Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-11-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] NEW OLYMPIC AIRWAYS

[02] THE PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA VISITED THESSALONIKI

[03] THE EU SHOULD PRESSURE TURKEY TO RESPECT THE COURT RULING ON THE

[04] TWO DAILY FLIGHTS VIA THESSALONIKI BY ALITALIA

[05] SAE WELCOMES THE PRESS OF THE GREEK COMMUNITIES ABROAD REPRESENTATIVES

[06] DIAMANTOPOULOU - MONDI ON COMPETITIVENESS AND SOLIDARITY

[01] NEW OLYMPIC AIRWAYS

Olympic Airways, OA, Assistant Managing Director and Commercial Issues Director Konstantinos Mavrikis stated to MPA that he is optimistic that the goal set for the operation of the new Olympic Airways on December 1 will be met.

Mr. Mavrikis appeared certain that until then all pending issues will be settled. Such issues are the relations of the new company with the suppliers of the old one, the new name of the company, its relations with the international transportations organization, IATA, legal coverage, personnel relations and the airline's offices.

On the goal to make the company more competitive, he announced that there will be drastic cuts to operational costs, renegotiation of the terms and the prices for the leasing of airplanes, personnel productivity increase and the adoption of a new philosophy and culture.

Mr. Mavrikis stated that Olympic Airways is in contact with airplane building companies and airplane leasing companies to renew its fleet, stressing that the new airplanes will have a new look both inside and outside.

He also stated that many of the OA problems stemmed from the crisis observed in the airline industry for the past three years resulting to flight cuts. Referring to Australia, he said that the OA cooperation with Gulf Air is very good linking Greece with Sydney, Australia on a daily basis.

He added that the new Olympic Airways has set as a goal to proceed with more partnerships, even its participation in one of the two major coalitions of airline companies with a worldwide operation.

The fares of the new airline will be decided on an offer-and-demand basis having as a goal to make them flexible and attractive to its customers. Specifically for the year 2004, Mr. Mavrikis stated that Olympic Airways, which is one of the Olympic Games sponsors, will be ready to meet the demands of the increased number of passengers.

[02] THE PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA VISITED THESSALONIKI

Pope and Patriarch Petros the 7th of Alexandria and All of Africa met today with Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Haris Kastanidis within the framework of his visit to Thessaloniki. Earlier, he had met with Thessaloniki Prefect Panagiotis Psomiadis.

The Patriarch outlined the priorities he has set and spoke about a new era with important activities and positive results for the Christian Orthodox Faith and Hellenism. He said that the Ecclesiastical School in Kenya is in operation in spite of the economic problems faced by the Patriarchate and the first 450 African priests have already graduated. The Orthodox Christians in Africa are estimated at around 6 million faithful.

Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Haris Kastanidis thanked the Patriarch for the visit and the major national and religious work done by him and his associates. He also pledged the ministry's assistance to the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

[03] THE EU SHOULD PRESSURE TURKEY TO RESPECT THE COURT RULING ON THE LOIZIDOU CASE

Greek Coalition of the Left Party Euro-deputy Alekos Alavanos, characterized as a big blow to the European Court for Human Rights the terms set by Turkey before it executes the court judgment issued on the Loizidou case.

In a question he submitted to the EU Council of Ministers Mr. Alavanos points out that Turkey is setting two terms before it executes the ruling.

Specifically, Turkey demands that the Loizidou case should not create a precedent for other cases still pending before the European Court for Human Rights. It also refuses to execute the part of the ruling according to which, Turkey should allow Mrs. Loizidou to enjoy peacefully her property. Ankara stresses that only if those two terms are met it will pay the compensation decided by the court.

Mr. Alavanos stresses that the EU should take measures pressuring Turkey to execute the ruling on the Loizidou case without consequences and unacceptable compromise.

[04] TWO DAILY FLIGHTS VIA THESSALONIKI BY ALITALIA

Two daily flights, Thessaloniki-Milan-Thessaloniki, will be launched on November 4 by the Italian airline ALITALIA within the framework of the development plan it materializes in Greece.

The expansion of the ALITALIA network aims at meeting the increased needs of the people who want to travel to Italy from Thessaloniki and northern Greece and it is expected to boost the business, tourist and other economic activities in the prefecture of Thessaloniki.

[05] SAE WELCOMES THE PRESS OF THE GREEK COMMUNITIES ABROAD REPRESENTATIVES

World Council for the Greeks Abroad, SAE, President Andrew Athens confirmed today that the press of the Greek communities abroad representatives will be invited to SAE's 5th World Conference that will take place in Thessaloniki on December 11-14.

Mr. Athens denied this way press reports according to which, press of the Greek communities abroad representatives will not be invited to the World Conference.

[06] DIAMANTOPOULOU - MONDI ON COMPETITIVENESS AND SOLIDARITY

The functioning of competitiveness and solidarity with the European Union was commented on by Commissioners Anna Diamantopoulou and Mario Mondi, in an event held in the University of Macedonia.

In her speech, Mrs. Diamantopoulou underlined that Greece requires a review of its political competitiveness and its political solidarity. The message for Greece is more competitiveness for our economy and the benefit of the consumers, and development and more solidarity for all the citizens. Competitiveness policies are there to protect competitiveness, not the competitors. And solidarity policies should not be a pretense to protect certain interest groups with negotiation power, but solidarity for the society of the citizens. What we realize today as a need to strengthen competitiveness does not mean the broadening of privatizations and liberalization. In Greece we have practices for the protection of competitiveness, which do not necessarily provide solidarity for the whole of society. It is solidarity for the few, for small but powerful pressure groups which support their own private interests calling on the social whole, the strategic importance of the branch, the business, etc. There have been such examples in the discussions on Olympic Airways, the docks, military-construction industries, communications, electricity, state universities, etc.

Italian EU Commissioner on competitiveness issue Mario Mondi seemed optimistic that in the long run there will be high growth rates, while he explained that the EU has not achieve high financial growth rates over the past few years due to its priority to restructure its institutions in order to become a global player.

He called the young people not to be disappointed with the future of the European Economy, and he said that in the EU we talk of viable development with viable employment. He observed that the Lisbon decisions are being materialized at a slow rate, because EU member states are placing obstacles in the way. The event was opened by Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Charis Kastanidis and the Rector of the University of Macedonia Giorgos Tsiotras.

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