Antenna: News in English (PM), 97-11-25

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

Last Updated: Tuesday, 25-Nov-97 13:02:18

CONTENTS

[01] Âurns interview

[02] Simitis

[03] Karamanlis

[04] Scandalides

[05] Rainfall

[06] Soccer

[07] Film Festival

[01] Âurns interview

In an exclusive interview with Antenna's Athanassios Ellis, the American diplomat said his chief concern will be to help Greece overcome at least some of its problems in the Aegean, and help work out the Cyprus problem.

ELLIS : "Where will yoy concentrate as ambassador in so far as relations between Washington and Athens are concerned ?"

BURNS : "We very much applaud the reform efforts of prime minister Simitis, the economic modernisation efforts, we will support these, the US accross the board, and of course we want to work to expand our economic relationship. The US and Greece have a very low level of trade with each other, only 1.5 billion dollars a year into trade. We are to be able working together to expand that, so that both of our countries, our private sectors benefit from that, so I go out to Greece with great hopes for a positive relationship and one of respect with the greek government and knowing that we have a lot of support in this country, in our Greek- American community, in Congress, and of course President Clinton and secretary Albright to make relations with Greece a priority for the US".

ELLIS : "What specific actions will you take along with ambassador Holbrooke and of course secretary Albright in trying to improve our relations between Ankara and Athens now that you'll be ambassador of the US in Greece ?

BURNS : "We do have a team headed by secretary Albright who asked me to take this job and who wants us, wants me to concentrate on helping Greece in the Aegean and in Cyprus. I have enormous respect for Holbrooke, he and I have been friends for a long time, I worked with him on the Bosnia accords, I think he's a terrific negotiator. I think all of us working on this, understand that particularly on Cyprus, this is going to be a very very tough struggle. The US is doing what it should be doing, and that is providing some leadership for peace, for reunification of Cyprus. I don't want to predict any early breakthroughs, because that's too hard and too difficult, but I think that the Cypriot people, both the Greek and Turkish- Cypriot people, the Greek government, the Turkish government can know that they have a reliable partner and an active partner, the US.

ELLIS : Madeleine Albright was instrumental in Madrid last July, in Madrid's decoration between

Prime minister Simitis and president Demirel. Then, we had some problems in New York in September and then the meeting in Crete in November. What do you see the relation between Athens and Ankara is going today ? Messout Yilmaz is coming meeting president Clinton next month, and of course the European Union is going to talk about Turkey's relations in Brussels in the beginning of December".

BURNS :"I should tell you that I haven't even presented my credentials to the Greek government, to the Greek president. I haven't had my first meetings with the Prime minister and his associates. So, I think I would prefer to hold my fire and my thoughts for private discussions with the Greek government, but I can tell you this : we're gonna work on the basis of cooperation and respect with the Greek government in all of these issues. That's where we'll start from and secretary Albright has given me a mission and that is to create the best possible relationship that we can, working on these very difficult issues. And that's what I intend to do as an ambassador".

[02] Simitis

After Simitis and deputy foreign minister Iannos Kranidiotis spoke with Cordovez, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said Greece supports the UN attempt to find a just and viable solution for Cyprus, in accordance with UN resolutions on the issue.

"In that spirit", added Reppas, "we encourage Mr Cordovez to continue his efforts immediately after the Cypriot presidential election early next year".

Absence of progress on the long-running issue endanger stability and peace in the wider region, explained Reppas.

Greece wants the Cyprus problem resolved as soon as possible.

[03] Karamanlis

During his press conference, Kostas Karamanlis the government is taxing more rather than spending less.

Citing what he calls a "hidden" state debt of some 18 billion dollars, Karamanlis said the new budget alone has a 2.1 billion dollar shortfall.

"Instead of rational policies and a systematic effort to cut state spending, the government is unleashing a tax storm on the country", Karamanlis said. "In the past four years, there have been 78 new tax measures included in annual budgets".

A New Democracy government would not waste any time implementing tax reform, he added. "The government lost the critical first 18 months. If you don't start your reforms within a year of an election, reform becomes more difficult with each passing day".

Karamanlis questions whether or not the government really wants to implement reforms, or if it's capable of doing so. As time passes, he's increasingly convinced the government doesn't want to, and can't.

[04] Scandalides

Kostas Skandalides spoke at a conference of Pasok expatriates in Germany over the weekend.

Affirming that Pasok will never negotiate over Greece's sovereign rights, the party secretary said, "We want all Greeks of the diaspora to fight for a strong and modern Greece".

He added that Greeks everywhere can help the government achieve its aim of making Greece an important factor for peace and cooperation around the globe, and a participant in developments around

the world, especially in Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean.

Skandalides mentioned a number of things that need to be done to ensure Greece's success in achieving its international goals.

These include not only making use of the resources of Greeks living abroad, but also using education to strengthen Hellenism, developing the economy, and modernising the state.

[05] Rainfall

From Athens to Corinth to Argos, people had an early morning headache: unwanted water.

Many houses and stores in Corinth in the Peloponese suffered serious damage as mud and water from the heavy rainfall spilled in. Two large rocks located above the Athens to Corinth highway came crashing down onto the road - fortunately at a time when no cars were in the vicinity.

Many inhabitants of Argos were stranded in their homes, signalling for help with lights. The river Panitsas overflowed, resulting in a bridge collapsing.

Two other villages were cut off in the region due to the downpour and hundreds of acres of farmland were destroyed.

Flooding of major thoroughfares in downtown Athens caused serious traffic problems for commuters Monday morning. Sometimes the going wasn't just tough, it just wasn't: engines stalled, leaving some motorists anything but high and dry.

Weather conditions were so poor many flights were cancelled and boats to the islands postponed.

Meteorologists said the weather will clear up by early Tuesday morning.

[06] Soccer

Ionikos can't hold off Olympiakos even though its on its own pitch. The visitors use a goal from Ivan Ivich in the 88th minute of the match to notch up a one-nil victory.

With the triumph, Olympiakos is tied for second place with Panathinaikos, also a weekend winner. Ionikos is three points behind them, but has played a match less.

Aek is in first place after its crushing triumph over Panachaiki.

Iraklis is in fifth place after its game.

Elsewhere, Ofi, Xanathi, and Athinaikos, all triumph at home. And Paok and Ethnikos come up with Tkos on the road.

[07] Film Festival

The festival has lots of new things, and something old: the cameras are rolling at the renovated "Olympion" cinema, which hosted the festival 38 years ago.

This is the last year that awards will be given to Greek movies as a special category. From now on, the international character of the event will be the main thrust.

"Men with their all" opened this year's fest. The satirical film about unemployment is not competing for any prizes.

The Greek section opened with Myrto Paraschi's "Revolution of Silence" and continued with a showing of Kostoula Thomadaki's "Tell Me You Love Me".

That was followed up by the humorous, refreshing "Gold Apples of Esperides", directed by Sophia Papachristou.

On Monday night, cinema-lovers were treated to Periklis Choursoglou's "The Gentleman in the Grey Suit".

(c) ANT1 Radio 1997

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