Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-11-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] ANNAN PLAN SCHEDULE CONSIDERED TIGHT

[02] 2008 EXPO: THESSALONIKI'S OLYMPIAD

[03] QUADRIPARTITE DEFENSE MINISTERS' MEETING IN BULGARIA

[04] PROTOPAPAS: NO UN PRESSURES CONCERNING THE ANNAN PLAN

[05] FINLAND SUPPORTS CYPRUS' EU ACCESSION

[06] GAINS IN THE ASE

[07] KARAMANLIS AND VASILIOU DISCUSSED THE CYPRUS ISSUE

[08] PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT KAKLAMANIS MET WITH PATRIARCH PETROS

[09] PAPANDREOU: NO ULTIMATUM IN THE ANNAN PLAN

[10] GREECES GOALS DURING EU PRESIDENCY

[11] N17 SUSPECTS CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO EAT

[12] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS IN THE EUROPEAN SOCIALIST PARTY COUNCIL MEETING

[01] ANNAN PLAN SCHEDULE CONSIDERED TIGHT

The military aspects of the Cyprus solution plan submitted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, were discussed by the Ministers of National Defense of Cyprus and Greece, Socrates Chasikos and Giannos Papantoniou.

According to the plan, the island will be demilitarized, although, as the two ministers stated, the common defensive area between Greece and Cyprus will remain, as long as the Cyprus issue is unresolved.

Mr. Papantoniou stated that he discussed the Annan plan and Greece's and Cyprus' views of it with Mr. Chasikos, and noted that it is a historic opportunity for the Cyprus issue to be resolved, that it is the starting point for very intense negotiations, to be carried out by the Cypriot side, with the full support of Greece.

Certain points of the plan will have to be changed, until we agree upon a positive result, which, according to procedures, will be submitted to the Cypriot people, who will then decide on their own future, he underlined.

On his side, Mr. Chasikos expressed his wish for a viable and functional solution to be found, for the whole of Cyprus, the whole of Hellenism. A solution to secure future and prosperity on an island such as Cyprus, for all its residents.

As long as there are occupational forces, as long as the wound remains open with occupational forces in Cyprus, there will of course be a Common Defensive Area, and there will of course be a National Guard and Armed Forces, and they will of course continue to be reinforced, he added.

At the same time, former Foreign Minister Thodoros Paggalos expressed reservations on the ultimatum-like, as he called them, dates Mr. Annan decided on, and called the Greek Cypriot side not to accept them, without rejecting the plan.

In an interview to RIK television, Mr. Paggalos said that there are very serious issues that require time for serious negotiation, and it is impossible for the Greek Cypriot side to reply with a yes or no by November 18.

Mr. Paggalos expressed his concern on the veto provided in the framework of executive authority in the plan. According to Mr. Paggalos, the need for there to be one Turkish Cypriot vote for every government decision, essentially constitutes a Turkish Cypriot dictatorship over the Greek Cypriots, something which will ultimately lead to the disintegration and absence of government.

While skepticism is expressed on the Annan plan by Greeks and Greek Cypriots, Finnish Minister of Trade Jari Vilen, pointed out the Finnish government's devotion to the decisions of the Helsinki EU Summit and to the accession of Cyprus within a time plan, regardless of whether the political problem is solved, during a meeting he had with Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Giannitsis.

Mr. Giannitsis stressed that the Greek government wishes to constructively contribute to the keeping of political commitments towards candidate countries, meaning the completion of accession procedures by the Copenhagen Summit, and the signing of the accession agreement in April 2003 in Athens.

[02] 2008 EXPO: THESSALONIKI'S OLYMPIAD

President of the Republic Kostis Stefanopoulos received Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Giorgos Paschalidis, who briefed him on the progress of Greece's candidacy to host the 2008 EXPO.

After their meeting at the Presidential Mansion, Mr. Paschalidis pointed out that during the last few months, following decisions made by the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, and Interministerial Committee, a complete candidacy program for the hosting of the 2008 EXPO has been set up.

The Greek State guarantees the institutional and financial support of the undertaking. With the 2008 EXPO World Fair on Human Networks, we are aiming at expressing the whole of Southeastern Europe, and supporting the development of Northern Greece and Thessaloniki, he underlined.

The Minister of Macedonia-Thrace stressed that all political and social powers, the whole of Hellenism, in Greece and abroad, is consolidating around this goal.

He noted that the Greek candidacy has already been presented in Paris, Seville, Switzerland, and in a few days, it will be presented at the General Assembly of the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) in Monaco, and noted that in the recent visit of the BIE administration to Thessaloniki, it was appreciated that the Greek candidacy meets all the requirements necessary to achieve this goal.

We are optimistic and determined to succeed. The 2008 EXPO could be the Olympiad of Thessaloniki and Northern Greece. But in order to convince the 82 BIE countries of trusting Thessaloniki with this major event, every Greek will have to believe and embrace this major goal, he ended.

[03] QUADRIPARTITE DEFENSE MINISTERS' MEETING IN BULGARIA

Greece and Turkey reiterated their support to the request made by Bulgaria and Romania for their accession into NATO during the quadripartite meeting of the Defense Ministers of the four countries that was held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria yesterday in view of the Summit meeting in Prague.

The accession of seven countries into NATO, namely Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will be decided in the Czech capital summit meeting.

Greek Undersecretary of Defense Loukas Apostolidis, who attended the meeting in Plovdiv representing Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, gave an emphasis to the EU and NATO enlargement both in the meeting and the press conference that followed.

He referred to the upcoming EU Summit in Copenhagen and stated that the outcome will be positive regarding the setting of the date for the opening of the negotiations with Turkey.

Mr. Apostolidis also stated that Greece backs the accession of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU.

[04] PROTOPAPAS: NO UN PRESSURES CONCERNING THE ANNAN PLAN

There are no pressures exerted by the UN on the Greek Cypriot and the Greek side regarding the timetables in the Annan plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem, stressed Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas. He stated that it would be best if an initial agreement is signed before the Copenhagen Summit but this is not raised as a necessary condition by the UN.

Responding to relevant questions, he stated that the Greek Cypriot side will give a response to the Annan plan before the seven-day deadline expires, while the Turkish Cypriot side has asked for an extension. The Annan plan will be abandoned if it is not accepted by the two sides or by one of the two sides.

When called to comment on the statements made by Turkish Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel, he said that they were strong and negative.

Mr. Protopapas stated that the Prime Minister will launch a circle of contacts with the political party leaders on Monday starting with right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis.

[05] FINLAND SUPPORTS CYPRUS' EU ACCESSION

Finnish Foreign Trade Minister, who is also responsible for European issues, Mr. Jari Vilen expressed the Finnish government's respect to the Helsinki Summit decisions on Cyprus' EU accession regardless of whether a solution is reached to the political problem on the island. The Finnish minister is on a visit to Athens and had a meeting with deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Yiannitsis.

Mr. Yiannitsis stressed that the Greek government wants to contribute in a constructive manner to the observation of the political commitments undertaken toward the EU candidate states. He stated that the EU accession negotiations should be completed before the Copenhagen Summit and the signing of the accession treaty should take place in Athens in April 2003.

[06] GAINS IN THE ASE

Stabilizing tendencies dominated in the Greek stock market today and the general index recorded gains as a result of the easing of the pressures in the major European markets.

The general index rose to +0.50% at 1.809,94 points, while the volume of transactions was at 74.7 million Euro.

Of the stocks trading today, 235 recorded gains and 70 had losses, while the value of 68 stocks remained unchanged.

[07] KARAMANLIS AND VASILIOU DISCUSSED THE CYPRUS ISSUE

The need to secure the unhindered accession of Cyprus into the European Union in the Copenhagen Summit meeting even if no solution is found to the Cyprus problem, was underlined by right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis. He made the statement after the meeting he had with former Cypriot President and head of the EU-Cyprus negotiating team Giorgos Vasiliou and Russian Parliament Foreign Relations Committee Vice-President and Russia-Greece Friendship Committee President Sergei Siskarev.

Mr. Karamanlis reiterated the firm position of New Democracy for a fair, viable and operational solution in accordance with the European standards and the UN decisions and resolutions.

Mr. Vasiliou agreed with Mr. Karamanlis and stressed that the plan is a basis for negotiation, pointing out that no predictions can be made because of the negative stance that was adopted by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in the past.

On the stance of the Cypriot Republic, he said that President Glafkos Clerides will negotiate as much as he can to preserve the interests of the Cypriot Republic.

In his meeting with Mr. Siskarev, Mr. Karamanlis briefed him on his party's positions regarding Cyprus and thanked Russia for its traditional support to the issue. He also called on the Russian envoy to brief the Russian President that Greece wants the Russian support to continue in this difficult period for Cyprus. Mr. Siskarev invited Mr. Karamanlis to a formal visit to Russia.

[08] PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT KAKLAMANIS MET WITH PATRIARCH PETROS

The wish that great efforts will be made in the negotiations for Cyprus in order to reach a solution that will comply with the principles and decisions of the UN Security Council, was expressed by Greek Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis. The statement was made after his meeting with Patriarch Petros of Alexandria and All of Africa.

Mr. Kaklamanis stated that Patriarch Petros has a special interest in the solution of the Cyprus problem given the fact that he comes from Cyprus and his presence in Athens offers the opportunity for an exchange of views regarding the course of the Cyprus problem.

Patriarch Petros thanked Mr. Kaklamanis and the Greek Parliament for their decision to undertake the materialization of his demand for the restoration of the Patriarchate Building and the church of St. Nikolaos in Cairo.

[09] PAPANDREOU: NO ULTIMATUM IN THE ANNAN PLAN

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou gave clarifications on the issue of the timetables concerning the Annan plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem. The clarifications were given in statements he made after the meeting with FYROM Vice-President Mrs. Ratmila Sekerinska. Mr. Papandreou stated that there is no ultimatum or binding timetable in the Annan plan.

Earlier, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had sent a letter to both parties in Cyprus, pointing out that an agreement must be reached in principle before the Copenhagen Summit meeting, namely in 25 days. In a different case, the negotiations will not continue and the plan will fall apart.

Former Foreign Minister Thodoros Pangalos in an interview with the Cypriot radio and television network RIC stated that Kofi Annan set specific dates in the form of an ultimatum. He called on the Greek Cypriot side to say no to these dates without rejecting the plan.

Mr. Papandreou stated at noon today that there is no ultimatum and clarified that the Greek side wants the solution of the Cyprus problem as soon as possible.

[10] GREECES GOALS DURING EU PRESIDENCY

Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Giannitsis referred to the three major goals of the Greek Presidency of the EU, during his speech at the meeting of the Association of Greek Industries, on Europe, united, competitive, socially responsible.

As Mr. Giannitsis pointed out, the priorities of the Greek Presidency are the promotion of policies to reinforce confidence and trust in the European region, retaining the competitiveness and persuasiveness of an enlarged Europe, and the strengthening of the EU's total presence in the international stage.

He also stressed that the Greek Presidency will concentrate on the enlargement and the Union's course after it, placing further emphasis on the strengthening of micro-management, the promotion of small businesses and entrepreneurship, the interconnection of Europe in the energy sector, telecommunications, transfers and finance-credit services, public order and justice, the encouragement of viable development, the united area, and security and justice.

[11] N17 SUSPECTS CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO EAT

The November 17 terrorism case suspects awaiting trial in Corydallos penitentiary are continuing to refuse to eat the prison's food as was made known by suspected N17 leader A. Giotopoulos' attorney, Giannis Rachiotis, during a joint press conference held by the attorneys of the suspects.

The defense attorneys denounced the holding conditions of their clients, making mention of ill treatment in relation to all other criminal law prisoners, and spoke of problematic communication with their clients.

[12] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS IN THE EUROPEAN SOCIALIST PARTY COUNCIL MEETING IN WARSAW

Greek Prime Minister and governing Socialist Party of PASOK leader Kostas Simitis is in Warsaw to attend the proceedings of the European Socialist Party First Council.

On the first day of the meeting, the delegates discussed ways in which globalization could function to the benefit of everybody by regulating the markets and institutions and by opening the way to economic, social and environmental progress, justice, security, stability and peace.

On the sidelines of the proceedings, Prime Minister Simitis held a meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart. Also, the Polish President met at the Presidential Building with the Prime Ministers of Greece, Britain, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Lithuania.

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