From: tzarros@ccs.carleton.ca (Theodore Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Wed, 22 Jun 1994 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens News Agency Bulletin, Convergence Programme released, keynote development, minimal but real wage hikes ----------------------------------------------------------------- Athens, 22/6/1994 (ANA): National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou yesterday made public Greece's economic convergence programme providing for minimal but real wage increases for five years and a sharp increase in fiscal revenue. Mr. Papantoniou said that the programme, submitted for European Commission approval yesterday, aimed at gradually attaining high rates of development and reducing inflationary pressures by narrowing deficits and increasing public and private investments. Public deficits and the public debt would be reduced, Mr. Papantoniou said, by increasing state revenue which in turn would be achieved by strict implementation of a recently passed tax law, cuts in state spending and public corporation share sales. The programme aims at bringing inflation down to 7.9 per cent in 1995, 6.1 per cent in 1996, 3.9 per cent in 1997, 3.5 per cent in 1998 and 3.3 per cent in 1999. Wage increases will be limited to 8.4 per cent in 1995, 6.5 per cent in 1996, 4.6 per cent in 1997, 4.3 per cent in 1998 and 4.2 per cent in 1999. State revenue will increase from 8.2 trillion drachmas in 1994 to an anticipated 12.8 trillion drachmas in 1999. Revenue from sale of public corporation shares in the three-year period 1994-96 is expected to total 450 billion drachmas. Borrowing requirements will be trimmed from 13.2 per cent of GDP in 1994 to 2.4 per cent of GDP in 1999. According to the programme, the public debt which represents 112 per cent of GDP in 1994 will be restricted to 103.4 per cent of GDP in 1999. Direct taxes will be increased from 5.4 per cent of GDP in 1993 to 7.1 per cent in 1999, while indirect taxation will rise by two percentage units of GDP during the same period. Mr. Papantoniou said that the increase in fiscal revenue would be achieved by "the more stringent implementation" of legislation already in force, the combating of tax evasion and computerisation of Finance Ministry services. Budget spending in the period 1994-1999 will be reduced at an annual rate of 0.5 per cent at fixed prices. This target, Mr. Papantoniou clarified, would be attained by adhering to the incomes policy, curtailing public sector staff enrolment and reducing consumer spending in ministries and public organisations. The programme's development facet consists of redistributing funds from the Delors II Package, reforming the system of investment incentives, increasing competitiveness and productivity of public corporations, upgrading manpower and enhancing the institutional framework for the operation of small- and medium-size enterprises. Mr. Papantoniou said that the convergence programme had been necessary by "the manner in which public finance had been administered by the previous New Democracy government, resulting in overshooting the state budget target by 1,000 billion drachmas, or five per cent of GDP". By 1999, three out of four targets required under the Treaty of Maastricht will have been attained, Mr. Papantoniou added. Interest rates will have been brought down, the public sector deficit curbed and inflation sharply reduced, he said, while acknowledging that the fourth target of bringing the public deficit down to 60 per cent of GDP would not be achieved. Government spokesman -------------------- Athens, 22/6/1994 (ANA): Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said that the programme carried "no unpleasant surprises", underlining that real wages of workers would be supported by increases equal to the rate of inflation. From then on increases will be given in accordance with the economy's capabilities, he added. Replying to questions, Mr. Venizelos described as "hypothetical" press reports maintaining that the programme would usher in a five-year period of austerity. Mr. Venizelos criticised the main opposition New Democracy party, terming its position "unjustified, irresponsible, improvised and petty-partisan", adding that its criticism of the convergence programme was "groundless and unsubstantiated." Mr. Venizelos said Mr. Papantoniou had written party leaders briefing them on the revised convergence programme, while explaining to Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary-General Aleka Paparriga why the programme cannot be debated in Parliament. Mr. Venizelos told questioners the government will continue its programme of selling public corporation shares at the Stock Exchange. It is a method which is very different from that followed by ND, he added. Mr. Papantoniou said that the convergence programme was in line with government targets and European Union requirements. On the subject of denationalisation, Mr. Papantoniou said that apart from scheduled partial privatisation of the state telephone company (OTE) and Public Power Corporation (DEH), he had "nothing else to announce". Reactions --------- Athens, 22/6/1994 (ANA): Meanwhile, Political Spring (Pol.An) party leader Antonis Samaras said yesterday his party will submit its own economy convergence programme in a few days. "We will submit a Convergence Programme based on growth in a few days. The government is submitting a Convergence Programme today without dialogue and unfortunately again through austerity," Mr. Samaras said while on a tour of Kilkis. In an announcement, KKE termed the government convergence programme "unpopular, counter-productive and colonialist in nature." The convergence programme, the announcement said, is based on the free movement of capital and profits, the movement of goods, offering services and hyper-exploitation of the working class. KKE said the working class "should not revert to medieval working standards set by the White Paper, but seek instead a development programme in favour of the people while running counter to the interests of multinationals." Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) leader Nikos Costantopoulos said that instead of a Convergence Programme, the government had submitted "a makeshift plan consisting of figure pirouettes on paper." "It is no convergence programme, but, instead, a well known bromide of recession and stagnation for the already familiar policy of causing low wages to shrink and the economy to deviate from European growth rates," he said. Expressing reservations on the convergence programme, General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) President Christos Protopappas said: "The Convergence Programme was revised and submitted in the absence of the working classes and other agencies of production. We must register this as a negative fact." "I fear it is again a continuation of the logic of continuous stabilising programmes and the nominal approach to targets set by the Maastricht Treaty," Mr. Protopappas added. Civil Servants' Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY) President Yiannis Koutsoukos also underlined the absence of dialogue, predicting that the programme will lead to an increase in unemployment and a reduction in salaries. Firm stand on Aegean rights, says Arsenis after Pentagon talks -------------------------------------------------------------- Washington, 22/6/1994 (ANA/D.Dimas): "We stand firm as regards our sovereign rights in the Aegean", Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis stated yesterday after an hour-long meeting with US Defence Secretary William Perry and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili. "It is evident that certain ideas concerning disarmament of Greek aircraft flying over the Aegean... sprang without adequate preparation by the experts, because when the matter is examined more closely, it lacks substance... Discussion has cleared up certain matters", he said. There had been suggestions for mutual disarmament of Turkish aircraft "which violate NATO decisions", and Greek aircraft which should be armed on the basis of NATO directives for air space control covering Greece and the whole of the Athens FIR, he pointed out. "The matter could be settled if Turks behaved as they had done before 1975 (submission of flight plans)", he said, adding "there had been an agreement in 1988 between (foreign ministers) Papoulias and Gilmaz, establishing a general code of conduct for defusing likely clashes in the Aegean, which... might lead to an improvement of the situation if Turks respected it..." He said the meeting was "very important", as it was the first time the issue had been discussed by ministries concerned". Earlier, Mr Arsenis met with President Clinton's special adviser George Stephanopoulos, with whom he discussed Greek-American relations and developments in the Balkans. The Greek Defence Minister is in Washington to take part in a State Department conference on European security issues. Asked before the meeting whether or not there was anxiety at the Pentagon over tension in the Aegean, Mr Perry replied affirmatively, adding "we are very confident the Greek government will handle it with care and sensitivity". Mr Perry is scheduled to visit Athens on July 19. Mr Arsenis said discussions will include the Larissa HQ, Greek military debt to the US, and the common Greece-Cyprus defence area. The Greek Defence Minister today is due to meet with Chairman of the House of Representatives External Affairs Committee Lee Hamilton and member of the Senate External Relations Committee Paul Sarbanes. Greek presidency says summit should focus on jobs ------------------------------------------------- Brussels, 22/6/1994 (Reuter/ANA): Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou urged fellow European Union leaders yesterday to focus on the main issue of concern to citizens -- unemployment-- at their summit in Corfu later this week. In his formal letter inviting the leaders to the summit on the Greek island on Friday and Saturday, Mr. Papandreou also urged them to come to a decision on a new European Commission president, saying it was "of the highest importance" that the decision be made. "The new procedure under the (Maastricht) Treaty on European Union for nominating the Commission involves several steps and is time-consuming," he wrote. "We have excellent candidates and I count on the spirit of compromise of you all in order to arrive at the necessary agreement." Three main candidates are vying for the job of Commission president when Jacques Delors leaves at the end of the year -- Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers and EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan. EU leaders are divided on who should get the job, leading to speculation that a decision will not be made at the summit. Once the president is chosen a new Commission must be nominated and approved by the European Parliament. In his letter, Mr. Papandreou said the EU should exercise a more decisive policy in the sector of asylum and combating drug abuse and international crime. The "12", he said in the letter, will have the opportunity to celebrate the signing of the Acts of Accession for candidate countries - Austria, Norway, Sweden and Finland - on the one hand, and the signing of the Partnership Co-operation Agreement between the EU and the Russian Federation on the other. Mr. Papandreou finally recalled that in the framework of summit work foreign ministers will address issues concerning common foreign policy and security policy. PM arrives in Corfu for upcoming Summit --------------------------------------- Athens, 22/6/1994 (ANA): Prime Minister and European Union President Andreas Papandreou arrived in Corfu last night for the upcoming EU Summit Friday and Saturday. Speaking to reporters at the airport, he said that the Summit would take historic decisions of the first order. Commenting on the Convergence Programme of the Greek economy submitted to the European Union and the course of the Greek economy itself, he stated: "I am not anxious about the course of the economy. We are not miracle workers, but we have a feasible and socially sensitive Convergence Programme... Maastricht is not the last word for us, and there will be revision in 1996 and we may have important changes in the economic course of the member-states of the European Union." Pangalos meets with Italian leaders ----------------------------------- Rome, 22/6/1994 (ANA/L.Hatzikyriakos): Alternate Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos held talks Monday with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Martino on the European Union summit opening in Corfu Friday. Earlier, he conferred with Under-secretary to the Prime Minister's Office Mr. Letta, as Premier Silvio Berlusconi was away from Rome. Commenting on talks with Mr. Martino, Mr. Pangalos said: "We discussed issues relating to the Corfu summit. I consider Italian government views very useful, and we will keep them in mind in working out compromises and elaborating proposals for the European Council. Mr. Martino is a noted and distinguished economist with many interesting views on economic recovery in Europe, and employment-related matters." Mr. Martino in turn said: "I met Mr. Pangalos with great pleasure. He is an old friend and we have met many times. We discussed Corfu summit issues with candour and friendship and, at the same time, we reiterated the traditional friendship linking our countries." Greece, US differ on airspace views - State Dept -------------------------------------------------- Athens, 22/6/1994 (ANA): The State Department yesterday declared that the US and Greece have differing positions on how national airspace is determined under international law. The statement was made in reply to the following question: "Did the Greek Ambassador protest your statement of June 13 regarding the US position on the airspace in the Aegean?" The State Department reply read: "The Greek Ambassador met on June 16 with our Mr. Alexander Vershbow. He expressed his government's concern about our statement on June 13. As the Department of State has already noted, the US and Greece have differing positions on how national airspace is determined under international law. The US, of course, does not condone incursions of national airspace that violate generally accepted principles of international law." US envoy calls on Parliament Speaker, "very good, useful" meeting ---------------------------------------------------------------- Athens, 22/6/1994 (ANA): US Ambassador Thomas Niles yesterday called on Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis who termed the meeting "very good and useful." Discussion focused on relations between the US and Greece, the Cyprus issue, Greece's airspace and a letter Albanian President Sali Berisha wrote US President Bill Clinton on Greek ethnic minority rights in Albania. Mr. Kaklamanis expressed the feelings of the Greek people over the situation in Cyprus and unfulfilled hopes of a course that might lead to a settlement of the issue. Referring to a statement by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher on Greece's airspace, Mr. Kaklamanis said Mr. Niles had offered satisfactory explanations. Mr. Kaklamanis added Mr. Niles gave an interpretation of President Clinton's intervention on the issue of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania, including his own great interest in ethnic Greeks and treatment by the Berisha regime. Belgian senate votes Greece WEU accession ---------------------------------------- Brussels, 22/6/1994 (ANA/G.Daratos): Belgium's Senate yesterday ratified by an overwhelming majority -- 122 for, none against and 16 abstentions (mainly ecologists) -- a protocol for Greece's accession to the Western European Union (WEU), the European defence organisation to become the military arm of the European Union. The vote followed a positive recommendation by the External Affairs Committee of the Senate. The protocol now has to be ratified by Parliament. The French National Assembly approved a similar motion Monday. Haralambous hopeful on EU Commission OA ruling ----------------------------------------------- Athens, 22/6/1994 (ANA): Transport Minister Ioannis Haralambous yesterday expressed optimism regarding a pending decision by the European Commission on a Greek government plan to bail-out debt-ridden Olympic Airways. However, he was wary of terms proposed by Transport Commissioner Coleman, particularly abolition of OA monopoly on serving domestic flights. The minister said he would reply to the Commission this week rejecting the terms, which he described as "unacceptable and unjust". If applied, he said, they would cause OA to shrink and finally close. Such terms, he added, have not been requested from companies with similar problems as Olympic has. A decision for shoring up the company is now purely political and has to be resolved at political level, Mr. Haralambous stressed.