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Athens News Agency: News in English, 96-10-29

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.forthnet.gr/ape>


NEWS IN ENGLISH

ATHENS, Greece, 29/10/1996 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

  • Athens welcomes Europarliament decision to block funds to Turkey
  • Visiting Bosnian Serb President vows never to hand over Karadzic, Mladic
  • European Socialist Party declaration favours EU expansion
  • I.O.C. evaluation committee finds three strong adavantages to Athens' bid for 2004 Olympics
  • Simitis meets with Horn for talks on E.U. Greek-Hungarian relations
  • Greek delegation satisfied with call for Black Sea Economic Cooperation members to fulfill financial obligations
  • Overnight stays down 10 per cent
  • Weekend drug arrests the tip of the iceberg, police say

    NEWS IN DETAIL

    Greece welcomes European Parliament decision to block funds to Turkey

    The Europeal Parliament's decision last week to block hundreds of million of dollars in aid to Turkey is "a good moment for Europe", government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said today.

    Reppas, however, did not want to comment on Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller's letter to the Council of Ministers, saying only that her letter did not respond to the joint text sent by the Union's 15 foreign ministers on July 15.

    Reppas also denied reports that Turkey had warned vessels participating in the UNESCO cultural events not to approach Imia.

    "There is aboslutely no truth in these reports," Reppas said, adding that the programme was carried out as scheduled.

    Plasvic says Karadzic, Mladic will not be tried as war criminals

    The Bosnian Serbs are not prepared to hand over Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and former military chief Ratko Mladic to the International Court to be tried as war criminals, Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic said in Thessaloniki today.

    Plavsic, who is visiting Thessaloniki at the invitation of a local mayor, said that under Bosnian Serb law no Bosnian Serb could be extradited for trial.

    "They're trying to corner us but we will overcome these pressures just like we did earlier," she said.

    Plavsic said that the Dayton accord "if it is applied to the letter" was "a good medium-term solution which satisfies many of the national interests and dreams of the Bosnian Serbs".

    Asked about the economic reconstruction of the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia", Plavsic said the war had left a "a tragic situation but that the doors are open to investors from all nations."

    "But Greece has the most advantageous position," she added.


    The European Socialist Party summit ended in Budapest on Sunday with the adoption of a joint declaration welcoming the entry of central and eastern European countries into the European Union. During a press confer ence held after the meeting, Prime Minister Costas Simitis stressed the confirmation by the European Socialists of the EU's decision for negotiations for the entry of Cyprus and Malta to begin six months after the end of the Intergovernmental Conference ( IGC).

    Mr. Simitis said what the European socialists want is not a Europe with differentiations but a unified Europe in which there will be economic development, employment and prosperity for all.

    He said that all were agreed that speedy rates should be applied to enable all negotiations concerning the European Union to close before the end of the century, namely those as well which are related to enlargement, the budget and new policies.

    Outlining the results of the meeting, European Socialist Party President Rudolf Scharping said that enlargement, which is clearly supported by socialists and social democrats, constitutes a dynamic process from which there will be benefits derived both for EU member-states and candidate countries, while the EU's character will also change.

    Mr. Scharping said European socialists oppose neo-conservative positions and nationalistic and reactionary trends, for which the sole alternative solution constitutes the deepening of European cooperation, which is aimed at development, the creation of jobs, protection for the security of citizens and protection for the environment and safeguarding peace.

    Hungarian Prime Minister and president of the ruling socialist party, Gyula Horn, said it should be examined how the EU can help candidate countries to prepare themselves appropriately for entry.


    Prime Minister Costas Simitis held an hour-long discussion here with his Hungarian counterpart Gyula Horn yesterday, while a coincidence of views was ascertai ned between the positions of Athens and Budapest on Greek- Turkish relations and the Cyprus issue.

    Mr. Simitis said afterwards that the positions of the Hungarian government coincide with those supported by Greece, namely that whatever demands on the Turkish side must be resolved through processes anticipated by international law, meaning the Interna tional Court of Justice at The Hague. On the question of Cyprus, Hungary maintains that it is time that resolutions of the United Nations are applied.

    He said that he discussed problems with Mr. Horn concerning Hungary's potential accession to the European Union, which is the main issue preoccupying the Hungarians at present.

    Mr. Simitis said countries such as Greece, which have every interest in increasing their influence within the framework of the EU, need allies. And such allies can be countries such as Hungary, which has about the same level of development and about the same population.

    The Greek premier said that if we want a strong EU, the Union must "embrace" all of Europe and must "embrace" more countries than today.

    Both prime ministers also discussed bilateral Greek-Hungarian relations, whose level is considered excellent.

    On the sidelines of the European Socialist Party meeting, Mr. Simitis had talks with German Social Democrat party leader Oskar Lafontaine on Sunday, focusing on the global economy, Economic and Monetary Union as well as strengthening relations between PASOK and the German social democrats.

    In talks with the secretary of the Italian Democratic Left Party, Massimo D'Alema, Mr. Simitis referred to the meeting he will have with the leadership of the party during his visit to Rome on Nov. 20.


    The Greek delegation participating in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) summit, which ended here Friday with the signing of the Moscow Declaration, has expressed its satisfaction over the declaration's call for all member-states to fulfill the ir financial obligations for establishment of a Black Sea Commericial and Development Bank.

    The bank is scheduled to operate in Thessaloniki at the beginning of next year.

    Athens has decided to provide loans as a form of economic assistance for economically weaker members, such as Armenia and Moldova, which have asked for Greece's help.

    Meanwhile, only three countries, Albania, Greece and Romania, have said they can meet their financial obligations at present.

    As the bank can begin operating with 51 per cent of the founding capital, Russia has decided to accelerate its internal procedures so that the bank does not begin operation without Moscow's contribution. According to the National Economy secretary-ge neral and president of the bank's temporary organising committee, Nikos Zahariadis, Russia has made it clear that it will make efforts to pay its share within three months, including the relevant funds - roughly US$23 million) - in its 1997 budget.

    During the summit in Moscow, Greece also officially stated its wish for one of the bank's two or three vice-presidents to be a Greek national.

    According to the Moscow Declaration, BSEC member-states also called on European funding organisations, such as the European Investment Bank and the European Reconstruction and Development Bank, to participate as members in the Black Sea Commercial and Development Bank or to jointly fund investment programmes in the region.

    Overnight stays down by 10 per cent

    A dramatic fall in hotel rates to 1990 levels was not enough to keep overnight figures for the current tourist season from falling 10 per cent, the Halkidiki Union of Hoteliers said today.

    The association's president Andreas Andreadis said the number of overnight stays throughout the country had shown a 20 per cent drop over the last two year, while in the northern Greek resort of Halkidiki, the drop had been contained at 15 per cent, fuelling hopes for a better performance in the near future.

    This year's smaller fall in visits was due to double the number of Russian and Yugoslav tourists visiting Greece this year.

    Of the 700,000 foreign tourists visiting Halkidiki this year, 100,000 were from Eastern Europe, with 80,000 of that number from Russia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, against 40,000 in 1995.

    The association said, however, it was hopeful of an increase for the next season, saying pre-bookings with Britain (which comprise 5-10 percent of the whole) were up by 50 per cent.

    It said that the fall in visits was due to the continuing "hard drachma" policy, a lack of infrastructure, marketing and long-term tourist planning.

    Weekend drug arrests the tip of the iceberg, police say

    Police in this northern Greek city say they are on the trail of a major drug smuggling network working out of Bulgaria.

    Thessaloniki drug squad police have already arrested two members of the ring and say that more arrests are imminent.

    Stelios Tsingelidis, 33, a farmer, and Ioannis Bosanli, 34, unemployed, were arrested early on Saturday near the Greek-Bulgarian border, near Serres, in possession of 10 kilos of hashish and one kilo of heroin.

    A search of Tsingelidis's home revealed 23 kilos of Bulgarian hashish and a handgun.

    The two men will be charged today.

    WEATHER

    Sunny in most parts of the country with rising temperatures to range from 8- 19C in Athens and from 6-16C in Thessaloniki.

    SPORTS

    Weekend results of the Greek First Division soccer matches:
    Athinaikos - Olympiakos 0 - 1
    Aris - Panathinaikos    0 - 0
    Ionikos - Pyrgos        1 - 1
    AEK - Apollon           2 - 1
    Panahaiki - PAOK        2 - 0
    Kastoria - OFI          0 - 1
    Xanthi - Kalamata       0 - 0
    Edessa - Veria          2 - 0
    Kavala - Heraklis      to be played today
    
    Standings after 6 games:
    Olympiakos    16 points
    Pyrgos        14
    Panathinaikos 13
    AEK           13
    Panahaiki     13
    Ionikos       12
    OFI           12
    Xanthi         9
    PAOK           8
    Veria          7
    Kalamata       6
    Aris           5
    Athinaikos     4
    Edessa         4
    

    FOREIGN EXCHANGE (Buying)

    U.S. dlr 236.562 Can. dlr.176.140, Australian dlr. 187.424 Pound sterling 377.059, Irish punt 381.067, Cyprus pd 511.872, French franc 46.047, Swiss franc 188.267 Belgian franc 7.554, German mark 155.570 Finnish mark 51.782, Dutch guilder 138.696 Danish Kr. 40.569, Swedish Kr. 35.986, Norwegian Kr. 36.694, Austrian Sh. 22.107, Italian lira (100) 15.460 Yen (100) 209.798 Spanish Peseta 1.848, Portuguese Escudo 1.542.

    (M.P.)


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