Subject: News I, 4/08/93 Athens News Agency Bulletin, August 4, 1993 =========================================== Athens, 4/8/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis has had telephone contacts with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic aimed at ending the deadlock in the Bosnian peace talks in Geneva, while Greece yesterday appealed for a peaceful resolution in Bosnia. The appeal was issued hours after NATO approved a US plan for air strikes against Bosnian Serbs if they maintain their stranglehold on Sarajevo and other Bosnian towns. Government spokesman Vassilis Manginas told reporters that Mr. Mitsotakis has had "contacts of decisive importance" with the Serbian president Monday and yesterday following a request by international mediators Lord Owen and Thorvals Stoltenberg for Greek intervention to help break the impasse in the Geneva talks. "But there are still many steps (to climb) and many phases (to be completed) before we can speak of progress", Mr. Manginas added. In a separate statement, Greece reiterated its opposition to military action against the Bosnian Serbs and appealed to the warring factions in Bosnia to find a peaceful solution to the war in Bosnia. "Our country, once again, states its opposition to military action against the Bosnian Serbs", foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Papaconstantinou told reporters, when asked to comment on Nato's decision to support a US plan for tougher action against the Bosnian Serbs. "Greece will not participate in the implementation of such measures", the spokesman said, adding that no other Balkan country should take part in the operation. Meanwhile the foreign ministry yesterday confirmed that Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou had received a letter from US Secretary of State Warren Christopher outlining Washington's position on possible military action to end the Bosnian Serb stranglehold on Sarajevo. Foreign ministry sources added that the two men has also held a telephone conversation to discuss the US proposal. --- Opposition reaction to decision: Nato's decision to approve the US plan for air strikes and other measures against the Bosnian Serbs provoked strong reactions from Greece's opposition parties. "The attitude of the US government runs counter to the United Nations' position and endangers ongoing efforts in the framework of the Geneva Conference for an immediate end of hostilities and a just, peaceful and acceptable resolution (in Bosnia)", the Coalition of the Left and Progress said in a statement. "The Greek government should react strongly to avert (a military intervention), using all available resources within the framework of its membership in international organisations", it added. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) also called on the government to inform the Greek people of actions taken to block the alliance's decision. "Unless it is backed by specific measures, (the government's) opposition is tantamount to tolerance and acceptance of such actions", the KKE said in a statement. Istanbul, 4/8/1993 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas): Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos is scheduled to leave on an official tour of Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria tomorrow as part of his mission of "love, peace and unity" to all Orthodox Patriarchates. The Ecumenical Patriarch will begin his tour with a visit to the Serbian Patriarchate, followed by visits to Romania and Bulgaria. He is scheduled to pay an official visit to Greece in October. The Ecumenical Patriarch's Balkan tour follows official visits to the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Damascus and Russia. Athens, 4/8/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday received the new British Ambassador to Greece, Oliver Miles, government spokesman Vassilis Manginas said. Athens, 4/8/1993 (ANA): Greece will seek financial assistance from the European Community to provide relief and compensation to the victims of the recent forest fires, government spokesman Vassilis Manginas said yesterday. Athens, 4/8/1993 (ANA): Greece yesterday described statements by the president of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov, as "completely groundless and historically unfounded". "At a time when Skopje should be displaying prudence and self-restraint, it is unacceptable that Skopje, once again, is putting forward completely groundless and historically unfounded positions", foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Papaconstantinou said. "Such statements will certainly not help the course of the forthcoming negotiating effort", he added. Speaking in Krousouvo on Monday, Mr. Gligorov claimed that the Skopjans "were, are and always will be Macedonians" and charged that his country's history had been "stolen by others". Asked about the timetable for the arrival of the UN Secretary General's mediator on the Skopje issue, Cyrus Vance, the spokesman said no official date had been set. "The only visible date we have is September 20, the deadline set by the UN resolution for the completion of the mediation process", he said. Athens, 4/8/1993 (ANA): The Bank of Greece must exercise greater flexibility in its foreign exchange policies in light of the wider bands for currencies in the European exchange rate mechanism, the central bank's governor, Efthymios Christodoulou, said yesterday. "The drachma's course must take into consideration fluctuations in the dollar, German mark, the European currency unit and other European and competing currencies. It must also be consistent with the two basic goals of the government's economic policy, that is ensuring growth and reinforcing Greece's international credibility", he told an informal press briefing. Mr. Christodoulou said that drachma parities would be adjusted in the short run so that the currency could approach European levels before the ERM crisis. He added that Monday's fixing rate and the dollar's upward trend had already pushed the value of the drachma down by 1.27 per cent against the ECU, 0.75 per cent against the French franc, 2.89 per cent against the Spanish peseta, 4.29 per cent against the Portuguese escudo and 2.38 per cent against the Danish crown. The central bank's task has become particularly difficult, Mr. Christodoulou said, as it must now monitor fluctuations in a broad range of currencies that could have a serious effect on short-term drachma parities. "Long-term foreign exchange policy goals, however, remain unchanged", he added. Stockholm, 4/8/1993 (AFP): A consortium led by Swiss-Swedish engineering group Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) will provide the complete electrical equipment and installation work for the new Athens Airport at Spata, ABB said Monday. The total value of the contract is estimated at 420 million dollars, of which ABB's part is calculated at 235 million dollars. ABB will be responsible for the complete electrical installation of the airport, including the electrical infrastructure, electrical services for the terminal and other buildings, all associated communications systems as well as the planning and installation of the apron and runway lighting systems. The new airport is to be built by 1998 at Spata, some 25 kilometres from Athens. It will be equipped with two takeoff and landing runways and is expected to handle 16 million passengers in its first year. Athens, 4/8/1993 (ANA): The government said yesterday that Tirana must respond positively and "in deed" to six conditions set by the premier last month as a prerequisite to the normalisation of Greek-Albanian relations. "The Greek government desires good relations with Albania. but in order for relations between the two countries to be normalised, the Albanian side must respond in deed to the conditions set by Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis regarding the respect of the human rights of the ethnic Greek minority in the neighbouring country", foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Papaconstantinou told reporters. Mr. Mitsotakis on July 14 set six conditions for a "rapid and substantial" improvement in relations with Albania which deteriorated following the expulsion of a Greek-orthodox cleric from Gyrokastr. These conditions include the return of all church property confiscated by Albania's former communist regime, the establishment of ethnic Greek minority schools and an end to the harassment and arbitrary dismissal of ethnic Greeks from public service positions. Asked about reported violence against members of the ethnic Greek minorities in Chimara and Gyrokastr by plainclothes Albanian policemen, the spokesman said the government was collecting "as many details as possible about these incidents in order to take diplomatic action". The government was looking into the allegations with "particular interest", he added.