Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-08-30
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, August 30, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] NO TO THE REFERENDUM
[02] SCIENTISTS REASSURING ON DEPLETED URANIUM
[03] DEEP PURPLE IN ATHENS AND THESSALONIKI
[04] THE SERB INTERIOR MINISTER IN CORFU
[05] THE GREEK ARMY GENERAL STAFF CHIEF IN KRIVOLAK
[06] THE OTE MONOPOLY HAS ENDED
[07] DEVELOPMENT POLICY ANNOUNCEMENTS
[08] MARGINAL LOSSES IN THE ASE
[09] JOSPEN AND VEDRINE WILL VISIT ATHENS
[10] A PERSONAL VOTING NUMBER WILL REPLACE THE VOTING BOOKLET
[11] REPPAS ON THE IDENTITY CARDS ISSUE
[12] COMMENTS BY REPPAS ON THE GREEK-TURKISH RELATIONS AND THE
CYPRUS ISSUE
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[13] AGAINST THE EUROPOLICE
[14] NIOTIS: RELATIONS WITH GEORGIA ARE EXCELLENT
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] NO TO THE REFERENDUM
The President of the Republic pointed out that the
prerequisites for the holding of a referendum are not present, in
an announcement from the Presidential Mansion. Earlier the
President, Mr. Stefanopoulos, had been informed by the Archbishop
and a church delegation, about the results of the signature
concentration on behalf of the Church of Greece requesting that a
referendum be held to permit recording of religion on ID cards.
Analytically, the announcement made from Presidential Mansion
mentions: "The president of the Republic explained to Mr.
Christodoulos that the ways in which people's rule is expressed,
among which is the referendum, and the procedures for this are
foreseen by the constitution and the laws of the countries. That
according to these procedures the conditions are not met for a
referendum on the ID issue. That everyone has an obligation to
comply with the rules of the standing laws and that outside legal
procedures, collected signatures cannot overturn the clauses of
the Constitution".
[02] SCIENTISTS REASSURING ON DEPLETED URANIUM
The scientists that participated in the seminar which took
place in the Interbalkan Medical Center of Thessaloniki, under the
aegis of the Greek Committee of Atomic Power, were reassuring on
the of depleted uranium on the environment and on human health.
The seminar is part of the 11th inter-university oncology
conference which is being organized by the "Aristotle" Institute
and will be completed on September 1.
Scientific data and epidemic studies do not confirm that
depleted uranium causes leukemia and carcinogenesis, and
consequently the noise generated by the media about the "Balkan
Syndrome" was uncalled for, pointed out the radiation-biologist
and staff member of the "Dimokritos" Research Center, Eleftherios
Sideridis.
AS he mentioned, exposure to depleted uranium radiation,
which is the most interesting from a radiation-biological point of
view, causes DNA alterations, which can develop into cancers. But
for this to occur, a much greater multiple of radiation is needed,
than that which a soldier gets near a depleted uranium detonation
area.
[03] DEEP PURPLE IN ATHENS AND THESSALONIKI
Deep Purple are coming to Greece for two concerts. the
veteran hard rockers will appear at the Likavitos Theater in
Athens on September 4 and the next day will appear in Thessaliniki
at the "Theatro Gis".
[04] THE SERB INTERIOR MINISTER IN CORFU
The commemorating events, on the occasion of the 85th
anniversary of the arrival of the Serb soldiers at the Ionian
island of Corfu during WWI driven off by the Austrian forces, will
start tomorrow.
This year's events have acquired a formal character as for
the first time they are being co-organized by the municipality of
Corfu and the Yugoslav embassy.
Serb prime minister Zoran Djindzic will not be among the Yugoslav
officials attending the events as it was initially announced but
he will be represented by the deputy prime minister and interior
minister.
[05] THE GREEK ARMY GENERAL STAFF CHIEF IN KRIVOLAK
British foreign minister Jack Straw will be in FYROM today
and Greek Army General Staff Chief lieutenant general Georgios
Antonakopoulos will visit the army camp in Krivolak where the
Greek forces are stationed.
Based on what the British foreign minister stated in an
interview with the BBC, no extension of time will be given to the
NATO mission in the country.
Meanwhile, the first 100 of the 500 German soldiers, who will
be included in the NATO force, have arrived in FYROM.
[06] THE OTE MONOPOLY HAS ENDED
The new telecommunications company established by the Greek
State Electricity Company and "Wind" will start operating in the
next six months and will be the first to compete with the Greek
Telecommunications Organization, OTE in every sector of the
domestic telephone services market.
The goal of the new company is to control 18% of the
corporate and 14% of the domestic consumers by the year 2006. In
the new company, "Wind" will have 50% plus 1 stock and the State
Electricity Company will have 50% minus 1 stock.
"Wind" will take over the management of the new company and
according to the contract signed, in three years the state
Electricity Company will have the right to claim the majority
stocks based on the terms included in the deal.
[07] DEVELOPMENT POLICY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Prime minister Kostas Simitis is expected to announced the
social and development policy measures for the three year period
of 2002-2004 on Tuesday after the governmental committee meeting.
Apart from the social benefits package for the economically
weaker classes, the prime minister will announce the basic
regulations included in the draft bill for the strengthening of
business activities which is expected to give a boost to the
Athens Stock Exchange.
According to the Athens newspaper "Imerisia", the draft bill
is made up of four basic points namely, tax incentives for the
merger of companies trading or not in the Athens Stock Exchange,
tax reductions for the real estate investment companies, tax
reductions for the overseas shipping and measures for the
strengthening of the companies active in the sector of the new
economy.
[08] MARGINAL LOSSES IN THE ASE
Marginal losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange
today. The general index dropped to -0.24% at 2.769,02 points,
while the volume of transactions was 110.91 million Euro or 37.79
billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 94 recorded gains and 242 had
losses, while the value of 40 stocks remained stable.
[09] JOSPEN AND VEDRINE WILL VISIT ATHENS
French prime minister Lionel Jospen and foreign minister
Hubert Vedrine will be in Athens on September 10.
According to a statement made by government spokesman
Dimitris Reppas they will meet with prime minister Kostas Simitis.
[10] A PERSONAL VOTING NUMBER WILL REPLACE THE VOTING BOOKLET
A 13-digit personal voting number will replace the voting
booklet in the next local elections in Greece that will take place
in October 2002.
The announcement was made by interior minister Vaso
Papandreou, who pointed out that the new voting registers that
will be completed early next year will coincide with the municipal
rolls.
The creation of the new voting registers is in progress and
according to Ms. Papandreou, the whole procedure moves ahead in a
satisfactory manner with the cooperation of the local
administration.
[11] REPPAS ON THE IDENTITY CARDS ISSUE
Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas commented on the
intervention made yesterday by president of the republic Kostis
Stephanopoulos on the identity cards issue and the statement of
right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy honorary
president Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who expressed regret over the
stance adopted by president Stephanopoulos on the issue.
Mr. Reppas stated that the government does not comment on the
statements made by president Stephanopoulos, characterizing him as
the guarantor of the constitution, while referring to the
statements by Mr. Mitsotakis he said that they are "sad" at the
least.
He added that the government keeps in mind the interests and
rights of the people and said that the policy it follows on the
issue of the identity cards is the right one, adding that it has a
legal basis. Mr. Reppas stated that the government wants a
dialogue with the Church on issues other than the identity cards.
[12] COMMENTS BY REPPAS ON THE GREEK-TURKISH RELATIONS AND THE
CYPRUS ISSUE
Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas was called by reporters
to comment on the joint bid by Greece and Turkey to host the "Euro
2008" football championship while the Cyprus problem remains
unsolved. He was also called to clarify if it is true that the
Turkish Cypriots have their own passports based on a decision by
the European Union and with the silent approval of Greece.
Mr. Reppas categorically denied the passport issue, while
responding to the question on the hosting of the European football
championship, underlined that the Cyprus problem is still a major
issue for the Greek government.
The reporters also asked for clarifications by Mr. Reppas on
the issue that arose when the governor of the US state of Alabama
Don Stingberman declared August 30 as Turkey's Independence Day
using heavy characterizations against Greece. For the record, the
Alabama governor has signed a declaration describing the Turks as
"the victims of the tragic events in the 1912-1922 decade".
Mr. Reppas stated that an attempt is being made for the
falsification of history and stressed that there are different
parties everywhere which, for selfish and suspicious purposes,
undertake initiatives that have nothing to do with the truth.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[13] AGAINST THE EUROPOLICE
After the various protests against globalization during
summit meetings, German Minister of Internal Affairs, Otto Silly,
proposed that a special European Police Force which will deal
with the protests is created. Anna Karamanou, EU MP of PASOK,
asked for the European Committee's intervention on the issue.
As she underlined, the proposal of the German minister,
assisted from more planning (the creation of a data bank in each
country on particular people, or their surveillance by the
authorities due to protests of the kind) lacks legal basis and
circumvents the clauses on free movement in the European Union.
She calls the Commission to intervene and reply as to how much the
German minister's proposition is consistent with the clauses of
the Amsterdam Treaty.
[14] NIOTIS: RELATIONS WITH GEORGIA ARE EXCELLENT
Greek undersecretary of foreign affairs Grigoris Niotis met
in Tblisi, Georgia with his counterpart and also with foreign
minister of Georgia Iraklis Gurduli within the framework of the
political consultations between the two countries that are held
every year.
Mr. Niotis stated to Macedonian Press Agency that in the
meetings were discussed issues concerning bilateral relations as
well as, issues of multilateral cooperation, the relations of
Georgia with the European Union and Greece and problems of
regional character.
Mr. Niotis stated that Greece and Georgia share strong and
friendly relations founded on the traditional relations between
the two peoples, religion and the strong Greek presence in this
former Soviet republic.
He also pointed out that bilateral relations are excellent,
stressing that there is a need to expand economic cooperation. In
addition, he announced that the Greece-Georgia joint ministerial
economic committee will meet in Tblisi in the fall in the presence
of Greek undersecretary of national economy Yiannis Zafiropoulos.
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