Antenna: News in English (PM), 98-04-27

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

Last Updated: Monday, 27-Apr-98 21:39:32

CONTENTS

[01] Church-Elections

[02] PASOK-Early Elections

[03] Kosovo

[04] Tsohatzopoulos-Balcans

[05] Stock Market

[06] Karamanlis-Parliament

[07] Sports

[01] Church-Elections

The favourites to succeed the late archbishop Serafeim are the metropolitan bishops of Alexandroupoli Anthimos, Dimitriada Christodoulos, Thebes and Levadia Ieronymos, and Ioannina Theoklitos.

None has a clear edge over the others, and some 30 undecided voters on the Holy Synod are expected to tip the balance one way or another.

77 Synod members will vote in all. Over half of them are over the age of 56, 19 are over 76 years old. The candidates are seeking the support of the older Synod members, who are deemed to have greater influence over the electing body.

11 of the younger Synod members, aged between 39 and 55, attach much importance to the new archbishop of Athens being a dynamic figure.

Sources say that most Synod members are looking for an archbishop who can communicate the message of Christianity to the people; but he must also be able to maintain the balance in church-state relations and preserve good relations between the Greek church and the ecumenical patriarchate; he must also be a good administrator.

Tuesday's Synod session, where Serafeim's successor will be elected, will be a closed doors affair. Education minister Gerasimos Arsenis, whose ministry is also responsible for religious affairs, will be present at the voting, to arbitrate if any differences arise.

A candidate needs a simple majority to be elected archbishop.

[02] PASOK-Early Elections

Over the weekend, the party secretary lashed out at those spreading rumours within the ranks; two other top party members have followed suit.

On Saturday, Pasok secretary Kostas Skandalides attacked leading members of the group of Pasok MPs who disagree with government policies; he also levied criticism at supporters of the prime minister for fanning the early- election rumours.

Defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos agrees with Skandalides. There is troubling behaviou high up in the party, he says. It needs to be discussed.

In an interview in the daily Ta Nea Monday, justice minister Evangelos Yiannopoulos says there is nothing pressing the government into early elections. It would be silly even to propose elections now. It wouldn't be in the national interest.

[03] Kosovo

The weekend episode highlighted once again the dangers of another war in the Balkans, this time over the issue of whether or not Kosovo, with its Albanian majority, should be granted independence, or remain a part of Yugoslavia.

Bullets, grenades rockets, Kalashnikovs, and machine guns: the Serbs say they found 20 crates of them - they were left behind by Albanian autonomists who fled across the border to Albania from Kosovo after they were spotted by Serbian border guards.

The semi-official Serbian Information Centre in the Kosovo capital of Pristina reports that the border patrol opened fire on the Albanians. The Serbs suspect the weapons and munitions were destined for the Kosovo Liberation Army, and that the 10 men transporting them were on their way to rejoin the KLA after receiving combat training in

Albania.

There were no reports of casualties in that border incident. But three Albanian autonomists were reported dead in another border incident Sunday.

And further north, in Kyevo between Pech and Pristina, a Serb policeman was seriously wounded during an attack on the police station.

In Pristina, ethnicn Albanians held another peaceful march, demanding independence from Serbia. While Belgrade says it is combatting terrorism in Kosovo, the ethnic Albanians claim the Serbian security forces are upping the stakes in what is a stand-off; in Dekani - where 19 Albanians were killed last week - the ethnic Albanians say the Serbian security forces are being reinforced by armoured vehicles, including five tanks, and that 40 truckloads of Serbian troops have been drafted into the area.

Greek defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos calls Kosovo a hand grenade waiting to explode. In Thessaloniki Monday after a visit to the Former Yugsoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tsochatzopoulos said the Albanian majority of Kosovo - calling for independence - and the Yugoslav government have got to be pressured into talking.

"It is not an easy situation", he added, but Greece is ready to use its good relations with Albania, Serbia, and Albanian leaders in Kosovo to help kickstart negotiations.

Them American and European contact group on Yugoslavia have used the threat of ever tighter sanctions on Serbia to force it to the table with the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo. But the ethnic-Albanians have insisted that a western mediator be present at any talks. Something Serbia rejects.

Tsochatzopoulos believes pressure should be brought to bear on all sides so that unconditional dialogue begins.

Serbia is offering Kosovo some measure of autonomy. But many ethnic Albanians want independence for their province.

Tsochatzopoulos said during his Fyrom stop that Kosovo should be granted the greatest possible measure of autonomy possible without leaving Yugoslavia.

After meeting with his Fyrom counterpart Lazar Kitanesky, Tzochatzopoulos said they agreed that the way to deal with the Kosovo crisis is talks.

The Greek defence minister denies the Serbian claims that Albania is backing the insurgents in Kosovo. He notes that Albanian prime minister Fatos Nano has clearly distanced himself from the outlawed Kosovo Liberation Army.

But on Saturday, Nano came out for the first time in support of what he called the quote "armed resistance" in Kosovo. He coupled that with a call on all his countrymen to show patriotism.

[04] Tsohatzopoulos-Balcans

The only obstacle that remains is where the brigade is to be based.

Fyrom doesn't want it on its soil - it fears that if there is trouble in the region, the presence of the multinational force could be a destablising factor.

Turkey has rejected a proposal that the force be based in Nea Sadakilkis in Greece.

For its part, Greece doesn't want it located in Andranoupoli in Turkey.

Another issue is what kind of force is to be set up. Fyrom wants it to be peace-keeping force. It opposes the American desire to see a rapid deployment force set up.

The Greek and Fyrom defence ministers said their support for the brigade idea is given;

Tsochatzopoulos said he hopes that when Balkan officials meet in Tirana in late May, and again in Skopje in September, final decisions can be made.

[05] Stock Market

Investors are now training their sites on next weekend. That's when European Union leaders will decide on what the fixed exchange rates among European currencices will be as the EU goes into its single currencly.

Broker Antonis Sarris says there's a case of market nerves in the run up to the weekend - a lot of rumours are circulating about what kind of decisions pertaining to the single currency will be made.

He believes that after that's out of the way, the Athens share index will start rising again.

On Monday, there was no absence of investors looking to sell and cash in on the gains of recent weeks.

Stock broker Isaac Mordechai says there is a certain amount of restlessness coming on the back of such enormous profits.

A number of analysts believe that the market will fall back a little, and that's understandable given the fact that it has made overall gains of over 70 per cent in just a month.

In some cases, stocks have gained 180 per cent since the beginning of the year.

[06] Karamanlis-Parliament

Athens last Friday at the age of 91.

During the parliamentary memorial ceremony, prime minister Kostas Simitis and the leaders of the opposition party paid tribute to the accopmlishments of Karamanlis.

Earlier in the day, the Karamanlis Foundation, on the grounds of which the late statesman is buried, opened its gates to the public, which had its first chance to visit the grave following the private funeral service.

Hundreds of ordinary people layed a flower on the grave.

Said one expatriate Greek: "He was a good man, we admired him".

On Friday, Karamanlis's family will hold a memorial service. The late statesman's will will be read in forty days. Though Karamanlis didn't leave a large fortune, his will is seen as significant for sentimental reasons.

[07] Sports

No surprises there.

But there is a surprise Monday. Iraklio is feeling comfortable on its home floor, where it evens its series with Pao at one, with a 73-63 win.

Former NBA stars Byron Scott and Dino Radja combine for 50 points for the losers; they get no help from their teammates, meaning the two teams will be looking for the ticket to the semi-finals in the final game back in Athens.

In track and field, Panellinios hosted the annual

pre-season meet of teams from Athens and Piraeus. The two cities' teams competed in separate categories. Panellinios won the Athens group - both the men and the women's categories.

Stella Tsigkouna was the only athlete who turned in a noteworthy performance. Her 65 metre throw in the discus was the world's second best so far this year.

Running through some of the other results, Magda Pantaleimon won the women's 200 metres for Panellinios, with a time of 25.85 seconds.

In the men's 200 metres, European champ Giorgos Panagiotopoulos of Aek picked up the gold with a run of 21.3 seconds.

Panellinios's Kostas Kollas of Panellinios came in first in the shot put with a heave of 18.19 metres.

Panelinios also finished first in the men's javelin, thanks to a 71.46- metre throw by Dimitris Martatos.

Aek's Kostas Tzivas won the pole vault with a leap of 4.8 metres.

Panellinios finished first overall in the meet. The men picked up a total of 374.5 points; Aek was second with 112 points. In the women's, Panellinios finished with 259 points; Ethnikos was second with 72.

(c) ANT1 Radio 1998

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