From: zarros@turing.scs.carleton.ca (Theodoros Sp. Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Mon, 29 Nov 1993 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens, 29/11/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou had a meeting last night with EC Council President Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene in view of the European summit to be held on December 10-11 in Brussels. Following the talks, Mr. Dehaene said issues discussed at the meeting included items of the agenda of the summit: unemployment and the recession and ways to deal with these. Mr. Papandreou said the meeting was "very constructive". Mr. Dehaene said Europe was going through a period of severe economic crisis, characterising the level of unemployment as "unacceptable". He referred to the so-called "White Paper", on unemployment which will be discussed during the Brussels summit, saying: "I hope we will be able to approve it". The Belgian Prime Minister also formally invited Mr. Papandreou to the European Community Heads of Governments and States' meeting with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, to be held two days before the opening of the summit. Mr. Dehaene described the meeting with Mr. Yeltsin as "an important and symbolic event for the relations between the European Community and Russia". Mr. Papandreou will have a meeting today with Cyprus House Speaker Alexis Galanos. Geneva, 29/11/1993 (ANA - N. Georgiadis): Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias met with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in Geneva last night, to discuss the final phases of the Serbian position prior to the EC foreign ministers conference on Yugoslavia opening here today. The talks lasted more than two hours. Greek diplomatic sources were quoted as saying that President Milosevic would finally go ahead with ceding an extra 4 per cent of territory to the Moslems, as provided for in a joint plan drawn up by France and Germany. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vitaly Churkin is reported as having pressed the Serbs not to reject the Franco-German plan. Mr. Papoulias was also expected to adopt a similar attitude at his meeting with President Milosevic. But Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic declared he did not expect anything significant to take place in Geneva, terming the conference a stunt concocted by the European Community to again pin exclusive responsibility on Serbs. Greek diplomatic circles opined the US showed reduced interest, in contrast to the Russian side that had sent Mr. Churkin with full powers to handle the issue. The sources added that Mr. Papoulias will also attend the Conference on European Security and Co-operation meeting tomorrow, at which he will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev for an in-depth discussion on the Yugoslav issue. Russian diplomatic circles were quoted as saying Greece and Russia shared near-identical views on the Yugoslav question. Greek diplomatic circles said also Mr. Papoulias might also confer with Community foreign ministers on the sidelines of the conference, adding though such a meeting was not certain. Ankara, 29/11/1993 (ANA): The Turkish press reported yesterday that Ankara, in tandem with Bonn and London, would set up a "triple-pronged mechanism that would be a balance to Greece's EC presidency". The report came from diplomatic sources quoted in the Ankara daily Hurriyet. It came hard on the heels of a statement by Alternate Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos last Thursday that "the Community remains both exposed and an object of ridicule over its relations with Turkey, for as long as the latter fails to honour documents bearing its signature, namely, conventions on human rights, association relations with the EC, and all such texts which are so 'pompously announced' from time to time". As earlier reported, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman has said British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and his German counterpart Klaus Kinkel have proposed to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Hikmet Cetin early next year, to discuss Turkey's ties with Europe and regional issues. Paris, 29/11/1993 (ANA - O. Tsipira): A parliamentary delegation headed by ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) deputy Vasso Papandreou is currently in Paris to participate in the 39th session of the Western European Union (WEU) Parliamentary Assebmly. Speaking to the foreign press, Ms. Papandreou said that the delegation felt there was a negative climate towards Greece. Commenting on reports by the WEU political and defence committees that Greece's membership of the union should not be ratified before the country settles its differences with Skopje, Ms Papandreou said: "It is unacceptable that such pressures be exerted, because in this way the basic rules and regulations governing similar international organisations are violated". Athens, 29/11/1993 (ANA): The Communist Party of Greece yesterday celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding, at an open gathering at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. Honorary party chairman Harilaos Florakis was the speaker of the day and those present included Secretary General Aleka Paparriga, senior members, party veterans, and an estimated crowd of 12,000. Mr. Florakis referred to the KKE's contribution at a social, political and national level, expressing absolute confidence in the future of the party. "Capitalism's recent victory over communism is only temporary, a mere parenthesis in this day and age, which is an era of transition towards socialism. Capitalism has not won. Socialism's victory has not been fulfilled. It has not been finalised", Mr. Florakis said. Referring to the KKE's presence on the nation's political stage, Mr. Florakis said that "no matter how much or how intensely KKE activity has been and is being combated, no matter how much it may be slandered, truth will finally prevail". He stressed that the KKE's positions on the Cyprus question, Greek-Turkish differences, the Skopje issue, and the Maastricht treaty "have been borne out by life itself, and are also acknowledged either tacitly or openly by the largest part of the political world and social groups of the nation". Athens, 29/11/1993 (ANA): The 1994 state budget will be tabled in parliament tomorrow. A government announcement on new taxation measures will follow shortly after the budget has been tabled. Related measures are contained in working documents which will be submitted to producer classes and other agencies. A dialogue will follow on the final drafts of taxation and development bills, prior to their introduction in parliament towards the end of February. Athens, 29/11/1993 (ANA): A ministerial committee has unanimously approved a draft bill reorganising urban transportation in Athens, Piraeus and surrounding areas, and has authorised Transport Minister Ioannis Haralambous to draw up the final text. Mr. Haralambous will announce the bill on Thursday and maintain a dialogue with parties concerned until it is passed by parliament. Athens, 29/11/1993 (ANA): The Greek government is ready to face any situation which will be created in the Skopje issue, following the moves of the 11 (European Community partners) to grant diplomatic recognition to this state, prior to Greece's assumption of the European Community presidency, Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias told reporters yesterday, before leaving for Geneva to attend a special meeting of EC foreign ministers on the Yugoslav crisis. Asked whether he was optimistic that the 11 would not proceed to a recognition of Skopje before Greece assumed the European Community's presidency, Mr. Papoulias said: "I don't wish to state that I'm optimistic or pessimistic. But both the prime minister and I are ready to face any situation". In a related development, Alternate Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos described his views on the Skopje issue as "in line" with those of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias. Mr. Pangalos, who returned yesterday from Cyprus where he addressed the EC-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee, also answered press questions regarding his recent statements on Germany. Mr. Pangalos had accused Germany of expansionist designs in Yugoslavia and plotting behind Greece's back on the Skopje issue during his address to a scientific symposium in Athens Thursday. "It is totally beyond the bounds of Community practice for a Community member-state to discuss issues concerning another member-state in the absence of the latter", Mr. Pangalos said in replay to a question on German intentions to grant diplomatic recognition to Skopje. Asked whether he remained steadfast in his views even after Bonn made official clarifications to Athens, Mr. Pangalos said: "I remain a thinking man and thus do not confine my views to just ministry announcements". "What I said then", he added, "is something which I believe public opinion in the European Community generally shares today. Diplomatic recognitions in Yugoslavia were granted ahead of time. They led to slaughter and some are responsible for this slaughter. It is not us". Bonn, 29/11/1993 (ANA - P. Stangos): German diplomatic sources have expressed a desire to defuse tension between Athens and Bonn over a disclosure that "exploratory contacts" were in progress among European nations with a view to establishing diplomatic relations with Skopje. Moreover, a statement by a government spokesman to the effect that "German will not go ahead on its own, but only in concert with other west European governments, was viewed in the same context". Nicosia, 29/11/1993 (ANA/CNA): The Cyprus problems is an should be at the top of the Greek foreign policy agenda, Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs Theodoros Pangalos said here Saturday. Mr. Pangalos arrived in Cyprus Thursday to address the EC-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting. Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Pangalos said that Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides would meet Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou in his capacity as president of the European Council, and within the framework of the recent Nicosia-Athens decision to upgrade the political dialogue between the EC and Cyprus. Greece takes over the rotating presidency in January. Referring to the Greek government's next steps on the Cyprus issue, Mr. Pangalos said Greece aimed to bring up for discussion, at all levels of EC meetings, both the problem and its developments. He also announced that the next Cyprus-EC Association Council meeting would take place in Brussels in May and if the conditions were right, a specific date would be requested for the beginning of Cyprus' Accession negotiations with the Community. Referring to British reservations on the appointment of an EC observer to the UN-sponsored Cyprus talks, the minister said that Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd had committed himself to examining the matter with open mind. Mr. Pangalos expressed the hope that "he (Hurd) is open-minded enough to understand it is necessary to have an observer". Mr. Pangalos also met with his Cypriot counterpart Alecos Michaelides to discuss Cyprus' accession to the EC. Following the meeting, Mr. Michaelides said that supported by Greece, Cyprus could now hope that the road to Europe would be unhindered.