Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 03-10-17

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] PM outlines Greek positions at EU Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels

[02] President Stephanopoulos winds up visit to Serbia and Montenegro

[03] Deputy defense minister and Czech counterpart meet in Athens

[04] Gov't on relations within Church, comments by Evert

[05] PM and public works minister discuss unauthorized building issue by telephone

[06] Gov't on Pangalos statement

[07] Bank of Greece backs a more austere fiscal policy

[08] New Olympic Airways attracts 12 bidders, gov’t says

[09] EU sends Greece to court over safety for fishing vessels

[10] Athens and Piraeus hospital doctors announce two more rolling 48-hour strikes

[11] Greek stocks ease on Thursday

[12] Public order minister assures safe 2004 Athens Olympic Games

[13] Health minister refers to health services concerning 2004 Athens Olympic Games

[14] MPs fear low turnout of Olympics volunteers among overseas Greeks

[15] Olympic exhibition to open in Venice

[16] 7th Dialogue between Orthodox Church and MEPs begins in Istanbul

[17] Marathon final arguments for 'N17' suspect Tzortzatos conclude

[18] Police arrest man trading in fake documents for illegals

[19] Albanian freighter in danger of sinking off NW Greece

[20] Kaklamanis meets delegation of Euro-American Women's Council

[21] US ambassador visits US Souda base in Crete

[22] Ecumenical Patriarch congratulates Pope John Paul II

[23] Cyprus President: Unwise to veto Turkey's EU accession

[01] PM outlines Greek positions at EU Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels

BRUSSELS 17/10/2003 (ANA/M. Spinthourakis-V. Demiris)

Simitis said the first signs of convergence exist among the positions of EU member-states, adding that what is necessary is not the preparation of a legal text but speeding up the process towards European integration.

Focusing on Greek positions, the prime minister reiterated that the European draft constitution prepared by the Convention on the Future of Europe constitutes a good basis for consultations.

Regarding the European Council president, he said Greece supports the appointment of a ''long-term'' president, believing that in this way continuity and consistency in EU activities will be safeguarded.

However, Greece believes that the issue of relations between the European Council president and the European Commission president must be examined.

As far as the European Commission is concerned, Greece believes that all member-states must be represented on equal terms and with one Commissioner at the Commission, but its president must have an increased margin of powers in relation to the allocation of duties for Commissioners.

For the Council of Ministers, Greece supports the rotating assumption of Council presidencies by a group of three countries every year.

Concerning the system of ratifying decisions, Greece is of the opinion that what is necessary for a decision to be ratified is that the majority of member-states must agree with it, on condition that they also represent the majority of the EU's population. Simitis said Spain and Poland continue to disagree with this view, who want the population percentage to increase from 51 percent to 66.

On the question of European defense, if a group of countries willing to promote reinforced cooperation in the defense sector is finally created Greece will participate.

Greece agrees, with regard to constitutional revision, that procedures should be anticipated for the possible revision of the constitution of Europe if this is considered necessary in the future.

Referring to other issues on the summit's agenda, Simitis noted the intention of France and Germany to vote at the UN in favor of the new draft resolution submitted by the US on Iraq, despite the fact they consider it to be unsatisfactory and, consequently, they will not contribute from a military point of view.

Commenting on the content of his brief talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Simitis said it concerned the upcoming visit to Greece by the Turkish foreign minister and that this visit could contribute to a further improvement in Greek-Turkish relations.

Turning his attention to the Middle East question, he said EU High Commissioner Javier Solana is continuing contacts with Israelis and Palestinians, but stressed that the high commissioner termed the situation in the Middle East ''chaotic''.

Simitis also mentioned that he raised the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece with his British counterpart Tony Blair on the sidelines of the summit.

''All Greeks want the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece,'' he said, adding that ''we have every interest in having this issue resolved as soon as possible.''

He further said it would be good if this took place before the elections ''which will take place in April or on May 2'' since a period of about six months remains from now until that date, which is a bigger period than the approximately three months separating the elections from the Olympic Games which will begin on August 13.

Gov't believes new EU initiative will improve

Greek economy's competitiveness: The Greek government believes the new initiative being undertaken by the European Union will facilitate an ''improvement in the long-term competitiveness of the Greek economy, a speedup in investments and in the participation of private initiative.''

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Costas Simitis indicated that following the relevant decision taken at the Thessaloniki EU summit, the European Council decided that in the framework of European activities for development a series of projects should be included which are expected ''to improve the EU's productivity and competitiveness and will enable the development of SMEs.''

The total of 29 projects include four of particular interest to Greece, but it was noted that all the projects will not begin simultaneously but will be developed in accordance with their maturity, while Simitis stressed that ''this is a problem we often face in Greece where projects delay in maturing.''

Simitis also said during the press conference that the issue of immigration and of border management was examined by the 15 EU leaders on Thursday in the wake of decisions taken at the Thessaloniki summit, some of which are moving forward at a very satisfactory pace.

He added that agreements on the readmission of illegal immigrants have been promoted and credits have been secured to finance the relevant fund entrusted with this issue.

The 15 leaders will also have to ratify the agreement on the establishment of some new sea and air border control centers, one of which will be headquartered in Greece.

Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said on his part ''the integration of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) did not produce the desired result. Namely, an increase in competitiveness and speedy growth'', adding that the Stability Pact was criticized ''as being the main culprit for the lack of growth.''

PM meets UK's Blair, Turkish counterpart before EU summit: Shortly before the start of the European Summit here on Thurs-day, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis briefly met his British counterpart Tony Blair to discuss Greek demands for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

Greek diplomatic sources said the prime minister once again raised the issue during talks with Blair.

Simitis also had a brief encounter with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the European leaders met to discuss a draft European Constitution, during which they went over the issues that will be covered during an upcoming visit to Athens by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

According to an ANA dispatch from Brussels, the European leaders began their meeting at 11:00 local time. Present at the meeting are the heads of the 15 EU member-states, the 10 enlargement countries due to accede in May 2004 and the three candidate-countries, who have convened on the level of the Intergovernmental Conference in an attempt to bridge their differences regarding the form and content of a future European Constitution.

The current Italian presidency of the EU is apparently determined to complete the IGC within its six-month term so that a new ''Treaty of Rome'' can be signed in December, warning that it might call an emergency summit in November for this purpose.

At 17:00, EU leaders will reconvene for a meeting also attended by European finance and foreign ministers to discuss plans for boosting the European-wide economy through 29 major infrastructure projects in the transport sector, with an estimated cost of 220 billion euros by 2020.

These will include two rail lines passing through Greece, including a line from Athens to Dresden passing via Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic and an 'Ionian-Adriatic' linking Kozani and Kalamata via several cities in western Greece, a road from the Greek-Bulgarian border in Promahonas to Sofia and Budapest and a sea route linking the Ionian, Adriatic and Cyprus.

EU leaders are also expected to discuss illegal immigration, the EU's external borders and the repatriation of illegal immigrants over the course of the summit.

[02] President Stephanopoulos winds up visit to Serbia and Montenegro

BELGRADE 17/10/2003 (ANA - N. Megadoukas)

Stephanopoulos, who has already returned to Athens, in statements said all the contacts he had in Belgrade were of extreme interest and expressed the hope that they would bear fruit.

The president further said that in his talks with his Serb and Montenegrin interlocutors, there was a mutual and sincere briefing on what was going on in this country and on Greece's aims, adding that full agreement was ascertained that efforts must continue for the western Balkan countries to approach and finally join the European Union.

Stephanopoulos meets Serb, Montenegrin PMs in Belgrade: President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos on Thursday had successive meetings here with Serb Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and the Patriarch of Serbia Pavlos, during which he discussed bilateral relations with Greece and Balkan affairs.

Stephanopoulos arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday night for a three-day official visit, during which he held talks with the leadership of Serbia and Montenegro and addressed a business forum in the city.

In an earlier visit to Belgrade's Nebojsa Tower, meanwhile, Stephanopoulos paid tribute to Greek writer and thinker Riga Ferraios - a champion of Greece's fight for freedom and one of the first martyrs in its struggle for independence from Ottoman rule. The Greek president deposited a wreath on the spot where Ferraios and his comrades were killed in June 1798, 23 years before Greece emerged victorious from the 1821 war of independence, before visiting the City Hall.

During an address alongside Belgrade's mayor, Stephanopoulos stressed that all Balkan countries that believed in the ideals of the European Union, such as democracy, respect for international law and cooperation between peoples, should become members of the EU.

Noting that Europe had suffered from the Cold War climate, he called for an end to dividing lines within Europe, stressing that unification would allow all peoples to cooperate, achieve economic growth and enhance their democratic institutions.

Stephanopoulos said that Greece supported the accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey to the EU, as well as the western Balkan states.

[03] Deputy defense minister and Czech counterpart meet in Athens

Athens, 17/10/2003 (ANA)

During the three-hour talks, they also discussed military cooperation for the training of Czech officers in Greek military schools and Lotidis informed his counterpart on security issues for the Olympic Games in 2004.

[04] Gov't on relations within Church, comments by Evert

Athens, 17/10/2003 (ANA)

He called on all sides to make an effort to find ways to deal with the problem within the Church, while cautioning against statements that bred ''polarity and acerbity''.

Asked to comment on Wednesday's statements by main opposition New Democracy MP Miltiades Evert, a former leader of his party, Hytiris said the comments of individual MPs were not the issue but rather the official stance adopted by ND, while he urged reporters to direct their questions to ND's headquarters.

He also noted that there was no plan to appoint a mediator.

Evert, while stressing that he respected and honored the Istanbul-based Patriarchate above all, had argued that "national interests" mandated that the Church of Greece retain administrative control over bishoprics in northern Greece and the eastern and northern Aegean.

[05] PM and public works minister discuss unauthorized building issue by telephone

Athens, 17/10/2003 (ANA)

They decided to have a work management group created to address the issue of demolitions, composed of officials from the public works and finance ministries, the Public Real Estate Corporation, the Region of Attica and the Prefecture of Eastern Attica.

The committee will promote all demolition protocols and open all files concerning coastal trespassing.

The group will also examine cases one by one and promote the issuing of final decisions.

[06] Gov't on Pangalos statement

Athens, 17/10/2003 (ANA)

The outspoken Pangalos this week expressed his doubts over whether ruling PASOK will be able to win the next general elections.

Acting spokesman Telemahos Hytiris made the comments during a regular press briefing in Athens.

[07] Bank of Greece backs a more austere fiscal policy

Athens, 17/10/2003 (ANA)

The report, submitted to parliament and to the government cabinet by Bank of Greece's governor Nikos Garganas, said that the country's fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP remained one of the highest in the European Union despite a significant reduction this year.

The central bank noted that these problems reflected weakness in the Greek economy and stressed that it would need more efforts towards fiscal restructuring, infrastructural reforms and the contribution of social partners to solve them.

The Bank of Greece urged the government to adopt a more austere fiscal policy, noting that fiscal policy loosened this year compared with the government's targets, and stressed that continued efforts to achieve fiscal restructuring could help contain inflationary pressures in the economy.

The report stressed that an increase in private savings, if the country's fiscal deficit was reduced, could also help in containing the country's current account deficit.

The Bank of Greece said that the government should protect a significant economic progress made since the previous decade and to limit any impact on economic developments from an election of political cycle in the country.

The bank also urged for the continuation of efforts to achieve structural reforms to deal with any economic weaknesses and to promote a more effective functioning of domestic markets and competition. The report also called for a ''prudent'' pricing policy and for real incomes' policy, based on productivity gains, to protect workers' purchasing power, to boost economic competitiveness and to reduce unemployment.

Greek inflation slowed this year, reducing its distance from the eurozone average, the report said. The Bank of Greece expects the consumer price index and the harmonized inflation to fall to around 3.2 percent in the last quarter of 2003, from 3.6 percent and 3.8 percent, in the last quarter of 2002, respectively, and forecasts an annual average inflation rate of 3.5 percent for the year, slightly down from 3.6 percent in 2002.

The report attributed the stubbornly high inflation rate to unsatisfactory competition conditions in certain domestic markets, noting that excess demand led to excessive price increases and to higher operating profit margins in some sectors of business activity, a development recorded in 2003.

The central bank said that labor cost per product unit slowed this year but it remained above an acceptable level to support price stability. The report noted that diverging Greek inflation was connected with a process of real economic convergence with the rest of EU, with the fact that Greek economy was currently in a different economic cycle from the rest of the eurozone, less effective operations of domestic markets for product and services and other reasons.

The report forecasts that Greek Gross Domestic Product would rise 4.0 percent this year (compared with an anticipated 0.5 percent growth rate in the eurozone), a development likely to bring the country closer to convergence. Employment was rising faster than in 2002 with the unemployment rate steadily falling, it noted.

The central bank's report showed that borrowing by businesses and households rose with high growth rates (18.7 percent in August), with credit expansion to Greek businesses growing faster (14.0 percent in August), while credit to households slowing down (27.3 percent in August from 33.1 percent in December 2002), reflecting a slowdown in mortgage and consumer loans.

Garganas also welcomed a target of 1.2 percent for the general government deficit in the budget draft for 2004, down from 1.4 percent as a proportion of gross domestic product.

Central Bank report: The Greek economy has achieved high grades of macro-economic stability in the last few years, although inflation still surpassed the eurozone average rate, unemployment remained high and the country's current accounts deficit surpassed 6.0 percent of GDP for the fourth consecutive session, a Bank of Greece's interim report on monetary policy said on Thursday.

The report, submitted to parliament and to the government cabinet by Bank of Greece's governor Nikos Garganas, said that the country's fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP remained one of the highest in the European Union despite a significant reduction this year.

The central bank noted that these problems reflected weakness in the Greek economy and stressed that it would need more efforts towards fiscal restructuring, infrastructural reforms and the contribution of social partners to solve them.

The Bank of Greece urged the government to adopt a more austere fiscal policy, noting that fiscal policy loosened this year compared with the government's targets, and stressed that continued efforts to achieve fiscal restructuring could help contain inflationary pressures in the economy.

The report stressed that an increase in private savings, if the country's fiscal deficit was reduced, could also help in containing the country's current account deficit.

The Bank of Greece said that the government should protect a significant economic progress made since the previous decade and to limit any impact on economic developments from an election of political cycle in the country.

The bank also urged for the continuation of efforts to achieve structural reforms to deal with any economic weaknesses and to promote a more effective functioning of domestic markets and competition. The report also called for a "prudent" pricing policy and for real incomes' policy, based on productivity gains, to protect workers' purchasing power, to boost economic competitiveness and to reduce unemployment.

Greek inflation slowed this year, reducing its distance from the eurozone average, the report said. The Bank of Greece expects the consumer price index and the harmonized inflation to fall to around 3.2 percent in the last quarter of 2003, from 3.6 percent and 3.8 percent, in the last quarter of 2002, respectively, and forecasts an annual average inflation rate of 3.5 percent for the year, slightly down from 3.6 percent in 2002.

The report attributed the stubbornly high inflation rate to unsatisfactory competition conditions in certain domestic markets, noting that excess demand led to excessive price increases and to higher operating profit margins in some sectors of business activity, a development recorded in 2003.

The central bank said that labor cost per product unit slowed this year but it remained above an acceptable level to support price stability. The report noted that diverging Greek inflation was connected with a process of real economic convergence with the rest of EU, with the fact that Greek economy was currently in a different economic cycle from the rest of the eurozone, less effective operations of domestic markets for product and services and other reasons.

The report forecasts that Greek Gross Domestic Product would rise 4.0 percent this year (compared with an anticipated 0.5 percent growth rate in the eurozone), a development likely to bring the country closer to convergence. Employment was rising faster than in 2002 with the unemployment rate steadily falling, it noted.

The central bank's report showed that borrowing by businesses and households rose with high growth rates (18.7 percent in August), with credit expansion to Greek businesses growing faster (14.0 percent in August), while credit to households slowing down (27.3 percent in August from 33.1 percent in December 2002), reflecting a slowdown in mortgage and consumer loans.

Opposition: Central bank report implicitly criticizes gov't: Two opposition parties said on Thursday that an interim central bank report released earlier in the day implicitly criticized the government's economic policy.

''Despite the diplomatic language in which the Bank of Greece's report is couched, there is no room for doubt that the country needs a different policy, a different government,'' said George Alogoskoufis, economic spokesman for the main opposition New Democracy party.

''Behind this diplomatic language lurks a massive fiscal problem, a massive deficit in the country's competitiveness, and a lack of substantive deceleration of inflation,'' Alogoskoufis said in a statement.

The Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology said that despite its ''elegant phrasing'', the Bank of Greece's report demonstrated the failure of the government's economic and social policy.

''Showing deviation of government policy from the ruling party's basic election platform are high inflation and unemployment, fiscal failure in implementing the budget, a high trade deficit due to an erosion of competitiveness, an uncertain outlook for sustainable development, under funding for key sectors of the social state, and major social and regional imbalances,'' the party's economy spokesman, Dimitris Papadimoulis, said in a statement.

[08] New Olympic Airways attracts 12 bidders, gov’t says

Athens, 17/10/2003 (ANA)

A ministry announcement said that the privatization procedure would enter the next stage of submitting binding bids after the government delivers all information material regarding the airline company.

The Greek parliament recently approved a government-sponsored bill envisaging the creation of a new national carrier.

Olympic Airlines will replace Olympic Airways and will have exclusively flight operations after the merger between Olympic Airways, Olympic Aviation and Macedonian Airlines.

Olympic Airways will be broken into separate autonomous companies scheduled to be privatized, leaving the national carrier with only flight operations.

Olympic Airlines will employ 1,850 staff, and would operate with a 45 percent reduced labor cost.

Olympic Airlines will have an initial capital of 140 million euros, it will operate a fleet of 44 aircraft and will maintain Olympic Airways' logo.

Olympic Airlines could service around five million passengers a year and stressed that maintenance, cargo, ground services would be offered by the Group's other companies for at least three years.

They noted that the government would seek a restructuring of all subsidiaries, burdened with deficits exceeding 140 million euros, in order to have the companies ready for privatization.

The government later released of the twelve consortiums that expressed interest. The groups are as follows: