Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-02-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] Ieronymos of Thebes elected Archbishop

[02] PM in Bucharest, energy pact signed

[03] Stolen statues to Albania

[01] Ieronymos of Thebes elected Archbishop

Ieronymos was elected to the helm of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece by the Holy Synod in the second round of voting, with 45 votes out of a total of 74 Metropolitans (bishops) present.

Church bells at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral, where the Holy Synod convened early Thursday morning to elect the new Archbishop, began ringing joyously as a lamp outside the Cathedral lit up to announce that a new Archbishop has been elected.

Alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, in a statement, conveyed the government's best wishes to the new Archbishop in the very important task he is undertaking for the Church and the country.

New Archbishop's biography

Ieronymos, born Ioannis Liapis in 1938 in the town of Oinofyta, Viotia prefecture, is a graduate of the School of Philosophy (archaeology department) and the School of Theology of the University of Athens, followed by Byzantine studies via a state scholarship, as well as post-graduate studies in Austria and Germany.

He was academic assistant to Anastasios Orlandos, a subsequent president of the University of Athens, at the Archaeological Society of Athens, while he also worked as an instructor of literature at the Leontios High School in the Nea Smyrni suburb of Athens and at other high schools in Athens and Avlona.

He discontinued his teaching career after entering the clergy.

Ieronymos served as Coadjutor Metropolitan of Thebes & Livadia from 1967-78, where he was unanimously elected Metropolitan in 1981, after serving as abbot of two monasteries (1971-1981) and as secretary and later chief secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece (1978-81). He has served on the committees on ecclesiastical education, church property, Church-state relations, and Church scholarships, and as vice-chairman of the Church of Greece's radio station, as well as on joint Church-state committees regarding monastery property and ecclesiastical education, and as chairman of the Church-society dialogue committee.

The overwhelming majority (82 of the 110) priests in his bishopric are degree-holders in theology with a second degree (in literature, architecture, medicine, computer science, education, economics etc.).

Under his term as Metropolitan and his guidance, six monasteries (with a total of 45 monks) and 17 convents (with a total of 110 nuns) were renovated and staffed, while he has also written numerous articles, studies and books on theological, social and historical topics, while his book "Medieval Monuments of Evia (Euboea)" received the Athens Academy's top award in 1970.

His social work also includes the founding of boarding schools, orphanages and introduction of the institution of foster families, shelters for the elderly, rehabilitation centres for the mentally retarded, a training centre for the creative occupation of children with special needs in cooperation with prefectural agencies, a drug prevention centre, food pantries for the needy, including foreign guest workers, consulting centres, and a Centre of Historical and Archaeological Studies, while, as a former academic, he developed a special relationship with the teaching community in Viotia.

Other accomplishments in his bishopric include the establishment and operation of parish cultural centres, youth centres, and a model camping facility on Mt. Parnassos, while at his initiative the Viotia History and Culture Research Centre was founded, which collaborates with the universities of Durham and Cambridge.

Ieronymos was a protagonist in the creation, in his home town of Oinofyta, of a Population Awareness Centre on environmental and economic migrants' issues.

He has also been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Craiova in Romania for his charitable work in the Metropolis on health issues, and is also president of the Hellenic Heart Foundation (ELIKAR), a public benefit foundation.

Caption: New Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos waives to the faithful in downtown Athens on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008. ANA-MPA / SIMELA PANTZARTZI

[02] PM in Bucharest, energy pact signed

A framework agreement in the energy sector was also signed between the two countries.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Karamanlis voiced a second warning to FYROM in as many days, stressing that finding a mutually acceptable solution to the FYROM "name issue" was an undeviating criterion for the neighbouring country's course towards the Euro-Atlantic institutions.

The prospect of NATO issuing an invitation to FYROM to join the Alliance will be discussed at a NATO summit in April.

Speaking in Bucharest, Karamanlis reiterated that Greece backs all the Balkan countries in their Euro-Atlantic course, but on condition that they fulfil all the criteria, stressing that intransigence and a provocative attitude were outside the European rationale.

Karamanlis said that Greece places great importance on the gradual incorporation of all the Balkan countries in the Euro-Atlantic institutions, but added that this, however, depended chiefly on their own performances.

"Respect of the principle of good neighbourhood is a mandatory condition for countries that wish to be in the same alliance," the Greek prime minister underlined.

Meeting with Popescu-Tariceanu

During the meeting with Popescu-Tariceanu, the Kosovo issue as well as Turkey�s European prospects was discussed.

Popescu-Tariceanu told reporters that the two countries had "many common points" on those issues.

The main purpose of Karamanlis' visit to Bucharest is the signing of an energy accord between the two countries, namely, a framework agreement in the sector of natural gas, oil and electricity, which is an update of an older agreement signed between the two countries in 1977.

The accord provides for the establishment of a standing coordinating committee that will meet regularly in the two capitals to discuss timely matters concerning the agreement's materialisation.

The signing of the accord earlier in the day, is in the framework of a general upgrading of the energy cooperation between the two countries, Karamanlis said, adding that the accord was dictated by the fact that the two countries were partners in the EU and allies in NATO.

It went without saying that the Greek-Romanian cooperation takes into consideration the EU regulations for diversification of energy sources, diversification of energy channels, and their inter-connection, he said.

According to the Romanian prime minister, the target was for the two countries to work together on their energy policy, aimed at ensuring energy sources and a better position on the energy map, as well as a guarantee of corridors for the transport of energy that will serve the interests of both countries.

Greece plans to advance similar cooperation frameworks with all the countries of the region, as part of its strategy as a key country on the energy map of the wider Balkan region.

Karamanlis said his visit to Bucharest was highly symbolic, aimed to seal the excellent cooperation between the two countries and to lay the foundations for the qualitative upgrading of those relations. "It is a visit that gives new momentum to a traditional friendship," he said.

Karamanlis also outlined the economic cooperation and trade relations between the two countries, which he said have been steadily increasing in recent years.

The prime minister made special reference to the Greek Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans, and to the trilateral Bulgaria-Romania-Greece cooperation aimed at a common policy line on Balkan issues.

The energy accord was signed earlier by Greek Development Minister Christos Folias and Romanian Economy and Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian

Also participating in the Greek delegation are Minister of State Theodoros Roussopoulos, Deputy FM Yannis Valinakis, and the director of the prime minister's press office, Yannis Andrianos.

Earlier, Karamanlis was received by Patriarch Daniel of Romania at the Romanian Patriarchate.

He also met with Romanian President Traian Basescu, while in the afternoon the prime minister will attend a reception in honour by Greek entrepreneurs and companies active in Romania, to be hosted by Greece's ambassador in Bucharest.

[03] Stolen statues to Albania

The marble statues had been found and confiscated by Greek authorities in 1997, when they were discovered in the hands of two private owners in Koropi, Attica. They were then handed over the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, which traced their origins to the artifacts stolen from Butrint.

Liapis and Albanian Culture Minister Ylli Pango officially announced at the Acropolis Museum's lecture theatre, which was inaugurated earlier the same day, that the return will take place on Monday.

Liapis stressed that the move demonstrated the Greek State's respect for international law and that it was putting into practice its policy for the return of stolen antiquities to their place of origin.

He also referred to the close ties between the museums of all countries with touring exhibitions, exchanges, joint programmes and loans of archaeological treasures.

Pango thanked Liapis and his predecessor George Voulgarakis for their efforts to repatriate the two statues, as well as staff at the two museums for showing "great professionalism".

The president of the New Acropolis Museum Dimitris Pantermalis referred to the museum's comparative advantages and the ideal conditions it provided for the return of the Parthenon Marbles held in Britain.

The two statues both date to the 2nd century B.C. when Butrint was a Greek colony known as Bouthroton - which is still the Greek name for the southern Albanian town today. Both are missing their heads and both finds have been published, the female form in 1924, while the male form has a catalogue number from the Butrint Museum and has also been published.

Caption: The return to Albania of two marble statues of Artemis and Apollo originally stolen from Butrint in the '90s was officially announced in a ceremony held at the New Acropolis Museum in Athens on Thursday, by Greek Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis. ANA-MPA - C. Lambropoulou

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