Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2000-02-24
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, February 24, 2000
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] NATO CHIEF IN GREECE TODAY
[02] EU PEOPLE'S PARTY CONFERENCE IN THESSALONIKI
[03] N.D. & LIBERALS: COOPERATION, BUT NOT COALITION
[04] KFOR TO BE FORTIFIED VIA THESSALONIKI
[05] GREEK BUSINESS GROUP, LARGEST EVER, IN TURKEY
[06] PM, ND LEADER BATTLE IT OUT OVER UNEPLOYMENT
[07] RED CROSS SETS UP HOT LINE FOR REFUGEES
[08] POLL: PREMIER AHEAD OF MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER
[09] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS MANAGER TO VISIT MELBOURNE
[10] EX-FM PESSIMISTIC OVER G/T RELATIONS
[11] BIG GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[12] SIMITIS-ROBERTSON MEETING IN ATHENS
[13] PAPANTONIOU: GREECE HAS A STRONG ECONOMY
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] QUEEN ELIZABETH TO VISIT GREEK MUSEUM
[15] CAMPAIGN FOR GREEK AS LANGUAGE OF OLYMPICS
[16] UK WOMAN DRILLS HOLE IN HER ACHING HEAD
[17] CYPRIOT INVESTORS ENTICED BY GREEK MARKET
[18] THE COCAINE AVAILABILITY HAS INCREASED IN THE BIG EUROPEAN
CITIES
[19] UNICEF: 100 MILLION CHILDREN GROW UP UNPROTECTED
[20] THE LIGHT OF THE AEGEAN IN WASHINGTON
[21] GREECE BUILDS A HOSPITAL IN KOSOVO
[22] ITALY AND GREECE ARE ALBANIA'S BIGGEST TRADE PARTNERS
[23] JOINT STATEMENT BY THE SE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] NATO CHIEF IN GREECE TODAY
NATO secretary-general George Robertson arrived in Greece
yesterday, embarking on a series of meetings which will include
the President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos.
Mr. Robertson attended a working dinner given in his honor by
Prime Minister Costas Simitis, Foreign Minister George
Papandreou and Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos.
Today, he will be received by President Stephanopoulos, while
later he will be holding talks with Messrs. Simitis, Papandreou
and Tsohatzopoulos.
Mr. Robertson is reportedly bringing a recommencement of
NATO initiatives for the creation of Confidence Building
Measures (CBMs) between Greece and Turkey, as well as talks on
the latest developments in the Balkans.
In his meeting with Mr. Robertson, Mr. Tsochatzopoulos will
stress the need to implement the Papoulias-Yilmaz agreement of
1988 on CBMs between Athens and Ankara, which he has
characterized as "an excellent basis for discussion."
The developments in Kosovo and Montenegro are also expected
to come high on the agenda of Robertson's meeting with Greek
officials. Officials will examine the work of the KFOR
multinational force and its prospects, as well as the rising
tensions in Montenegro.
[02] EU PEOPLE'S PARTY CONFERENCE IN THESSALONIKI
In cooperation with the European People's Party, Greece main
opposition New Democracy is to hold a two-day conference in
Thessaloniki as of tomorrow over matters pertaining to
democracy, stability and cooperation in Southeastern Europe.
The conference will be addressed by N.D. leader Costas
Karamanlis who will speak on "A New Strategy of Cooperation and
Development in the Balkans".
[03] N.D. & LIBERALS: COOPERATION, BUT NOT COALITION
The leader of the recently-founded Liberals minor opposition
party Stephanos Manos has announced that he intends to cooperate
with the main opposition of New Democracy, in the upcoming
elections of April 9.
Mr. Manos will be an N. D. candidate in the primary
constituency of Athens, while one other member of the Liberals,
George Psacharopoulos (a World Bank officer), will run on the
state ballot of N.D.
According to the agreement, the two parties will continue
their cooperation in the event New Democracy wins the elections.
[04] KFOR TO BE FORTIFIED VIA THESSALONIKI
An additional 700 French troops are to be dispatched to the
United Nations peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR), in light of
the new wave of violence that has erupted in Mitrovica between the
Serbs and the city's ethnic-Albanian residents.
United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen stated that
Washington is still reviewing the position it plans to take over
the eruption of violence.
Meanwhile, NATO officials in Brussels have stated that they
are reviewing the transport of approximately 2,000 KFOR troops
(British, Belgian, German, Danish and Greek) from other region in
Kosovo to Mitrovica.
[05] GREEK BUSINESS GROUP, LARGEST EVER, IN TURKEY
The largest Greek business delegation, to have ever visited
Turkey is to depart for Istanbul tomorrow in order to pave the
road for further collaboration in the sectors of construction,
milling, the paper industry, tourism, as well as insurance,
information, health and financial services.
Comprising 140 entrepreneurs, the delegation -which is
primarily in search of joint venture opportunities in S.E. Europe
and Black Sea countries-, is to discuss a variety of issues,
including tax exemptions, additional subsidies for exports and the
avoidance of double taxation.
The meetings are expected to culminate with the establishment
of a Greek-Turkish Chamber of Commerce in Athens.
The visit of the Greek delegates, many of whom are from
Macedonia and Thrace, is in reciprocation of an Athens visit
conducted by a Turkish businessmen's delegation in October.
[06] PM, ND LEADER BATTLE IT OUT OVER UNEPLOYMENT
The government aims to effectively reduce unemployment during
the next four years, according to Prime Minister Costas Simitis ,
who stated that in a four-year span (end of 1996 to the end of
2000) , 210,000 new jobs will have been created.
Addressing a vocational training center in Athens yesterday,
Mr. Simitis pledged that, after the elections, the ruling PASOK
party will spend a trillion drachmas from the EU's Third Community
Support Framework to increase job opportunities.
Mr. Simitis stated that the next four years will be a period
of employment, stressing that the state will take advantage of the
positive changes in the economy.
Meanwhile, main opposition leader, New Democracy's Costas
Karamanlis, stated blasted the government for its unemployment
policy during a visit to the Labor Ministry's Human Resources
Organization (OAED) offices in Athens.
He stated that the government treats unemployed people as
"second-class citizens" who are kept waiting for hours in queues.
"The unemployment benefits are the lowest in Europe," he
stated.
[07] RED CROSS SETS UP HOT LINE FOR REFUGEES
The Red Cross's Center for the Social Support and
Assimilation of Refugees has set up a hot line for refugees
seeking information in their own language about status recognition
procedures, social welfare benefits and the names of organizations
offering assistance.
The Athens hot line (01- 514-0440) is open seven days a week
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. It offers support in case of emergencies, as
well as information about Greek language lessons and vocational
training.
[08] POLL: PREMIER AHEAD OF MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER
The ruling PASOK party is expected to emerge victorious in
April 9's parliamentary elections, according to 57.8% of the
respondents in a nationwide poll.
Published today in the Athens daily "Eleftherotypia", the
poll conducted by "Opinion" also found that 24.3 percent of the
respondents forecast that the main opposition party of New
Democracy will win the upcoming elections.
Moreover, 45.2% of those polled view PASOK as a party more
suitable for government, with 30.6% opting for N.D, while 49.2%
believe that Premier Costas Simitis is more suitable for the prime
minister's post and 29.9% opt for ND leader Costas Karamanlis.
[09] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS MANAGER TO VISIT MELBOURNE
The British manager of Greece's air carrier Olympic Airways,
Robert Lynch, is to visit Melbourne on Saturday where he will hold
talks with the local Greek community, travel agents and the
Victorian state government, over the OA's plans to ax the Athens-
Melbourne direct flight.
The President of Melbourne's Greek community, George Fountas,
who was recently on a visit to Athens, has expressed his
"contained optimism" that the protests will prove successful and
that OA will maintain its Melbourne link.
[10] EX-FM PESSIMISTIC OVER G/T RELATIONS
In a London-held address, Greece's former foreign minister
Theodoros Pangalos expressed his pessimism over the course of the
recently-achieved Greek-Turkish rapprochement, calling the two
countries' efforts to embark on dialogue as "mere mingling,
lacking substance."
According to Mr. Pangalos, these efforts can lead to nowhere
as long as Turkey is unwilling to shift its positions in the
least.
Nevertheless, the former minister hailed the Helsinki summit
which granted Turkey the candidacy for accession to the EU as "an
outstanding success", since it elevates G/T differences in the
Aegean and Cyprus to European-problem status.
[11] BIG GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
The general index recorded big gains in the Athens Stock
Exchange today and closed at 5234.62 points with a rise of 2.68%
while the volume of transactions was at 184.5 billion drachmas.
Of the stocks that were traded today 277 had gains, 61
recorded losses and 34 remained stable.
[12] SIMITIS-ROBERTSON MEETING IN ATHENS
The situation in Kosovo, the new structure of NATO, the
course of the Greek-Turkish relations and the issue of the
activation of the NATO headquarters in Larissa, central Greece
were at the center of the meeting prime minister Kostas Simitis
had with NATO secretary general George Robertson in Athens in the
presence of foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou and defense
minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos.
Referring to the presence of NATO in Kosovo, Mr. Simitis
stressed that the alliance has to secure a multi-national Kosovo
and lead to the implementation of UN resolution 1244 which
provides for the autonomy of Kosovo within the framework of
Yugoslavia.
On the issue of the NATO headquarters in Larissa, the prime
minister characterized its activation as positive achievement
stating that the Larissa headquarters is the only NATO
headquarters in the Balkans and can play a role in the
developments in the region.
NATO secretary general underlined Greece's stabilizing role
in south-eastern Mediterranean, while he expressed satisfaction
for Greece's stance in the Greek-Turkish relations.
Mr. Robertson visited Greek president Kostis Stephanopoulos
and met with right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy
leader Kostas Karamanlis.
[13] PAPANTONIOU: GREECE HAS A STRONG ECONOMY
Greece has a strong economy and will have very good
development performance as its growth rate today is at 4% and its
inflation rate at 2%, stated minister of national economy Yiannos
Papantoniou in a press conference he gave in Athens today.
He said that the next few months namely, the May-June period
will be crucial for the Greek economy as the final decisions for
Greece's accession into the EMU have not been made yet in spite of
the positive climate that has been created in the European Union
institutions regarding the progress in the economic indexes.
Greece will submit its application to join the EMU on March
9. The European Parliament decision on Greece's accession into the
Euro-zone is expected to be ready in May. The report that will be
drawn-up will be discussed by the ECOFIN on June 6 and then by the
European Council in the June 20th Summit when the final decision
will be reached.
Mr. Papantoniou also stated that based on the talks he had
recently in London with international investors the inflow of
foreign capital in the country will be accelerated in the
following months. He also said that it has been made obvious to
the international economic circles that Greece has a strong
economy and soon will be the 12th member of the EMU.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] QUEEN ELIZABETH TO VISIT GREEK MUSEUM
Queen Elizabeth is expected to pay a visit to the Immigration
Museum and the Museum of Greek Antiquities in Melbourne in late
March, during an official tour of Australia.
The queen and her husband Prince Philip are due to arrive in
Sydney on March 17 and will visit almost all of Australia's states
before departing from Perth on April 2.
According to the official program, the royal couple will
visit the two museums while in Victoria on March 23-24.
[15] CAMPAIGN FOR GREEK AS LANGUAGE OF OLYMPICS
An international campaign is underway to establish Greek as
the official language of the Olympic Games, starting with the ones
to be held in Athens in 2004.
With the slogan "Silence No Longer Suits Us", the New York-
based Greek-American Hellenic Action organization, argues that
since the Games were founded in ancient Greece, it is absurd to
have French be the current official language.
Hellenic Action calls on the public to sign its petition
demanding that Greek be established as the language spoken
throughout the Games.
[16] UK WOMAN DRILLS HOLE IN HER ACHING HEAD
A British woman says she has cured her chronic fatigue by
resorting to do-it-yourself brain surgery and drilling a hole in
her own head.
According to Reuters, Heather Perry, 29, performed the
ancient technique of trepanning -- cutting away a section of the
scalp and drilling a two-centimeter hole into the skull to allow
blood to flow more easily around the brain -- in her effort to
overcome myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, which leaves sufferers
feeling permanently exhausted.
She said the 20-minute operation, which she performed herself
in front of a mirror and a camera crew, has improved her quality
of life.
The operation almost went wrong when Ms. Perry drilled too
far and penetrated a membrane protecting her brain tissue.
British doctors had refused to help Perry with the ancient
procedure, so she flew to the United States where she was given
medical advice and then did it herself.
Trepanning was widely used in the Middle Ages to treat severe
headaches and madness in the belief it would release evil spirits
from the possessed.
[17] CYPRIOT INVESTORS ENTICED BY GREEK MARKET
Cyprus's Minister of Economy Takis Clerides has called on his
country's investors to expand into the Greek market whose size and
proximity to other markets, as he stated, is a clear advantage.
Addressing a business conference in Nicosia, Mr. Clerides
stressed that the island's market is limited and, thus, cannot
support the steadily developing business.
Mr. Clerides referred to the rapid advancement in Greek-
Cypriot economic ties in the sectors of banking, securities,
tourism and trade, which he largely attributed to Cyprus's
European course.
Moreover, the Cypriot Minister spoke of the Greek economy's
transformation and urged the Cypriot entrepreneurs not to miss the
chance to invest in a country leading itself into the Economic and
Monetary Union.
[18] THE COCAINE AVAILABILITY HAS INCREASED IN THE BIG EUROPEAN
CITIES
The European Commission reached the conclusion that cocaine
is largely available in the big European cities as 1-3% of the
total adult population and 1-5% of the young adults have tried
cocaine, according to the response given to a question posed by
Greek governing socialist party of PASOK Euro-deputy Meni Maliori.
Based on newspaper reports in Spain, 6 out 10 paper money
have been used as "paper tubes" by those who breath in cocaine
through the nose, while in London traces of cocaine have been
found on 99% of the paper money circulating in night clubs.
[19] UNICEF: 100 MILLION CHILDREN GROW UP UNPROTECTED
The price of poverty paid by hundreds of thousands of
children is high as they are forced to live without their mothers
and work on the streets in order to earn a living.
A UNICEF report in Britain revealed that about 100 million
children live without their families and are left unprotected even
by the state itself. The report mentions that for those children
loneliness is the heart of their problem.
Based on the report, the wars in the 90s have separated about
1 million children from their families and while in the early 20th
century the war victims were soldiers by the end of it the victims
were women and children.
With 1.3 billion people on the planet to live on US$ 1 a day
poverty plays the main role in the fact that hundreds of thousands
of children are forced to face the world alone from a very early
age.
[20] THE LIGHT OF THE AEGEAN IN WASHINGTON
"A trip to the Aegean through the eyes of a photographer" is
the title of a special event in which there will be a presentation
of slides taken by professional photographer John Cleave.
The presentation which is organized by the Society for the
Protection of the Greek Heritage will take place at Cosmos Club in
Washington on March 8.
[21] GREECE BUILDS A HOSPITAL IN KOSOVO
The building housing the bee-keepers co-operative in
Gratsanica in Kosovo is being transformed into a hospital.
The works in the interior of the building started in November
and are being financed by the Greek government. The hospital will
have orthopedics and surgery departments and it will be ready in
early March according to the newspaper Glas Javosti.
[22] ITALY AND GREECE ARE ALBANIA'S BIGGEST TRADE PARTNERS
Italy and Greece occupied the first place in December 1999
among Albania's trade partners. According to data provided by the
Statistics Agency and published on the newspaper "Koha Yone",
concerning the month of December, 37% of the Albanian imports were
from Italy and 32% from Greece.
In the same month, 68% of the Albanian exports were destined
for Italy and 14% for Greece.
[23] JOINT STATEMENT BY THE SE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
A joint statement on the reinforcement of the cooperation
procedure in the region was signed in Sinaia, Romania by foreign
policy and defense parliamentary committees' representatives from
9 south-eastern European countries.
The representatives of Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia,
Croatia, Greece, Turkey, FYROM and Moldavia agreed that this is an
important step toward the accession of the region's countries into
the European and Euro-Atlantic structures.
The goal of the meeting was the preparation of the donors
conference that will take place within the framework of the
Stability Pact in March. In the Sinaia meeting was also underlined
the need for all the south-eastern European countries to respect
the principles of democracy, human rights and the development of
the market economy system.
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