Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-11-06
NEWS IN ENGLISH
Athens, Greece, 06/11/1997 (ANA)
MAIN HEADLINES
- Social partners reach 'Confidence Pact towards 2000'
- Government satisfied with outcome of Crete summit
- Violations of Greek air space continue
- 'USS Oak Hill' to visit Thessaloniki
- Seminar in the US on Greek language and culture
- Exchange outflows reach 300 mln ECU
- Quakes rock Athens, Crete
- Greek freighter fired on off Corfu
- Papantoniou slams 'irresponsible rumours' concerning the drachma
- EU report: Greece to enter EMU in 2001
- Greek 1998 budget due November 12
- Bank of Greece drains liquidity, raises interest rates
- Greek drachma parity strengthens in October
- Tourist flow to Greece to record increase
- Weather
- Foreign exchange
NEWS IN DETAIL
Social partners reach 'Confidence Pact towards 2000'
The text of a finalised agreement bearing the ambitious title "Confidence
Pact towards 2000" was concluded between the government, trade unions and
employers' organisations yesterday.
The agreement is expected to be officially approved at a plenary session of
social partners' representatives on Monday after previously undergoing the
test of approval by the trade unions themselves where disagreements among
the various trade union groupings are already emerging.
Labour Undersecretary Christos Protopapas, considered the architect of the
agreement, said he felt optimistic and stressed that such an agreement
constitutes a necessity for the economy, society and the country.
Agreement between the social partners was based on the text presented by
Mr. Protopapas and whose finalised shape will be publicised today after
observations and corrections accepted will be included.
According to the text, on the question of incomes policy, the government
commits itself to "safeguard and gradually improve" labour income.
Secondly, with regard to taxation reform, it promises relief benefitting
low-wage earners, although there is no specific commitment to increase the
level of tax-free income or an index-linked salary scale.
Thirdly, on the question of unemployment, the agreement reached anticipates
direct measures for unemployed people under 29 and the longterm unemployed
over 55.
A change in the development law was also agreed in the direction of
supporting investments, employment and incentives for expanding into the
Balkans and new markets in eastern Europe.
The extension of partial employment in the public sector was consolidated
and, indeed, with provisions excluding permanent status for newly-appointed
employees lying outside processes stipulated by the relevant Peponis law.
All reference to the "overall settlement of working time", pursued by the
government, was erased, as was the 35-hour working week proposal supported
by the trade unions.
General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) President Christos
Polyzogopoulos said the commitment to safeguard and improve income is
important, and assessed that the report is far more advanced than the
corresponding agreements, such as those in Spain and other European
countries.
Civil Servants Union (ADEDY) President Yiannis Koutsoukos said unions will
closely watch the implementation of policies agreed.
Federation of Greek Industries (SEB) Vice-President Nikos Analytis said a
social institution was won which will contribute considerably towards
social cohesion, adding that no government, either the present one or that
which will succeed it, must undermine it.
Mr. Protopapas committed himself that the government will take all
necessary action to implement all that has been agreed, meaning that at
least three new laws are expected: for development, labour protection and
contracts in the public sector.
Opposition to the text was voiced by union groupings affiliated to the main
opposition New Democracy party, the Communist Party of Greece and the
Coalition of the Left and Progress.
Government satisfied with outcome of Crete summit
The government is satisfied with the results of the informal Southeast
European Summit held in Crete this week, according to spokesman Dimitris
Reppas, who said the meeting had laid the foundations for a new era in
bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation.
The sidelines meeting between the Greek and Turkish prime ministers, he
added, had also been beneficial. He said the next meeting between the two
would be held next year in Antalya at the next Southeast European
Summit.
Asked whether Mr. Simitis had rejected an invitation from Mr. Yilmaz, the
spokesman said that for another meeting between two prime ministers to take
place there would first have to be a positive step. Such conditions, he
said, did not currently exist.
With regard to Mr. Yilmaz's reported proposal that he and Mr. Simitis
appoint special envoys to maintain contact between them, Mr. Reppas
stressed there was no agreement to appoint envoys.
However, he said nothing was rejected in general unless it harmed national
interests. The idea of special envoys, he said, neither harmed nor
benefited national interests but was not considered necessary at this
point.
The government spokesman added that Turkey's habit of violating Greece's
air space and infringing the Athens FIR cast a shadow over the effort to
improve bilateral relations.
Mr. Simitis, he said, had raised the issue with the Turkish prime minister,
who maintained that Turkey did not recognise the 10 mile limit for Greek
air space. This, said Mr. Reppas, was an unbridgeable difference of
opinion.
He denied that there had been any bad feeling on the part of the foreign
ministry over the Simitis-Yilmaz meeting, saying that Foreign Minister
Theodoros Pangalos himself had played a major role in organising the
summit.
He said the foreign minister was responsible for the exercise of foreign
policy and could not be "marginalised" by anybody, responding to press
questions on whether the Turkish side had attempted this.
The foreign minister would be briefing the government of the United States
and other interested countries on the results of the meeting, as well as
the president of the republic, Mr. Reppas said.
Mr. Pangalos will also brief the other European Union member states on the
results of the Southeastern European Summit during the General Affairs
Council meeting in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday..
The Summit was held in Crete with the participation of leaders of Albania,
Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Turkey and
Yugoslavia, and a representative of the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Violations of Greek air space continue
National defence ministry sources said 15 pairs of Turkish F-16 and F-4
fighter planes had infringed the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) an
equal number of times yesterday by early afternoon.
They also said there had been 35 violations of Greece's national airspace
by the Turkish jetfighters, mainly between Kos and Rhodes islands, and also
between Limnos-Lesvos, Hios-Lesvos and Hios-Samos.
In all instances the Turkish aircraft were intercepted by Greek F-16 and
Mirage-2000 jetfighters. The sources said that in at least six instances
the interception procedures had developed into mock dogfights.
They added that another six pairs of Turkish warplanes had infringed the
Nicosia FIR.
'USS Oak Hill' to visit Thessaloniki
The 'USS Oak Hill', a newly-commissioned ship, will pay its first ever port
visit and the first visit by a United States Navy ship to the port of
Thessaloniki in several years on November 7, the US embassy said yesterday.
The USS Oak Hill will be in Thessal oniki for a week and is skippered by
Commander Michael A. Durnan, USN, on its first overseas deployment. This is
the first port of call for the 800-member crew of sailors and Marines on
board.
The USS Oak Hill is a dock landing ship whose mission is to transport
Marines ashore during amphibious operations. The ship carries a crew of 340
men including 21 officers with an additional complement of 450 Marines. The
ship displaces about 16,000 ton nes and is 185 metres long by 26 metres
wide. The USS Oak Hill was commissioned in September 1996.
Cdr. Durnan and senior officers will pay courtesy calls on local officials
and business organisations and will host a reception on board for officials
and other guests.
Seminar in the US on Greek language and culture
The Greek civilization, culture and history are at the centre of various
activities, actively sponsored by the American Archdiocese, organised by
Greek American organisations and targeted at third and fourth generation
youths.
As part of this campaign and also in order to present Greek American
writers, the publishing house 'Seaburn' oraganised a three-month seminar on
the Greek language and culture. During the opening of the seminar, on Oct.
24 at the Bryant High School, Sea burn director Dr. Sam Chekwas presented
to students a new Enlgish translation of poetry by Dionysios Solomos.
Further, Seaburn's annual exhibition of Greek books will open in Stamford,
Conecticut, Nov. 16. The exhibition will then travel to many other states,
including New York and Philadelphia.
Exchange outflows reach 300 mln ECU
According to sources of the Bank of Greece, yesterday's exchange outflows
during the Fixing process reached 300 million ECU.
However, at 5 p.m. when the Bank of Greece leaves the inter-bank market,
exchange inflows in the region of 200 million ECU occurred, a fact also
leading to an increase in the drachma's value as against the ECU since the
parity was set at 309.50 drachmas as against 310.40 drachmas at noon.
According to the same sources, the country's exchange reserves yesterday
ranged between 12.5 and 13.5 billion dollars.
Quakes rock Athens, Crete
Athens felt another strong earth tremor yesterday, almost exactly 24 hours
after two tremors originating from the Attica prefecture.
The tremor registered 4.6 Richter at 12:28 and was followed by two weaker
aftershocks of 4.3 at 12:32 and 4.1 at 12:35 p.m., emanating from the same
epicentre near Avlona.
Athens Geodynamic Institute director George Stavrakakis told the ANA that
the seismic activity was weak, adding that such tremors did not cause
damages. He anticipated that post-quake activity would continue at the same
levels.
Shortly later, at 2:23, Crete was hit by a quake registering 5.2 and with
an epicentre 310 kms south of Athens, between Sfakia, a town on the south
coast of Crete, and the islet of Gavdos.
Residents on Gavdos said the 40 second tremor - preceded by a loud noise -
caused fear among the residents and forced them to run out onto the
streets.
There were, however, no reports of injury or damage.
Scientists at the Thessaloniki Aristotelion University's Geophysics
Laboratory are reserved over the development of seismic activity centred in
the Oinofyta region in past days.
Laboratory Professor Vassilis Papazahos said he is optimistic but pointed
out, however, that a strong earthquake has not taken place in the area
since 1938 and pondered whether this means an accumulation of energy in the
fissure.
He said the Attica basin is not in the direction of the fissure, meaning
that even if a strong earthquake does takes place energy will not be
oriented in the direction of Athens.
The fissure in question starts from the Alkyonides islands area, passes
from Thebes and ends in the southern Evoikos sea region.
Greek freighter fired on off Corfu
A speedboat opened fire on a Greek freighter off Corfu island on Tuesday
night and sped off towards the Albanian shores, the Greek Coast Guard said
yesterday.
It said the freighter "Ioanna" had been en route to Volos from Albania,
without cargo but carrying an eight-member crew, when an unidentified
speedboat opened fire on it 20 nautical miles north of the Peristeria
region of Corfu.
The Coast Guard said the shots had come from Kalashnikov rifles, adding
that none of the crew had been injured.
Two patrol boats rushed to the site after the freighter's captain sent out
an SOS, the Coast Guard said, but the speedboat "disappeared in the
direction of the Albanian shores".
The "Ioanna" continued its journey to Volos after the incident.
Papantoniou slams 'irresponsible rumours' concerning the drachma
National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou categorically
denied in Brussels yesterday that the drachma was the focal point of any
discussion at European Union bodies and expressed surprise "over the
dimensions taken of irresponsible rumours."
The rumours, started from British sources in the money market sector in the
morning, concerned the report that allegedly the issue was raised of
devaluing the drachma, following the latest monetary crisis, during the
session of the EU's Monetary Comm ittee which met on Tuesday and yesterday.
On his part, professor Yiannis Stournaras, President of the National
Economy Ministry's Economic Experts' Council (SOE), a leading adviser of
Mr. Papantoniou who participated in the Monetary Committee's session, spoke
of shameless lies and trash, assuring that in no way was such an issue
discussed at the Committee.
EU report: Greece to enter EMU in 2001
Accordig to a report in the publication "Economist Intelligence Unit"
titled 'Europe', Greece will be ready to be admitted in the third stage of
the European monetary unification in the year 2001.
The report says even though considerable progress has been made in public
finances in Greece, there are still many problems. Apart from not having
been aligned to the rest of the EU member-states, the Greek econony is only
in the middle of a long-term s tability programme, while exports are facing
a serious problem as far as competitiveness is concerned.
The conclusion about Greece's participation in the EU monetary union (EMU)
is that "under pressure for EMU, progress has been achieved, but there is
still a long and tough way to go". As far as the rest of the EU member-
states are concerned, the report says that 10 out of 15 states will be
admitted in the EMU in January 1999, according to the current timetable.
These are Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany and The Netherlands,
whose currencies have been retained stable in spite of some periods of
uncertainty. Finland and Ireland have already fulfilled the EMU participation
criteria, while the economies of Spain and Portugal are converging at a
fast pace.
Italy is foreseen to enter the EMU in 2001, mainly due to its enormous debt
of 123.5 percent of its NGP, instead of the 60 percent limit set by the
Maastricht Treaty.
Greek 1998 budget due November 12
The 1998 budget will be tabled in parliament on November 12, National
Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou said yesterday after a
three-hour meeting chaired by Prime Minister Costas Simitis.
Mr. Papantoniou said the final recommendations of the government's economic
staff had been formulated regarding 1998 incomes policy, which would go
before the cabinet for approval on Friday, and would be contained in the
new budget.
The budget will include an increase in revenues by one trillion drachmas
and drastic cutbacks in spending.
Bank of Greece drains liquidity, raises interest rates
The Greek drachma yesterday came under renewed speculative pressure after
spending the previous two days in calm waters.
The Bank of Greece, the country's central bank, was forced to intervene
again in the domestic money market offering to drain seven-day repos at 70
percent. Interbank rates were held at 15-30 percent on Tuesday.
The central bank reported outflows totalling 450 million Ecus, more than
the total of inflows reported during the previous two days.
The drachma continued moving lower against the Ecu in the domestic foreign
exchange market. The Greek currency was lower against the US dollar and the
DMark.
Meanwhile, Yiannis Stournaras, one of Greece's two representatives at the
European Union's monetary committee said that the drachma never came up as
an issue at the EU.
Mr. Stournaras dismissed as "absolute rubbish" rumours that the EU's
monetary committee suggested that Greece should devalue the drachma.
He underlined that on the contrary the monetary committee congratulated
Greece for its economic progress and its firm policy in defending the
drachma.
Greek drachma parity strengthens in October
European currencies fell against the drachma in October compared with the
previous month, with the exception the Norwegian krona which rose 1.47
percent against the Greek currency.
The European Currency Union (Ecu) was stable during a month which saw most
foreign currencies ending lower against the drachma, with the Japanese yen
losing substantial ground.
The DMark eased 0.17 percent against the drachma in October to show a 0.44
percent decline from the start of the year.
The French franc was stable although down 0.25 percent on the year.
The British pound eased 0.13 percent in the month but was 10.41 percent
higher in the 10 month period from January to October.
The Ecu was steady in October but 0.07 percent higher in the first ten
months of the year.
Finally, the US dollar eased 1.88 percent against the drachma on a monthly
basis but was 12.86 percent up on the year and the Japanese yen fell 2.10
percent in October to show a gain of 6.16 percent since the start of the
1997.
Tourist flow to Greece to record increase
The tourist flow to Greece will record a satisfactory increase in 1997 and
1998, according to the assessments of Greek Tourist Organisation's (EOT)
heads of bureaus abroad, presented yesterday ahead of the opening of the
Philoxenia 1997 exhibition in Thessaloniki tonight.
The approximate projected percentage increases for the two years per
country of origin are as follows:
Germany 5-7/4-5, USA 12/8-15, Austria 10/5, Australia minus 13/8-15, Japan
0/plus, France 0/plus, Canada 20/14, Britain 8.5/9, Holland 9-10/5, Russia
10-12/same, Belgium-Luxembourg 14/10, Switzerland 10/10, Israel 9/+, Spain
30/+. Increases of 2.6 and 4 8 per cent are projected from Norway and
Finland respectively for this year, but slight falls next year.
Weather
Mostly fine weather for western Greece, eastern Macedonia, Thrace, and the
islands of the eastern Aegean. Local clouds for the rest of the country.
Weather in Athens today will be mostly mild, with temperatures ranging from
9-20 C. Partly cloudy for Thessaloniki, with temperatures of 9-15
C.
Foreign exchange
Wednesday's closing rates - buying US dlr. 269.179
Pound sterling 452.808 Cyprus pd 531.613
French franc 46.541 Swiss franc 190.732
German mark 155.843 Italian lira (100) 15.924
Yen (100) 220.045 Canadian dlr. 193.281
Australian dlr. 189.472 Irish Punt 405.688
Belgian franc 7.559 Finnish mark 51.882
Dutch guilder 138.354 Danish kr. 40.972
Swedish kr. 35.752 Norwegian kr. 38.212
Austrian sch. 22.155 Spanish peseta 1.846
Port. Escudo 1.526
(L.G.)
|
