"ND is not a party of the Right, but of the Center Right", underlined Mr. Karamanlis, who moved to explain how his party has the support of the voters and social groups of the Center who previously supported PASOK. The distancing of Center voters from PA SOK is also reflected in the steady difference of 7 percentage points in the polls.

The publication expressed the appreciation that it will be hard for ND to lose the upcoming elections, there are references to the results of the polls and to the fact that they note a lead for ND over PASOK, but also a lead of Costas Simitis over Costas

Karamanlis for the position of Prime Minister. It was pointed out that Mr. Karamanlis has never served as a minister, however it was stressed that he is an experienced politician that lost the previous elections by a slim difference.

Consolidated EBITDA reached €264.5 million in 2003 against €236.6 million in the previous year, representing an increase of11.8%, while capital expenditure and net investment totaled €162.9 million, against €94.5 million in 2002.

The Chairman of the Board of Hellenic Petroleum, Mr. George Moraitis, commented: " So far, with nine-month profit growing by more than 115%, we have had one of our best seasons ever. This remarkable performance comes as a direct result of our ability to take full advantage of the positive trend in international refining margins by effectively increasing our refining production and the sales from our domestic and international marketing network. Over this period, we have delivered on our strategic goals a nd have further strengthened our competitive position in Greece and abroad."

The performance of the individual business segments of HP was as follows:

In refining, the total net production volume for the period increased, reaching 9.5 million tons. The corresponding refining sales volume also followed this positive trend and totaled 10.6 million tons.

In marketing, the consolidated domestic and international sales volume was 3.6 million tons, reflecting an increase of 16.3% compared to 2002. The growth in sales volume resulted in the increase of the marketing segment's contribution to the Group result s (profit before tax) to €24.4 million, from €17.8 million in 2002 (.: 37.1%).

An important milestone for the Group was the successful launch in the third quarter of 2003 of the new generation Kinitron(r) products produced by HP under EU 2005 specifications.

In petrochemicals, sales reached 291 thousand tons, up by 23.4% compared to the previous year.

In the context of delivering on its strategic goals the Group has achieved significant milestones, the most important of which are listed below:

• The further strengthening of the competitive position of the Group in Greece after the successful absorption of Petrola Hellas S.A.

• The expansion of the marketing network of EKO in SE Europe, with the consolidation of the acquired networks in Cyprus and Montenegro and the operation of new petrol stations in Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania and Georgia.

• The development of E&P activities in Montenegro, Albania and Libya.

• The efficient operation of the fully integrated polypropylene production plant, resulting in the strengthening of the Group's presence in the petrochemicals market.

• The completion of 30% of the construction of the 390MW gas fired - combined cycle power generation plant in Thessaloniki (North Greece).

• The acquisition and operation of a double hull carrier for oil products, which resulted in a significant decrease in transportation costs and enhanced transportation safety.

• The preparation for the early producing in 2004 of the new environmentally friendly fuels in compliance with the EU 2005 specifications.

He has received numerous "get well" telephone calls from Parliament deputies and had a number of visits. He is briefed on the developments from the newspapers. Mr. Mitsotakis was admitted in the hospital with dehydration symptoms caused by a viral gastro enteritis.

It is the third such incident since the summer. The terrorist group "Christos Kassimis" claimed responsibility through an anonymous telephone call to a newspaper.

The "Christos Kassimis" terrorist group acted as an ELA (Revolutionary People's Struggle) branch in the period 1977-79 by planting explosive devices in police patrol cars and companies of German interests.

The general index dropped to -0.60% at 2.160,12 points, while the volume of transactions was at 124.5 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today 171 had losses and 129 recorded gains, while the value of 89 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Protopapas added that the government does not make decisions neither on the jailing of people nor on their release from custody, and pointed out that the incidents and vandalisms recorded on the sidelines of the EU Summit meeting do not honor the mea ning of the words civilization and protest.

He made the statement speaking to journalists in the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in Athens.

He made the statements on the occasion of references made by Parliament deputies concerning the statements made by his Albanian counterpart Panteli Majko to the German magazine "Der Spiegel" on pending border issues in the Balkans.

Mr. Papantoniou stated that the pending issues Mr. Majko spoke about do not concern Greece but Kosovo, adding that there is no military threat from the north. However, he said that there is a likelihood of unpredictable developments in the Balkans and ad mitted that there are serious problems with organized crime and illegal immigration.

Responding to the reservations and objections expressed by many Parliament deputies over the withdrawal of armed forces from Epirus and Macedonia in northwestern Greece, he clarified that Greece is not being disarmed along its northern borders. He said t hat the army units in the region are being restructured.

The Greek Defense Minister stated that the Turkish threat from the east remains active in spite of the steps made with the Greek-Turkish dialogue.

He said that during the past two years two were the main issues for Greece, the Cyprus issue and the continuing unacceptable Turkish claims in the Aegean, which remain active through the Greek airspace violations by Turkish jets.

Mr. Papantoniou stated that there are two crucial deadlines that will check Turkey's willingness to constructively contribute to the normalization of the Greek-Turkish relations.

Namely, on May 1, 2004 when Cyprus will become an EU member and at the end of 2004, which is the deadline set by Helsinki for Turkey to settle the disputes with its neighbors. An assessment will be made then of Turkey's intention to contribute to the set tlement of the continental shelf issue by bringing it to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, stated Mr. Papantoniou.

The procedure for the improvement of the atmosphere with the neighboring country could be reversed in the case of a pessimistic scenario and therefore, Greece has to be vigilant to deal with such likelihood.

Mr. Papandreou extended the Greek government's and his personal condolences, solidarity and sympathy to the Italian government and people and to the families of the victims.

The Archbishop thanked the Prime Minister for the US$500,000 economic assistance offered by the Greek government that was used to rebuild the church of Saint Nikolaos in New York, which was destroyed when the Twin Towers were hit by terrorists on Septemb er 11, 2001.

Archbishop Dimitrios praised the work of the Greek EU Presidency and the efforts of the Greek government for Cyprus' EU accession. He also expressed satisfaction for the introduction of education programs on Greek civilization in the Greek-American commu nity schools.

The Archbishop of America discussed the crisis in the relations of the Greek Church with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the meeting he had with Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou.

Mr. Papandreou underlined the great prestige the Ecumenical Patriarchate enjoys around the world and the significance of the preservation of this prestige internationally. He also underlined that the Church of Greece is dynamic and it is the source of an

Orthodox Church that it is alive and able to declare Orthodoxy at an international level.

The Archbishop stressed that the Church of Greece is a dynamic Church and this Church should not be in any kind of a friction. He said that if a problem appears to be unsolved it has been expressed the wrong way and if the wording is changed the problem can be solved.

their construction was made yesterday by the European Commission, which selected them from a list of 56 major works in transportation, energy, communications and research, to be submitted to the December EU Summit for approval, in order for them to be ca rried out as soon as possible.

Of the 56 works, which are mostly inter-border in character, thus they interest 2 or more community (or outside) countries, three are of direct Greek importance.

For Greece, the immediate priority works proposed by the Commission are:

A super-highway connecting Igoumenitsa - Patra - Athens - Sofia - Budapest. A work which started in 1996 and will continue so as to be completed by 2008 for the Athens - Bulgaria connection and by 2010 for the connection from the Greek-Bulgarian borders to Sofia.

Regarding the road - rail - sea axis of the Ioanian - Adriatic, the Commission does not foresee the commencing of some work and does not propose any connected funding.

On the contrary it foresees the connection for the supply and reception of electricity from and to Greece from and to the Balkans, in cooperation with Turkey, a work that will cost 50 million euro. The works will begin in mid 2004 and will be completed i n 2006.

of the President of the European Parliament Pat Cox.

Following a two-day debate and a fruitful exchange of views, the delegates adopted a resolution on the follow-up to European Year 2003 and a manifesto for the forthcoming European Parliament elections, including the following key demands: - the need to adopt new horizontal legislation that will protect disabled people from discrimination, in all fields of life, a request that already has the support of the European Parliament; - the new EU Constitution to ensure that all legislative measures on non-discrimination against disabled people are adopted by qualified majority voting instead of the current unanimity system; - to make next year's EP elections more accessible for people with disabilities and disabled candidates.

Mr. Xarhakos points out that in spite of the protests made by the Greek side, Bulgaria refuses to withdraw the stamp from circulation maintaining that it was issued in June 2001 when the Kostov government was in office and its withdrawal could cause the reaction of the opposition.

Mr. Xarhakos asks the European Commission if Bulgaria's behavior toward an EU member state is appropriate for an EU candidate state. He also asks the European Commission how it will react to avert the circulation of the specific stamp and make Bulgaria r ealize that its course toward the EU is not compatible with tactics like the one already mentioned.

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