MPA NEWS IN BRIEF (21/06/96)

From: Macedonian Press Agency <mpa@philippos.mpa.gr>

Macedonian Press Agency Brief News in English Directory

MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS I N ENGLISH

Thessaloniki, June 21, 1996

TITLES

NEWS IN DETAIL

[01] EUROPEAN UNION SUMMIT METING IN FLORENCE BEGAN TODAY

The European Union Summit Meeting, which began this morning in Florence at 11 am local time, will tackle major issues that concern the european community, spearheaded by the Inter- Governmental Conference (ICG) regarding revisions of the Maastricht Treaty, the plight of unemployment, the overall EU economic state, and the embargo placed on the beef meat and by- products exports from England that has resulted from the "mad cow disease."

Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs Mr. Fascino of Italy - which currently holds the EU Presidency prior to being relayed to Ireland- stated that the turkish memorandum submitted this week regarding greco-turkish relations and european solidarity will not be brought up for discussion during the Summit, but will be examined during the Foreign Ministers meeting with the turkish delegation tomorrow evening. Greece will be represented by a diplomat at this meeting.

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, accompanied by Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and Under-secretary of Foreign Affairs George Romeos were received this morning at the session by Italian Premier Romano Pronti and Foreign Minister Laberto Dini.

This afternoon, Italian Presiden Oscar Luigi Scalfaro will host a luncheon at the Medici Pallace welcoming the European Council members and the EU's National Economy ministers and, in light of the signing of agreements between EU-Chile and EU- Uztbekistan, in honor of these two countries' foreign ministers.

Within the European Council's parameters, Prime Minister Simtis will meet with the President of Cyprus Glafkos Clerides who is currently in Florence.

[02] ASSOCIATION OF BALKAN NEWS AGENCIES TO MEET IN ATHENS TODAY

The Second General Assembly of the Association of Balkan News Agencies (ABNA) will begin in Athens this evening with the participation of the national news agencies from Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia.

Attending the conference will be the general directors from each news agency, which are Macedonian Press Agency (in Thessaloniki) Spyros Kouzinopoulos, Athens News Agency Andreas Christodoulides, Anadolu (Ankara) Mehmet Akarca, ATA (Tirana) Ilir Zhilla, BIP (Sofia) Stefan Velev, BTA (Sofia) Milen Vaikov, MPB (Skopje) Milova Stefanovski, Rompress (Bucharest) Neagu Odroiu and Tanjung (Belgrade) Slobodan Jovanovic. Also present will be two observers, Fevzi Khraman, general-director of the Ankara-based independent IHA news agency and Ali Ibranimoglu, IHA's news coordinator.

The conference will address issues such as the progress of MPA's Diavlos program, which envisions the creation of an inter- Balkan news data bank based in Thessaloniki, as well as the preparation for the exchange of financial information between ABNA members.

The Conference's general assembly will begin at 9 am on Saturday at the Asteras resort in Athens' seaside suburb of Vouliagmeni. A dinner will be held on Saturday, honoring the general directors, who will visit Sounio on Sunday. The events are sponsored by the Athens Medical Center.

[03] GREECE TO GRANT $16,000 FOR GREEK FESTIVALS IN AUSTRALIA

In a gesture that aids the promotion of the greek culture in Australia, the greek government announced today the granting of $16,000 to the Australian Federation of Greek Festivals.

Along the same lines, Greece is giving financial assistance to Modern Greek Studies departments featured in australian universities.

[04] CYPRIOT PRESIDENT MAKES ROUNDS IN FLORENCE FOR CYPRUS' EU ACCESSION

Cypriot PResident Glafkos Clerides has embarked on a series of contacts in Florence today regarding the matter of Cyprus' accession to the European Union. A meeting scheduled to take place today between Mr. Clerides and the Italian EU-Presidency's special representative for the Cyprus problem Frederico di Roberto will be held in light of the latter's imminent report on the matter.

President Clerides, who is invited to the Summit by the Italian presidency, will also have a series of meeting with european leaders. In outlining his expectations from these contacts, President Clerides stated that negotiations regarding Cyprus' accession to the EU will begin six months after the Inter- Governmental Conference takes place, and assessed that during the next EU expansion, Cyprus will become a full member of the Union.

[05] COOPERATION AND TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN EU-FYROM RATIFIED

The cooperation and trade agreement drawn between the European Union and FYROM was ratified yesterday evening in Brussels.

The Director of the European Commission's General Directorate of Foreign Affairs Pablo Benartides and the head of FYROM's delegation Yianne Milliovski, exchanged letters ratifying the bilateral agreement which promotes cooperation, especially on the trade sector.

The EU member-states agreed that the signing of the agreement be done in a "unique" matter and specifically through an exchange of letters similar to NATO's "Cooperation for Peace." In other words, the skopjan government's letter states that the agreement is ratified by the "Republic of Macedonia", while in the European Commission's version Skopje is referred to as "FYROM".

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