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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-12-14
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, December 14, 1998
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] US EMISSARY HOLBROOKE AND ENVOY MILLER IN ATHENS TODAY
[02] SITUATION IN EDUCATION STILL EXPLOSIVE, STUDENTS CONTINUE
PROTESTS
[03] MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY CONCLUDES ITS NATIONWIDE CONFERENCE
[04] KYSEA TO HOLD MEETING ON ARMAMENTS PROGRAM TOMORROW
[05] GENERAL STRIKE TO PARALYZE COUNTRY TOMORROW
[06] EDUCATION MINISTER APPEALS TO TEACHERS FOR SUPORT OF REFORMS
[07] BUSES AND TRAINS WILL COME TO A HALT TOMORROW, DUE TO STRIKE
[08] SIMITIS-TSOCHATZOPOULOS MEETING
[09] PANGALOS-FISCHER MEETING
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] MILOSEVIC GIVES INTERVIEW TO NEWSWEEK OVER KOSOVO
[11] THESSALONIKI'S SEWAGE ORGANIZATION TO PROVIDE KNOW-HOW TO
FYROM
[12] BOSNIA: HUNDREDS OF SERB BODIES DISCOVERED IN MASS GRAVES
DURING ‘98
[13] OCALAN DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM THE KURDISH REBELS
[14] GREEK AND TURKISH BUSINESSMEN MEETING IN ISTANBUL
[15] BAKARTZIEV: EUROPE BLOCKS THE OPENING OF BORDER CROSSINGS
WITH GREECE
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] US EMISSARY HOLBROOKE AND ENVOY MILLER IN ATHENS TODAY
US presidential emissary for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke and
special State Department coordinator Thomas Miller are in Athens
today in order to hold talks on the Cyprus issue and Greek-Turkish
relations with Greek government officials.
The talks will be attended by Greek Foreign Minister
Theodoros Pangalos, Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos and
Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis.
[02] SITUATION IN EDUCATION STILL EXPLOSIVE, STUDENTS CONTINUE
PROTESTS
As the Education Minister Gerasimos Arsenis vows not to
succumb to pressures, the tension continues to mount as students
are intensifying their protests. Over 1,500 schools throughout the
country are being occupied by high schoolers opposed to the
proposed educational reforms, while they are preparing another
massive rally for tomorrow.
Mr. Arsenis, who insists that he will enforce the reforms as
early as September1999, was in Thessaloniki yesterday where he met
with high school deans.
[03] MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY CONCLUDES ITS NATIONWIDE CONFERENCE
The country's main opposition party, New Democracy,
concluded its Seventh nationwide conference in Athens yesterday,
where party leader Kostas Karamanlis stressed that a new era is
beginning in Greece.
"An era is ending. A new one is beginning A leap to reach
effectiveness, dependability, transparency, quality, inspiration
and humanity," he stated.
Mr. Karamanlis also called on the party's members to reach
beyond the dividing political lines of the past and attract voters
from all sides. He added that politicians, especially those from
the new generations, should venture a break from the past, and
from attitudes and methods that marked the previous, "lost" as he
characteristically stated, 15-year period.
[04] KYSEA TO HOLD MEETING ON ARMAMENTS PROGRAM TOMORROW
The Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense
(KYSEA) is to convene tomorrow in order to discuss issues related
to a multi-million dollar armaments program. The meeting will be
chaired by Prime Minster Kostas Simitis.
According to reports, the participants will discuss
procurements for the Hellenic Air Force, primarily the purchase of
fourth-generation fighter planes and airborne radar.
The main contenders for the warplane contract are the French
"Mirage" 2000-5, the "Eurofighter" 2000, the US-made F-15 and F-16
(block 50+) and Russia's Sukhoi 27.
[05] GENERAL STRIKE TO PARALYZE COUNTRY TOMORROW
The General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) is to conduct
a general strike tomorrow, to protest the government's 1999
budget.
GSEE and the civil servants union ADEDY are demanding an
increase in the tax-free ceiling for wage earners and pensioners,
higher wage and pension increases than those allowed for in the
budget and an inflation-linked tax scale.
Workers in public hospitals, state-owned banks, the
electricity and telecommunications organizations are to
participate in the strike, along with ministry staff, and will
also conduct a massive rally in both Athens and Thessaloniki.
[06] EDUCATION MINISTER APPEALS TO TEACHERS FOR SUPORT OF REFORMS
As more than 1,000 high schools through out the country are
being occupied by students who protest the proposed educational
reforms, the Education Minister Gerasimos Arsenis has issued an
appeal to the country's teachers that they support the changes in
the academic sector.
The President of the Federation on Secondary Education Staff
Nikos Tsoulias stressed that a solution needs to be found by
Christmas, otherwise the damage will be irreversible.
[07] BUSES AND TRAINS WILL COME TO A HALT TOMORROW, DUE TO STRIKE
No railway routes are to be conducted tomorrow, with the
exception of a few for social needs, as workers at the Greek
Railway Organization are to take part in the 24-hour mass strike
declared by the General Confederation of Greek Labor.
Also, city buses in Thessaloniki are not going to run from
5:30 am to 8:30 am and from 9:30 pm until the end of the shift.
[08] SIMITIS-TSOCHATZOPOULOS MEETING
Minister of defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos met at noon today
with prime minister Kostas Simitis to discuss the country's
defense program in view of the governmental council of foreign
affairs and defense meeting that will be held tomorrow.
According to information, in today's meeting were discussed
national issues as well on the occasion of US mediator Richard
Halbrooke's visit to Athens. In the afternoon, Mr. Halbrooke will
meet with minister of defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos and later in
the evening he will attend a working dinner with foreign minister
Theodoros Pangalos.
[09] PANGALOS-FISCHER MEETING
Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos met at noon today
with his German counterpart Joshka Fischer in view of Germany's EU
presidency in the first half of 1999.
In statements he made, Mr. Pangalos stressed that he
discussed with Mr. Fischer issues concerning the EU convergence,
the "agenda 2000", the institutional prospects of the EU, the
situation in the Balkans, the Greek-Turkish and the Euro-Turkish
relations and the Cyprus issue.
Mr. Fischer expressed satisfaction over the course of the
Greek economy and Greece's future participation in the European
Economic and Monetary Union.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[10] MILOSEVIC GIVES INTERVIEW TO NEWSWEEK OVER KOSOVO
The President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan
Milosevic, who granted an interview to US magazine Newsweek, has
emphatically stressed his opposition to NATO's intervention his
country.
Mr. Milosevic added that there is no agreement with US envoy
Richard Holbrooke regarding the presence of foreign troops in
Yugoslavia and added that the plan drawn by Christopher Hill
for Kosovo should be improved since it is biased against the
Serbs.
[11] THESSALONIKI'S SEWAGE ORGANIZATION TO PROVIDE KNOW-HOW TO
FYROM
Thessaloniki's Sewage Organization has completed a study on
the construction of sewage networks in 12 cities of FYROM, Skopje
included, which foresees industrial waste clean up from the Axios
River waters.
The proposed program's cost is approximately one billion
German marks, to be funded by the European Union.
[12] BOSNIA: HUNDREDS OF SERB BODIES DISCOVERED IN MASS GRAVES
DURING ‘98
Over 1,700 bodies of Serbs have been discovered in mass
graves throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to Bosnia's
Missing Persons Committee.
The Committee announced that the search for new graves has
been called off due to adverse weather and will resume in 1999.
[13] OCALAN DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM THE KURDISH REBELS
Leader of the outlawed Kurdish PKK party Abdullah Ocalan
distanced himself from the activities of the armed wing of the
Kurdish Workers Party.
In statements he made to the pro-Kurdish television station
"MED TV", Ocalan criticized the tactic followed by the armed wing
of PKK and stated that he does not want to be linked with the
Kurdish rebels for as long as they refuse to change their tactic.
[14] GREEK AND TURKISH BUSINESSMEN MEETING IN ISTANBUL
A meeting of Greek, Turkish, Greek Cypriot and Turkish
Cypriot businessmen was held in Istanbul at the initiative of
Oslo's Peace Institute and Columbia University of New York with
the participation of US diplomat Richard Halbrooke.
The meeting was aimed at creating a positive climate in
Cyprus and the Greek Turkish relations, stressed Mr. Halbrooke
speaking to the BBC radio. He said that the meeting was held as
the business community in those countries can do more for their
better cooperation and communication saying that this is what is
called "alternative diplomatic course".
Mr. Halbrooke said that the Istanbul meeting does not change
the objective reality in Cyprus but it can ease the existing
tension to avoid a new tragedy. Similar meetings were also held in
Oslo and Brussels.
[15] BAKARTZIEV: EUROPE BLOCKS THE OPENING OF BORDER CROSSINGS
WITH GREECE
Bulgarian government vice-president Evgeni Bakartziev stated
from the town of Sandaski, near the Greek-Bulgarian borders, that
he does not know if there are brown bears but certainly there are
obstacles raised to the opening of the Iliden-Exohi Dramas border
crossing. According to Mr. Bakartziev, the Bulgarian government
will deal with the sensitive issue of the brown bear that lives in
the region where the future border crossing will be opened, in
spite of the efforts made by the Europeans aimed at blocking the
opening of the crossing, based on a report published by the Sofia
newspaper "24 Hours".
It should be reminded that three months ago the Greek
ecological organization "Arktouros" raised the issue of the
protection of the reproduction of the brown bear in the specific
border region. According to the ecologists, the opening of the
border crossing will have a negative effect on the reproduction of
the brown bear. In response the Bulgarian side made certain
changes to the border crossing construction plan to include the
building of a bridge under which the brown bear will be able to
move freely.
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