Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 97-11-12

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 12/11/1997 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• 1998 budget revealed
• Iraq wants less US control of inspection teams
• President to inaugurate Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki
• 35% of teachers smoke - study
• Holbrooke cites 'incompatible differences' in Cyprus problem
• Burns sworn in as new US ambassador to Greece
• Mantelis talks with EU Commissioners on telecom issues
• Tsohatzopoulos ends official visit to Hungary
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

National Economy and Finance Minister Yannos Papantoniou today revealed the details of the 1998 state budget, at a news conference at the General Accounting Office.

Earlier the Cabinet had unanimously given the budget the green light. It will be officially submitted to Parliament later today.

The budget foresees a contained 2.5 percent increase in wage increases for public sector employees in 1998, offset by a full indexation of the tax scale, by a factor of 5.6 or 5.7 percent, in line with average 1997 inflation. Some 1,750 public sector agencies will be abolished or merged.

One of the new taxes included in the budget is a special charge on cellular phones, ranging from 500 to 2000 drachmas, dependent on level of usage. Tax revenues will come from increased taxes on real estate transactions, cigarettes, treasury bills and a new stock market transactions tax.

The budget includes special support programmes for 200,000 young unemployed up to the year 2000 as well as special programmes for working mothers.

The 1:5 ratio of new public sector appointments for public sector departures will also be enforced next year with the public investment programme giving special emphasis to the sectors of educaiton, health and welfare and social insurance.

The budget forecasts inflows of 317 billion drachmas from new tax reforms, while the indexation of the tax scale is expected to cost the state some 90 billion drachmas.

Low income-earners will also be better off with the restoration of a pre- 1992 withholding tax regime, abolished by the New Democracy government.

Papantoniou stressed that the government's 'hard drachma' policy would continue and that the country's goal was inclusion in economic and monetary union on January 1, 2001, a goal, he said, that was "tangible".

The recent monetary crisis, he added, has resulted in the budget containing higher interest rates on state paper than originally planned.

Papandoniou added that the privatisation of public sector enterprises would be stepped up to two years from the three originally planned and that 40 percent of bank and business reserves would be taxed at a rate of 17.5 percent.

Iraq wants less US control of inspection teams

Baghdad's goal in barring American members of UN weapons inspections teams from entering Iraq was aimed at bringing an end to the "American monopoly" in these teams, Iraqi Ambassador in Athens Issam Khalil told the ANA today.

The Ambassador referred to a document setting out the Iraqi demands to the UN Secretary General during talks on November 5-7 in New York.

"We are asking for the equal participation by the five permanent member states of the Security Council in the monitoring teams. We reject American control of the teams' activities. We want these teams to act within the framework of the UN Charter, not to violate our sovereignty or territorial integrity," he said.

Khalil characterised Washington's stance as negative, irrespective of Iraq's actions.

"Even though they know that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, they create crises in order to maintain the sanctions," he said, adding:

"What Iraq now accepts is the implementation of article 22 of Resolution 687 according to which the UN and the Security Council should, following the destruction of the weapons by Iraq, lift the sanctions and permit trade."

He reiterated that the US' U2 aircraft were spy planes and suggested they be replaced with aircraft from a neutral country.

Asked what Iraq's response would be in this event, Khalil said Iraq had asked the Security council to act in favour of its integrity and security. However he did not rule out any other measures Iraq might consider appropriate.

President to inaugurate Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki

Jewish dignitaries and other personalities from all over the world will gather in Thessaloniki later this month for the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the nearly 50,000 Jews from the northern Greek capital who lost their lives in the Nazi Holocaust.

The monument, on the corner of Papanastassiou and Nea Egnatia streets, two of Thessaloniki's main thoroughfares, will be inaugurated by President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos on Sunday, November 23.

A U.S. delegation will be lead by the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee Benjamin Gilman (Rep-NY), while a high-ranking Israeli delegation will be headed by Minister of Health Yehushua Matsa.

The guests of honour at the event will be the few survivors of the Nazi camps from Greece still alive today, who number less than 40.

Thessaloniki was historically the home of one of the biggest Jewish communities before the Nazi occupation, which found haven in the nothern Greek capital after fleeing the Holy Inquisition in 15th century Spain.

According to a 1940 census, there were about 49,000 Jews living in Thessaloniki. The number dwindled to 1,950 in 1945, as 46,061 Thessaloniki Jews were sent off to the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Birkenau over a six-month period in 1943. Fewer than four percent survived.

Some 86 percent of the Jews - 67,151 people - living throughout all of Greece before World War II perished in the Nazi camps.

There are an estimated 5,000 Jews currently living throughout Greece, about 1,200 of them in Thessaloniki.

35% of teachers smoke - study

A survey of Greek teachers has revealed that 35 percent of both public and private school teachers smoke, with half lighting up in class despite 90 percent believing that passive smoking is harmful to health.

The results of the survey, carried out by the Greek Anti-Cancer Association, were relased today at the 9th Panhellenic Oncology Conference in Athens.

The results show that 39 percent of men and 33 percent of women teachers smoked on a daily basis, while 42 percent of smokers were between the ages of 31 and 35; 31 percent were over the age of 45.

The survey was carried out on 1,519 teachers (661 men, 858 women) from all levels of the education system by questionnaire.

Another 20 percent of smokers said they were not worried by warnings on the repercussions of smoking while half of those questioned said they had tried to give up smoking.

The report recommended that ways be sought to change teachers' smoking in the presence of their pupils.

Holbrooke cites 'incompatible differences' in Cyprus problem

US special presidential envoy for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke said yesterday that issues causing friction between Greece and Turkey cannot be dealt with unless the "core issue" (Cyprus question) is dealt with.

He acknowledged that public views of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides on a couple of issues are "incompatible", their disagreements "are very profound", and urged both community leaders to refocus their attention on the future and not on the past, th us remaining hostages of the past.

Mr. Holbrooke reiterated the US administration's resolve to work towards a settlement in Cyprus and said the ongoing peace effort will be continued "in a less visible level".

The US diplomat conceded that Washington contributed to certain "tragic events" in the region in the 1960s and the 1970s, saying "we bear certain responsibility."

Speaking after four hours of talks with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, the US presidential emissary said he had "no expectations" from his discussions in Cyprus.

"We have to keep talking to create opportunities, the conversation was candid and confidential and was conducted in a very positive atmosphere. This is in my mind a positive fact," he said.

Yesterday's discussions, he added, showed a "willingness to try to address the problems of the future."

"I know I am talking in what may sound like riddles but I am hopeful," he said.

Replying to questions, Mr. Holbrooke said "on their publicly stated positions, the two sides have incompatible positions on two or three central issues, such as sovereignty, and they have a legacy of mistrust."

The differences between the two sides "are very profound and they range from very small details like the content of documents to very basic issues like how to deal with the right of refugees to return."

Defining his task in the peace effort, Mr. Holbrooke said the US believes this region is "critical to stability for the US national security and the Europeans."

"We believe that stability is an essential goal in the post cold war period and in my view the other issues between Greece and Turkey cannot be dealt with unless Cyprus is dealt with centrally, it is the core issue," Mr. Holbrooke stressed. Referring to US involvement in this part of the world, he said "the American history is not entirely clean, there are some things previous American administrations did in this area, particularly between mid-1960s and 1974, which I think were shameful."

Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960. Three years later clashes between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities broke out, while Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37 per cent of Cyprus territory in 1974.

"We bear certain responsibility for our role in contributing to certain events here which were tragic," he added.

He said he would consult with US ambassadors in Nicosia, Ankara and Athens as well as the US president and his secretary of state before deciding on his next steps.

After flying to the Turkish capital from his talks on Cyprus yesterday afternoon, Mr. Holbrooke said he was not going to make statements regarding the contents of talks on the island republic.

He made the remark after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem in Ankara, adding that there was an agreement by all parties involved in the Cyprus talks to avoid statements.

Burns sworn in as new US ambassador to Greece

The new US Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns was sworn in at a ceremony at the State Department on Monday night.

Mr. Burns, who arrives in Athens early December, said his main goals in his new post would be the continuation of close military cooperation between the US and Greece, promoting the resolution of Greek-Turkish differences in the Aegean and a resolution of the Cyprus issue as well as cooperation in fighting terrorism.

Mantelis talks with EU Commissioners on telecom issues

Transport and Communications Minister Tassos Mantelis had separate meetings here yesterday with European Union Commissioners Martin Bangemann and Karel Van Miert regarding cooperation between Athens and the Union in resolving pending Greek issues.

As the Commission is taking legal action against Greece for delaying deregulation of the telecommunications market, Mr. Mantelis said that he did not make any efforts to avert the recourse.

He stressed that within the deadlines provided for by the recourse process, Greece would have managed to arrange the pending telecoms issue.

The Greek minister, however, admitted that his discussion with Commissioner Van Miert also touched on several sensitive issues, such as linking mobile telephony in Greece with international networks without intervention of Greece's national network.

Commissioner Bangemann told Mr. Mantelis that he was planning to visit Athens in May and he hoped that by then, many of the pending issues will have been settled.

Tsohatzopoulos ends official visit to Hungary

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos wound up his official two-day visit here yesterday, saying acceptance and respect for international law and treaties was a required precondition to safeguard security, stabili ty as well as cooperation in eastern Europe.

Mr. Tsohatzopoulos further stressed that the same preconditions applied also for the case of Turkey, as far as upgrading its relations with Europe was concerned.

The Greek minister described as a very positive coincidence the fact that his visit to Budapest was made at a time when Hungary was requesting NATO membership, and also preparing to seek an equal place into the European Union.

In the sector of security and defence, Greece and Hungary decided to exchange expertise - at military and technical levels - on the armaments sector.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(M.P.)

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