From his discussions so far, a new important idea has a risen, that could be included in a possible new UN Security Council resolution: The formation of a more specific list of demands to Iraq, which would test Saddam Hussein's credibility and will to co operate.

In a different case, pointed out Mr. Papandreou, specifically in a resolution-ultimatum, many countries would be opposed and support that it is too soon for such an action. The Greek Presidency will support these chances with initiatives it will take, an d we hope that this window of opportunity will allow us to solve the problem peacefully, added the Greek Foreign Minister.

Regarding the image he created from his contacts both in Arab countries and with his American counterpart K. Powell, he stated that war is not unavoidable. Mr. Papandreou commented that in a telephone communication he had with Mr. Powell from Brussels, t he US Secretary of State "evaluated the result of the Council as a success for the EU and showed that he understood that we are asking for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the crisis, in the framework of resolution 1441 and providing the necessary ti me to the inspectors, but at the same time place Saddam Hussein before his own responsibilities".

Regarding the letter British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent to the leaders of the candidate and under accession countries, Mr. Papandreou limited his statements to saying that "our cooperation with the 13 countries is excellent, and the Greek Presidency' s tactics are just a continuation of the already existing European tactics.

This means that countries under accession discuss after the end of the European Council's meeting and its Findings. It would be good for the discussions on a breach among EU countries, because they help no one. For us, observation of the standing tactics

is the best way to avoid any misinterpretations".

During the discussion at the President's office in the presence of the press, Mr. Stefanopoulos told Mr. Simitis that he should be satisfied with the positive result of the EU Summit Meeting, which proved, as he said, the correctness of the Prime Ministe r's decision to convene it.

On his side, the Prime Minister stressed that there was will for a common confrontation of the problem and he expressed his wish that they continue in that fashion. At the same time, Mr. Simitis appreciated that there would be tensions because the Iraq i ssue has not ended, and would continue to be a test to the frame of relations among European countries. He added, however, that he could not move ahead alone, without the cooperation of the others.

This united body will be operational, it will consist of officers and specialists in issues of border guarding and control, and - depending on the responsibilities assigned - will coordinate the immigration policy of the European Union.

Mr. Chrysochoidis said that illegal immigrants will be dealt with on the outer borders of member-states, as well as on the interior borders, to the degree to which illegal immigrants manage to enter countries, and then it will have to deal with the probl em of their incorporation in local society.

The Minister of Public Order stressed that the activities of organized crime are connected to illegal immigration.

"Although it is tragically ironic, it is a fact that organized crime corrodes borders and thus facilitates the trafficking of illegal immigrants", stressed the Minister, mentioning that measures must be taken in the Western Balkans, so that both problems

- illegal immigration and organized crime - are dealt with.

Greece's position, stated Mr. Chrysochoidis, is that we must develop social, economic and developmental policies that will lead to the smoothing out social problems, lowering unemployment, and increasing income, so that organized crime can no longer pros per to such a degree in the Balkans. Consequently, a continuous effort and real help towards Western Balkan countries is required, in addition to a constant checking in order to ascertain if they are utilizing the help they are receiving properly.

Mr. Chrysochoidis stressed that terrorism is included in the activities of organized crime, which requires political confrontation.

Moreover, he added that Greece cannot accept more illegal immigrants, since it has reached its limit. He also mentioned that special attention must be paid to Turkey, which must help in dealing with the wave of illegal immigrants, especially those coming

from or who will come from Iraq.

He repeated that guarding the borders is a priority and that a fair distribution of responsibilities is required, specifically the weight each country will have to bear, both on its borders and in its interior.

According to his statements, at the Council of the 27th and the 28th of February, Greece will propose a roadmap, a procedure for coordination among officers of different countries and cooperation with the countries of the Western Balkans, so that illegal

immigration, organized crime and individual problems can be dealt with.

director of the women's prison and former chief of guards Antonis Aravantinos, who is accused of being an accessory before the fact and of deception to lead to perjury. Three guards have been accused of facilitating the entry of the drugs to the prison.

This morning he will have meetings with President of the Republic Costis Stefanopoulos, Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Athens' Mayor Dora Bakoyanni.

In the afternoon he will speak at the EVEA convention and present the first findings of the Convention to the participants representing 25 countries.

The seminar concerning the Bologna Process, on "Exploring the Social Dimensions of European Higher Education" which started yesterday, is continuing in Athens today.

The Preparatory Meeting For The Promotion Of R&D Cooperation between the EU and Balkan Countries will continue until Saturday in Thessaloniki. Discussions at the meeting will include the Action Plan on Research and Development issues concerning the EU an d Western Balkan countries and Special Action for Candidate Countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey). The Committee on Employment is meeting in Grevena.

The Council of Agriculture and Fisheries is beginning its meeting in Brussels on food and agricultural product safety issues, presided over by the Greek Minister of Agriculture Giorgos Drys, as is the Political and Security Committee and Education Commit tee.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU will meet in Brussels tomorrow (COREPER I).

OPEC's Secretary General will meet with Minister of Development Akis Tsochatzopoulos tomorrow, and on Saturday morning a trilateral meeting will be held, with the participation of European Commissioner and Vice President of the European Committee Loyola de Palacio.

Participants in the meeting's works on behalf of the EU, include deputy chief of Mrs. De Palacio's office, Margaritis Schinas, the Coordinator of the Stability Pact, Erhard Busek, and services' directing officials.

The Ministers of Energy to participate in the meeting are Jose Folgado Blanco (Spain), Claes Anstrand (Sweden), Georg Wilhelm Adamowitsch (Germany), Dermot Ahern (Ireland), and Brian Wilson (England), who is also responsible for public works.

Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Finland, Austria, and the Netherlands will be represented by the General Directors and Consultants on energy issues of the related ministries.

Regarding the informal Energy Meeting to be held on Saturday in Thessaloniki, Mr. Agrafiotis stated that the first issue on the agenda is the crisis in the Gulf, while an attempt to approach a unified European position will be made. "Europe must show its

unity during a crisis, it must look and find the elements of its power", said Mr. Agrafiotis, adding that "there is the spirit of a united confrontation, which, at least, the Greek Presidency will explore".

He appreciated that during the works no specific decision will be made, but there will be a first exploration of the member-states' intentions will be made by the presidency, so that if necessary, the Greek Presidency can prepare a draft for a joint deci sion, similar to that of the European Council in Brussels last Monday.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Development supported that the creation of a strategic supply in Europe will give it the ability to intervene in the rise of prices. "All member-states have corresponding legislature. The issue is how do we have a

unified legislature - direction in Europe on the common management of the security supply", he stressed.

According to the Ministry's appreciations, oil prices will not surpass those of the present at $32 a barrel. "We are missing 2.4 million barrels on the daily market from Venezuela. A crisis in Iraq would mean a further shortage of 1.8 million barrels. Ho wever, the strike in Venezuela is over, and the country is reentering production - it is already at half its daily output. We believe that any loss of oil from Iraq will be covered by Venezuelan oil. I do not think that we can escape from the $32 a barrel

price", said Mr. Agrafiotis.

As it was announced by Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis, ambassador Alexandros Filon will be heading the Greek delegation, while Turkish Foreign Ministry political director Baki Ilkin will be heading the Turkish delegation. In the delegati ons will also participate specialists from the two Ministries of Defense.

Mr. Simitis in statements he made after the meeting pointed out that it is natural to have differences but the European countries should overcome them. In any case, he stressed that one should not conclude that the EU is being weakened through such a pro cedure. The goal is to strengthen it and through the Convention procedures this will be achieved, added the Greek Prime Minister and European Union President.

Earlier, Mr. D' Estaing had a meeting with Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos at the Presidential Building, who welcomed him and expressed joy for meeting with him again.

In case their demand is met, the visit will take place on Tuesday morning and the delegation will ask for her release from prison. A press conference will be held in Ankara on Wednesday.

Of the stocks trading today, 103 recorded gains and 181 had losses, while the value of 95 stocks remained unchanged.

The statement was made by Mr. Karamanlis after the meeting he had with former French President and President of the Convention on the future of Europe Valery Giscard D' Estaing.

Mr. Karamanlis stated that his party maintains that the EU should become more effective without limiting the role of the smaller member states.

The first initiative concerns a proposal by Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou directed to the UN Security Council suggesting the adoption of specific issues-questions to use them as indexes in order to measure Iraq's cooperation with the UN weapons' in spectors. The second initiative concerns the opening of talks with the Arab world.

Mr. Protopapas reiterated that the informal EU Summit meeting decision brought Europe to a single position. He said that it opened a window to peace and added that it is time for Iraq too to cooperate fully with the UN weapons' inspectors for the peacefu l settlement of the crisis.

When asked to comment on the likelihood of a second UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, the government spokesman stated that this will be decided by the Security Council itself. He said that a wider agreement is necessary for a resolution to be adopt ed. In such a case, it will practically mean that the International Community will reach a decision binding for all, said Mr. Protopapas.

The press report referred to a network which smuggles radioactive materials to Iraq via Greece.

Specifically, in the eleven-month period in question the Greek exports to Turkey reached US$286.2 million compared to US$242.7 million in the same period in 2001. This corresponds to an increase of 17.93% according to the latest figures presented in Thes saloniki today by economic and commercial attache in the Greek Consulate in Istanbul Mr. Kounalakis.

In the same period, the Turkish exports to Greece reached US$509.5 million compared to US$441.2 million in 2001 recording an increase of 15.47%.

Court is considered by the Union essential for the universal implementtion of international humanitarian law. The Presidency hopes that other countries in the region will soon follow the example of Afghanistan, which is now the eighty-ninth State Party of the ICC.

In his question, Mr. Marinos raised the issue of radiation from mobile telephony antennae placed in densely populated areas, especially over apartment buildings and near schools and gyms. He also stressed that there is evident concern in Greek and intern ational press, on the consequences these antennae have of public health.

In an ND press release it was noted that in a prior response of the Council in July 1999, the safety zone for electromagnetic fields around the bases of the antennae were "4 meters (low power urban area station) to 10 meters (high power rural stations) h orizontally and less than 1 meter vertically".

Regarding concerns about damage to the neural and hormonal systems, Mr. Liinaken noted that "so far it has not been proven that exposure to the electromagnetic fields of mobile and wireless telephones is potentially harmful below the recommended minimum" , while he stressed that the European Commission closely observes every new scientific result, so as to react if necessary to any new evidence that has not yet been taken into consideration.

The Commissioner also informed Mr. Marinos that the Commission supports the forming of a broad scale epidemiological plan, "Interphone", which involves 13 countries, and whose goal it is to ascertain the degree to which using a mobile telephone increases

the danger of cancer and if radio frequencies given out by mobile telephones are carcinogenic. "The results of this plan will not be available prior to 2004-2005, when documented conclusions will ready", stressed Mr. Liinaken.

The Romanian Prime Minister stated that the two countries' relations have been bearing fruits over the past few years, stressing that cooperation for the development of the local energy market development and in small and medium businesses, the political

responsibility for which, in the Greek government, is held by Mr. Tsochatzopoulos.

Information indicates that in 2002 the volume of transactions was 3.6 times larger than that of 1989 and exports are 2.7 times as many, and Mr. Nastaze made a commitment towards the Greek Minister that he is studying ways to improving market conditions s o that new fields for action by Greek investors are created.

The intensification of the existing economic cooperation will speed up the Romanian government efforts for EU accession.

On her part, Mrs. Puvak stressed that Romania counts on Greece's economic support and its experience as an EU member. She concluded by stating that the fact that Greece holds the EU Presidency during the first half of 2003 is an advantage for the Romania n efforts aimed at meeting the EU accession criteria.

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