Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 98-05-29

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

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

ATHENS, GREECE, 29/05/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Greece satisfied with NATO decisions on defusing Kosovo crisis
• Ionian employees vote to continue strike despite court order
• Hellenic Petroleum share flotation
• Greek stocks recoup some losses, buoyed by privatisation
• Development minister to launch new packaging plant
• Opposition leader urges gov't to scrap property tax
• Petzetakis share capital increase
• Sarantis sales up, foreign currency loans increase losses
• 18 per cent increase in Delta sales
• Reduced rates for several OA flights
• Rapprochement necessitates end of Ankara's aggressive policies
• Tsohatzopoulos briefed on construction of 3 tank landing craft
• Spanish royals visit Thessaloniki, leave today
• U.S. conference on Pontians' ethnic cleansing
• Conference debates Alexander the Great tomb site
• Smoking still a bad habit for young Greeks
• One-fourth of economic protocol to Albania disbursed
• Deal for AEK's Nikolaidis all but finished by Anderlecht
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos yesterday described as positive a NATO decision to consider ways to stop the Kosovo conflict from spilling over its borders, as well as military measures to supplement diplomatic mo ves for a settlement.

Speaking at a press conference after the end of the NATO foreign ministers' session, Mr. Pangalos clarified that the decision did not imply an intervention in the internal affairs of the sovereign Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and that NATO clearly condemned the use of violence and terrorism in the region, calling on both sides to work for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

He stated Greece's intention to contribute to the strengthening of forces that would be deployed in both neighbouring countries, in response to their urgent requests.

Mr. Pangalos revealed that Athens had disagreed with all other alliance members on a clause in the draft communique, providing for the possibility of NATO air exercises over Kosovo.

Ionian employees vote to continue strike despite court order

A general assembly of the Ionian Bank employees overwhelmingly approved a proposal by the union president Yiannis Markakis to continue their strike, despite a court ruling on Wednesday declaring the strike illegal.

The endorsed proposal anticipates the continuation of the strike with rolling 48-hour strikes, backed by the Federation of Bank Employee Unions (OTOE).

Mr. Markakis left open the possibility for dialogue with the government but on condition that it will start on a "zero basis", that Commercial Bank's general assembly not take place, as well as on the conditions that the sale of the Ionian must stop being considered as the sole basis for discussion and that all other proposals must be examined equally.

Hellenic Petroleum share flotation

The Hellenic Petroleum S.A. group will provide 46,430,000 shares with public registration and private investment, of which 27,841,702 concern the sale of existing shares belonging to the state.

The above shares will be provided in part on the international market through private investment, as well as on the local market with public registration for investors (at least 30 per cent of the total issue) and with private investment for the company's employees. Accumulated capital from the increase in share capital will be used primarily to finance the company's investment programme.

Greek stocks recoup some losses, buoyed by privatisation

Greek equities rebounded on the Athens Stock Exchange yesterday halting a sharp decline in the previous two sessions.

Traders said the market had regained confidence in a government drive to privatise state-owned banks and public enterprises.

The general index closed 1.03 percent higher at 2,549.07 points with most sector indices ending up.

Trade was moderate with turnover at 62.6 billion drachmas.

Banks rose 1.25 percent, Insurance jumped 2.97 percent, Investment increased 1.55 percent, Leasing fell 0.07 percent, Industrials rose 0.46 percent, Construction ended 1.93 percent up, Miscellaneous soared 2.84 percent and Holding ended 1.45 percent hig her.

The parallel market index for small cap companies ended 0.45 percent up, and the FTSE/ASE 20 index rose 1.03 percent to finish at 1,529.38.

National Bank of Greece ended at 43,300 drachmas, Ergobank at 27,010, Alpha Credit Bank at 31,700, Delta Dairy at 4,410, Titan Cement at 23,330, Intracom at 20,250 and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation at 8, 550.

Development minister to launch new packaging plant

Development Minister Vasso Papandreou will launch a new 63-million dollar packaging plant on Sunday as part of a three-day tour of the prefecture of Magnesia. The plant is owned by VPI SA, whose shareholders are private Hellenic Bottling SA (51 percent) , state-run Hellenic Petroleum SA (35 percent), and Radici of Italy (14 percent). It produces PET packaging material, a form of plastic.

Hellenic Bottling is a blue chip on the Athens bourse, and Hellenic Petroleum is scheduled for a part-float this summer.

The investment is unusual for Greece as it spans the public and private sectors, and also two countries. A hundred jobs have been created in the scheme.

Tomorrow she will visit Metka SA and Imas SA to monitor progress in long- term contracts the two firms made with Public Power Corp. worth 36 billion drachmas.

Opposition leader urges gov't to scrap property tax

Main opposition New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis yesterday called on the government to abolish an unpopular tax on larger real estate (FMAP), vowing his party would do so if it came to power.

"Common sense dictates the abolition of FMAP, and we, as government, shall do so," Mr. Karamanlis told reporters during a visit to a suburban tax office. He said that the cost of implementing the tax was higher than its revenue.

Mr. Karamanlis also accused the government of improvisation and a lack of coordination in handling tax returns, resulting in thousands of mistakes and inconvenience to taxpayers.

The tax officers union said recently that complexities in the system had led to numerous errors in estimating the tax payable on property. The outcome was that many taxpayers were overcharged.

Petzetakis share capital increase

The AG Petzetakis S.A. company will proceed with an increase in its share capital by issuing 695,625 new shares at a sale price of 1,200 drachmas each and 177,856 new privileged shares at a sale price of 650 drachmas per share.

The new shares will be provided with a right of preference for old shares and at a ratio of 1:10 in both cases.

Sarantis sales up, foreign currency loans increase losses

Sales of the Sarantis cosmetics group increased by 31 per cent in the first quarter of 1998, totalling 6.6 billion drachmas against 5 billion drachmas in the corresponding period last year.

The company presented losses of 361 million drachmas due to the registration of extraordinary losses totalling 1.16 billion drachmas from loans in foreign currency. Prior to these losses, the company had showed profits of 803 million drachmas as against 344 million drachmas in the corresponding period last year.

18 per cent increase in Delta sales

The Delta dairy company increased sales by 18 per cent in the first quarter of the year, totalling 16.5 billion drachmas, while profits increased by 12 per cent, to 537 million drachmas.

At a group level, sales increased by 24 per cent and total profits amounted to 933 million drachmas as against 817 million drachmas over the corresponding period last year. Depreciation carried out during the first three months in 1998 amounted to 2.1 b illion drachmas.

Reduced rates for several OA flights

Olympic Airways will offer reduced fares for a limited number of seats to 20 European round-trip destinations from Athens and Thessaloniki as of June 1. Specifically, fares to the following destinations will be decreased to 75,000 drachmas:

Amsterdam, Budapest, Berlin; Brussels, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Zurich, Geneva, London, Istanbul, Milan, Moscow, Marseilles, Munich, Naples, Paris, Rome, Stuttgart and Vienna.

Rapprochement necessitates end of Ankara's aggressive policies

Athens would be prepared to agree to a step-by-step approach in resolving differences with Turkey if Ankara ended its aggressive policies towards Greece, Defence Undersecretary Dimitris Apostolakis said yesterday during sessions of the 7th annual high-level US-Greek consultative committee conference in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The conference, co-chaired by Mr. Apostolakis and his US counterpart Jon Lodal, examined Greek-Turkish relations, the Kosovo situation and the Balkans, as well as NATO enlargement eastwards.

Mr. Apostolakis said "the creation of conditions of security and stability in our broader region is in Greece's legitimate interest. We believe NATO enlargement will contribute to this".

"Greece seeks the promotion of institutions and bodies of regional security in the Balkans," he said, mentioning his recent participation in a Tirana conference with area counterparts, which discussed the formation of a peacekeeping force in the region.

Tsohatzopoulos briefed on construction of 3 tank landing craft

National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos yesterday visited the Elefsina Shipyards to be briefed on the progress of work on the last three tank landing craft for the Hellenic Navy.

Mr. Tsohatzopoulos requested that construction to be accelerated to enable delivery of the first of the three vessels in December.

Delivery dates for the craft had already been brought up to schedule, compared to those set out in the original contract, according to reports.

The first vessel was to have been delivered in February 1999, the second in December 1999 rather than January 2000, and the third in February 2000 instead of July 2000. Workers and management at the yard assured the minister that they would do everything possible to keep these dates and even bring them further forward.

The three vessels yet to be completed and delivered are the "Lesvos", "Ikaria" and "Rhodos". Two tank landing craft built at the yard - the Samos and Hios - have already been delivered.

Spanish royals visit Thessaloniki, leave today

Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia arrived in Thessaloniki yesterday on the final leg of their five-day official visit to Greece.

The Spanish royal couple's first stop was at the city's memorial to the Greek Jews exterminated by Nazi troops during World War II.

The president of Thessaloniki's Jewish community, Andreas Sefiha, greeted the Spanish royal couple as they arrived to lay a wreath at the memorial, erected last November to commemorate the more than 50,000 mostly Sephardic Jews killed during occupation.

Mr. Sefiha, speaking in Spanish and Greek, reminded those present of the tragic history of the Sephardic Jews, who arrived in Ottoman-ravaged Thessaloniki in 1492 after being expelled from Spain at the height of the Inquisition.

In his address, Juan Carlos spoke of the recent past, of Spanish efforts during the Second World War to protect Jews of Thessaloniki being hounded by the Nazis, referring to a 1924 decree which bestowed Spanish citizenship on those descendants of Spanish-speaking Jews.

Juan Carlos and Sophia also visited the Byzantine Museum to tour the "Treasures of Mount Athos" exhibition.

U.S. conference on Pontians' ethnic cleansing

The Federation of US and Canada Black Sea Greeks (Pontians) in cooperation with the Greek Federation of Pontian Societies, the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) and Greece's general secretariat for expatriates will organise a two-day conference on June 5 on the issue of ethnic cleansing of Greeks of the Black Sea regions of Turkey. It should be noted that about 353,000 Greeks were killed and hundreds of thousands expelled from the northern regions of Asia Minor betwee n 1912 and 1923, as part of a general ethnic and religious cleansing by Ottoman and later Turkish regimes.

Conference debates Alexander the Great tomb site

Two Egyptian archaeology professors yesterday debated the exact location of Alexander the Great's tomb in Alexandria, during a conference entitled "From Macedonia to the World", which began Wednesday in Veria and will last until Saturday.

Archaeology professor Faouzi el Fakharani said that "if the tomb of Alexander the Great is discovered...it will be more significant than the pyramid of Tutankhamen."

Mr. Fakharani said that the mistake many reseachers make is that they confuse the facts about ancient Alexandria with the one of the early Arab era.

He added that the topography and the size of the city has changed, with the only reliable sources being those dating before the 4th century AD.

Mr. Fakharani said that his study is based on ancient sources dating from 25 AD to the 3rd century AD as well as the entrance of an ancient tomb with a Macedonian architectural style, found at the old Orthodox cemetery of Alexandria.

Another Egyptian archaeology professor, Mahmoud el Saadani, diagreed with his compatriot, saying the tomb is approximately 1.25 miles from the position Mr. Farakhani pointed out.

Smoking still a bad habit for young Greeks

Greeks are smoking more than ever and starting younger but the majority of them still believe there should be a ban on tobacco advertising, according to the findings of a study, released yesterday.

Greeks begin smoking, on average, at the age of 13.5, according to the Greek Cardiology Centre's (ELIKAP) survey of 5,000 students aged 12-18 in 20 different areas around Greece.

Of the sample group, nine percent were regular smokers, 30 percent were occasional smokers while 86 percent had parents who were smokers.

Although only 26 percent of Greek women smoke - compared to 60 percent of Greek men - the percentage is still one of the highest in the European Union. Another study showed that 40 percent of female medical students were smokers.

One-fourth of economic protocol to Albania disbursed

National Economy Undersecretary Alekos Baltas yesterday announced that five billion drachmas out of 20 billion envisaged under an economic cooperation protocol with Albania have already been disbursed, and that ratification procedures are underway for the remaining instalments.

Earlier, Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis chaired an inter- ministerial meeting which discussed a wide range of issues, including implementation of the protocol as well as management of water resources with neighbouring countries (Albania, FY ROM), implementation of new visa regulations after Greece's accession to the Schengen Treaty and cooperation with developing countries.

Deal for AEK's Nikolaidis all but finished by Anderlecht

Greek football star Demis Nikolaidis is reportedly only a step away from signing with one-time Belgian powerhouse Anderlecht, according to sources from Brussels.

The same sources said representatives of the Brussels-area club are expected soon in Athens to finalise the deal for the 25-year-old Nikolaidis, one of the most lethal strikers in the Greek first division with popular AEK Athens. The deal is widely expe cted to be the most expensive transfer ever for a Greek footballer.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(C.E.)

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