All military units have been put on alert after a decision of the Defense Ministry. Schools in Greece will reopen after Easter break and hospitals are ready to deal with any more cases that may arise.

The virus has struck all over the country, with the exception of N. Greece, where there have been no cases reported. So far, 32 cases have been reported, 13 of which were made known in the same day. 13 cases have been recorded in Athens, 6 in Crete, 2 in

Ipiros, 3 in the Ioanian islands and 5 in Aegean islands. Of the 32 individuals, 4 are children.

Citizens have been called to remain calm and not to panic. They must also take thorough care of their personal hygiene, clean their lavatories well, increase their intake of fluids, improve their diets and rest during the day. Also, anyone with a tempera ture or with a feeling of fatigue should call or visit a doctor.

A meeting has been in session all morning at the Control Center of Contagious Diseases in Athens, with the participation of cardiology professors.

"The extreme measures announced by the Minister of Health Alekos Papadopoulos for the protection of public health are moves in the right direction", stated the Coordinator of New Democracy's ODE of Social Affairs, Nikitas Kaklamanis.

"I hope that by tomorrow there will be a daily epidemic report from the Health Ministry, in order to inform citizens reliably and in time, something that has not happened so far.

In addition I also recommend:

As far as the Armed Forces are concerned, apart from the measures announced, it would be positive if only the necessary number of troops remained inside the camps.

Since, as the Minister mentioned, there is an increased number of patients visiting hospitals, the number of staff members on call should also be increased, as well as the number of on call emergency hospitals", he stressed.

"We all need to be vigilant - especially the State - but we must not panic", he ended.

In an interview to "Flash" radio, Cardiology Professor came to the same conclusions, stressing that citizens should not panic. Mr. Kremasitnos drew attention to weak constitutions, stressing that there should be concern when there are cardiological sympt oms at the same time with the flu.

Specifically, 68% of Greeks believe that Greece's participation in the EU is good, in contrast to the 54% which is the communal average of positive replies. Also, 78% of Greeks answered positively to the question of whether "accession to the EU was benef icial for Greece", while the only country to have a greater percentage than that of Greece was Ireland, with 90%.

Also, 79% of Greeks are in favor of a common currency in contrast to the 68% average of Europeans. The survey took place in October and November of 2001 in the 15 member-states of the EU, on a sample of 16,029 European civilians.

Mr. Papandreou and Mr. Cem will meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah and Israeli President Ariel Sharon in Tel Aviv. They will also meet their Israeli counterpart, Simon Peres.

"Through the American Jewish Committee, seated in the US, the government of Israel was informed of the need to hasten the recognition of the Jerusalem Patriarch, which was pending since last August". It should be noted that the American Jewish Committee

informed Mr. Athens that the procedures of official recognition of Jerusalem Patriarch Irineos by the Israeli State, began last week. The recognition was announced last Monday.

In the immediate goals of the volunteers is the support of Ramallah's and Bethlehem's populations, solidarity, witnessing and offering first degree medical care and medicinal supplies to the residents, with the support of local medical structures of the Union of Palestine Medical Relief Committee, with which Doctors Without Borders has been cooperating steadily for the materialization of their programmes since 1996.

In an announcement, Greek Doctors Without Borders pointed out that even in the Gaza strip, where their programmes have been in effect since 1996, and despite the fact that it is an area that has not been under tense military encirclement, difficulty in r eaching the population has created serious problems.

"The International Community, through official Governments and International Organizations, has essentially remained inactive before this new humanitarian crisis that has broken out in the Middle East. Apart from some isolated actions from states and gov ernments, which create an alibi concerning the issue of "non-involvement", lax political pressures on the Israeli government have not changed the plans of the Israeli army, which continued its military operations, killing innocent civilians and almost com pletely destroying Palestinian infrastructure. We, Greek Doctors Without Borders, believe that the role of states and their governments should be consumed in enforcing a framework for the peaceful resolving of the issue. In contrast, Greek Doctors Without

Borders do not believe in the effectiveness of state humanitarian missions, which is still the major field of action of humanitarian organizations, almost exclusively. Because only independent humanitarian organizations can act impartially, especially in

a complex geopolitical environment, in contrast to state directed humanitarianism, which unavoidably adheres to state interests. That is also why we consider the recent mission of the Greek Health Ministry to Palestine, regardless of its intentions, frag mentary and merely symbolic, sending the wrong message to society", pointed out the President of Doctors Without Borders, Kostas Papaioannou.

The meeting will take place at 12 noon at the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace, and participants include the Secretaries General of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finances, the Environment, Planning and Public Works, Development, Transports and Macedonia -Thrace. Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Giorgos Paschalidis will not be participating because he will be in Athens for the Cabinet Meeting.

These are signs of our times, and that is why we must be awake and vigilant, he said to "Flash" radio, and he noted that Europe is awakening, and with the results of the French elections, politics is back in the foreground. Referring to the Parliamentar y elections to take place in France in two months, he observed that we may see the opposite of what happened in the Presidential elections. He believes that the French have a "guilt syndrome" and if they are awakened and regroup quickly, the center-left c an regain the majority of the French people.

Concerning the stance PASOK should hold, and in general that of most European center-left parties, he underlined: "There must be positive self definition. Our visions, our priorities and our policies must not be pseudonyms for neoconservatism and neolibe ralism. The center-left, the modern European democratic left and with whatever name it may be known in each country, cannot govern as a synonym or a pseudonym or conservatism and the right".

The results of the French elections may be a very strong bell toll for us all, stated Minister of the Environment, Planning and Public Works Vaso Papandreou, pointing out, however, that there is no parallel between Kostas Simitis and Lionel Jospin.

In an interview to "Flash" radio, Mrs. Papandreou pointed out the need for PASOK to change its political speech. "PASOK must take another look at its relationship to society. It must take a look at how it will inform and create the requirements for the p articipation of citizens in the shaping and carrying out of politics. The people believe we have forgotten them, that we do not deal with their problems. The problems are present and complex", she said.

She stressed that the political system is facing certain problems, and that the political mark of each political formation must be made clear. "The unification of Europe is moving ahead without the participation of its citizens, and they are very rightly

reacting", she mentioned, and added that potential for socialist and socialdemocratic parties to exercise a different policy in the framework of a unified Europe has dropped, but even the potential that does exist is not put to good use.

The Australian government minister and deputy Prime Minister will visit Limnos to attend the unveiling of a monument donated by the Greek-Australians and dedicated to the memory of Anzacs.

It is estimated that the growth rate of the Greek economy will be at 3.7% in 2002 compared to 3.5% according to last November's predictions, when the EU average of the "15" was at 1.5% compared to 1.4% in the Euro-zone countries.

In 2003, the Greek economy growth rate will be at 4.2% and will continue to be the highest in the European Union.

It is estimated that 40% of the earth's population lives in more than 200 inter-state water basins. The regions of Macedonia and Thrace in northern Greece are two of them as they share lakes and rivers with neighboring countries.

Greece together with other 7 European countries participates in the "Iron Curtain" project within the framework of the European program on the "Quality of Life and Vital Resources Management". The goal is to expand cooperation on the inter-state water ba sins along the border line dividing East and West Europe. The eight countries participating in the specific cooperation network are Norway, Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria.

From his side, Mr. Papadimos briefed the Prime Minister on the annual Bank of Greece report that will be given to publicity on Monday. The report stresses that there is a need to speed-up structural changes, adopt a tight revenue policy and proceed with spending cuts. It also includes measures aimed at keeping inflation at low levels.

On the selection of Mr. Papadimos to the post of the European Central Bank Vice-President, Mr. Simitis stated that this decision is the result of Mr. Papadimos' work. He said that it is a great honor for Mr. Papadimos and Greece because it is also the re sult of the efforts made by Greece to become an EMU member.

Of the stocks trading today, 243 had gains and 78 recorded losses, while the value of 56 stocks remained unchanged.

The committee meets four times a year to discuss developments in international and European stock markets, as well as the effects of the under publication EU directives on the stock markets.

After the meeting, Mr. Reppas characterized the developments in the effort against unemployment as positive and predicted that the unemployment course will be on the decline in the following period. In addition, he gave the assurance that the talks with the social partners will be continuous and meaningful, stressing that an effort will be made for a permanent cooperation between the state and the social partners to deal with the problem of unemployment.

Mr. Reppas also stated that for the first time next September, each country will have to present to the EU its own National Action Plan on pensions.