NEWS IN DETAIL

More teachers dissatisfied with meeting with minister

The Education Minister told press that one of the teachers' basic demands regarding equal status for degree holders and teachers' college graduates would be met, and that a monthly benefit of 21,000 dr. for work done outside school hours would be increased to 35,000 dr. However, the teachers are standing firm on their demand for a salary increase within 1997 and are planning a three day strike for early February.

Meanwhile high school teachers, five days into their own strike, held a rally outside the Education Ministry at noon and then marched on Parliament. They are insisting on a 70,000 dr. monthly increase to their salaries. The Education Minister, who is due to meet with their representatives on Monday, has urged them to moderate their demands if the meeting is to be fruitful.

The main opposition New Democracy party urged the government to exhaust all possibilities for finding a solution to the crisis in the country's schools.

The head of the party's education committee, Vassilis Kontoyannopoulos, himself a former education minister, called for a special salary scale for primary and secondary school teachers in line with that of teaching staff in tertiary education.

He repeated his party's call for an increase in education's share of GNP to 5 per cent, which he said was feasible if the state ''stops wasting money'' and privatisations were expedited.

Kontoyannopoulos added that if the government was serious about opening university-level institutions to all, then it must be prepared to increase funds for education and raise the standard of secondary education.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Aleka Papariga today sent a letter to Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis requesting that he ask the government to hold a regular debate on the subject of education at the level of party leaders.

Defence Minister comments on Greece, Cyprus defence

Tsohatzopoulos added that the Greece-Cyprus defence planning was based on certain ''definitive axes'' such as the good fighting capability of the armed forces and ''flexible retaliation to any aggressive act by Turkey''.

The minister underlined that Greece and Cyprus had been in full agreement the last two years with respect to confronting the Turkish threat.

Evert charged that the government's foreign policy was characterized by ''enormous shifts and major compromises''.

''You can't agree among yourselves and this is why you do not accept the convening of the Council of political party leaders to discuss national issues,'' Evert said.

Cyprus, Greece seek US guarantees for Cyprus overflights ban

"If indeed there is such an initiative, such a commitment or guarantee which in practice is convincing that it constitutes an effective handling of the problems we have to face, then we can discuss the problem on a different basis. But this does not exist at present," government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said.

He added that all those who show an interest in the moratorium should be prepared to gurantee that they will ensure the defence and sovereignty of Cyprus in the case of a Turkish attack.

Simitis: no special provisions for floods

Simitis said the Greek taxpayer was already fairly heavily burdened and the government must exercise self-restraint in imposing new taxes.

From the moment that no decision has been taken for the setting up of funds for other priorities such as national defence, such a fund cannot be established for the repercussions of natural disasters, he said.

The premier said that the government was placing emphasis on anti-flood works, many of which have already been incorporated in European Union and public investment programmes.

Greece has contracted a 75 billion drachma loan for such works from the Council of Europe Reconstruction Fund.

In Athens, works costing about 110 billion drachmas are being performed, Simitis said, noting that to fully protect the capital against floods the total cost of works would be 250 billion drachmas.

Simitis said responsibility for the problems caused by floods could not be attributed solely to the state, since Greek society as a whole shared the responsibility.

In Attica alone, he stressed, gullies stretching in total for hundreds of kilometres had been illegally filled in, which meant there was no way for the water to escape during heavy rainfall.

Soldier shot in illegal immigrants incident

The speedboat was spotted by the patrol at 2 am local time as it approached the northern coast of the island and disembarked the illegal immigrants despite warning shots.

According to the General Army Staff, the wounded soldier is infantryman George Karayiannis, 20, resident of Patras who was initially taken to the Megisti health centre before being transfered by helicopter to a hospital on Rhodes.

Doctors at the Rhodes hospital said Karayiannis' life was not in danger.

Bulgaria ratifies cross-border agreements with Greece

According to the Bulgarian news agency BTA, "the cross-border cooperation programme between Bulgaria and Greece constitutes one of the main mechanisms through which the European Commission exercises free investment policy. To date, and on the basis of t he economic memorandum for 1994, Bulgaria has received Ecu25 million to implement programmes in the sectors of transport, telecommunications and the environment."

The new programme anticipates Ecu23 million annually for the improvement of the transport and communications network in border regions along the Greek- Bulgarian frontier, the water-supply system and the minimisation of environmental pollution.

Among others, the programme anticipates the electrification of the Dubnica- Koulata rail link with Ecu3 million, as well as a contribution to the creation of a digital telecommunications line linking Sofia and Petric as well as the optic fibre link betwe en Kavala and Haskovo with Ecu1.5 million. The amount of Ecu1.3 million is also anticipated for the natural gas pipeline linking Russia to Greece.

A further Ecu1.5 million will be provided to decrease uranium waste in rivers flowing into Greece.

Air transport problems discussed prior to summer season

Addressing the seminar on "Tourism and Air transport," Development Minister Vasso Papandreou said an immediate solution to problems in air transport was not feasible but expressed hope the situation would undergo drastic changes in the next few years.

Olympic Airways President Nikos Blessios pledged that OA will make every possible effort to assist in upgrading Greek tourism, adding that the company will purchase new aircraft and attempt to enter strategic alliances with other airline co mpanies in new markets in an effort to become more competitive.

Regarding a new French-made air traffic control system which was due to go into operation in April, the air traffic controllers said the system's operation will be delayed until autumn, due to lack of technical support, adding that problems should be anticipated during the tourism season.

Meanwhile, representatives of international airlines operating in Greece called on the government to proceed with airline deregulation and stressed what they termed "the state's destructive protectionism of OA."

They said high operating costs in Greece have led six international airlines to close down their operation in Greece, while two more have announced plans to leave the country.

Flights to and from Thessaloniki's international airport were interrupted for four hours this morning due to heavy fog.

All services resumed at the ''Macedonia'' airport when the fog lifted at 10.00 local time.

Europartenariat Hellas 1997 reps meet in Athens

The representatives were presented with the Europartenariat catalogue, featuring economic figures for Greece as well as the kind of ventures that 400 Greek enterprises which have been selected to participate in the event are seeking with European enterp rises.

In a message to the meeting, EU Commissioner for tourism, energy and small- to-middle-size enterprises, Christos Papoutsis, said that "Greece's advantageous geographical position can be used as a basis for business ventures not only in the Mediterranean but also in central and eastern Europe, and the Balkans."

National Economy Undersecretary Alekos Baltas told a press conference after the meeting that the Europartenariat was a "successful institution which contributes to cooperation among European SMEs on an international level".

Some 200,000 businesses have participated in the Europartenatiat since it was founded in 1988 at the initiative of the European Union.

Two thousand Greek businesses will participate at this year's Europartenariat Hellas 1997.

Mr. Baltas said prospects were good for joint ventures between businesses in Greece, eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Black Sea region countries.

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(M.P.)

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