Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-05-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] RESTRUCTURING BEFORE THE DEAD END

[02] EXAMS WITHOUT SURPRISES

[03] ELECTIONS ON MAY 2, 2004

[04] CONTRADICTIONS OF A FIASCO

[05] EUROPEAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT

[06] CHANGES IN THE PENSIONS OF EU OFFICIALS

[07] SMALL LOSSES IN THE ASE

[08] SIX HUNDRED REFUGEES AT THE GREEK-FYROM BORDERS

[09] 17N INFORMANT DENIES INFORMING POLICE

[10] EU COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS

[11] EU DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION MINISTERS' COUNCIL DISCUSS IRAQ

[01] RESTRUCTURING BEFORE THE DEAD END

Businesses have a social responsibility and should utilize current modernization and restructuring policies before things reach a dead end, state Minister of Finance Nikos Christodoulakis, while the Avgerinopoulos and Peratikos groups are standing in line concerning scenarios of their shutting down. Reppas letter to Philip Morris on securing positions in Papsstratos. The government has not lived up to the occasion, it neither has a plan to deal with unemployment, nor for development and real convergence, stated the head of ND's economic sector G. Alogoskoufis.

[02] EXAMS WITHOUT SURPRISES

High school students entered the battle for the 80,500 positions in higher and technical educational institutions. The total number of candidates is approximately 137,000, and there is a 55% acceptance probability. Approximately 75,000 11th graders are participating in the exams. As far as the choice of topics is concerned the Exam Committee is expected to move along the same lines as last.

[03] ELECTIONS ON MAY 2, 2004

Elections will be held on May 2, 2004, stated Minister of the Interior Costas Scandalidis, who, in a speech in Athens, stated that subversion now and everywhere is the only answer to where are we going?, a question often raised lately, as PASOK seems to be in the middle of a storm and with its back up against a wall. If there are no changes, national elections and European elections will be held separately in 2004, stated Mr. Protopapas, pointing out that the Greek Presidency has not taken an initiative in changing the date of the Euroelections. PASOK's Executive Office is meeting in preparation of the Central Committee and Parliamentary Group meetings.

[04] CONTRADICTIONS OF A FIASCO

Maria Tsinteri categorically denied that she was a police informant in the Riancour rendezvous case of 1992. Mrs. Tsinteri denied receiving any money and stated she knew nothing about the reasons for which she was involved. We are waiting to see to whom and how the millions in rewards were split, stated defendant Dimitris Koufontinas, whom the DA immediately asked, where did the money from the robberies carried out by the organization go?

[05] EUROPEAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT

Environment for Europe, is the topic of the 5th European Ministerial Conference in which will participate Greek Minister of Environment, Town Planning and Public Works Mrs. Vaso Papandreou, who is the president of the EU Environment Ministers Council.

The conference will be held in Kiev on May 21-23 with the participation of EU member states, eastern European countries, the Caucasus' countries, and central Asia countries, in the presence of representatives from OECD, international organizations, institutions and non governmental organizations.

The Environment for Europe initiative got underway with the ministerial conference that took place at Dobris, Czechoslovakia (1991) followed by Ministerial Conferences in Switzerland (1993), Bulgaria (1995) and Denmark (1998).

The goal of the Initiative is to bolster environment safety and secure public health in the UNECE region (UN Economic Committee for Europe) with an emphasis to eastern European countries, the Caucasus and central Asia.

The Kiev Conference will attempt to send a strong political message for the improvement of the environment in Europe and the effective exploitation of the decisions reached in the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.

[06] CHANGES IN THE PENSIONS OF EU OFFICIALS

The GAERC approved the Greek Presidency's Proposal concerning the revision of Staff Regulations applicable to EU officials. This is the first time since the creation of the Communities that a major overhaul of the provisions concerning pensions, remuneration and careers has been undertaken.

The modernization on the European Administration has become more pressing in light of the imminent enlargement. A basic characteristic of the new career system is the reinforcement of merit-based promotions. Measures are also foreseen for the promotion of equal opportunities, the reinforcement of the multilingual dimension the EU civil service and the continued recruitment of highly qualified candidates from all the member states.

Remuneration will be adjusted on the basis of a multi-annual adjustment mechanism, which will remain in force for eight years. A new special levy (2,5% phased to 5,5%) will be paid by officials in order to contribute to the costs of the European Schools and other social purposes. In addition, the system of allowances will be simplified.

The parameters of the pension system will be modified. For new staff statutory pension age will increase from 60 to 63, the annual accrual rate for pension rights will de decreased from 2% to 1,9% and the present bonus granted to those remaining in service after the statutory pension age will be replaced by a flat rate Barcelona incentive of 2% per annum. The acquired rights and the legitimate expectations of existing employees will be fully protected by adequate transition measures.

Other changes to the pension system include the elimination of correction coefficients for future pension rights.

The final compromise was successfully concluded by the Greek Presidency, following intensive negotiations at Council. 

[07] SMALL LOSSES IN THE ASE

Small losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.15% at 1.732,42 points, while the volume of transactions was at 113.4 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 99 recorded gains and 212 had losses, while the value of 66 stocks remained unchanged.

[08] SIX HUNDRED REFUGEES AT THE GREEK-FYROM BORDERS

About 600 gypsy refugees are at the Greek-FYROM borders at a small distance from the border crossing of Niki at the prefecture of Florina, northwestern Greece. They are gypsies from Kosovo, who want to cross the borders to Greece citing reasons concerning their own safety.

Among them are women and children, who were forced to leave the province of Kosovo in 1999 because of the war and since then they live at a refugee camp created at the Suto Orizari region in FYROM. A few days ago, the FYROM government and the UN High Commission for Refugees ordered them to leave the camp and return to Kosovo causing their strong reaction.

Yesterday, they boarded on buses and reached the neutral zone at the Greek-FYROM borders where they attempted unsuccessfully to cross the borders to Greece. They say that the Albanians living in the region accuse them of collaborating with the Serbs in the 1999 war operations and they express fear that if they return to Kosovo they will be exterminated.

FYROM army and police forces have isolated them at the border's neutral zone in the effort to prevent them from entering the Greek territory, while a similar mobilization is underway at the Greek side as well. About 100 Greek police officers and border guards are in the region since yesterday, while the army has increased its patrols.

[09] 17N INFORMANT DENIES INFORMING POLICE

Maria Tsinteri, who allegedly informed the Greek Police on the Louise Riancour rendezvous, testified in the trial of the 17 November suspect members, causing great tension in the courtroom.

Maria Tsinteri was named by former Greek Police Chief Stefanos Makris, as the informant in the Louise Riancour case who received 13 million drachmas as a reward. The witness denied any implication in the case during her testimony in the trial today.

She supported that she gave no information to the Greek Police and that she never came in contact with Mr. Makris. To prove her testimony she brought a telephone bill from February 2002, in which she showed that her telephone number is withheld. The reason she brought it was that Mr. Makris testified tat the second time she allegedly called him in March, he recognized the number.

The Former Chief of Police, who was present in the courtroom, insisted that the witness called him and that her number was displayed on his telephone. This allegation angered Maria Tsinteri who stressed that she knew neither him, nor anything about the activity of 17 November.

However, she could not find a reason as to why the police would choose her and not some other woman.

We have seen the beautiful, angelically created world of the web of agents, informants, rats, and the leadership of the police in the case of devouring secret funds. 17 November was not and could not have been connected to these things. We are waiting to see how the millions in awards were split, stated defendant Dimitris Koufontinas, in relation to the newest development in the case.

The court DA, Christos Lambrou, responded by asking where all the money that the organization acquired from bank robberies was.

[10] EU COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS

The strengthening of relations between Balkan countries and the European Union, the course of the works of the Convention working on the Constitution of the EU, the Middle Eastern issue and Iraq were the discussed at the Meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels, Presided over by Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou.

As far as the Balkans are concerned, the Greek Presidency underlined the need to strengthen the ties of the region's countries to the EU. In statements, Mr. Papandreou mentioned that the 15 agree on general terms that community subsidies towards those countries should be reinforced, while at the same time they should try to intensify their efforts for social and financial modernization.

On the issue of Iraq, the Foreign Minister said that the distance between EU member-states has gradually begun to decrease, and he stressed that EU member-states decided to reopen their Embassies and offices in Baghdad.

As far as the Middle Eastern issue is concerned, Mr. Papandreou underlined the need to promote the so called road map, and stressed that the EU condemned the recent, new, outbreak of violence, pointing out however the concern of the 15 in the consequences to the Palestinian civilian population.

[11] EU DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION MINISTERS' COUNCIL DISCUSS IRAQ

The humanitarian aid to Iraq and issues concerning the country's reconstruction course were discussed in the EU Development Cooperation Ministers' Council that met in Brussels today.

According to Greek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Andreas Loverdos, the Council pointed out that the assistance to Iraq, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank should not affect the development aid to the African states and the less developed countries.

The Council also discussed issues concerning the new regulations and the commitments stemming from the Monterey Summit, as well as the release of the aid approved.

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