Antenna: News in English (PM), 97-10-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] simitis

[02] Holbrooke - Statements

[03] Earth Quake

[04] Sprouse recommendation

[05] Sprouse reaction

[06] Economy

[07] New Democracy

[08] Mediterranean Anaemia

[09] Canada

[01] Simitis

(Updated: 15/10/1997, 09:00)

Greece and Cyprus have renewed their commitment to defend themselves against Turkish aggression.

As Turkish violations of Greek and Cypriot controlled airspace continued for a third day, the

Greek and Cypriot prime minsiters met in Athens.

Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis and Cypriot premier Glavcos Clirides reaffirmed their commitment to the Greece-Cyprus joint defence doctrine; and to getting the Cypriot Republic into the European Union as soon as possible.

Regardless of Turkish threats and posturing.

Turkey has threatened to prevent Cyprus taking delivery of defensive Russian S-300 missiles to be deployed next year. Simitis says Cyprus, like Greece, has a right to defend itself. And Greece will support it in doing so. That's what the Cypriot-Greek exercises Nikiforos and Toxotees in Cyprus are all about.

Though committed to defence of their independence and sovereign rights, the two nations want good relations with Turkey.

Simitis and Clirides want the Cyprus problem resolved in accordance with long-standing UN calls for a just and viable solution.

The Greek prime minister warns though that if there is no progress on the Cyprus problem, or if Clirides's plan for a gradual demilitarisation of the island isn't accepted by the Turkish side, there will be problems, and problems should be avoided. If the Clirides plan is accepted, then Greece and Cyprus would be willing to rethink their defence strategy.

Turkey has also been truculent on the issue of Cyprus's impending entry into the European Union. Talks on that are starting next year, despite Turkish protests.

Simitis says that Greece backs Cypriot entry, and pushing it ahead will remain a priority in the coming period.

50 Turkish jets invaded Greek and Cypriot- controlled air space again Tuesday, between Rhodes, Crete, and Cyprus, in the same area where Greece and Cyprus are holding their exercises within the context of their joint defence pact.

On a number of occasions, Greek jets chased the Turkish fighters away.

In one of the most flagrant attempts to antagonise, Turkish jets flew over Pafos in Cyprus, taking aerial photographs.

On Monday, the plane taking Greek defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos to Cyprus to observe the exercises, was harassed by two Turkish F-16s. Greek fighters chased them away. But Greece is incensed, and has lodged official protests with Turkey, the EU, and the US.

With the exercises ending Wednesday, the Greek air force and navy remain on alert.

Tsochatzopoulos called Nikiforos and Toxotees a message of the determination of Greece and Cyprus to stand up to all those who believe they can issue threats and ignore international law.

Simitis congratulated the servicemen taking part in the exercises, praising their courage and readiness to defend Greece and Cyprus.

[02] Holbrooke - Statements

But US Cyprus envoy Richard Holbrooke says he doesn't think those Greek and Cypriot exercises and the Turkish violations will lead to a crisis.

Holbrooke continued his visit to Turkey Tuesday, meeting with that nation's deputy chief of staff

and foreign minister.

Richard Holbrooke said in Ankara that in conducting military exercises, Greece and Turkey are quote losing valuable time, time that should be used in repairing their strained relations.

The American diplomat also believes the current current tension between Greece and Cyprus, and Turkey, caused by Turkish air space violations, will not lead to a crisis.

Holbrooke also said that the Cyprus issue poses no problem for US-Turkish relations.

After meeting with Turkish deputy chief of staff Echevit Beer, Holbrooke called him a an admirable man, a strong and decisive military commander.

Holbrooke said Beer had explained to him where Turkey feels threatened.

The US mediator was also impressed after his first meeting with Turkish prime minister Mesout Gilmaz. Holbrooke said he outlined his country's views clearly, and has a long-term vision on many issues.

Holbrooke says that in Turkey, he is listened, and didn't propose anything on the Cyprus issue or for Greek-Turkish relations.

But the US is hoping that the meeting of the Greek and Turkish prime ministers in Crete early next month will get them back on the road to better relations.

Following a non-aggression agreement reached by the two sides in July, relations have soured, with Turkey continuing its anti-Greek propaganda and renewing its threats over Cyprus.

Now, sources say the US would like the two sides to reach a NEW agreement in Crete, one that will revive the spirit of the non-aggression pact.

Sources also say that Holbrooke discussed the possibility of a new agreement being reached, similar to that arrived at in July.

It is expected that Holbrooke's assistant, Thomas Miller, will discuss that issue with the Greek foreign minister.

[03] Earth Quake

A 4.9 richter earthquake shook southern Greece early Tuesday morning.

The shaker was the latest in a series of 22 quakes that started with Monday's 5.8 richter, felt as far away as Athens and Crete.

Tuesday's 4.9 quake caused only minor damages in the city of Kalamata and surrounding areas.

The epicentre of Tuesday's quake was further south than Monday's. It was also further under the seabed. That's good news, say seismologists. It means the seismic activity is moving away from the Greek mainland.

The seismologists say as far as they can tell, all we're going to see now is aftershocks, but they'll know for sure in three days if what we're seeing now is just the the warm-up for a bigger quake.

[04] Sprouse recommendations

The so-called Sprouse report calls for a national pension that will include everyone. But it also calls for raising the retirement age, and measures to discourage people from taking early retirement.

If the government heeds the Sprouse recommendations, there will be and end to a number of automatic bonuses that pensioners get.

There will be a clamp down on people collecting more than one pension; and the pension funds will be merged, their reserves being put to better investment use.

The report recommendations would also lead to employee social insurance contributions be increased.

On balance, all this could mean that workers will pay more for their pensions, and start collecting them at a later age.

And that fiscally stronger funds will be merged with weaker one.

Since women have the most early-pension incentives, it means they would be among the most seriously affected by the proposed changes.

Responding to the publication of the recommendation, Greece's largest trade union, the General Workers' said professor Sprouse is insensitive.

The professor says changes are needed to stave off a financial disaster in social insurance early in the next century.

[05] Sprouse Reaction

The finance minister was asked to comment on it after a budget meeting with the prime minister Tuesday.

Iannos Papantoniou made no comment, and analysts say the government is trying to gauge how various social groups will react to the report before taking sides.

The first reaction came from construction workers, who marched through central Athens Tuesday. One builder said it's wrong to raise the retirement age from 55 to 65 - construction workers can't last that long. Workers in other wearing professions

feel the same way.

The builders say they'll fight to prevent Sprouse's recommendations from being implemented.

The government says what steps it takes to shake out and shape up the nation's over-burdened social security system, will be decided through dialogue.

[06] Economy

It hopes to find a fifth of that sum by increasing 11 existing taxes, and imposing two new taxes.

The new levies would be a tax on large stock market takings; and a mobile phone tax of 7 dollars a month.

Finance minister Giannos Papantoniou told reporters that the government's economic policies, which combine belt-tightening with attempts to increase state income, have paid off.

Greece will be included in the second round of the European Union's monetary union, though it won't have the 3 per cent maximum budget deficit required for the first round in 1999. It is estimated that next year's deficit will be 4.2 per cent.

Papantoniou says the European Commission's assessment that Greece is on the right track for the second round of monetary union, shows that the country's credibility has been strengthened abroad thanks to Pasok policies.

[07] New Democracy

Alogoskoufis points out too, that even by the government's own estimates, the 1998 budget deficit will be 3 billion dollars - the largest ever.

He adds that Pasok's going to try to cover the gap with new taxes.

As for the problems in the social security system addressed by the Sprouse report, Alogoskoufis says the report offers nothing new. The economic ills have been around for a long time; Pasok did much to create them in the 1980s, and has done nothing to cure them in the 90s.

[08] Mediterranean Anaemia

A new method, developed by doctors at the Ioannina University Clinic over the past three years, is capable of diagnosing the disease after only seven weeks of gestation.

Until recently the only means of diagnosis was Amniocentisis, traditionally carried out during the eleventh week of pregnancy.

Dimitris Lolis, gynaecologist and obstetrician at the university explains, "The new method consists of a thin needle being inserted into the vagina at a distance from the foetus. We take 2 mililitres of liquid, examine it, and can accurately give a pre-birth diagnosis in the 7th week of pregnancy. This is extremely important, because terminating a pregnancy at thas stage is very easy".

The new method is at an experimental stage: it is being used only on women who want to abort their foetus.

Research shows that the percentage of miscarriages caused by the new method is the same as that caused by amniocentisis.

[09] Canada

Bakopanou talked to Antenna television about her hopes of getting Greece's views on major issues across from her post.

Eleni Bakopanou was born in Argos, in the Peloponese, but she moved to Montreal with her parents at the age of six. Ever since her student days, she's been interested in politics, and has never been far from the front line of public life in Canada.

She tells Antenna's Margarita Kouza the Canadian government has been largely supportive of Greece on its major issues. "I call them OUR issues", she says, "because I feel both Greek and Canadian".

Canada took Greece's side when Turkey invaded the rocks of Imia last year, and has refused to recognise the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as just the Republic of Macedonia, because Greece objects.

Bakopanou adds that Canada has sent an envoy to Cyprus, to see what can be done to put an end to that country's problems.

At the age of 43, Bakopanou is Canada's deputy justice minister and attorney general. She's the first Greek woman to enjoy a high-level federal post in Canada.

She says her appointment is recognition by the country's prime minister not only of her abilities, but, she believes, of the support the Greeks in Canada have given the Liberal Party.

Bakopanou says she's proud, not just of herself, but of the fact that the prime minister recognises the value of the minority voters, who number half a million.

A career woman as well as a wife and mother of two little girls, BakopAnou is living proof that there is no limit to what women can do.

She says, "We should give a woman the chance to choose whether she wants to work at home - and you do work at home, especially when you're a mother - or outside the home. She believes a government can play a very important role in making sure women have that choice.

As for her political future, BakopAnou says she never looks to far ahead. She just wants to feel that whatever she's doing at the moment is honest and right, and promotes the interests of the Greek minority.

Last Updated: Wednesday, 15-Oct-97 13:04:49

(c) ANT1 Radio 1997

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