Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-02-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] NEW ACCUSATIONS

[02] INDICTMENTS FOR THE VAVILIS CASE

[03] JANUARY INFLATION IN EURO-ZONE AT 1.9%

[04] THE MINISTER OF TOURISM TO VISIT THE UNITED STATES

[05] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CHURCH

[06] THE ACTING GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE US STATE DEPARTMENT AND TERRORISM

[07] THE WATER LEVEL OF ARDAS RIVER RISES DANGEROUSLY

[08] OTE SUBSIDIARY SUBSCRIBERS IN BULGARIA INCREASED BY 62%

[01] NEW ACCUSATIONS

Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece will have meetings with the Metropolites of Piraeus, Dimitriados, Kalavriton, Thevon, Nafpaktou, Thessalonikis and Spartis today in search of solutions that will take the Greek Orthodox Church out of the crisis.

Metropolite Theoklitos of Thessaliotida will tender his resignation to the Holy Synod tomorrow assuming the responsibility for the proposal he had made to the Archbishop to use Giosakis, while faithful from Karditsa are getting ready to hold a rally in his support outside the Petraki Monastery.

In an interview with the Athens daily TA NEA, Metropolite Theoklitos alleges that the ecclesiastical organization of Chrisopigi was at war with him for 20 years and certain clerics had even involved the state secret service in the effort to find incriminating evidence against him.

Meanwhile Metropolite Panteleimon of Attiki and Metropolite Dionisios of Chios are summoned to give explanations regarding the huge bank accounts they have in banks abroad.

[02] INDICTMENTS FOR THE VAVILIS CASE

The file on the Apostolos Vavilis case is in the hands of the responsible prosecutor.

Former adviser of Giorgos Papandreou, Alexandros Rontos stated that he intends to file lawsuits in response to a news report on the newspaper PARON according to which, he played a role in Vavilis' mission to Jerusalem and in the issuing of a diplomatic passport in his name.

Meanwhile, ruling party of New Democracy Central Committee Secretary Vangelis Meimarakis laid blame on the then government and the then Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou.

[03] JANUARY INFLATION IN EURO-ZONE AT 1.9%

Annual inflation in the Euro-zone dropped to 1.9% in January 2005 from 2.4% in December 2004, according to figures provided by the European Statistics Agency Eurostat. Inflation in the Europe of the 25 dropped to 2% in January compared to 2.4% in December.

The lowest inflation rates in January were recorded in Finland (-0.2%), Sweden (0.5%), Denmark (0.8%) and Holland (1.3%), while the highest were recorded in Latvia (6.7%), Estonia (4.2%), Greece (4.2%) and Hungary (3.9%).

[04] THE MINISTER OF TOURISM TO VISIT THE UNITED STATES

Minister of Tourism Dimitris Avramopoulos departed for the United States today for contacts with US film industry representatives aimed at attracting major foreign film productions in Greece promoting, at the same time, the country as a tourist destination.

The first stop for the Tourism Minister will be Los Angeles followed by New York. Mr. Avramopoulos is also scheduled to have meetings with journalists from the Reuters news agency, Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

In New York, he will have contacts with US businessmen and tour operators within the framework of the opening made by Greece to the US tourist market.

Mr. Avramopoulos will be the guest in a one-day conference organized by the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce on Greece, the final destination, while he will also inaugurate the major Tourist Exhibition New York Times Travel Show organized by the New York Times. He will also have meetings with representatives of the Greek-American community and Archbishop Dimitrios of North America.

[05] THE GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CHURCH

The government has stated its position on the issue of the Church and its cleanup and the Prime Minister has nothing more to say, stated acting government spokesman Vangelis Antonaros in response to the question if the government believes that the cleanup process in the Church will be underway by next Tuesday when the Prime Minister will address the foreign press correspondents.

Mr. Antonaros denied information according to which Karolos Papoulias has notified the government that he does not wish to be sworn in office by the Archbishop and stressed that nothing has changed in the swearing in ceremony for the President of the Hellenic Republic.

Regarding a newspaper report that Apostolos Vavilis had a diplomatic passport, Mr. Antonaros stated that no such passport has been issued based on an investigation made by the Foreign Ministry spokesman covering the period 2000-2003.

Mr. Antonaros refused to comment on statements made yesterday by ruling party of New Democracy Central Committee secretary Mr. Meimarakis that it was the Socialist Party of PASOK that bred Vavilis-type phenomena while he also refused to comment on whether the government believes that PASOK has responsibility for the activities of certain networks.

Finally, when asked to comment if the government or the Prime Minister has received a list with names of court judges involved in Church-related scandals, Mr. Antonaros stated that an effort is being made to involve the Prime Minister and pointed out that he is not aware of such a list.

[06] THE ACTING GOV'T SPOKESMAN ON THE US STATE DEPARTMENT AND TERRORISM

Greece had great successes in the efforts against terrorism. Greece is a totally safe country but nobody can deny that the fight against terrorism, which is a global phenomenon, is a continuous one, stated acting government spokesman Vangelis Antonaros.

Mr. Antonaros made the statement when asked to comment on the assessments made by the US State Department, expressed through its spokesman Richard Boucher, that all domestic terrorists are not in jail and Greece faces an increased threat by the international Islamic terrorism.

[07] THE WATER LEVEL OF ARDAS RIVER RISES DANGEROUSLY

The state mechanism and the responsible agencies in the prefecture of Evros, in northeastern Greece, are again in a state of alert to deal with the rise in the water level of Ardas River that reached 5.70 meters with the danger warning level being at 5.20 meters.

The rise in the water level is due to the increased volume of water that ends up in Greek territory coming from Ivailograd, Bulgaria and also because of the heavy rains.

Eastern Macedonia-Thrace Region general secretary Mr. Angelopoulos stated that local authorities will follow the same action plan followed during the previous crisis.

[08] OTE SUBSIDIARY SUBSCRIBERS IN BULGARIA INCREASED BY 62%

The number of the mobile telephone company Globul subscribers in Bulgaria, which is owned by the Greek Telecommunications Organization, OTE, has increased by 62%.

The company controls a 38% share of the market, according to an official announcement.

Globul has signed roaming contracts with 260 mobile phone companies in 119 countries.

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