From: tzarros@ccs.carleton.ca (Theodore Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Wed, 15 Jun 1994 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens News Agency Bulletin, Vance illness causes FYROM talks deferred after Corfu summit ------------------------------------------------------------ Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias' scheduled meeting this week with UN special envoy for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) issue Cyrus Vance has been postponed until the end of the month, owing to a sudden illness of the international mediator, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos announced yesterday. Mr. Venizelos said that the meeting, originally scheduled for Thursday, would be held in New York after the European Union Corfu summit next week. Mr. Venizelos told questioners that he had "no information" concerning reports that US President Bill Clinton's special envoy on the Skopje issue, Matthew Nimetz, had proposed the name "Republic of Macedonia-Skopje" for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The reports were also denied by Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias who said: "I categorically deny them. We have never raised the issue of the name during negotiations." Mr. Papoulias also denied allegations that Mr. Vance suffers from "a diplomatic illness." "Mr. Vance's illness is real and the talks will take place immediately after his recovery," Mr. Papoulias said. In another development, an ANA dispatch from United Nations headquarters in New York, said that a spokesman for the UN Secretary-General told reporters the talks would be postponed because Mr. Vance had to undergo surgery. "Concerning the talks that were supposed to take place on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia issue later his week, tentatively Thursday, they will be postponed because Mr. Vance, who underwent minor corrective surgery last week, is not expected out of hospital until today (yesterday), and needs a little more time to recover. He has therefore asked the parties to suggest another date, probably later this month," Fred Ekhard said. Greece demands that FYROM changes its name, flag and its constitution containing irredentist designs against its northern province of Macedonia. Athens imposed trade sanctions on FYROM on February 16. European Court hearing ---------------------- Luxembourg, (ANA/V.Demiri-M.Savva): Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Yiannos Kranidiotis yesterday expressed optimism over a European Court of Justice ruling on Greece's bid to defend trade sanctions it imposed as retortion measures on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in an effort to fight Skopje intransigence. "I am optimistic on the outcome and I hope the European Court decision will be announced soon," Mr. Kranidiotis told reporters at the end of the hearing session behind locked doors. Mr. Kranidiotis headed a team of five Greek lawyers defending the imposition of retortion trade measures against FYROM at the European Court of Justice. Mr Kranidiotis stated the European Commission, which had brought the action against Greece, had failed to prove its claim that Greece had made improper use of Article 224 of the Treaty of Maastricht, which allows for adoption of certain measures for external security reasons. The Commission had to show that the Greek action was causing "irreparable damage". Mr Kranidiotis said as much financial damage was being caused to Greece itself as to its northern neighbour. "Most trade between Skopje and the European Union goes through Greece, so Greece is suffering damage", he said. "This shows exactly that the measures serve a political purpose and have no other purposes". Professor Crateros Ioannou, one of the defence lawyers, commenting on the Commission's arguments, pointed out that the claim for improper use of article 224 was based on disagreement with Greece's political assessment of dangers to its external security. If such interpretations were admitted, he said, it would imply subjecting the decisions of member states to control as to their political expediency. Mr Ioannou described Greek retortion measures as selective and mild, bordering on the symbolic, and pointed out that the presence of United Nations peacekeepers in FYROM proved that Greek assessments of a danger of war in the region were not arbitrary. "It is in the interest of every state", he said, "to protect itself effectively against the propaganda of another state and, in this specific case, from a propaganda whose existence was acknowledged by the EU Summit on December 16, 1992". Finally he stressed that a decision by the Court ordering Greece to call off the measures would have a negative effect on the ongoing diplomatic initiatives under way within the framework of the United Nations". Papoulias blames Albania over continued custody of six ethnic Greeks ----------------------------------------------------------------- Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Greece yesterday accused Albanian authorities of continuing to detain six ethnic Greek for no legal reason. "The prosecutor in Tirana is acting arbitrarily by continuing to hold in custody the six members of the Omonia party," Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias said in Ioannina, northern Greece. He said Amnesty International had cited similar complaints in a human rights report on Albania. The six ethnic Greeks are held in a Tirana jail on charges of fomenting separatism. Their detention in May was followed by mass arrests of members of the ethnic Greek community in southern Albania. The move sparked strong criticism from Athens which accused Tirana of waging what it called, a campaign to terrorise and intimidate the 300,000-strong ethnic Greek minority out of Albania. German FM lauds Greek EU presidency ----------------------------------- Berlin, 15/6/1994 (ANA-P.Stangos): German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel yesterday termed the Greek European Union Presidency "particularly successful" in between talks with EU Council President and Alternate Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos. Mr. Kinkel underlined the Greek Presidency's contribution to enlargement negotiations with the four new member-states (Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway). Referring to Mr. Pangalos' personal contribution, Mr. Kinkel spoke of "an offer of excellent work", "impetus and ability", terming him "a veteran in this difficult field." Mr. Pangalos in turn thanked his German counterpart for his co-operation and promised to support the German Presidency "in the same way the Greek Presidency was supported by Mr. Kinkel." Mr. Kinkel said reaching a conclusion at the Corfu summit on the issue of European Commission President Jacques Delors' successor is a "common wish," but warned that no specific reference will be made to names. Mr. Pangalos said afterwards "convergence was also reached on the choice of persons." Germany already supports the candidacy of Belgian Prime Minister Jean Luc Dehaene. "Germany will support the options of the Greek Presidency at the summit and will contribute to the success of the Corfu meeting," Mr. Pangalos said. Talks between Mr. Pangalos and Mr. Kinkel focused on preparing the Corfu summit and handing over the EU presidency to Germany. The visit by Mr. Pangalos and Foreign Affairs Under-secretary George Papandreou to Berlin is part of the traditional "tour of capitals" carried out by the Council of Ministers President before the summit. Talks focused primarily on the process the Greek Presidency will apply at the Corfu summit to prevent any problems from arising on the issue of Mr. Delors' successor as Commission President. New Greek EU commissioner in January ------------------------------------ Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): PASOK Secretary-General Akis Tsohatzopoulos yesterday announced that Christos Papoutsis will be the new Greek European Union Commissioner as of January 1, 1995. He said the choice had been made by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou immediately after the assumption of the government by PASOK last October, in light of the expiry of the present commissioner's term in office, Yiannis Paleokrassas. Socialist leaders to meet in Corfu ---------------------------------- Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Leaders of member-parties of the European Socialist Party will meet in Corfu on June 23, in view of the European Union Summit on the island. Topics for discussion include results of last Sunday's European Parliament elections and proposals by socialist leaders on summit issues. New four, Yeltsin to attend EU Corfu summit ------------------------------------------ Luxembourg, 15/6/1994 (ANA/AFP): Four countries which have negotiated to join the European Union in 1995 are to take part in an EU Summit next week as though they were already members, the Union said here yesterday. Greek European Affairs Minister and current chairman of the EU's Council of Foreign Ministers, Theodoros Pangalos, said the leaders of Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden would join the summit on the island of Corfu on Friday next week. He also confirmed that attending the summit will be Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who is scheduled to sign a partnership and co-operation accord between the EU and Russia. Mr. Pangalos said the Austrian, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish leaders would sign treaties of accession to the union at the Corfu Summit on June 24th and take part in the rest of the meeting afterwards. Of the four countries, only Austria is certain to join the union on January 1 next year. Voters approved EU membership by a two thirds majority in a referendum last Sunday. Finland, Sweden and Norway are scheduled to hold referendums, in that order, in October and November. The EU is hoping that the unexpectedly large Austrian "yes" vote will create a pro-member ship bandwagon effect. The Council also assessed progress in implementing the White Paper on growth and unemployment. European Commission President Jacques Delors will address the issue of unemployment, especially among the youth, at the Corfu Summit. European Commissioner for Social Affairs Padraig Flynn will present, at the summit a report on the European Union workplace, employment conditions and unemployment. PM confers with Economy, Trade Ministers ---------------------------------------- Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou yesterday conferred with Ministers of National Economy Yiannos Papantoniou and Industry Costas Simitis. The Ministers made no statements after the meetings. Reports say topics discussed included the Convergence Programme to be submitted to the European Union and the course of the collection of state revenues and privatisations. Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos, commenting on the meetings, ruled out the introduction of new measures. Tsohatzopoulos chairs Europoll assessment meeting ------------------------------------------------- Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Ruling PASOK party Secretary-General Akis Tsohatzopoulos chaired a Political Secretariat meeting yesterday as Central Committee secretary to make an initial assessment of last Sunday's Euro-election results and plan the party's future moves. In a statement after the meeting, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos referred primarily to future steps and less to election results which have two different assessments, reports said. Mr. Tsohatzopoulos added PASOK's course had been examined by its assembly and an initial discussion held on party planning until October elections for prefecture and local administration. He said intensive work is being done within the party and announced that PASOK's Central Committee will convene between July 8-9 since Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou's commitments (European socialists conference and the European Union summit) do not allow for an earlier date. Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said PASOK's Executive Bureau will probably convene early next week and the Political Secretariat every Monday. Premier's meetings ------------------ Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou last night had a series of meetings with some of his ministers and leading personalities of his ruling party. Mr. Papandreou met separately with former Finance Minister Dimitris Tsovolas, Finance Minister Alecos Papadopoulos and Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias. No statements were made to the press after the meetings. Greece-Cyprus common defence meeting ------------------------------------ Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): The issue of the common defence area between Greece and Cyprus was the subject of talks between the Defence Ministers of the two countries Gerasimos Arsenis and Costas Eliades. The meeting was held in the context of regular contacts between the two sides on the issue lasted longer than scheduled and was attended by the political and military leadership of the Defence ministry. Special topics discussed included the co-ordination of defence policy, the armament programmes of the two countries, officer training etc. Today Mr Eliades is visiting military installations and the Army Cadet School, where a swimming pool has been built through a Cyprus government donation. Public Order Minister concludes talks in Israel ----------------------------------------------- Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Public Order Minister Stelios Papathemelis concluded talks with Israeli government officials yesterday on issues of mutual interest. Mr. Papathemelis was on a two-day visit to Israel at the official invitation of his Israeli counterpart. He discussed co-operation between the two countries in the fields of security, border protection and facing organised crime, drug trafficking and terrorism. He also discussed international issues and the peace process in the Middle East. May inflation rate shows 0.80 rise to 11 per cent ------------------------------------------------- Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): The annual rate of inflation rose to 11 per cent in May from 10.4 per cent in April and 10.2 per cent in March, according to National Statistical Service figures released yesterday. The increase was due to an 0.8 per cent rise in the price index in May this year, compared with just 0.2 per cent in the same month of 1993. According to the NSS, the May index rise was due to price increases in rents, heating oil, beef, lamb, goat, fresh fruit, potatoes, ice cream, clothing, footwear, cleaning items and furniture. In May 1993 the annual rate of inflation was 16.4 per cent, compared with 15.8 per cent in May 1992. Greek presidency compromise plan on 1994 crop prices ---------------------------------------------------- Athens, 15/6/1994 (ANA): Agriculture Minister George Moraitis said yesterday that Greece would put forward a compromise proposal on 1994 crop prices to overcome disagreement at next week's European Union meeting of farm ministers in Luxembourg. Mr. Moraitis, who will chair the meeting which opens Monday, said that the proposal would be presented on Tuesday since the opening day would be taken up with bilateral negotiations. "We will put forward a comprehensive proposal aimed at overcoming disagreement and establishing conditions for agreement," Mr. Moraitis told a press conference. The main points of disagreement concern milk quotas and measures related to cereals, potato starch, tobacco and oil. Mr. Moraitis, who began yesterday a tour of EU countries in an effort to pave the way for agreement, said that Greece would "put up a fight" about tobacco, oil and the milk quota.