The offices of "Athens 2004" will also be visited by the President of the Coalition of the Left, Nikos Konstantopoulos.

The Minister of National Defense visited Greek soldiers stationed in Duressi, giving Christman gifts and wishes.

In Gjirokastre, accompanied by his Albanian counterpart, Panteli Majko, he visited a 40 bed military hospital, which is a donation of the Greek Ministry of Defense, for the Albanian Army and People.

Mr. Papantoniou met with Archbishop of Albania Anastasios in Tirana last night, and promised total support of Athens to the great undertaking of his in Albania.

"Whatever develops the country, helps the Orthodox Church, and vice versa, when we receive help we share it with others. We do not keep it for our selves. It may be the secret some don't understand, our secret. When you divide what you have amongst other s, God multiplies it", stated Mr. Anastasios during his meeting.

Andrew Athens were re-elected for a fourth tenure with 450 votes, against the 164 of the second candidate, Paschalis Papachristopoulos. The position of alternate President was taken by the until recently SAE Coordinator of Asia and Africa, Stefanos Tamva kis, with 367 votes against the 221 votes of given to the until recently alternate President, Pappas Konstantinos. The third candidate, Tsorbatzoglou Panteleimon, follwed with 34 votes.

Deputy Minister on issues of Greeks living abroad Giannis Magriotis, spoke about Mr. Bizos and his book, while remembering the years of the political changeover in the university amphitheaters.

He also stressed that the book is a clarion call, a commitment of resistance and the defense of the great values of human life and dignity. Upon ending he pointed out that Mr. Bizos may be the outstanding bright example that Greece is still able to bear great men.

Mr. Bizos was obviously moved, and mentioned his acquaintance with Nelson Mandela , the hard years the apartheid and the reasons that led him to writing this book, in which he presents some of the trials he had taken up with a group of lawyers, in his lo ng career during the apartheid.

The verdict may well be the starting point of "segregation" between smokers and non-smokers in the workplace.

The Athens Administrative Court accepted the request for insurance measures submitted by 40-year-old Zoe Kourti, an employee of the Vocational Training Organization, who suffered from her coworkers' smoke.

In the request the employee turned in, calling on medical testimonials and affidavits, she mentions that her coworkers' smoking affected her health, consequently worsening her asthma and causing her constant headaches, coughing, nose and tear running. At

the same time as her lawsuit, which has not been decided upon yet, she is also contending a 50 million drs. compensation from the state, because her employers made no actions to protect her health.

The court of first instance with an unprecedented decision ruling, called the administration of the Vocational Training Organization, where she works, to create a special work areas for non-smokers.

When asked by reporters to comment why Mr. Grillakis made those statements, Mr. Mitsotakis responded that they should ask Grillakis himself.

Acting government spokesman Tilemachos Hitiris spoke of guilty silence on behalf of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mitsotakis reacted strongly to today's allegations according to which, he knew that his son-in-law Pavlos Bakoyiannis was the target of the terrorist organization "17 November" three months ahead of the assassination. Mr. Mitsotakis said t hat the insinuations made are hideous.

US ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller, who met with Athens mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos, stated categorically that he knows nothing about the revelations made by Grillakis.

Meanwhile, the European Commission approved a program of 120 billion drachmas for the agricultural development of Greece.

Minister of Agriculture Giorgos Dris stated today that a priority will be given to the regions that are disadvantaged namely, mountainous regions and the islands.

The Bulgarian government official will visit Thessaloniki under his identity as Regional Development Minister and will speak about the Greek-Bulgarian business cooperation.

In statements he made, Mr. Konstantopoulos underlined that the European governments are not close to the people and their needs and added that the Europe of the peoples cannot become a reality without the active participation of society.

Also, the Justice Minister announced that 17 new prisons and three drug detoxification centers for inmates, who are drug users, will be built by 2006. The announced project has a budget of 131 billion drachmas.

Of the stocks trading today, just 29 recorded gains and the overwhelming majority namely, 315 had losses, while the value of 12 stocks remained unchanged.

The discussion focused on the US-British-Turkish agreement on the Euro-army.

All political parties characterized as unacceptable the British text demanding its rejection and right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy accused the government of delayed reaction.

Mr. Papandreou stated that the negotiation should safeguard the autonomy of the EU decisions on its defense and the sovereign rights of its members, like Greece. If this position is not satisfied Greece will not agree and the issue will be examined in th e next summit. Mr. Papandreou also added that Turkey is not an EU member and has no right to affect the EU decisions or participate in the decision making process.

Mr. Ristic will visit tomorrow morning the Ministry of Defense for talks with his Greek counterpart followed by a press conference.

All the speakers stressed that the 4th SAE World Assembly was successful and new ideas were presented aimed at the upward course of the World Council for the Greeks Living Abroad through fertile dialogue.

A priority is given to the development of the institutional networks and to the everyday Greek who lives abroad taking seriously into account President Stephanopoulos' call.

The primary goal is the activation of the Greeks of the Diaspora, mainly the young, for the promotion and organizing of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Greece is accused of bad managing of funds for the registry, and it is likely a fine will be imposed. The Commission is asking Greece for 19.5 billion drs, and the final decision will be made on December 20.

The Prime Minister was accepted by Queen Beatrice and then had a private dinner with Mr. Kok, discussing the agenda of the upcoming Summit Meeting of EU leaders, to take place on December 14 and 15 in the Laaken Palace, in Brussels.

The future of the EU, the enlargement, common foreign and defense policy, were the issues that dominated the discussion of Mr. Simitis and Mr. Kok, since the composing of a rapid response force is an issue to be discussed extensively at the Summit Meetin g.

Prime Minister Simitis stressed that there are problems, which need to be discussed, in the text presented by the Belgian Presidency. "We have discussions with the Belgian Presidency and with Mr. Solana, and I hope a solution is found. It is necessary fo r a solution to be found so that the procedure moves forward", he stated.

Specifically, Mr. Byrne mentioned that only 47 of the slaughterhouses function according to the directive of the Council 64/443, and have been found competent to export meat to the EU market, while the meat of the rest can only be sold on the Greek marke t.

Furthermore, he underlined that the inspections performed by the foods and veterinary issues office, revealed a serious lack in the way the examinations are carried out by the responsible authorities. He also added that the European Committee repeatedly raised the issue with the Greek authorities in 2001, but "the results so far are not at all satisfactory, and the Committee is still rather worried about the situation in the slaughterhouses".

Earlier, Mr. Simitis was received by Dutch Queen Beatrice.

In statements made by Mr. Simitis and Mr. Kok the excellent bilateral relations were underlined, while the Dutch Prime Minister pointed out that the Greek-Dutch relations have made a big progress both at an economic and a political level.

Referring to the issues that were discussed, the Dutch Prime Minister pointed out that they were the issues of the Laaken EU Summit meeting, the Middle East, the developments in Afghanistan and the Balkans. They also discussed issues concerning internati onal terrorism and the measures that need to be taken by the EU. Mr. Kok also referred to the significance the Greek EU presidency, in the first half of 2003, will have for the European unification and economy.

Mr. Parnassos stated that the International Trade Center will develop new business activities for Bulgaria as Bulgarian producers will be able to sale their products to buyers from all over the world.

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