Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 97-11-23

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 23/11/1997 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Greece arrests fugitive wanted by Italy in Aldo Moro killing
• Holocaust monument unveiled in Thessaloniki
• Greece must further tighten economy, Economist annual report says
• EU employment measures criticised by Coalition Euro-MP
• Deputy Finance Minister pledges steady drachma parity
• Police serving at embassy in Sofia charged with drug trafficking
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

A 45-year-old Italian fugitive convicted in Italy of involvement in the 1978 abduction and murder of former prime minister Aldo Moro has been arrested in Aktio, Preveza, northwestern Greece, police announced today.

The man, identified as Enrico Aristeidis Bianco, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years imprisonment for complicity in the Moro killing, was arrested Saturday at Aktio, where he was living on a yacht, police said.

They said Bianco, who was living in Greece under the name Fulvio Folini and had a forged passport in that name, also had an apartment in Athens.

He was picked up on a warrant issued by an Athens court.

Police said Bianco would be interrorgated by the anti-terrorist service in Athens and procedures would be instigated for his extradition to Italy.

Holocaust monument unveiled in Thessaloniki

President of the Republic Costis Stephanopoulos on Sunday unveiled a monument in Thessaloniki dedicated to the nearly 50,000 Jews from the northern Greek capital, about 96 percent of the Jewish population of the city at the time, who perished in the Nazi concentration camps.

President Stephanopoulos, Prime Minister Costas Simitis in a message to the ceremony delivered by Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou, and Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos spoke of the new Europe being built, far removed from the barbarity of the past, in which racism and the ideology of fascism had no place, while a message from U.S. President Bill Clinton said the Thessaloniki monument would stand as a reminder of the past evil but also as an inspiration for future good.

The ceremony was attended by a large Israeli delegation headed by Health Minister Yehoshua Matsa, who hails from a historic Jewish family that has roots in the Greek city of Ioannina, German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hauer, Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos, Macedonia- Thrace Minister Philippos Petsalnikos, a U.S. Congressional delegation headed by House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Benjamin Gilman, the president of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki A. Seficha, president of the Central Jewish Council of Greece Nissim Mais and other dignitaries.

The monument shows a tangle of human skeletons beneath a burning menora -- the candelabra used in Jewish worship. It was crafted by Yugoslav Jew sculptor Nador Gild, who created similar Holocaust memorials in Jerusalem, Belgrade and the Nazi concentration camp Dachau. It stands at the crossroad of Nea Egnatia and Alexandros Papanastasiou streets in central Thessaloniki.

Greece must further tighten economy, Economist annual report says

Greece has to tighten its economy further in order to enter European economic and monetary union, the Economist business magazine said in an annual report on 61 countries.

Consumer price inflation should hold around 5.0 percent in 1998 against 5.8 percent in 1997, still double the European Union average, the report said.

The fiscal deficit is falling but next year may still exceed 3.0 percent of gross domestic product, which is the criterion for EMU entry under the Maastricht Treaty.

The deficit is likely to drop to 4.0 percent of GDP in 1998 against 5.0 percent in 1997, the Economist said.

Growth is forecast to remain steady at a 3.0 percent rate of increase in 1998 from 3.1 in 1997 and 2.6 percent in 1996.

According to the Economist, exports are likely to suffer next year due to the drachma's parity.

Forecast for 1998 are 169 drachmas to the mark and 280 drachmas to the dollar.

Construction projects are expected to accelerate next year, spurred by the 2004 Olympics, which Athens will host.

Both the socialist government and private sector will be eager to speed up infrastructure projects needed for the Games, the report said.

EU employment measures criticised by Coalition Euro-MP

Greek Eurodeputy Alekos Alavanos has criticised measures adopted by a European Union summit to boost jobs as futile in the face of mass unemployment in the 15-nation bloc.

In an interview to ERA 3 state radio on Saturday, Alavanos said the methods agreed to spur employment among the young and long-term jobless kept policies in place that had so far served to create widespread unemployment.

"Annual subsidies of 150 million Ecu against unemployment agreed at the Luxembourg summit represent 7.5 Ecu a year, or 2,500 drachmas, for each of the 20 million EU unemployed, and that is the same price as a kilo of meat, " said Alavanos, who is a member of the Coalition of the Left and Progress.

Last week's summit had also failed to make the unemployment rate a criterion for EU members to join economic and monetary union, and a 35-hour working week had not been adopted, Alavanos said.

Deputy Finance Minister pledges steady drachma parity

Greece's socialist government will keep the drachma's parity steady until the country joins European economic and monetary union, Deputy Finance Minister George Drys said.

Addressing a ruling PASOK party economy seminar in Crete late on Saturday, Drys was apparently trying to quell market rumours of a one-off devaluation of the drachma this year or in the first half of 1998.

He outlined the success of monetary authorities in warding off speculative attacks on the drachma in a recent round of market turmoil, mainly by hiking interbank rates and intervening in the foreign exchange market.

Police serving at embassy in Sofia charged with drug trafficking

A Piraeus public prosecutor late on Saturday brought criminal charges against two police officers for drug trafficking, possession and use after the men were caught allegedly trying to carry out street sales of hashish.

The police officers were suspended from duty following separate arrests within minutes by the Attica drugs squad in the same part of Piraeus earlier on Saturday. Public Order Minister George Romeos called the suspension.

The officers, who were believed by police to be working together on the drug sales, were identified as Nikea station seargeant Yannis Kouvatsos and constable Vassilis Moutsakos, currently serving in Greece's embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Six other men arrested in the same operation as customers were charged with buying and using drugs. Among them were two Hellenic Navy petty officers identified as Thodoros Avgouleas and Manolis Piliouras.

All eight were remanded in custody and will appear before an investigating magistrate on Tuesday.

The six reportedly confessed to buying hashish from Kouvatsos, who claimed during interrogation the substance was for his own use, police sources said.

Arresting officers found Kouvatsos in possession of precision sales and 24 grams of hashish during a search, which the sergeant had initially resisted requesting solidarity from colleagues. He was restrained after allegedly trying to dump seven grams of the substance, the sources said.

The police force will conduct an internal enquiry under oath to see if the two should be charged in connection with any other crimes.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(L.G.)

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