Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 04-03-04

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] DA INTERVENTION

[02] FIRE IN HILIANDARI

[03] DISAGREEMENTS ON THE TERRITORY ISSUE

[04] RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE RESPONSIBLE MINISTERS IN VIEW OF THE ELECTIONS

[05] THE 26TH FURNIDEC WILL OPEN ITS GATES ON MARCH 10

[06] EMERGENCY INVESTIGATION ON LEAFLET

[07] GAINS IN THE ASE

[08] NEW DEMOCRACY PRESENTED EVIDENCE TO THE PROSECUTOR

[09] KARAMANLIS AGAINST POLARIZATION

[10] G. PAPANDREOU: ND USES CHURCH

[11] FACILITATIONS FOR VOTERS ON THE ROAD

[12] 10 MILLION EURO FOR GREEK VOTERS IN GERMANY

[01] DA INTERVENTION

An emergency investigation was ordered last night by the Athens DA, after a PASOK complaint that ND officials in party cars were promoting the circulation of an informative flyer addressed to members of the clergy, which was of a content insulting towards PASOK President Giorgos Papandreou. New Democracy Press Spokesperson Thodoris Roussopoulos spoke of provocations, while he called all democratic citizens to denounce any such practices and plans. PASOK MP Costas Laliotis made mention of a Rigilis-gate. Mr. Pagalos filed a lawsuit. The Church distanced itself, while PASOK spokesperson Anna Diamantopoulou had cleared it of any implication from the very beginning. Mr. Papandreou spoke of a revival of the state of the Right, Mr. Karamanlis responded with accusations of an attempt for polarization which will fall through.

[02] FIRE IN HILIANDARI

The monks of the Hiliandari convent on Mt. Athos are safe after a fire broke out this morning, which resulted in the burning of the guest quarters and other damages. Forces of the fire department are on their way to the Hiliandari convent, also known as the Serbian convent, in order to put out the fire that is not threatening any other parts of the convent. It is estimated that approximately 25 monks are living in the convent, most of Serbian descent, while there was a rumor that was later refuted that the Serb-Bosnian leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic fled there after the 1992-1995 .

[03] DISAGREEMENTS ON THE TERRITORY ISSUE

The regime of the territories to be returned to the Greek Cypriot side was the main topic of discussion at the 8th meeting between the President of the Cypriot Republic and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash on Wednesday. The two sides do not seem able to find common ground on the time at which the Greek Cypriots should return to these territories. At the same time, Denktash left the stated that discussions may not be completed by May 1, while Washington is pressuring for the accession of a unified Cyprus to the EU.

[04] RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE RESPONSIBLE MINISTERS IN VIEW OF THE ELECTIONS

Recommendations were made to the people, by caretaker Ministers of Interior and Press, Nikos Alivizatos and Giorgos Romeos respectively, calling on them to avoid taking under consideration the opinion polls held in the past few days or the exit polls' results that will be probably out before 7pm on Sunday afternoon.

The two government ministers clarified that an arrangement was reached with the Association of Opinion Poll Companies to refrain from publicizing information on exit polls' results before 7pm on Sunday afternoon.

Both Mr. Alivizatos and Mr. Romeos gave assurances that all necessary measures have been taken to facilitate the voters in exercising their right. All election campaign activity will end at midnight on Friday.

[05] THE 26TH FURNIDEC WILL OPEN ITS GATES ON MARCH 10

The 26th FURNIDEC International Furniture Exhibition will take place in Thessaloniki on March 10-14.

A total of 201 exhibitors will come from Greece, while 109 exhibitors will represent nine countries namely, Bulgaria, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, the Czech Republic and FYROM.

The Turkish participation will be a major one with 64 furniture manufacturers, while the Greek-Italian Chamber will participate in the exhibition with 43 firms.

A great number of visitors are expected in the exhibition both from Greece and abroad, mainly from neighboring countries, while it also targets the general public, which will have the opportunity to be informed on new furniture trends.

[06] EMERGENCY INVESTIGATION ON LEAFLET

An emergency judicial investigation was ordered by the Head of the Athens DA of First Instance Dimitris Papaggelopoulos, after PASOK complaints that ND officials were circulating leaflets insulting towards the President of PASOK Giorgos Papandreou.

The investigation aims at identifying those responsible and ascertaining whether they carried out offense of their own free will. Mr. Papaggelopoulos ordered DA Eleni Sotiropoulou to call the Greek Postal Service employees and higher officials as witnesses and the party officials to testify.

[07] GAINS IN THE ASE

Gains were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index rose to +1.36% at 2470.43 points, while the volume of transactions was at 176.5 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 245 had gains and 65 had losses, while the value of 81 stocks remained unchanged.

[08] NEW DEMOCRACY PRESENTED EVIDENCE TO THE PROSECUTOR

Evidence on the case concerning the accusations made by the governing Socialist Party of PASOK regarding insulting leaflets targeting its leader Giorgos Papandreou, were presented to the responsible prosecutor today by right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy General Director Yiannis Vartholomeos.

Specifically, he referred to a statement made by PASOK leading party member Kostas Laliotis last Thursday according to which, PASOK was going to be the target of an attack by New Democracy, the statement made by PASOK party spokeswoman Anna Diamantopoulou that PASOK was aware of the issue since Friday, as well as Sunday newspaper reports on the issue.

Also, New Democracy sources pointed out that the witnesses called by PASOK, based on Theodoros Pangalos' lawsuit regarding the election law violations, are party unionists.

According to New Democracy, the evidence mentioned above can prove that PASOK had planned to launch a provocation against New Democracy.

[09] KARAMANLIS AGAINST POLARIZATION

New Democracy will not participate in the game of polarization and division pointed out President of New Democracy Costas Karamanlis in an interview to Sky Radio, stressing that the fewer people participating in it, the better for public life.

He characterized the state as a great patient, which, as he said, does not observe its basic obligations to the citizens, stressing that there must be a drastic decrease of bureaucracy and a resolving of the issue of additional interest.

Regarding the broader public sector the President of ND noted that there must be a significant increase in output underlining that there are honest and capable people in all sectors and no one has anything to fear.

He accused the government of refusing to investigate 14 complaints in Parliament, although there was a DA's order, and added that corruption and small-exchanges appear when the law is not obeyed and when there is no political will, while he said: The PASOK government let these phenomena develop and grow.

Finally, he repeated ND's proposal on the formation of an independent authority to check public sector commissions and Public works.

[10] G. PAPANDREOU: ND USES CHURCH

Instead of using the Church as a vehicle of party propaganda, ND could, if it wanted to raise these issues and I would have no problem discussing them, stated President of PASOK Giorgos Papandreou, commenting on the insulting towards him flyers being circulated among priests and churches, while he stressed that all this shows morals which are not consistent with our times.

Speaking to Antenna TV this morning he responded to all those who accuse him of being too moderate and not being firm enough. He noted that he has worked with several Prime Ministers in Greece and abroad, and his conclusion was that showing arrogance and boasting is not the model for today's political life. However this does not mean that one must not be decisive, he added and said that he is decisive when he should be. He gave his reassurance that he will be decisive as Prime Minister, on interior and foreign issues, and as a human being at the same time.

As far as how he will govern is concerned, he pointed out that he will not cover up any problems.

[11] FACILITATIONS FOR VOTERS ON THE ROAD

Drivers' licenses, license plates and drivers' permits for cars, motorcycles and mopeds that have been removed by or turned in to the authorities, will be returned tomorrow. This action aims at facilitating voters who are to travel by their own means in order to vote, while the basic requirement for the return is full payment of the fines, if there is a fine to be paid. There will be discounts and leave from work for voters who have to travel in order to vote. Schools will be closed on Friday and Monday to help in the conducting of the elections.

[12] 10 MILLION EURO FOR GREEK VOTERS IN GERMANY

The March 7 elections and the Greeks to travel to by airplane to vote from Germany, was referred to by the www.berlinonline.de website, which is maintained by two major Berlin newspapers, Berliner Zeitung and Berliner Kurier.

The two main opponents in Greece's parliamentary elections, social democrat Giorgos Papandreou and conservative Costas Karamanlis, are also competing in Germany, in order to win every last vote from the Greeks who live here, stressed the publication.

According to the website, Mr. Karamanlis spoke first, in mid February in Duesseldorf, in front of an audience of 3000. A week later, Mr. Papandreou was present, in front of twice as many people in Stuttgart. Now the fight has taken to the skies.

As the publication points out, the two major parties PASOK and New Democracy, aim at transferring 20,000 to 30,000 voters on charter flights by election day, this Sunday from Germany, the country with the largest Greek community in Europe, and other European countries. This transfer is estimated to cost them a total of 10 million euro.

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