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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-11-07Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.Last Update: 23:27 GMT+2SECTIONS
NEWS HEADLINES[A] GREECE[B] BALKANS[C] EUROPENEWS IN DETAIL[A] GREECE[01] THE EU GENERAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL MEETS ON MONDAYWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Athens, 07/11/1998 (MPA) The Greek government will give its battle on Monday aimed at preserving the Greek veto against the EU funding of Turkey.The proposal of Dutch EU Commissioner Hans van den Broek will be discussed in the EU General Affairs Council and if no decision is reached the whole issue will be brought for discussion to the EU Summit meeting. An escalation of the Turkish provocation is expected next week due to the annual large scale air and sea exercise "Toros". [02] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS WILL BE IN POLAND ON MONDAYWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Athens, 07/11/1998 (MPA) Prime minister Kostas Simitis will be on a visit to Poland on Monday. The prime minister will have meetings with the state and political leadership of the country and with the leaders of the opposition parties.On November 14, Mr. Simitis is scheduled to address the Greek Center of European Studies seminar "In search of the European identity" that will be held in Athens. Among the main speakers in the seminar will be former European Commission president Jacques Delors. [03] INFLATION WAS 4.7% IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBERWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Athens, 07/11/1998 (MPA) Inflation dropped to 4.7% in the month of October, according to the National Statistics Agency. The drop is at 0.5% as in the month of September inflation had closed at 5.2%. The drop of inflation is attributed to the cuts in the prices of gas, ship fares, cars, heating oil and food.Yesterday, minister of national economy and finance Yiannos Papantoniou and undersecretary of finance Giorgos Dris discussed the latest details on the new car prices that will be in effect in a few days. [04] THE MEETING OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF PASOK WILL END TODAYWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Athens, 07/11/1998 (MPA) The meeting of the central committee of the governing socialist party of PASOK ends today.Yesterday, prime minister Kostas Simitis stressed that he is determined to safeguard the unity of the party and pointed out that the different views expressed are necessary but they should not cancel the common action and decision plan. He also stressed that the party can not be a summation of personal strategies or a federation of groups. Central committee general secretary Kostas Skandalidis spoke about a new unity on the way to the party congress. The right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy mentions in the statement it has released that Mr. Simitis has confirmed that his is totally cut off from reality. [B] BALKANS[05] COOPERATION BETWEEN ROMTELECOM AND OTEWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Bucharest , 07/11/1998 (MPA) Romanian National Telecommunications Organization, Romtelecom, general director Florin Anghel stated that the Greek State Telecommunications Company (OTE) that participates in the procedure for the purchase of 35% of the shares of Romtelecom has signed a contract with the US company GTE which provides that in case the Greeks are successful in their bid to purchase the shares they will give the management to the Americans.The issue is being presented by all the Romanian newspapers under the headlines "The US company GTE will participate in the Romtelecom management" and "The Greeks form an alliance with the Americans on Romtelecom". [06] TWO ISRAELIS WERE ARRESTED FOR SPYING IN CYPRUSWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Nicosia , 07/01/1998 (MPA) Two Israelis were arrested in Cyprus accused of spying in military positions. The arrested are 49yearold Igal Damari and 27yearold Indi Atzrkor.Cypriot police spokesman Stelios Neofitou stated that the two Israelis were arrested in the village of Zigi where, according to information, a new Naval base will be built while in their possession were found photographic cameras and a radio receiver set on the same frequency used by the Cypriot police. The two Israelis will be tried in court in Larnaka this afternoon. [07] CLERIDES' STATEMENTS ON THE S-300 MISSILESWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Nicosia, 07/11/1998 (MPA) Cypriot president Glafkos Clerides characterized as unfounded the information over the postponement of the arrival of the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in Cyprus.In a statement made today, Mr. Clerides reiterated that the public discussion of the issue of the missiles is not to the benefit of Cyprus and stressed that he has not raised the issue of a new postponement in the arrival of the missiles in the National Council. [C] EUROPE[08] AUSTRIAN CONCERNS OVER THE RISE OF NATIONALISM IN FYROMWeb Posted: 15:27 GMT+2Vienna, 07/11/1998 (MPA) Strong concerns over the rise of nationalism in FYROM are expressed by the Austrian newspaper "Die Presse" which, in an article under the headline "A new unclarified nationalism causes confusion in the Balkans", points out that in bookstores and newsstands in Skopje are being sold all kinds of geographic maps according to which FYROM's borders do not coincide with its state borders but with the borders of the "geographical Macedonia" made up namely by FYROM, territories in Bulgaria and Greece that extend up to the city of Thessaloniki.The election victory of the nationalist VMRO party has caused concern to the neighboring countries, mentions the newspaper. The causes of the confusion from which the nationalists gain benefits are traced back to the history of Macedonia. In the first session of Tito's "Anti-fascist Council for the liberation of Yugoslavia" the region which was named southern Serbia before the war was declared a confederate republic and its population was constitutionally recognized. Contrary to the rest Balkan peoples the "Macedonians" were less against the Turkish domination and more against the movements organized by the Greeks and the Serbs. The "Macedonians", who set national targets for the first time in 1880, were a mixture of Bulgarians, Vlachs, Serbs and Albanians. Their slogan "Macedonia for the Macedonians" does not come from a Macedonian people for the simple reason that no such people ever existed. Macedonia is multi-ethnic, underlines the Austrian newspaper and adds that after the Balkan Wars in 1912-13, Macedonia was shared among Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. Its western part had already become Bulgarized while the south had assimilated into Greece. The "Macedonian" nationalists were protesting against the division and argued that the "Aegean" and the "Macedonia of Pirin" would soon be populated only by Greeks and Bulgarians. The Austrian newspaper writes that the "Macedonians" "discovered" their ties with Alexander the Great and the ancient people of the Macedons just after World War II and declared them as the historical predecessors of the Slav-Macedonians to the Greeks indignation. However, now the new nationalist voices are turned against the Albanians of FYROM to whom future prime minister Ljubico Georgievski has suggested either to be baptized or to leave the country. Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at http://www.hri.org/MPA/Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |