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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-04-28Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, April 28, 1998TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] GREECE’S NEW ARCHBISHOP TO BE ELECTED TODAYAthens, April 28 (MPA)The Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church is to vote on the country’s new Archbishop today. The strongest among the ten candidates are Metropolitan Ieronymos of Thebes, Christodoulos of Demetriados, Theoclitos of Ioannina and Anthimos of Alexandroupolis. Presided over by Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messenia, who will serve as locum tenens and presiding hierarch through the election itself, the process will be attended by the Minister of Education Gerasimos Arsenis. A three-member committee consisting of the locum tenens and the second and third most senior hierarchs, those with the earliest date of ordination as bishop, will supervise the procedures. The candidate with the absolute majority of votes is elected archbishop. If the first vote does not yield that majority, the vote is repeated immediately. If there is no absolute majority the second time, a third vote is conducted in which the candidate with the relative majority (the most votes) is elected. In the event of a third-round tie between two or more, the tie is broken by lottery.[02] TURKEY CHALLENGES SOVEREIGNTY OF FOUR GREEK ISLANDSAnkara, April 28 (MPA)Turkey has proceeded to another provocation against Greece. According to Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, during yesterday’s European Union’s Foreign Ministers Council held at Luxembourg, Ankara is challenging the Greek sovereignty of four islands, namely Fourni, Agathonisi, Farmakonisi and Pserimo. Moreover, Mr. Pangalos stressed that Greece will not lift its veto over Turkey’s funding from the EU.[03] GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY CONCERNED, BUT CALM, OVER TURKEY’S CHALLENGEBrussels, April 28 (MPA)Greek Foreign Ministry officials are concerned, yet remain calm, over the recent provocation displayed by Turkey in regards to four islands in southeastern Aegean.Addressing the European Union’s Council of General Affairs in Brussels yesterday, Greece’s Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos provided the EU’s Foreign Ministers with a memorandum that revealed the Turkish move to challenge the sovereignty of four Greek islands. Specifically, on March 26, Turkey questioned the sovereignty of the islands Fournoi, Agathonisi, Farmakonisi and Pserimos. These are middle-sized islands all inhabited. They are part of Greece by virtue of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), and the Peace Treaty of Paris (1947). The Turkish challenge was issued at the same time as Greece had filed a demarche over the violations of the Athens FIR by Turkish fighter jets. "After Imia, Turkey is escalating its aggressiveness against Greece," the Greek FM said, adding that under such conditions Athens cannot lift its reservations against the adoption of the financial protocol - concerning 375 million ECU - for Turkey. The second memorandum given by Mr. Pangalos to his European counterparts referred to Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem's refusal, as communicated to Greece, to travel to Rhodes on May 11-12 in order to meet with his Greek counterpart on the sidelines of the West European Union's ministerial session. With this position, Turkey makes it clear that it does not desire dialogue with Greece and a peaceful solution to whatever differences, Mr. Pangalos stated. [04] GREEK PREMIER TO ATTEND EURO SUMMIT THIS WEEKENDAthens, April 28 (MPA)Prime Minister Kostas Simitis is to attend the European Union summit, to be held this weekend in Brussels, where the “15” will appoint the members which will first adopt the EU’s single currency, the Euro, by January 1, 1999. Preceding Saturday’s Summit, the EU’s Economy and Finance Ministers are to meet on Friday in order to review the European Commission’s evaluation of economic performance of each member state. They will submit their recommendations to the “Euro” Summit attendees.[05] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS PILOTS CALL OFF PLANNED STRIKEAthens, April 28 (MPA)The pilots of the national air carrier Olympic Airways have canceled their planned strike after their association representatives held talks with the company’s board of directors yesterday and they were reassured that OA will not reduce the flight schedules. Meanwhile, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas stated that Olympic Airways will need to form strategic alliances with foreign airlines in the future in order to survive. "The government is doing everything to make OA's revitalization plan a success. Despite errors and delays, the situation is in a phase of adaptation," Mr. Reppas stated.[06] NEW EPISODES ERUPT AT KOSSOVOPrishtina, April 28 (MPA)New episodes erupted yesterday between the Serb army and members of the Albanian community of Kossovo.The President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic reiterated that his country will not accept foreign intervention on the mater of Kossovo. Meanwhile, the European Union’s 15 member-states have agreed to proceed to additional sanctions against Belgrade. [07] 12 YEARS SINCE THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT, NO PLANS TO CLOSE ITChernobyl, April 28 (MPA)The formidable nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine occurred twelve years ago but, in spite of the devastating repercussions of that event, no measures have been taken to permanently close the nuclear plant.On the contrary, one of the plant’s reactors, Number Three, is to be restarted again this month, according to the station’s personnel. Reactor Number Three -- the only one of four reactors which has functioned since Chernobyl's Number Four reactor exploded on April 26, 1986 -- was shut down last year after cracks were discovered in the cooling system's pipes. [08] GREEK LABOR MINISTER ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO EGYPTCairo, April 28 (MPA)Greece’s Minister of Labor and Social Security Miltiades Papaioannou wrapped up his official three-day visit to Egypt yesterday, with the signing of a joint communique, at the invitation of his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad al Ammawi's invitation. Mr. Papaioannou met with Mr. Ammawi and discussed bilateral labor issues, while he was also received by the Egyptian Premier Dr. Kamal Ganzouri The Greek Labor Minister also visited the Monastery of Agios Georgios where the Patriarch of Alexandria Petros VII officiated the vespers service.[09] BRITISH EURO-DEPUTY WANTS PARTHENON MARBLES IN GREECEAthens, April 28 (MPA)British Eurodeputy Ken Coates, who is also the president of the Bertrand Russell Foundation for Peace, has openly advocated the position that the Parthenon Marbles that are currently housed at the British Museum should be returned to Greece. Addressing the issue of "The Civilization and Freedom of Lord Byron against Lord Elgin" during a three-day series of events in honor of Lord Byron at the Athens Book Arcade, Mr. Coates stated that Lord Byron called Lord Elgin "a barbarian Scotsman" for having taken the Greek monuments.[10] GREECE’S NATIONAL BANK BRANCHES OUT IN ROMANIAAthens, April 28 (MPA)The National Bank of Greece is to inaugurate a branch in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on May 14. The bank already operates branches in Albania and plans to open new ones in Serbia.Theodoros Karatzas, the bank's governor, will attend the opening ceremony, accompanied by a delegation of Greek bankers and businessmen. [11] US TO PROPOSE PACKAGE OF MEASURES OVER KOSSOVO CRISISWashington, April 28 (MPA)The United States are reportedly planning to propose a package of measures at the imminent “Contact Group” meeting in their effort to put an end to the fermenting crisis in Kossovo, according to Washington officials. Specifically, the State Department is expected to adopt unilateral measures if it cannot persuade all members of the “Contact Group” to accept the package deal against the violence in Kosovo. It will recommend that the measures include a freeze on Yugoslav assets held overseas and a ban on international trade with Belgrade. "The United States reiterates the UN and the Contact Group's call for the immediate withdrawal of special police units from the Kosovo region. Belgrade authorities and the Kosovo-Albanians to engage in an unconditional dialogue," State Department spokesman James Foley said. Meanwhile, the European Union has imposed an embargo on Yugoslavia, as of yesterday, on the supply of arms and equipment “intended for internal repression or terrorism. " The EU ministers said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had not done enough to seek a peaceful settlement in Kossovo and threatened more sanctions unless he complied."Belgrade had better take note -- the outside world is not going to let this one go," said British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. "The EU is going to make sure ethnic confrontation is not going to be allowed to continue in any part of Europe." [12] SPORTS MINISTERS FROM 47 COUNTRIES MEET AT CYPRUS IN MAYStrasbourg, April 29 (MPA)Sports ministers from 47 European countries are to discuss athletics-related matters, with the possibility of applying the outcomes at this summer’s World Cup and at the Olympic Games of 2004, when they meet next month in Cyprus.The ministers are to review matters that will not only concern the athletes, but will actually look into the audience and the ways to involve people in sports throughout their lives. Specifically, while the Olympic Games International Committee is currently preparing a “medical code”, the ministers are to tackle issues such as to what degree the athletic organizations should prohibit the use of “performance enhancing” drugs, as well as the so-called “social drugs” such as hashish. The Council of Europe has decided to embark on the control of performance-enhancing drugs beyond the sports arena. [13] RAUF DENKTASH TO MEET WITH RICHARD HOLBROOKE ON MAY 2Nicosia, April 28 (MPA)The leader of the Turkish-Cypriots Rauf Denktash has stated that he is ready to attend a conference concerning the Cyprus issue, that will feature the participation of Greece, the Greek-Cypriots, Turkey and the Turkish- Cypriots. Regarding the visit of the United States presidential envoy for the Cyprus issue Richard Holbrooke to the island, Mr. Denktash stated that he will meet with him on May 2.[14] NATO MIGHT INTERVENE IN KOSSOVOBelgrade, April 28 (MPA)NATO Secretary-General’s assistant on political matters Klaus-Peter Kliber characterized the situation in Kossovo as extremely dangerous and explosive, during his address before the assembly of the Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Council, which is wrapping up in Helsinki today.According to the Serb news Agency BETA, the NATO official stated that the fragility of the current situation in Kossovo might force NATO to intervene in order to avert the spilling over of the collision into neighboring states. Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at http://www.hri.org/MPA/Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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