Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-04-06

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] THE PRIME MINISTER IS IN CEPHALONIA

[02] ΔΩΡΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΒΟΛΗ ΤΩΝ ΚΟΜΜΑΤΩΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΑ ΜΜΕ ΣΤΙΣ ΕΚΛΟΓΕΣ

[03] THE PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH IN CEPHALONIA

[04] ONE CAR FOR EVERY TWO ATHENS RESIDENTS

[05] THE GREEK FARMERS CONTINUE THEIR PROTESTS

[06] GREECE IS THE THIRD BIGGEST BUYER OF RUSSIAN WEAPONS SYSTEMS

[07] THE ND LEADER IS IN MUNICH

[08] FOREIGN MINISTER PAPANDREOU VISITS CHINA

[09] ΑΣΚΗΣΗ ΕΤΟΙΜΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΓΙΑ ΣΕΙΣΜΟΥΣ

[10] THE MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE VISITED BITOLA

[11] GREEK EXPORTS DROPPED TO 24% IN 2001

[01] THE PRIME MINISTER IS IN CEPHALONIA

Prime Minister Kostas Simits is in the Ionian Sea Island of Cephalonia since this morning where he will visit the cities of Argostoli and Lixouri and have contacts with local officials.

Speaking in an open rally in the Ionian Sea Island of Zakinthos yesterday, Mr. Simitis stated that Greece's convergence with the developed EU member-states is the new goal of the government.

He accused right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy of hypocrisy and irresponsibility, while referring to those who invest politically in the 2004 Olympic Games, he stated characteristically Hands off the Olympiad!

[02] ΔΩΡΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΒΟΛΗ ΤΩΝ ΚΟΜΜΑΤΩΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΑ ΜΜΕ ΣΤΙΣ ΕΚΛΟΓΕΣ

Την καθιέρωση της υποχρέωσης των ιδιωτικών Μέσων Ενημέρωσης για τη δωρεάν προβολή των μηνυμάτων των κομμάτων κατά την προεκλογική περίοδο προβλέπει, μεταξύ άλλων, το νομοσχέδιο για τη χρηματοδότηση των πολιτικών φορέων που κατατέθηκε χθες στη Βουλή.

Παράλληλα παρέχεται στα πολιτικά κόμματα η δυνατότητα αγοράς αντίστοιχου χρόνου στα ΜΜΕ υπό τον όρο ότι η σχετική δαπάνη δεν μπορεί να υπερβαίνει το 20% του συνολικού ύψους των εκλογικών τους δαπανών. Για να είναι εφικτός και αποτελεσματικός ο έλεγχος, όπως τονίζεται στην εισηγητική έκθεση, επιβάλλεται η διακίνηση των εσόδων και των δαπανών των κομμάτων να γίνεται τουλάχιστον κατά 80% του ετήσιου συνόλου της χρηματοδότησης μέσω τραπεζικών λογαριασμών.

Χωρίς να θεωρείται τελεσίδικη η θεσμοθέτηση της πλήρους απαγόρευσης, βασική αρχή του νομοσχεδίου είναι ότι τα εκλογικά κέντρα των υποψηφίων πρέπει να καταργηθούν και οι σχετικές ανάγκες για προβολή να καλυφθούν από τα εκλογικά κέντρα που θα στήσουν τα κόμματα.

[03] THE PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH IN CEPHALONIA

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis in his speech in the Municipal Theater of Cephalonia outlined the four targets set for the next two years and the strategy for the convergence with the European Union states that will make Greece one of the 20 developed countries in the world.

The targets set are, the economic and social convergence with the rest EU peoples, the promotion of a people-oriented and democratic Europe, the solution of the Cyprus problem, the step-by-step improvement of the Greek-Turkish relations and the EU enlargement to include Cyprus and finally, the successful 2004 Olympic Games.

[04] ONE CAR FOR EVERY TWO ATHENS RESIDENTS

In the wider region of Athens the ratio is one private car for every two people, making the traffic problem in the Greek capital more pressing as the largest Greek city does not have the necessary road infrastructure.

According to figures provided by the Importers-Car Dealers Association and published by the Athens newspaper Eleftheros Tipos, the vehicles on the Greek roads (private cars, motorcycles, buses and trucks) were 5.168.148 last year.

In spite of the fact that the car market showed a decline in 2001, the number of vehicles on the Greek roads followed an upward course. This is attributed to the fact that the vehicles taken off the roads due to old age were much fewer than the new cars that made their debut on the Greek roads during the past year.

The average age of private cars in Greece was 11 years at the end of 2001 compared to 7 years in the rest European Union. The cars using catalyst make up 62.4% which means that 1.285.000 old technology cars are still in circulation making up 37.6% of the total number of cars on the Greek roads, a high percentage compared to the EU average.

[05] THE GREEK FARMERS CONTINUE THEIR PROTESTS

The farmers in central and northern Greece continue their mobilizations. Greece is literally cut in half by the road blockades in the Athens-Thessaloniki national highway which were raised by farmers in the central Greek region of Thessaly, who protest because the EU subsidies do not cover the total of the Greek cotton production.

Meanwhile, the Greek Ministry of Agriculture reiterated that it is not possible to approve subsidies for the farmers who have broken the law.

[06] GREECE IS THE THIRD BIGGEST BUYER OF RUSSIAN WEAPONS SYSTEMS

Greece occupies the third place on the list of the Russian weapons systems exports, according to figures provided by the Russian Defense Ministry.

The drawing up of a plan for the broadening of bilateral defense relations was at the center of the talks held within the framework of the visit to Athens by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

The Russian-Greek defense-technical cooperation was over US$1 billion in the past 2.5 years and brought Greece at the third place on the list with the customers of Russian weapons systems after China and India.

[07] THE ND LEADER IS IN MUNICH

Right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis will be in Munich until Monday for contacts with Greek community representatives in Germany and today he will address a gathering of Greeks living in the country.

Mr. Karamanlis is accompanied by New Democracy party parliament deputies and the party press spokesman.

The ND leader is scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister of Bavaria to discuss international developments with a special emphasis on the situation in the Middle East and the EU stance.

[08] FOREIGN MINISTER PAPANDREOU VISITS CHINA

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou departs for China today for a four-day working visit.

Mr. Papandreou will have talks with the country's state and political leadership within the framework of the preparations for the visit of Prime Minister Kostas Simitis to China scheduled to take place in the summer.

[09] ΑΣΚΗΣΗ ΕΤΟΙΜΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΓΙΑ ΣΕΙΣΜΟΥΣ

Άσκηση ετοιμότητας, με τη συμμετοχή και κατοίκων, για την αντιμετώπιση των σεισμών αναμένεται να πραγματοποιηθεί στη Ρόδο τον ερχόμενο φθινόπωρο, όπως ανακοίνωσε ο καθηγητής Γεωλογίας στο Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών Ευθύμιος Λέκκας. Η εν λόγω άσκηση εντάσσεται στο πλαίσιο της μελέτης για τον αντισεισμικό σχεδιασμό και την οργάνωση του Δήμου Ροδίων.

[10] THE MINISTER OF MACEDONIA-THRACE VISITED BITOLA

Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Giorgos Paschalidis visited the city of Bitola in FYROM where he met with city mayor Zlatko Brtskovski.

Mr. Paschalidis underlined the need for inter-border cooperation and briefed the mayor that FYROM Prime Minister Ljupco Georgievski raised to him the issue of the reopening of the Thessaloniki-Bitola railway line.

The Bitola mayor stated that the reopening of the railway line will help the Greek businessmen active in Bitola and their FYROM colleagues. He said that the Greek investors in the region are active in the textile sector, while there are two Greek-interest super-markets. He also referred to the good cooperation between his city and the Greek city of Kozani and requested Greek support in the drawing up of inter-border programs.

Mr. Paschalidis visited the church of Saint Dimitrios and earlier in the day, he had visited the city of Ochrid and the monastery of Saint Naoum. Later in the evening, Mr. Paschalidis will return to Thessaloniki wrapping up his three-day visit to FYROM.

[11] GREEK EXPORTS DROPPED TO 24% IN 2001

The latest EUROSTAT figures proved that Greece occupied the last place in trade transactions inside the European Union in 2001 recording a drop of 24%.

For the record, Luxembourg's exports reached 10.4 billion Euro compared to Greece's 8.9 billion Euro, while the Greek trade deficit was at 22 billion Euro.

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article