for the breaking up of the electoral districts of II Athens and the rest of Attica, since as he said, Greece's administrative restructuring did not move forward. It should be noted that there were intense objections to the provision, even from PASOK MPs including Mr. Pagalos ND's parliamentary representative Vyron Polydoras was reserved in answering if his party would vote on the provision, saying that the articles will be discussed at the plenary session.

Programming Committee, Alekos Papadopoulos. The meetings will be held in Mr. Papandreou's office at the Foreign Ministry.

It should be noted that there were intense objections to the provision, even from PASOK MPs including Mr. Pagalos.

At the same time, Mr. Scandalidis accepted the request from MPs from all parties to extend the time period required for the application of the list in case of early elections.

That time period was 12 months according to the present electoral law, while it will now be extended to 18 months.

Thus, so if early elections are required, possibly due to the Parliament's inability to elect a President of the Republic in the Spring of 2005, then the preference cross will not be used, and elections will be carried out using the list.

In any case, ND's parliamentary spokesperson Vyron Polydoras was reserved in answering if his party would vote on the provision, saying that the articles will be discussed at the plenary session.

According to the data, the Foreign Minister and candidate President of PASOK is greatly esteemed by voters aged 18-24, whose number is approximately 600,000. An indicator towards this fact is that 53.2% of young people consider Mr. Papandreou as the most

appropriate Prime Minister, while 32.5% support Mr. Karamanlis.

In the same age category, as far as vote intent is concerned, PASOK is ahead of ND with 38.3% against 33.7%. In victory probability, 44.9% of young voters believe that PASOK will win, while 39.6% believe ND will win.

As far as the question of which government can do a better job, young voters give the lead to PASOK with 46.6% against 32.6% for New Democracy.

Speaking on a French television show, Mr. DeLores said that the other two most prominent candidates are the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker and former Prime Minister of Belgium Jean Luc Dehaene.

Romano Prodi's tenure ends in October 2004. After the Euroelections in June, the European Summit Council will decide on who will preside over the Commission for the following five years.

government, in a final attempt to find a jointly acceptable solution.

He called for Russia's contribution to the solution of the Cyprus issue based on the Annan Plan, while he also referred to the big importance attributed by Greece to the region of south Caucasus.

They also agreed that there is a need for a bilateral agreement to facilitate the issuing of visas to Russian citizens based on the Schengen agreement.

Mr. Loverdos held the meeting to brief the members of the delegation on bilateral economic relations and consider the proposals expected to be promoted by the participants.

Meanwhile, the business forum, scheduled to take place in Beirut on January 22 attracts great interest, and will be formally opened by Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos.

Of the stocks trading today, 184 recorded gains and 127 had losses, while the value of 73 stocks remained unchanged.

Regarding a Turkish newspaper report according to which, a Greek-Turkish agreement on the continental shelf is imminent, Mr. Protopapas stated that after consultations he had with the Foreign Ministry it was established that there is no such issue, addin g that a multiform mobility will be witnessed on behalf of the Turkish side but there is no certainty that this mobility will include meaningful interventions.

Turkey attempts to improve its negative position in the international community and create better conditions for its European course but in order for this to happen it should undertake real initiatives, stated Mr. Protopapas.

He made the comment responding to questions concerning the positive statements made by Jacques Delors over the likelihood for Mr. Simitis to be a candidate for the post of the European Commission President.

Mr. Protopapas added that this is a proof that Greece's international position has been upgraded.

Mr. Karamanlis stated that New Democracy submits today a complete, realistic and applicable program concerning the sector of health.

Referring to the situation observed in the sector of health in Greece, Mr. Karamanlis stated that more and more Greeks are forced to seek medical care in the private sector, while he spoke of "organized chaos" and referred to phenomena of mismanagement a nd overspending of funds.

Summarizing the New Democracy program, Mr. Karamanlis stated that it secures high-level health services, free selection of physician, and easy access for all Greeks.

Mr. Papandreou stated that his pre-election campaign tour is going to be launched from Thrace, northeastern Greece this weekend, while responding to a question by a reporter he stated that Theodoros Pangalos will remain head of the pre-election campaign.

The Foreign Minister also stated that he discussed with the Prime Minister the developments in the Cyprus issue in view of the visit of Cypriot Republic President Tassos Papadopoulos to Athens on January 19.

According to the Greek service of the "Voice of America", among the high officials Mr. Floridis will have meetings with are National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Deputy Secretary of State

Richard Armitage, and State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Cofer Black.

The Greek Minister's discussions will concentrate on bilateral cooperation for the battle against organized crime, Olympic security, and regional cooperation in Southeastern Europe.

According to the press office of the Greek Embassy to Washington, Mr. Floridis will be accompanied by the Chief of the Greek Police Fotis Nasiakos, the Head of the Greek Intelligence Service Pavlos Apostolidis, and the press spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Order Eleftherios Economou.

The article is published in view of the opinion poll publicized today according to which, 80% of the British agree with the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

He mentions that the return of the Marbles will restore the unity of the major cultural monument of the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens, adding that by refusing to return the Marbles London's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games will be undermined.

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