News about Greece 27/1/95, 29/3/95 - 16/4/95

From: Thanos Tsekouras <thanost@MIT.EDU>

  • [1] Greece rebuilds its Balkan bridges: Kerin Hope on attempts to

    counter growing political isolation
  • [2] Greece seizes oil drilling equipment believed headed for Serbia

  • [3] Turkish- Greek dispute hits Nato spending

  • [4] Zhirinovsky warns Turkey to pull out troops from Cyprus

  • [5] Economic Watch: Steady rise in Greek output

  • [6] Athens airport storm clouds EU's mega-projects

  • [7] GREECE: GREEK SHIPOWNERS STAY ON TOP

  • [8] GREECE: MOTOR OIL-ARAMCO DEAL MAY FORCE CHANGE OF PLANS AT EKO

  • [9] Grece -Archeologie

  • [10] Vers une liberalisation de la nuit grecque

  • [11] Greek abattoirs closed for cruelty

  • [12] Greek meat consumption slipping back.


  • Financial Times

    April 6, 1995, Thursday SECTION: Pg. 2 LENGTH: 832 words HEADLINE: Greece rebuilds its Balkan bridges: Kerin Hope on attempts to counter growing political isolation BYLINE: By KERIN HOPE BODY:

    In the past three weeks Mr Carolos Papoulias, the Greek foreign minister, has made fence-mending visits to both Albania and Bulgaria. He has also agreed to launch direct talks with Macedonia on the disputes over its name and flag, although Athens has yet to lift the trade blockade imposed against the former Yugoslav republic 13 months ago.

    Greece and Albania are planning to sign a friendship treaty, ending tension over the status of North Epirus, the southern Albanian region populated by an ethnic Greek minority. In Bulgaria, Mr Papoulias won political backing from the new government for a proposed Greek-Russian oil pipeline from the Black Sea to the Aegean.

    This drive by Greece to improve relations with its Balkan neighbours could make an important contribution to regional stability, but only if some more practical measures are taken.

    With the demise of communism, Greek foreign policy-making was poisoned by out-dated concerns over border security and ethnic minorities going back to the Balkan wars at the turn of the century. The need to establish a solid framework for trade and investment was largely ignored.

    However, the Socialist government now appears to realise that Greece's increasing isolation from its European Union partners on Balkan issues could have serious consequences, particularly since it will rely heavily on EU grants for modernising its economy over the next four years.

    Said one official: 'We were constantly at odds with Brussels over Turkey, Skopje and Albania. It was becoming an excessive burden.'

    The Socialists signalled a change of policy last month by lifting the Greek veto of the EU customs union agreement with Turkey, in return for a definite timetable for EU membership for Cyprus.

    Furthermore, the decision to arrest nine members of a rightwing Greek terrorist organisation responsible for a raid on an Albanian military post a year ago, did considerably more to boost relations with Tirana than Mr Papoulias's pledges of friendship and co-operation.

    The next step, organising a system of rotating work permits for some of the 150,000 Albanians working illegally in Greece, together with ways of transferring their savings back to Albania, will be crucial to maintaining better ties. However, this could prove difficult to implement because of the notoriously inefficient Greek public administration.

    In Sofia, Mr Papoulias resolved a dispute over the route of the proposed pipeline to carry Russian oil from Burgas in Bulgaria to the northern Greek port of Alexandroupolis. The Dollars 600m project could be launched later this year, with studies being financed by the European Commission, according to Greek officials.

    However, more mundane issues that could make life easier for people on both sides of the border remained unsettled. These included a long-standing Bulgarian request for more frontier crossings to boost cross-border trade and a 30-year wrangle over sharing water from the Nestos river.

    The real test of Greece's commitment to improving ties with its neighbours concerns Macedonia. Athens is under increasing US pressure to suspend the blockade and allow oil shipments for Skopje to pass through Thessaloniki port in northern Greece before talks start in New York.

    As support for nationalist policies recedes, the Socialists face little opposition to negotiating a settlement of the Macedonian question. Greek businessmen are pressing for the blockade to be lifted and for a go-ahead for Greek investment in Macedonia enabling them to make acquisitions under the republic's privatisation programme, which is now starting to take off.

    While Greece still officially refuses to recognise Macedonia under that name, leading Socialists accept they have lost the battle to make the republic call itself 'New' or 'North Macedonia' to distinguish itself from the Greek province of Macedonia. Mr Theodoros Pangalos, the former European affairs minister, has urged the government to restore relations quickly with Skopje.

    Whatever the outcome of the Socialists' attempt to foster better Balkan ties, however, prospects for better relations with Turkey look bleak.

    Despite agreeing to the Turkish customs deal as a means of securing EU entry for both halves of Cyprus by the end of the 1990s, Athens shows no sign of wanting to promote confidence building measures that would encourage Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus to embrace EU membership.

    In fact, the government is quarrelling with Turkey over plans for restructuring Nato's southeastern wing, setting up a new command centre at Larissa in northern Greece and possibly basing part of the rapid deployment force in Thessaloniki. It has also adopted an aggressive new 'joint defence doctrine' with the Greek Cypriots. Aimed at counterbalancing a strong Turkish military presence in northern Cyprus, it would involve stationing Greek troops in the south of the island and also provide Greek air and naval protection.


    Copyright 1995 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse

    April 13, 1995 11:00 Eastern Time SECTION: Financial pages LENGTH: 267 words HEADLINE: Greece seizes oil drilling equipment believed headed for Serbia DATELINE: ATHENS, April 13 BODY: Greece has seized oil drilling equipment that a UN panel overseeing the embargo against Serbia suspects was headed for the former Yugoslav republic, a Greek news agency reported Thursday. The 1,866 tons of oil drilling equipment had been shipped by Canadian Triton from Iran and its shipping documents listed the Bulgarian firm Beypass International as the final destination. The equipment arrived in the northern Greek port of Thessalonica on February 14 aboard the Iranian freighter Iran Ersat, according to Macedonian Press, a news agency based in Thessalonica. A portion of the cargo left Thessalonica for Bulgaria three days after the Iran Ersat docked but was seized by Macedonian authorities as it passed through the former Yugoslav republic, the news agency reported on Thursday. The remainder of the shipment was seized in Thessalonica on orders from the Greek finance ministry, likely at the request of the UN committee monitoring the embargo on Serbia, the news agency said. The New York Times reported on Saturday that the US Central Intelligence Agency had learned of the two sets of oil drilling equipment shortly after it left Iran and that the final destination was Serbia.


    Copyright 1995 The Financial Times Limited; Financial Times

    April 10, 1995, Monday SECTION: Pg. 2 LENGTH: 689 words HEADLINE: Turkish- Greek dispute hits Nato spending BYLINE: By BRUCE CLARK, JOHN BARHAM and KERIN HOPE DATELINE: LONDON, ANKARA, ATHENS BODY:

    Nato has been forced to freeze all capital projects under its military budget, and economise on current expenditure, because Turkish-Greek differences are holding up approval of spending plans for 1995. The impasse comes as the alliance is preparing for a possible large-scale military operation to evacuate United Nations forces from Bosnia.

    While disputes between the Aegean neighbours have often disrupted Nato activity in the eastern Mediterranean, it is the first time the entire alliance has been so badly affected. 'People are taking this matter very seriously,' said one diplomat at alliance HQ.

    Ankara is understood to be holding up the whole military budget after Greece, complaining about the lack of progress towards establishing new Nato commands on its territory, vetoed the funding of alliance facilities in the Turkish port of Izmir. Nato officials said 15 investment projects had been frozen as a result of the row.

    Current spending under the military budget - which accounts for more than half Nato's total expenditure - is used for the maintenance of command structures, communications systems, pipelines and jointly owned assets such as Awacs surveillance aircraft. Nato officials say current military expenditure is being maintained at roughly last year's level under a temporary financing arrangement. But, under Nato rules, this will expire at the end of June.

    Leading western nations are understood to have told both countries that the row is damaging Nato's credibility and could lead to serious operational problems.

    A western diplomat said spending frozen amounted to around Dollars 560m (Pounds 350m).

    Although both Athens and Ankara depict themselves as firmly committed to Nato, and Greece's ruling Socialists have dropped any ideological objections, mistrust of one another and conviction that one side's gain is the other's loss appears to be deepening.

    Mr Turan Morali, deputy director-general of Turkey's foreign ministry, said last week that Greek-Turkish disputes within Nato reflected a generally poor climate.

    Mr Gerasimos Arsenis, the Greek defence minister, took the opportunity of a recent trip to Brussels to deplore delays in the implementation of a 1992 decision to establish Nato land and air commands at Larissa, central Greece. He is also impatient for the establishment in Salonika of a regional headquarters for Nato's new rapid reaction force.

    Turkey argues that the responsibilities of the two Larissa commands must be defined before they are put into action. Mr Arsenis said: 'Turkey does not want Greece to play a role in Nato, and in doing so it is harming not only Greece but the whole of Nato.'

    Between two friendly countries, the definition of roles for the new commands would be a technical problem. In this case the issue is hard to settle without favouring one side or the other in much broader disputes. These focus on Turkey's insistence that Greece is barred by treaties from militarising its eastern islands and Greece's insistence on being the main co-ordinator of air traffic over the Aegean. Mr Morali said Athens was using the 1992 decision to claim a 'regional authority' to which it was not entitled.

    Mr Mehmet Golhan, the Turkish defence minister, signalled a toughening in Ankara's position last week, although other Turkish officials said his words had been distorted. He was quoted as saying that Turkey would only approve the Salonika command if Greece renounced any aspiration to extend its territorial waters from six miles to 12, and if the first commander in Salonika was Turkish. Turkish officials have since stressed that although territorial waters are a vital issue, they are not formally linked to the Salonika headquarters.

    Mr Arsenis says the command in Salonika should be rotated between Greece, Turkey and Italy, with Greece, as host, providing the first chief.

    Turkish officials have argued for a comprehensive deal to settle issues relating to both Larissa and Salonika. Mr Arsenis said that, although he would have preferred a step-by-step approach, he was still happy to discuss a package.


    Copyright 1995 Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur

    April 16, 1995, Sunday, BC Cycle 14:37 Central European Time SECTION: International News LENGTH: 360 words HEADLINE: Zhirinovsky warns Turkey to pull out troops from Cyprus DATELINE: Nicosia BODY:

    Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky warned Turkey Sunday to withdraw all its occupation troops from the northern part of Cyprus if it intends to have good relations with Russia.

    Speaking to a small gathering of businessmen, guests of the Russian opposition leader's host for three days on the island, Zhirinovsky said that, if he is elected president in 1996, he will tell Turkey to remove its 40,000 occupation troops from Cyprus.

    The leader of the right-wing nationalist Liberal Democratic Party that commands a 12 per cent representation in the Russian Duma (lower parliament), also said that once president, he would also send Russian troops to Cyprus "if Cyprus wishes so."

    Zhirinovsky arrived in Cyprus on Saturday on a three-day private visit as a guest of a Cypriot businessman and was not scheduled to meet any government officials or have official meetings with deputies and local party leaders.

    He was expected, though, to have a brief meeting with Greek Orthodox leader Archbishop Chrysostomos, who has made efforts to improve clerical and other ties with the revived Russian Orthodox Church.


    Copyright 1995 The Financial Times Limited; Financial Times

    April 12, 1995, Wednesday SECTION: Pg. 2 LENGTH: 244 words HEADLINE: Economic Watch: Steady rise in Greek output BYLINE: By KERIN HOPE DATELINE: ATHENS BODY:

    Greek industrial output increased by 4.5 per cent on a yearly basis in January, marking a steady improvement over the past five months, the statistical service said yesterday. The January rise followed a 0.8 per cent increase in December. Higher output of food and beverages, processed timber, textiles and metallurgical products accounted for the increase. The figures also reflect increased exports of textiles and metal products as Greek manufacturers respond to rising demand in the rest of the EU. 'The growth in output starts from a low base but it's clear that Greece is beginning to emerge from recession. At the same time, the results of investment in modernisation by healthy companies are starting to show,' said Mr Yannis Tegopoulos, an analyst at Midland Pantelakis Securities.

    Industrial output increased by 1.2 per cent in 1994 after four successive years of decline, with small manufacturers suffering from sharply rising costs. Overall, Greek industrial production shrank throughout the 1980s as a result of falling investment and the loss of traditional export markets in the Middle East and eastern Europe.


    Copyright 1995 The Financial Times Limited; Financial Times

    April 3, 1995, Monday SECTION: Pg. 2 LENGTH: 913 words HEADLINE: Athens airport storm clouds EU's mega-projects BYLINE: By EMMA TUCKER and LIONEL BARBER BODY:

    The European Commission's decision last week to allow the contract to build a new airport near Athens to go ahead has raised questions about the future of EU policy on public procurement.

    The decision to allow the Greek government to award the Ecu2bn (Pounds 1.64bn) deal to Hochtief of Germany against a rival French bid courts controversy at a sensitive time. Over the next few years, some of Europe's biggest ever infrastructure projects - known as the Trans-European Networks - will be put out to public tender, a process that will be overseen for fairness by the Commission.

    But as the Spata project at Athens showed, where lucrative contracts and powerful industrial lobbyists are involved, straightforward commercial decisions can be muddied by the close interest of politicians. With the liberalisation of the EU's public procurement market, this political interest is increasingly happening at a European level.

    In the case of Spata, political lobbying by the French turned the affair into a duel between the EU's most powerful members, France and Germany. It was a fracas in which Mr Jacques Santer, the Commission president, was determined to remain neutral.

    The main problem with the Spata tender was that the Socialist government in Greece insisted on changing contract terms agreed in 1993 by its conservative predecessor. This led to questions in the Commission over whether the Greek government had violated the Rome Treaty's rules on fairness and lack of discrimination.

    Greece already had a poor record on public procurement, with a series of large projects being postponed as successive governments have frozen or tried to renegotiate contracts awarded by their predecessor on grounds of political favouritism. When it became clear that the government intended to award the contract to Hochtief, French lobbyists pulled out every stop to block the German-led consortium.

    On several occasions, Dumez GTM, the French construction company leading the rival consortium, called on the services of Mr Roland Dumas, former French foreign minister, to sway the Commission. Dumez is also understood to have pressed officials close to Mr Jacques Delors, the former Commission president, to re-examine the case after the company lost the original bid to Hochtief in 1993.

    The Franco-German rivalry escalated with a letter to Mr Santer from Mr Klaus Kinkel, German foreign minister, putting the new president in the unenviable position of having to choose between Bonn and Paris. In the event, says a senior Commission official, 'there was no way Mr Santer was, or is, going to be forced to choose between a French and German company'.

    Meanwhile, officials in the Commission's single market directorate wanted to show their muscle in public procurement, an area where internal barriers have been notoriously slow to drop. They prepared arguments in favour of opening infringement proceedings against Greece.

    However, their zeal for action was damped by the fact that Greece is not bound by the internal market rules on public procurement until 1998. That meant there was apparently no sound legal basis for opening an investigation under the Rome Treaty. Article 59, which abolishes restrictions on the freedom of people or companies in one member state to set up services in another, did not apply.

    Article 169, deployed when Brussels believes a member state has 'failed to fulfil an obligation' under the treaty, would have set a big precedent. There was also a feeling among certain parts of the Commission that Greece was too easy a target for complaint, given its poor record in other public procurement cases.

    In addition, Dumez' behaviour was highly predictable. 'These days whoever loses a public tender automatically asks the Commission to investigate the bidding procedure; it costs a lot less than going to court,' said a Brussels official.

    Nonetheless, Commission attempts to suggest that the decision not to investigate Spata was purely legal ring hollow. Political considerations also influenced the decision:

    First, the affair had taken on a highly political nature in Greece; failure to give the airport the go-ahead would have caused extremely bad feeling.

    Second, Spata is one of the Commission's priority Trans-European Networks. Massive delays and arguments would have augured badly for the others and might have deterred private financiers interested in future investment.

    Third, agreement to press ahead has allowed the Commission to release large credits from its structural funds for the project, which will help certain aspects of the Greek economy.

    Fourth, a decision to hold up the project would have aroused the wrath of Germany. Before Mr Kinkel sent his letter to Mr Santer, Bonn had commissioned its own study to satisfy itself that Hochtief was indeed the rightful winner.

    Greek officials say the single market rules on public procurement - due to come into force in Greece in something over two years' time - should help speed up Greece's administrative procedures and bring more transparency in awarding contracts.

    But the irony remains that by liberalising the public procurement market, the Commission may have opened the door to political wranglings at a European level.

    As one senior Greek official said: 'It would be much easier for everyone in future if the Commission just told us which country's contractors should get the job, and we could act accordingly.'


    Source: Reuter Textline Lloyds List

    March 29, 1995 LENGTH: 787 words HEADLINE: GREECE: GREEK SHIPOWNERS STAY ON TOP BYLINE: By Nigel Lowry, Athens Corespondent BODY:

    GREEK shipowners continue to control a far bigger fleet than any other nationality, according to a study of the fleet's standing at the beginning of March, which revealed a sixth consecutive year-on-year gain in tonnage.

    The aggregate capacity of the 3,142 vessels under Greek control is now 126.1m dwt, an increase of nearly 5% during the past 12 months.

    That is equivalent to 16.2% of the world's fleet in dwt terms, although the study noted that the average age of Greek-owned tonnage also increased to 19 years, making the fleet significantly older than the international mean.

    There was, however, a strong trend among Greeks to invest in modern ships, including a doubling of the nation's newbuilding commit-ments. With a total of 99 ships of 5.8m dwt on order at yards worldwide, the order-book is equivalent to 4.6% of the existing fleet and thus will not as yet have a major effect on the overall age profile.

    The main result of the study, for last week's meeting of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS) and the London-based Greek Shipping Corporation Committee (GSCC), may surprise many in the shipping world because the size of the Greek owned fleet was already at a historic high last year, with a clear lead over Japanese-owned tonnage.

    It means that Greek companies have acquired an additional 41m dwt since 1988 and the commencement of the annual surveys of beneficial ownership, which draw on Lloyd's Register's databases and take into account all vessels of more than 1,000 gt.

    In contrast, use of the Greek flag remained virtually stagnant in the past year, a picture supported by monthly registry returns provided by the country's ministry of merchant marine.

    Only 44% of beneficially owned tonnage flies the Greek flag, with Cyprus firmly established as the Greek's second most popular register, claiming a 23.5m dwt part of the fleet.

    In the past 12 months, however, the Maltese register posted the largest gain in Greek-owned tonnage with an increase of 2.6m dwt. The Greek flag increased by just 1m dwt, while Liberia and Panama were the next most popular choices.

    Analyst Nikos Mikelis, who wrote the study, attributed the fleet's growth to the personal involvement and instincts of Greek owners in providing an efficient and inexpensive service.

    But he warned that the "relentless and irrelevant regulatory fever" prevailing in the industry, combined with a reappearance of "the ugly head of protectionism", are threatening independent op-erators such as the Greeks.

    Last week the UGS and the GSCC expressed satisfaction at signs of buoyancy in Greek shipping, including a sharp increase in the number of students enrolling at the country's maritime colleges.

    (c) of Lloyd's of London Press Limited 1995. -


    Source: Reuter Textline Kathimerini

    April 9, 1995 LENGTH: 387 words HEADLINE: GREECE: MOTOR OIL-ARAMCO DEAL MAY FORCE CHANGE OF PLANS AT EKO BODY:

    The acquisition of 50% of Motor Oil by Aramco of Saudi Arabia may upset EKO's current development plans. Motor Oil's plans to move aggressively onto the northern Greek and Balkan markets is causing concern at EKO's parent Public Oil Corporation (DEP), which hitherto believed that its subsidiary had all the advantages to see off any competition. Motor Oil has already established a small foothold in the area, and with Aramco's backing it will seek to expand when conditions allow.

    This threat in EKO's "own" backyard could force DEP to speed up decisions concerning its subsidiary's privatisation. In order to safeguard and further develop its market share, EKO will be under pressure to hasten its stock exchange debut and/or its search for an international partner.

    The timing of the Aramco-Motor Oil deal was not casual. The Saudi giant first approached Motor Oil in 1986 but was turned down. However, the Greek company had a change of heart following the liberalisation of the fuel market and the collapse of the protectionist regime of the Greek refinery sector. The final decision to sell a 50% stake to Aramco is thought to stem from the crisis affecting the refineries with vertical production processes in the Mediterranean over the past couple of years. For its part, Aramco has achieved a long-standing goal of securing a foothold on EU turf. The likelihood that Greece may develop into an international distribution centre for oil with the possible advent of the Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline is an added bonus to Aramco.

    (Original article approx 300 words) - KATHIMERINI, April 9, 1995, P49


    Copyright 1995 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse

    April 11, 1995 SECTION: Informations Generales LENGTH: 320 words HEADLINE: Grece -Archeologie BYLINE: partenant a l'armateur Niarchos exposees pour la premiere BODY: fois a Athenes ATHENES, 11 avr (AFP) - Une partie de la collection d'antiquites privee du richissime armateur Stavros Niarchos sera exposee pour la premiere fois, a partir de mercredi, au musee cycladique d'Athenes. La plupart des pieces, 29 au total, qui seront exposees jusqu'en janvier prochain, n'ont jamais ete montrees au public, a souligne la proprietaire du musee, Dolly Goulandris, issue d'une grande famille d'armateurs et mecenes grecs. Ces pieces ont ete acquises depuis 1957 par M. Niarchos aupres d'autres collectionneurs prives ou de marchands d'art, a-t-elle indique. L'exposition est composee pour l'essentiel d'amphores grecques au decor peint retrouvees dans des tombes etrusques en Italie. Datant de 700 a 440 ans avant notre ere, elles attestent de l'importante exportation de ceramique grecque des la fin de l'epoque archaique. Issus d'ateliers atheniens ou des colonies grecques d'Asie mineure (la cote mediterranenne de l'actuelle Turquie) ces poteries, finement ornees de scene mythologiques ou de representations d'animaux, servaient toutes a la preparation et au service du vin durant les banquets, tres prises, des Etrusques, selon la conseillere scientifique du musee, l'archeologue Lila Marangou. Parmi les pieces les plus remarquables, figurent notamment un vase ou est peint un phoque, la seule representation connue de cet animal dans tout l'art grec antique, selon Mme Marango.


    Copyright 1995 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse

    April 15, 1995 SECTION: Informations Generales LENGTH: 320 words HEADLINE: Vers une liberalisation de la nuit grecque DATELINE: ATHENES BODY: Le nouveau ministre de l'Ordre public Sifis Valyrakis a annonce samedi la liberalisation des horaires de fermeture des bars et boites de nuit dont la limitation imposee il y a un an par son predecesseur avait provoquee une petite revolution. "Le divertissement des Grecs n'est pas l'affaire de la police", a declare M. Valyrakis dans le journal progouvernemental Ta Nea. "Je suis contre le fait que la police determine la maniere de se divertir a Athenes et dans toute la Grece" , a-t-il ajoute. Son predecesseur Stelios Papathemelis, limoge le mois dernier, avait impose en mars 94 avec les plus grandes difficultes la fermeture des etablissements nocturnes a 2 heures du matin la semaine en hiver (02H30 l'ete), et a 03H30 le samedi et les jours de fetes. Le systeme avait ete assoupli ensuite dans les zones touristiques. Grand defendeur des valeurs morales et de la religion orthodoxe, M. Papathemelis avait declare qu'il n'avait "rien contre les noctambules, mais les Grecs doivent comprendre qu'il faut travailler le matin". La mesure avait souleve un concert de protestations, au sein meme du gouvernement socialiste, dans un pays habitue a veiller tard. Pendant plusieurs semaines, apres la fermeture des boites de nuit, les jeunes avaient organise un happening sur l'esplanade du soldat inconnu a Syntagma, la place principale de la capitale, pour poursuivre la fete jusqu'a l'aube.


    Copyright 1995 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse

    April 14, 1995 08:13 Eastern Time SECTION: International news LENGTH: 627 words HEADLINE: Greek abattoirs closed for cruelty BYLINE: Rhea Sourmeli DATELINE: ATHENS, April 14 BODY: More than half Greece's 300 abattoirs have been closed, some for good, following filming of shocking scenes of cruelty in the way animals were being despatched. Britain's Royal Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) took video film of conditions at five slaughterhouses, including the municipal abattoirs at Thivai (Thebes) near here and at Souflion in the north where still conscious pigs were seen having their throats cut. The butchery was disclosed in February, provoking a Europe-wide outcry and forcing Greek veterinary authorities to carry out checks in every administrative district. The Greek equivalent of the RSPCA lodged a complaint with European Union Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler of Austria. He himself had earlier written to the government here drawing their attention to conditions in abattoirs where animals were killed without prior stunning, and asking for a probe into violations of EU regulations. The Greek government is awaiting the results of an investigation by top EU veterinary official Dietrich Defrenn from Germany who has been inspecting Greek abattoirs since the RSPCA film came out. A final decision on closing abattoirs which failed to conform with the rules would then be made by the end of this month, said Apostolos Skouras, the official in charge of the slaughterhouse sector at the Greek agriculture ministry. Agriculture Minister George Moraitis, who is thinking of launching a campaign to popularise vegetarianism, made it clear last week that ''any abattoir operating contrary to EU norms will have to close do n very quickly.'' Those already shut down did not have the electrical or mechanical apparatus required for despatching livestock according to an EU directive of l974 stating that animals have to be unconscious before being killed, explained agriculture ministry expert Pavlos Loucas. The abattoir owners considered such equipment to be too expensive, he said. Loucas added that the places closed so far were among the country's smallest, with a mere 15 tonnes annual capacity, compared with the 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes processed by the major slaughterhouses. Local animal welfare activist Costas Tsipiras said that in Europe in general and in Greece in particular livestock was the victim of what he called a "mafia of meat barons." He said there were about 200 big meat traders in Europe, four of them in Greece, who made illicit profits worthfive times the earnings of the drugs trade. Tsipiras is a judge on the international court of justice for animal rights chaired in Geneva by leading environmentalist Max Weber. He said the big traders were to blame for using hormones to fatten stock, for their transport in "completely unacceptable" conditions, and their "murder" in the abattoirs. They also mutilated horses earmarked for export, he added.


    Copyright 1995 Information Access Co., a division of Ziff Communications Co.;

    Copyright 1995 Agra Europe (London) Ltd. (UK) Agra Europe

    January 27, 1995 SECTION: No. 1629 ; Pg. N1; ISSN: 0002-1024 LENGTH: 320 words HEADLINE: Greek meat consumption slipping back. BODY:

    After the appreciable rise seen from 1970 to 1992 (see AE1587, 31.3.94, N/1), Greek meat consumption has declined by 15% over the past year. This decrease is blamed on inflationary pressures which have led consumers to switch to other, cheaper sources of food as well as efforts to eat healthier foods, such as poultry, fish and vegetables, and reduce fat intake. Meat consumption is also being affected by consumer concern about foot and mouth disease which led to an abrupt reduction in demand. No early lifting of the ban on the export of Greek meat is considered likely though this does not affect Greek companies much since little meat is exported.

    Apart from falling consumption, Greek meat companies have had to contend with pressure from imports while Greek production is on the decline. Greek farmers, it is pointed out, suffer from the competitive advantages enjoyed by North European producers - larger structure, lower interest rates and better distribution networks, a major failing in Greece. The small production units predominating in Greece are unable to make long-term investments, either in the purchase of livestock or buildings and equipment. They have also been impeded by high interest rates. Expansion of Greek meat companies is further impeded by the fact that hygiene conditions on many Greek farms do not comply with EU standards.

    As they see no early reversal in the trend away from meat, meat companies are moving in turn to other products, such as fish from fish farms which benefit from subsidies. However, they anticipate a slight improvement in profits over the next two years because of falling EU and world meat supplies. In addition, Greek consumers prefer fresh meat because of the rising cost of frozen meat and because they believe that fresh meat has more nutritional value, and this should benefit domestic production compared with imported meat. (AE Athens)t


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