New Spanish magazine for Athens
NEWS IN DETAIL
Turkish plane crashes in eastern Aegean
A Turkish F-16 fighter plane crashed into the sea region 15 miles southwest
of the island of Hios in the eastern Aegean at approximately 3 pm
today.
Greek navy helicopters and vessels which sped to the area rescued the pilot,
who bailed out of his plane in time.
The Turkish plane had earlier violated Athens FIR when it and another F-16
had accompanied four Turkish F-4 planes.
The planes were intercepted by two Greek Air Force Mirage 2000. The plane
crashed as the F-16 was leaving.
Turkish FIR violations
Turkish aircraft continued to violate Athens and Nicosia air space today,
reports said.
The reports said nine pairs of Turkish fighter planes had violated air
traffic rules so far today.
Greek fighter planes intercepted the planes on all occasions.
Yesterday Turkish fighter planes engaged in large scale violations of the
Athens and Nicosia FIRs between Rhodes and Cyprus, violating air traffic
regulations on 25 occasions and harassing Greek aircraft taking part in
joint Greek and Cypriot military exercises.
Meanwhile, the joint Greek-Cypriot 'Nikiforos '96' military exercise
concluded today, with the final phase watched by the leadership of the
Armed Forces.
Kaklamanis re-elected Parliament President
Apostolos Kaklamanis was today re-elected as President of the new 300-
member Parliament that emerged from last month's general elections in a
second round of voting.
Kaklamanis, a leading member of the ruling PASOK party, was elected with
154 votes, against 94 votes for main opposition New Democracy (ND)
candidate Anna Psarouda-Benaki, and 39 blank votes.
Kaklamanis failed to win the 151-vote absolute majority required in the
first round of secret voting. A simple majority of the MPs present was
required in the second round.
He received 150 votes in the first round from the 294 MPs present, against
95 for Psarouda-Benaki, 46 blanks and 3 invalid ballots. Two of PASOK's 162
MPs were absent from the vote, while four of the 108 ND parliamentarians
were also absent, which means 10 PASOK and and 9 ND deputies did not vote
for their party's candidate during the first round.
The PASOK absentees were Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, who is
accompanying the President of the Republic on a state visit to Finland, and
former Health Undersecretary Franklinos Papadellis, who is recovering from
a stroke he suffered while campaigning for the September 22 general
elections.
The House endorsed a small delay between the two rounds to enable MPs who
had departed in the meantime to return for the second round.
In the second round, Kaklamanis recieved 154 votes from the 159 PASOK MPs
present, and Psarouda-Benaki 94 votes from the 98 ND deputies present.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis last night began meetings with top
ministers in view of a debate in Parliament on the government's policy
statements, which will begin on Thursday evening.
Sources said the government is highly concerned with the drafting of the
1997 budget, as a significant increase in revenues will be required without
the imposition of new taxes, one of PASOK's pre-election campaign
planks.
It is considered that the policy statements will provide ample indication
of the government's intentions regarding economic policy in 1997.
The budget was also discussed at a meeting at the finance ministry.
One of Mr. Simitis earlier meetings was with Agriculture Minister Stephanos
Tzoumakas at the Maximos Mansion.
Mr. Tzoumakas said afterwards that issues concerning his ministry were
discussed in connection with the government's policy statements.
Replying to a question on his statements concerning instances of mismanagement
of certain sectors by the ministry, Mr. Tzoumakas said he has given several
files on the matter to a judicial investigator, which will be examined by
court officials.
Gov't pondering political restrictions for ministries' secretary-generals, utility heads
Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said yesterday that Prime Minister
Costas Simitis is entertaining the thought of setting political restrictions
for ministerial secretary-generals and heads of organisations in order to
combat a clientele system and prevent high-ranking officials from
exploiting their positions.
According to the Constitution, secretary-generals of ministries have to
resign six months before their four-year period of office is up if they
wish to participate in elections.
Referring to the heads of public organisations, and their general directors
in particular, Mr. Reppas said such executives are chosen with objective
criteria through international tendering. The process, he said, starts with
the Hellenic Telecommunicati ons Organisation (OTE) and will continue with
other public utilities.
The government spokesman added that criticism against the appointment of
individuals failing to be elected to Parliament at the head of public
utilities is unfair, saying this does not mean they cannot be utilised.
Papadopoulos meets with ADEDY leadership
Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation Minister Alekos
Papadopoulos held talks yesterday with senior officials of the Civil
Servants' Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY), who raised the issues
concerning the upgrading of public services, a new salary scale, initiation
of collective negotiations and the civil servants' code.
According to ADEDY President Yiannis Koutsoukos, Mr. Papadopoulos warned
that hirings in the public sector will be very limited, but avoided any
commitment on whether the ratio of departures and hirings will be five to
one or three to one.
Mr. Papadopoulos reportedly appeared to agree with ADEDY on the issue of
transfers, which will be postponed. He also told union officials that a new
code will be ready in six months.
Main opposition New Democracy party leader Miltiades Evert yesterday
voiced dissatisfaction over reports that he will be the party's leader
temporarily until an ND congress takes place early next year.
Replying to a question on whether the congress will take place as planned,
Mr. Evert said "the congress will take place as anticipated by the charter,
and what is being written and said about my being a provisional (leader) is
absurd, and if that was th e case neither would I be here nor would the
party's vice-president."
Some deputies interpreted the statement as reaction to statements by ND
deputy Costas Karamanlis, who in an interview in Sunday's "Kyriakatiki
Eleftherotypia" newspaper, alluded his possible candidacy for the main
opposition's leadership at a congress u nder certain conditions.
President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos leaves for a three-day
official visit to Finland today, at the invitation of his counterpart
Martti Ahtisaari.
Discussion is expected to centre on bilateral relations, the situation in
the Balkans and developments in the European Union.
Problems and prospects facing Greek industry discussed
The problems and prospects in the development of Greek industry were
discussed at the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EBEA) yesterday,
during an event organised on the occasion of a report prepared by the
"Industrial Review" magazine, in collabor ation with the Ecomomist
Intelligence Unit.
The government was represented by Development Undersecretary Anna
Diamantopoulou, who in a brief address, reviewed problems facing Greek
industry as related to size, management and the organisation of units as
well as its general infrastructure.
She stressed that a constructive cooperation between the state with the
private sector would constitute the basic factor in the future development
of Greek industry.
In his address, Association of Greek Industries president A. Kannelopoulos
stressed that labour-intensive and low-technology investments were the main
structural problem in Greek manufacturing.
"Industry in our country needs to be strengthened through mergers and
strategic alliances so as to create large competitive units," he added.
An agreement signed here yesterday between Eurochambres and the
Associations of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(ASCAME), which together represent thousands of European firms, stresses
the role of the Mediterranean in European unification and calls for the
strengthening of the European Union's Mediterranean policies.
The agreement, signed in the seaside resort of Vouliagmeni on the eve of
the 4th international conference of European Union industrial chambers and
Eurochambres annual general assembly, recognises the important role Greece
has to play as both a Mediterr anean country and EU member.
ASCAME aims to accelerate the transfer of Community funds to the less-
developed southern Mediterranean countries and to promote Euro-Mediterranean
cooperation in sectors such as development initiatives, tourism, transport,
culture and the environment. Among its goals is the linking of databases of
chambers in Mediterranean ports as well as investigating ways to cooperate
with chambers in Black Sea countries.
The conference officially begins today and ends on Wednesday, under the
theme "The firm in the 21st century: Technical assistance and support from
chambers", with the participation of more than 400 European entrepreneurs.
The conference will be opened by Greece's European Commissioner for small
and medium-size enterprises Christos Papoutsis.
First Spanish magazine in Greece
The first ever Spanish-language magazine to be published in Greece was
presented to the Greek and foreign press yesterday as part of an effort to
further promote relations between Greece and the Hispanic-speaking
countries.
The 48-page monthly ''El Sol de Atenas'', prologued by the Spanish
Ambassador in Athens Jose Cuenca Anaya, deals with economic, political
cultural and tourist affairs in Greece, Spain and the countries of Latin
America.
The magazine hopes to keep the numerous nationals from Argentina, Bolivia,
Colombia, costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Honduras,
Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Santo Domingo,
Uruguay and Venezuela living and visiting Greece abreast of the local
happenings.
" It is an effort to help deeper and better understanding between Greece
and Spain, both members of the European Union, especially in the cultural
sector, which has several common elements,'' said Theodoros Benakis, the
publisher and editor of the magazine.
Begonia Castiella, a member of the editorial board and Athens corresponding
of the Spanish newspaper ABC, said that the magazine would also present the
activities of the Hispanic-speaking community in Greece and of the Greek
communities in the Hispanic countries.
Benakis said that the magzine was ''a necessity due to the increasing
number of Spanish-speaking tourists'' to Greece and the ''increasing number
of Spanish companies doing business'' in Greece.
WEATHER
Sunny to partly cloudy in most parts of the country with temperatures
ranging from 16-24C in Athens and from 15-20C in Thessaloniki.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE (Buying)
U.S. dlr 240.905, Can. dlr.176.828, Australian dlr. 190.133, Pound sterling
376.906, Irish punt 384.942, Cyprus pd 514.552, French franc 46.418, Swiss
franc 191.628 Belgian franc 7.629, German mark 157.117, Finnish mark 52.642,
Dutch guilder 140.049 Danish Kr. 40.987, Swedish Kr. 36.404, Norwegian Kr.
36.943, Austrian Sh. 22.344, Italian lira (100) 15.844 Yen (100) 216.170
Spanish Peseta 1.868, Portuguese Escudo 1.551.
(M.P.)