Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-04-25

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Cabinet discusses draft bill on media licensing

[02] PASOK on Rice's visit

[01] Cabinet discusses draft bill on media licensing

Minister of State Theodoros Roussopoulos noted afterward that dialogue concerning the bill had been underway since December and was now completed.

"Today I presented to the cabinet the basic proposals as these were formulated through public dialogue in which about 50 bodies throughout Greece participated, as well as the main opposition party and the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology, while the Communist Party of Greece has outlined its positions in Parliament," Roussopoulos told reporters.

He said the government had also taken into account a discussion that took place at the beginning of April at Parliament's institutions and transparency committee, while talks were also underway with the European Commission on matters related to competition and Community regulations that must be incorporated into Greek law.

According to Roussopoulos, the draft bill will be tabled and passed into law before the end of the present Parliament breaks up for the summer and that there would be another discussion by the cabinet when it was ready to be tabled in Parliament.

ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved.

[02] PASOK on Rice's visit

Papoutsis added that Rice's "reference to 'northern Cyprus' is unacceptable to say the least" and noted that "unfortunately, it went without any comment and reaction by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis who was present."

Referring to the issue of Iran, PASOK's representative said that "we are opposed to every prospect of war" and called on the government "to brief the Greek people with clarity on the positions it intends to take in the crucial decisions of the UN Security Council, the European Union and NATO."

KKE, Coalition

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (Synaspismos) party on Tuesday criticised the visit to Greece by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

KKE hailed the participation of what it said was thousands of demonstrators in Tuesday's rallies against Rice's visit to Athens, adding that the joint press conference between the U.S. secretary of state and her Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis "confirms that the visit by Mrs. Rice does not forebode anything good for the Greek people and the peoples of the Balkans and the region of the Middle East."

The Communist Party further said that "the representative of the U.S. placed the victimiser and the victim in the same sack, Turkey and Cyprus, since she called on Cyprus to proceed with measures which will facilitate 'northern Cyprus'" and pointed out that "it is obvious that the people of Cyprus cannot be optimistic about the 'solution' being prepared on the issue of Cyprus."

Coalition party secretary Nikos Hountis denounced the attack carried out by riot police during Tuesday's anti-war protest by the Greek Social Forum, saying that "the teargas and the police rule in the capital cannot stop the wrath and indignation of Greek citizens over the bellicose and adventurous policy of the U.S. which Mrs. Rice is representing and promoting."

Hountis also said that "there is no excuse for Greece to align itself with those 'willing' for a new war in Iran which the U.S. is preparing."

ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article