Antenna: News in English, 96-11-19

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

News in English, of 19/11/1996

TITLES

• The prime minister tells Pasok his economic policies are tough but fair.
• Remembering the Polytechnio.
• And, the winners at the Thessaloniki Film Fest.

PASOK

Simitis also said that even though it's tough, the 1997 budget is fair. He explained that those with the most in society will be called on to share much of the burden of economic austerity, and that wage earners and pensioners will do relatively less belt tightening.

There will be more taxes next year - the message from the prime minister is that the "haves" will be hit hardest there.

Simitis told his in-house critics, who accuse him of being insensitive to the needs of the neediest in society, that his economic policies are necessary, and that no Pasok member has the right to dissociate himself from them.

Touching on the same issue in his speech afterward, economy minister Iannos Papantoniou said it's unacceptable for Pasok members to be divided into nice guys and bad belt-tightening guys. Besides, he added, pay raises in the public sector will be above inflation next year.

ECONOMY

4 billion dollars in additional taxes - that's what Greeks are likely to fork over next year. The government will release the specifics on Tuesday.

On Monday, Simitis said that high-value properties and state bonds will come in the tax firing line.

Sources say the tax on bonds will be 7.5 per cent and there will be a new 2 per cent tax on mutual funds. People with foreign currency bank accounts can expect a 15 per cent hit on their interests, say sources.

As for property holdings, single persons will not be taxed on properties worth up to 300 thousand dollars. That amount will double for married couples, according to the same sources.

Properties worth up to 400 thousand dollars will be taxed at a rate of .2 per cent, say sources. Thereafter, the rate will be .3 per cent.

Property owners spokesman Stratos Paradias calls the impending tax quote "a screaming injustice" against people who've worked to acquire some property.

ND

In a newspaper interview, Giorgos Souflias asks Evert to clarify his intentions so there's no re-run of what happened in September. Then, Evert resigned following the general election defeat, only to submit his candidacy again - and be re-elected to head the party.

Souflias says Evert's apparent about-face was bad image-making for the party.

The leadership issue has New Democracy members divided. Some say Evert is the source of the party's problems, and that the congress will show him the door.

But others, like MP Gerasimos Giakoumatos, say that if Evert decides to be a candidate for the leadership, he will be re-elected at the congress.

Giakoumatos believes the key to Evert's success lies in the fact that most of the congress delegates will be in his camp.

Evert's opponents have tried to shift the delegate balance, and recently won a concession: there will be 25 per cent more delegates at the congress than traditionally provided for. How they are to be selected is a bone of contention, with both Evert and his opponents thinking of the votes.

Party vice president Iannis Varvitsiotis will submit his proposals for the way the new delegates are to be picked to the party's political council this week. Both Evert and Souflias will take part in the discussion of the Varvitsiotis recommendations.

Souflias wants the extra delegates elected directly by the party members.

The vice president will be trying to find common ground between the two camps. But, the climate is unstable, and Varvitsiotis says that he may even run for party leader himself, if he thinks it'll serve party unity.

POLYTECHNIC

The prime minister was among the hundreds of people who passed by the Athens engineering school, the Polytechnio, Sunday, to pay their respects to the youths who stood up to the dictators.

On November 17th 1993, students barricaded themselves behind the uniiversity walls, calling for a return to democracy.

The military rulers responded by sending in the tanks. At least 12 students are said to have been killed.

The protest shook the authority of the dictatorship, which ended the following year.

On Sunday, those who remembered left a flower by the monument to the event.

Prime minister Kostas Simitis layed a wreath at the monument on Saturday. A number of other political leaders also paid a visit to the Polytechnio over the weekend.

SHIP

On Saturday, relatives and friends of the four missing seamen through wreathes into the sea at the site where the ship went down.

The search for the men continues - divers are expected to carry out more dives in coming days. The camera, instrumental in gathering information from the Kostakos wreckage at a depth of 160 metres, will be back in service in three weeks.

FESTIVAL

But festival audiences chose the Serbian anti-war film "Beautiful villages burn in a beautiful way", as their favourite.

The second prize, the silver Alexander, went to Isabel Cuahe's Spanish- American production, "What I never told you".

Best director went to Taiwan's Tso-Chi Chang, for his work on the movie "A- Tsoung".

Greek-American Alexander Payne, with "Citizen Ruth", and France's Llucas Belvaux, with "For Laughter", shared the best script award.

In the Greek section of the festival, best film went to Andreas PAntzis for "The slaughter of the rooster" and Nikos Grammatikos for "The missing".

The same men also won the best director award, and "The missing" made it a hat trick, picking up best Greek script.

Best Greek female actress went to Greek-Italian Valeria Goin for her performance in the "Slaughter of the Rooster".

From now on, Antenna television is giving the best Greek female actress 4 thousand dollars, in memory of the late Greek star Aliki Voyouklaki. This year, the award was presented by Antenna public relations director Lola Daifa.

†“DRA

The tribute came as the islanders held a mass in honour of Hydra's patron saint, Constantinos, in Piraeus.

Hundreds of people attended the mass in St Nicholas Church.

SOCCER

BASKETBALL

In pro-basketball, it was Ioannides against Ioannides Monday night. That's COACH IANNIS Ioannides. The man who's taken Aek from the the doldrums to the top of the pro ranks this season, had his first meeting against Olympiakos, the championship team he built, and left after LAST season.

And, on the road, Aek is haunted by Ioannides past early on. Olympiakos blows out to a 15-3 lead, before Aek shakes off the ghost and pulls to within 8 at the break.

©ANT1-Radio 1996

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