minister underlined that the Greekness of the historic and cultural name 'Macedonia' was not negotiable and that this had been made clear by Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis.

"We support FYROM's (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) Euro-Atlantic orientation, but only on the strict condition that it abandons its intransigent position and proceeds along the lines of a mutually-acceptable solution," Stylianides said.

"We hope and are making efforts so that in the coming period, the neighbouring country will display - as Greece has already done - active flexibility and good will so that the issue can be resolved and usher in a new period of stability and cooperation in the region," the minister noted.

He also criticised past PASOK governments for what he said was a "long period of inertia and impasses" when they were in power, which had led to some 100 unilateral recognitions of FYROM as 'Macedonia' with practically zero reaction from Greece.

Stylianidis stressed that the present government had inherited this impasse, which reached its peak with the unilateral recognition of FYROM as 'Macedonia' by the United States, and had immediately taken steps to correct the situation, highlighting its good will to reach a mutually acceptable solution and accepting the first proposal put forward by special UN mediator Matthew Nimetz as an acceptable basis for talks.

"The dogmatic and intransigent stance of the other side undermined the prospect of solving the issue and provoked a second proposal that was extremely one-sided and which we rejected as unacceptable," the minister explained.

"We wish to develop good neighbourly relations and cooperation with the neighbouring country, which is we are the top investors in the area. We express our good will by proposing a mutually acceptable solution for the name," the minister said.

The latest development in the long-running dispute between Greece and FYROM over its adopted name of 'Macedonia', which has dragged on unresolved since the tiny republic first broke away from former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s - was the Greek government's rejection of a proposal put forward by UN mediator Matthew Nimetz last week, which was ruled out as "one-sided" and "unacceptable".

Greece objects to FYROM's use of the name 'Macedonia' as historically unsound and opening the way for future expansionist designs against a northern Greek province of the same name. Greeks also take a dim view of attempts by FYROM Slavs to claim descent from Alexander the Great - the famous Macedonian general of antiquity who was born in the Greek province of Macedonia - seeing this as an attempt to 'usurp' a historical figure that is inalienably Greek.

Government spokesman

In comments on the issue during the regular press briefing on Thursday, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said that the statements made by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis concerning FYROM "still apply in full".

He pointed out that under the interim agreement of 1995, Greece had fully preserved all rights to withhold its agreement if FYROM tried to join international organisations under any name other than FYROM.

He also stresed that the Greek government has adopted a position on the issue of FYROM and that all options must be kept open, while there was also the commitments arising from the interim agreement between Athens and Skopje.

[02] VPRC poll shows ruling ND ahead by 3.5 points

The poll was conducted on behalf of Sky radio station on October 10-11 using the phone interview method, with a sample of 950 people. It included questions referring to the resignation for former deputy finance minister Adam Regouzas, views on Olympic Airlines and the party-political 'client-system'.

The results show Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to retain the voter's confidence as most suitable premier by 48 per cent, against 25 per cent for PASOK leader George Papandreou. One fifth or 20 per cent of those responding said 'Neither of the two' and 7 per cent 'Don't know - won't answer'.

On intention to vote, 42.5 per cent said they would cast their vote for ND, against 39 per cent for PASOK. Next in line was the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) with 8 per cent, the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology with 5 per cent, the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) with 3 per cent and other parties with 2.5 per cent.

In a poll conducted on September 12-13, the distribution of votes had been: ND - 42.5 per cent, PASOK - 38.5 per cent, KKE - 7.5 per cent, Coalition - 5 per cent, LAOS - 3 per cent, other parties - 3.5 per cent.

Concerning Regouzas, 74 per cent of those responding said the decision to remove him had been right.

Asked about the differences in policy between the two main parties, 37 per cent said that the difference between the two parties was small, 24 per cent said that there was no difference, 22 per cent said that there were significant differences and 12 per cent said the differences were very great.

Concerning the fate of Olympic Airlines, 25 per cent said the airline should remain in state hands with participation by the private sector, 59 per cent said that OA "can probably be saved" and 28 per cent said the opposite.

On the airline's privatisation, 23 per cent said OA should be turned over to the private sector while the state retained some share, 23 per cent said that it should be exclusively private-sector and 21 per cent said said it should remain entirely state-sector.

In addition, 73 per cent said the country needs a state airline, while 20 per cent believes the opposite.

On corruption, 47 per cent replied that phenomena of corruption were the same as always and 32 per cent that they had increased, while 57 per cent believed that it was impossible to get results without knowing a politician or high-ranking official. At the same time, 88 per cent said that they had never happened to find a job through a politician.

[03] Gov't: No instances of bird flu in Greece

Furthermore, Deputy Agriculture Minister Alexandros Kontos told Parliament that absolutely no instance of bird flu has been detected in the country.

His comments came hours before the European Union announced that the bird flu virus -- H5N1 -- was detected in Turkish poultry, the strain that scientists worry may mutate into a human virus and spark a flu outbreak.

"We have received now confirmation that the virus found in Turkey is avian flu H5N1 virus," EU Health Commissioner from Cyprus Markos Kyprianou said from Brussels.

In a related development, Bulgarian officials on Thursday said they would consider the establishment of a special emergency council in the event that bird flu was detected in neighbouring Romania.

Bulgaria has also banned, since Monday, the import of live poultry, meat or eggs from Romania and Turkey.

[04] Papandreou, PES delegation meet Turkish leadership

"It was a very significant opportunity to discuss several issues and to hear views over matters dealing with human rights, the rights of Kurds as well as issues that directly affect Greece," he said, while also citing the "need for a European solution exploiting past efforts" vis-a-vis the Cyprus problem.

Additionally, he referred to the issue of the (Aegean) continental shelf and Greek-Turkish bilateral relations.

After the contacts, which also included meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Turkish party leaders, NGOs, representatives of ethnic minorities and even trade union leaderships, Papandreou also emphasised the issue of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, saying the message to the Turkish people is that the Patriarchate is the "Mecca" for Christian Orthodoxy, and "they should view the Ecumenical Patriarch as a very significant ingredient of Turkish society, one that can serve only as a positive in the European Union".

The nine-member PES delegation met with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos on Wednesday in Istanbul, followed by other meetings with trade union leaderships and human rights-related NGO officials in the Bosporus metropolis.

In an unrelated development, Papandreou is due to tour the the Rhodopi prefecture of NE Greece upon his return from Turkey.

[05] Greece to seek BSCE meeting on bird flu threat

Kaklamanis told waiting reporters after the meeting that Karamanlis as well as the country's foreign minister Petros Molyviatis had approved his relevant proposal.

He noted that, due to the country's geopolitical position, the Balkan and Black Sea regions comprised gateways for migratory birds (which, like poultry, are carriers and can spread the virus), and consequently "we are interested in developing a joint action plan".

The minister said that the recent meeting in Istanbul, which was attended by Black Sea countries, had discussed the problem, but noted that "some countries are taken measures, but others aren't".

Kaklamanis announced that the contract for the purchase of the medicine that confronts the problem had been signed by Greece earlier on Thursday. He explained that the Perseus emergency action plan contained a a specific chapter on epidemics that outlined steps for confronting such situations and the specialised training of personnel and health personnel.

The minister also explained that, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the bird flu outbreak was expected to develop into an epidemic, but not a pandemic. He added, however, that "we cannot know when (the epidemic proportions would be reached) and the severity of the epidemic".

Bassiakos told reporters that all the necessary measnures have been taken in Greece, and that inspections and laboratory testing were continuously taking place, adding that "there has been no trace" of avian flu in Greece.

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