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Antenna News in English 110796Antenna Radio News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.grNews in English, of 11/07/1996TITLES
PASOKOne of prime minister Kostas Simitis's chief rivals within Pasok has been left off the party's 7-member political secretariat.Defence minister Gerasimos Arsenis, who rivaled Mr Simitis for the premiership in January, was, as expected, not included in the secretariat. What had been rumoured for days was confirmed. Defence minister Gerasimos Arsenis, who in January held his own in a three-way race for the premiership in parliament, has been left off of Pasok's new political secretariat. Prime minister Kostas Simitis, parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis, and Pasok secretary Kostas Skandalides were all guaranteed seats by virtue of their positions within the party. Mr Simitis filled the other four vacancies. He gave one seat to interior minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, since he had run against the prime minister for Pasok president at the party's congress at the end of June. The other three spots went to the three top vote-getters in the congress central committee election: education minister Giorgos Papandreou, environment minister Kostas Laliotis and development minister Vasso Papandreou. With six of the seven members serving on the cabinet, the government and the party merge completely on the secretariat. Mr Simitis says the body will merely play a consulting role, and that political decisions will be made by Pasok's executive bureau, directly elected by the central committee. Before Wednesday's executive bureau meeting, Arsenis had said that Pasok needs a secretariat representative of all the different currents in the party. Such a body, he maintained could synthesise the different views on major foregin policy and domestic issues. But, after being left off the secretariat, Arsenis said he doesn't feel excluded, because he can speak his mind in the executive bureau, the central committee and before the Greek people. Tsochatzopoulos, Mr Simitis's leading rival within Pasok, also said before Wednesday's bureau meeting that everyone must participate in Pasok as it embarks on its new course. ECONOMYOn the economic front, there's a mixed bag of news. The national economy minister says there will be no additional belt-tightening measures this year. But he adds that 1997 will be a tight squeeze.After huddling with the government's finance people, national economy minister Iannos Papantoniou said even though next year's budget will be tight, Greece is coming out of the tunnel. "We're quickly approaching the criteria laid down by the Maastricht treaty for European convergence", he said. "The shaking out and stabilisation of the Greek economy of the Greek economy is coming to completion, and next year we'll have the same economic indicators as most other European Union members". One indicator that's lagging a little behind target is inflation. The government had hoped to get that down to 5 per cent by next year, but Papantoniou says conjunctural factors at the start of '96, like rising fuel prices, have made that impossible. Nonetheless, the government is satisified with its progress on the inflation front, and to stop fuel prices fuelling inlation further, it's considering lowering the fuel tax. To fight inflation on other goods in the form of profiteering, the government wants prices stamped on all items. JUSTICEThe government's new high court appointments aren't going down well in some quarters. Following the recent appointments, New Democracy accused the government of using party politics as its criteria.It also said it was wrong of Pasok to appoint judges to top posts over other judges who had seniority. That view is present in the court itself. High court judge Dionysios Kondilis resigned Wednesday, because the two men appointed court vice presidents were lower on the promotion list than he was. Sources say other resignations may follow, and one member of the Council of State, the highest constitutional court in the land, has also stepped down. HEATWAVE ENDSThis July, relief means lower temperatures, and Greeks finally got just that. After nearly a week of temperatures that jumped around at the 100 degrees farenheit mark, some of the heat was finally off, as temperatures dropped into the eighties.In Athens, the high was 89 degrees, warm but bearable. North winds are helping to cools things down, not only in Athens but all over the country. In Thessaloniki, the high temperature was 83 degrees farenheit; that's 28 degrees celsius. The weather forecast for tomorrow is more of the same: the welcome north winds, and temperatures in the 80s. POST OFFICEEveryone loves to get a letter. But in Greece, people are apparently also fond of the people who handle the mail.The Greek post office recently polled first among Greek people asked what their favourite state-run service was. On a scale of ten, the post office scored a first-place 6.1 among people aged from 25 to 70. Post office president Andreas Athanassopoulos said at a recent conference that the post office not only provides better service than the phone and electricity companies in the eyes of consumers. It also turned a profit in the first four months of 1996 - good work for any post office. People polled were asked to rate a number of state companies according to the quality of the services they provide. ART EXHIBITA recently-opened exhibit in Thessaloniki put art at the service of the national memory.The exhibit, called "For the Country", is an attempt to use the plastic arts to create an indigenous memory. "For the Country", held at the Vilka exhibition centre in Thessaloniki, talks about Greece and Cyprus. Art historian Stephanos Manos says it is an attempt to create "indigenous memory", a sense of homeland, by using the international language of art. Manos argues that if modern art wants to win over the public, it must base itself on the subtle balance between place and people, the national and the international. But this is not a nationalistic exhibit, says Stephanides. Rather, internationalism flows from love of ones country, which leads to love of other countries. Why then, is this exhibit called, "for the country"? Because that is one of the most virile verses in Homer's Iliad, says Stephanides. When omens were bad, Hektor said there is one excellent thing: to fight for the country". "And that's what we should do", says Stephanides. "Defend our country, our memories, loves, the images we carry within us...and at the same time defend our relationship to the rest of the world. Culture is now a policy weapon. Art moves on. The people of this country move on and have the strength and the ability to put their ideas into practice". © ANT1-Radio 1996Antenna Radio News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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