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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-11-09Macedonian 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, November 9, 1998TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] THE STATE BUDGET WILL BE PRESENTED IN PARLIAMENT ON WEDNESDAYAthens 9 November (MPA)The 1999 state budget is expected to be tabled in parliament on Wednesday. According to information, it provides for 2% increases in wages and pensions as well as a 50% increase in the social benefit for the low pension recipients.Based on the proposed new state budget, there will be new revenues from the privatization of the State Telecommunications Company, OTE, and the Greek Petroleum Company as well as, from the increase in the public services agencies' bills in combination with hiring cuts. [02] THE NEW LOWERED PRICES OF CARS WILL BE IN EFFECT THIS WEEKAthens 9 November (MPA)The ministry of finance finalizes today the decisions on the new lowered prices of new cars and by tomorrow at the latest the relevant amendment will be tabled in parliament. As soon as the new amendment is tabled the new lowered prices will be put in effect. The ministry is considering a similar regulation to be imposed on used cars as well.Based on the new regulations, it is estimated that an average car will be sold 250-350.000 drachmas cheaper, while the price reduction for large cars will be 1 million drachmas. [03] PRINCE CHARLES IS IN SKOPJESkopje 9 November (MPA)Britain's Prince Charles is on a two-day visit to Skopje accompanied by a business delegation. The goal of his visit is to promote the relations between Britain and FYROM with an emphasis on the economic cooperation.Skopje is the last stop of Prince Charles' Balkan tour. The heir to the British throne has already visited Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. [04] THE 1ST INTER-BALKAN FORUM OF INFORMATICS' APPLICATION WILL BE HELD IN THESSALONIKIThessaloniki 9 November (MPA)The prospects of inter-state alliances in public sector informatics' application projects will be examined in the 1st Inter-Balkan Forum that will be held in Thessaloniki on Friday and Saturday.Government officials and representatives of private companies from all the Balkan states and Cyprus will present the existing situation in their countries. In the forum will participate representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia. [05] THE EU FOREIGN MINISTERS COUNCIL MEETS IN BRUSSELS TODAYBrussels 9 November (MPA)The EU-Turkey relations and the report on Cyprus's EU accession course will be among the issues for discussion in the EU Foreign Ministers' Council meeting that will be held in Brussels today.The relations of Turkey with the European Union will be discussed based on the report drawn-up by the European Commission regarding the progress achieved in the past year while a discussion on the EU financial backing to Ankara and the Greek objections on the matter is not ruled out. The EU foreign ministers are not expected to reach a decision on the issue of Turkey's EU funding with 135 million ECU, as a special majority is necessary to overcome Greece's veto in order to be approved, while it has already been clear that the Austrian EU presidency wants to avoid an open confrontation with Greece, according to a BBC radio report. [06] BULGARIANS DEFUSED LAND MINES AT THE BORDERS WITH GREECESofia 9 November (MPA)The 14 last remaining land mines in the minefields, near the village of Egrek at the Greek-Bulgarian borders, were defused by Bulgarian specialists who have already defused a total of 6.304 anti-personnel land mines making safe about 200 hectares of forest land.Eight minefields near the village of Egrek were cleared in the past 20 days in a operation that was officially started by Bulgarian interior minister Bogomil Bonev. According to the newspaper "Trund", in the former minefields were planted trees. Meanwhile, the residents of the village of Viatseslav Dimitrov requested the restoration of the festivities held jointly by the Bulgarian village of Egrek and Greek villages in the 1930's. [07] THE NEW PRIME MINISTER OF ALBANIA WILL VISIT FRANCE, ITALY AND GREECETirana 9 November (MPA)New prime minister of Albania Pandeli Majko will visit France, Italy and Greece within the framework of his first formal tour abroad since he came to power.Mr. Majko left for France this morning to attend a UN meeting on trade and development held in the French city of Lyon while he will have talks with his French counterpart Lionel Jospen. Later in the evening, Mr. Majko will be in Rome where he will be received by Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. During his stay in Italy he will meet with his Italian counterpart Masimo D'Alema and he will have talks with political party leaders. The last stop of his tour will be Athens where he is expected to arrive on Wednesday. During his two-day visit to the Greek capital he will have talks with prime minister Kostas Simitis, political party leaders and business representatives. [08] SIMITIS-GUZAK MEETING IN WARSAWWarsaw 9 November (MPA)Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis, who is on a formal visit to Warsaw, met with his Polish counterpart Mr. Guzak. Mr. Simitis is accompanied by foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos, minister of press Dimitris Reppas, undersecretary of development Anna Diamantopoulou and 30 businessmen representing the sectors of construction, shipping, clothing, footwear, furs, food and beverages.Later in the evening, Mr. Simitis will meet with Polish president Alexander Kwasniewski and with political party leaders. A press conference will be given in the afternoon to seal the Greek-Polish scientific and technical cooperation agreement. Mr. Simitis will meet tomorrow with the presidents of the Polish parliament and senate and he will attend a joint session of the two Houses on the occasion of the anniversary of the national independence of Poland. Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |