Subject: A.N.A. Bulletin 9/9/93 From: miltos@nfl2.irc.nrc.ca Athens News Agency Bulletin, September 9, 1993 ============================================== LATE BREAKING NEWS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ==================================== General Elections in Greece =========================== Ottawa, 9/9/93 Prime Minister Mitsotakis, informed President Karamanlis today that the government had decided to ask him to disolve the parliamen and call for general elections. The government made its suggestions based on the provisions of article 41 of the Constitution. The President accepted the government's proposal. The president will announce the date of the elections shortly. It is expected that they are going to be held on October 10 or October 17. ============================================================= Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - The Foreign Ministry yesterday rejected Albanian Prime Minister Aleksandr Meksi's claims that Greece entertained territorial ambitions against Albania. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Papaconstantinou said that "Greece has no territorial designs against any country". He was commenting on statements by Mr. Meksi in a Turkish newspaper in which he spoke of "erroneous Greek policy in the Balkans" and claimed that Greece harboured territorial designs against Albania. The spokesman said that Mr. Meksi was "trying to evade" the only issue at the present time "which is that of the ethnic Greek minority in Albania". "The Albania leadership ought immediately to secure all the rights of the Greek minority, which are safeguarded by international treaties", Mr. Papaconstantinou said. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - A National Defence General Staff spokesman yesterday said a Reuters despatch from the Kakavia border crossing between Greece and Albania on September 4 alleging that eight ethnic Greece from Albania had been beaten by Greek troops was untrue. The despatch had said the ethnic Greeks, all from the village of Kakavia, had crossed into Greece without valid papers on Sunday and later claimed they had been detained and beaten by Greek police. Lieut-Col. Louizos Demertzoglou said the ethnic Greeks were detained at the Kakavia border crossing and returned to Albania the next day for lacking necessary travel documents. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - Two deputies of the ruling New Democracy party resigned their parliamentary seats yesterday in the wake of ND deputy Stefanos Stefanopoulos' resignation from the ruling party yesterday. Deputy for Serres Nikolaos Klitos and deputy for Arkadia Vassilis Mantzoris tendered their resignations to Parliament President Athanasios Tsaldaris. Mr. Klitos' seat will be taken by Demosthenes Mitakidis and Mr. Mantzoris' by Dimitris Kostopoulos. The ruling ND party now has 151 seats in the 300-member House. Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis has said that the country will go to early elections if one more ND party leaves the party but retains his seat-- as did Mr. Stefanopoulos --leaving him without a majority in parliament. In an announcement late yesterday, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office Sotiris Kouvelas said the government would not hesitate to call early elections if necessary and was ready to face the challenges ahead. "As far as the government is concerned, the paramount issue is not when elections will be held ... It is obvious that Greece does not need elections now but if unavoidable, we will not hesitate to go to elections. If the choice is between either an absence of government, uncertainty and the distress of the Greek people or the need to serve out the full four-year term, then we will not hesitate, if necessary, to say that we chose stability", Mr. Kouvelas said. Mr. Kouvelas' remarks were made on arrival in Thessaloniki at the head of an advance team to finalise preparations for Saturday's opening of the Thessaloniki International Fair where Mr. Mitsotakis will unveil the government's economic policy for next year. Government spokesman Vassilis Manginas, when asked to comment on the resignations of the two New Democracy deputies said: "Mr. Klitos and Mr. Mantzoris chose the path of resignation. The path of resignation is honourable". Former cabinet minister Miltiades Evert said he thought the crisis had begun to wane. "I think we are at the stage of overcoming the crisis. Correct views prevailed and rather than declaring their independence from New Democracy, certain deputies who disagree with the government and with New Democracy are resigning. I think this stance, regardless whether one agrees with it or not, is more honourable than trying to overthrow New Democracy and not let it serve out its four year term", Mr. Evert said. "There is only one conclusion: that early elections would harm the country and this must be understood by everyone", he added. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - National Defence Minister Ioannis Varvitsiotis is scheduled to begin a two-day official visit to Germany on September 15 at the invitation of his counterpart Volker Ruehe, the ministry said yesterday. Mr. Varvitsiotis will meet with Mr. Ruehe to discuss bilateral issues and is also scheduled to visit army units in east Germany. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday met with the presidency of the Union of Greek Banks, who briefed him on the economy's performance in preparation for his speech at the opening of the 58th Thessaloniki International Fair. Also present at the meeting with National Bank Governor Michalis Vranopoulos and Commercial Bank Governor Sifi Glyniadaki, which lasted over an hour, was National Economy and Finance Minister Stephanos Manos. Afterwards, Mr. Manos told reporters that the meeting was of a general nature, concerning progress in a number of matters. Mr. Manos also took the opportunity to condemn the main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement's actions in informing investors of its plans to revoke the partial privatisation of OTE when it came into power, saying these were "damaging to the economy". In statements made earlier, while the premier, the bank union representatives and Mr. Manos were still in conference, Finance Under-secretary Costas Yatrakos reiterated that the country's economy "was on a good course". He asked the press not to correlate the pre-election period with the government's economic policy. "The government's economic policy is known", he told reporters. It was the results of three and a half years of successful implementation of these policies, he said, which gave the government the right to proceed with "corrective measures, which some are now calling pre election 'hand-outs'". He said these "corrective measures" would be announced by the prime minister. Earlier yesterday the prime minister had a series of meetings with government officials, including Culture Minister Dora Bakoyianni, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office Sotiris Kouvelas, National Economy and Finance Minister Stephanos Manos, Transport and Communications Minister Theodoros Anagnostopoulos, Education and Religious Affairs Minister George Souflias and Mr. Yatrakos. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - EC foreign ministers are to hold an informal two-day meeting at Alden Biesen castle in Belgium on September 11 to discuss the Yugoslav crisis, Middle-East developments and a series of Community-related issue, including the enlargement of the Community. The meeting will also discuss a possible extraordinary convention of the European Council in October to discuss monetary developments in relation to economic and monetary union. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chief Yasser Arafat will visit Greece this month, Foreign Ministry Sources said yesterday. They said Mr. Arafat's visit was at the invitation of the Greek government but no date for his arrival had been set. The same sources said the PLO head would hold talks with Prime minister Constantine Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou. Mr. Arafat is currently touring Arab states to rally support for a PLO-Israeli peace plan. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - The Greek force with UN peacekeeping troops in Somalia has managed to gain the trust of UN officials and the Somali people, a press spokesman for the National Defence General Staff said yesterday. He said that in their six-month tour of duty, Greek troops had renovated and repaired on old Russian army camp and hospital, which would soon be able to boast of a microbiology laboratory and surgical wing, in the area assigned to them. They had helped 2,500 Somalis receive necessary treatment and transported another 600 to the hospital's recuperation ward, he added. The spokesman reiterated that if Greek troops were exposed to excessive danger, then decisions would have to be made to deal with this. He pointed out that the Greek force was there strictly to provide humanitarian aid and medical care to Somalis. Athens, 9/9/93 (ANA) - The 43rd conference of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee for Europe continued yesterday with the discussion of the "Health for All" (HFA) policy developments in WHO's member states. "The HFA policy provides the moral, ethical and scientific basis for health policy development, by declaring that there must be a fair chance for all to reach their full health potential and that all must have the opportunity of participating in decisions which concern vital aspects of their lives", a WHO statement said. "People cannot be left our because they are poor, uneducated, from a different culture, handicapped or overburdened", the statement added. Many of the participants stressed the need for more active governmental participation in the implementation of the HFA policy, not strictly on a ministerial level. The representatives gave examples of member states that created inter-sector committees or councils attached to parliaments in order to ensure that the parliament can monitor the progress that has to be made. In his closing address, Dr. J. E. Asvall, regional director of WHO for Europe, said that there must be close co-operation between WHO and European city authorities as far as disease-fighting programmes are concerned. Dr. Asvall cited in particular AIDS, cancer and the prevention of alcoholism and smoking. The Greek delegate, Meropi Violaki, underlined that no health policy can be independent of the 38 aims of WHO. "The role of the various governments is very important in determining the standards of people's lives. Governments may ensure that everybody has equal rights to social security and health", she said. The four-day meeting, which ends Friday, has gathered health representatives from 50 European countries, including 21 new states participating for the first time. The goal of the conference is to shape health policy and determine the organisation's future priorities and orientation.