"We did not, of course, expect Mr. Karamanlis to have the courage to directly congratulate the Prime Minister and the government for this great national success, as many members of his party have done", stressed government Spokesperson Christos Protopapa s in response.

"But we were expecting, at least this year, that he would not choose the part of the refuted Cassandra concerning the economy. Unfortunately, he has", he pointed out and added:

"He does not understand that the country is developing at unprecedented rates, that we are converging with the other countries of Europe, that this year's National Budget includes an unprecedented redistribution of funds and secures the funding of the so cial security plan and tax reductions in favor of the people".

"In any case, we were not expecting to hear any proposals or ideas on the economy or the budget form his direction. Just dead-end criticism, complaints and misery", ended Mr. Protopapas.

The Opposition responded with statements by New Democracy spokesperson Thodoris Roussopoulos who pointed out that "reports from major and valid international organizations of the European Union, and the Director of the Bank of Greece, do full justice to what ND has pointed out on the true state of the Greek economy."

"Just recently, Eurostat characterized Mr. Christodoulakis, indirectly but very clearly, as the forger of budgets and crucial financial data. He should at last come to terms with the fact that the lies are over and that all logistic alchemies have been u sed up", he added.

Specifically, according to the information, although Greeks are among the most enthusiastic Europeans, since the vast majority supports the idea of a united Europe, they do not really know what "Europe" means. Also, two out of three are not informed on i ssues concerning the fundamental rights of EU citizens, while only one in three knows that he can work in another country of the EU. Finally, only one out of three Greeks knows that foreigners residing in Greece can participate in municipal elections.

In order to ascertain the knowledge of community member citizens, Eurostat set 11 questions, on 8 of which Greeks recorded the lowest scores in all of the European Union, while the most well informed European citizens are the Irish and the Finnish.

The basic argument offered by the European Commission for the new measures is that this is the only way that Greece can secure the viability of its pension and social security plan in the future, as was stressed in today's publication of the "Imerisia" n ewspaper.

The proposal for the additional measures to be taken in the social security sector as well as in the labor market, is included in the decision plan of the European Commission, which will be formally published at the end of the week. Essentially, it is th e Commission's "response" to the recent securities reform and the Greek report on the pensions strategy, which was sent to Brussels two months ago, by the Ministries of Economy and Finances and Labor and Social Securities.

Although the EU recognizes that the recent securities reform in Greece serves some intermediate goals and "solves" certain problems, it underlined that the specific measures will not secure the viability of the social security system in the long run.

The two main reasons are the high cost of funding pensions in relation to the Greek GDP, and the demographic "aging" Greece will face in the coming decades.

He launched a strong criticism against right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy and its leader Kostas Karamanlis for the stance adopted on national issues and in the sector of the economy.

Outlining the priorities of the Greek EU Presidency, Mr. Simitis referred to the preparation of the accession acts for the new EU members, the development of the Lisbon policy on the competitiveness of the economy, employment, social cohesion and sustain able development. Also, he referred to the measures that need to be taken against illegal immigration, and the strengthening of the common EU foreign and defense policy.

A total of 25 Turkish fighter jets violated the Athens FIR in central and north Aegean today. The Turkish provocation was faced successfully by Greek fighter jets.

In the past few hours, Mr. Denktash appears to have a conciliatory spirit and states that he will seat at the negotiating table.

Turkish Foreign Minister Yassar Yakis stressed that the Cyprus issue must be resolved otherwise the European Union will accuse Turkey of keeping an occupation army in a European country.

Mr. Papandreou stated that the specific period of time includes many opportunities for the solution of the Cyprus problem and stressed that still there are many steps that need to be made.

The general index rose to +0.47% at 1.825,89 points, while the volume of transactions was at 95.3m euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 85 recorded gains and 219 had losses, while the value of 75 stocks remained unchanged.

In the meeting they examined economic issues in view of the budget discussion that will take place in Parliament tomorrow. Mr. Karamanlis stated that in a number of points shared the same views with Mr. Garganas.

The leader of the main opposition party accused the government of a political fraud stating that according to Eurostat reports, the so-called fiscal reform was a myth. It was also proved that the budgets of the past few years were factitious, stated Mr. Karamanlis.

Mr. Karamanlis stated that in reality the debts, the public debt and the hidden debts, undermine the course of the economy and Greece continues to be the poorest country in the Euro-zone. He also said that the pace followed by the government of the Socia list Party of PASOK will not allow for true economic convergence. He said that there is a need to realize that the policy that has to be promoted should bring speedy implementation of structural changes through the liberalization of markets, the strengthe ning of competitiveness and good and rapid exploitation of EU funds.

Mr. Protopapas stated that currently there is a special skepticism in Turkey and therefore, prudence, responsibility and caution are needed to be displayed on behalf of Greece.

Mr. Erdogan praised the efforts made by Mr. Konstantopoulos and the Coalition over the past 4 years, to bring Greece and Turkey closer together, for friendship and cooperation.

"The good relations of our neighborhood, the warm friendship that has developed over the past few years between our two countries will also help world peace. I think it will greatly contribute to the European prospects of Turkey, as well as the resolving

of the Cyprus issue", he pointed out.

On his side, Mr. Konstantopoulos expressed his belief that the Copenhagen decisions have the dynamic to form a new atmosphere.

"We want to take advantage of this momentum, for better Greek-Turkish relations, to support Turkey's European prospects and to resolve the Cyprus issue. Obstacles in the resolving of the Cyprus issue are harmful to Greeks, Turks and Cypriots alike".

Mr. Konstantopoulos and the delegation of the Coalition visited the Foreign Ministry separately, and met with the Turkish Foreign Minister and discussed the heartfelt and warm relations of the two countries, and the role of political parties in forming a n atmosphere of friendship, cooperation and a good neighborhood between the two people and the two countries.

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