Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 98-06-16

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 16/06/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Premier calls for `patience` in EU-Turkey relations
• Greek equities nosedive 5.84 pct battered by turmoil abroad
• Domestic money/forex markets stay cool, shrug off upheaval abroad
• International pilots' union inspects Greek airports
• Opening of Patriarchal bureau in Athens officially announced
• Turkish planes violate Greek airspace south of Crete
• Athens to host meeting on Balkan peacekeeping force
• Crisis management seminar for Partnership for Peace programme
• Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies holds General Assembly
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Prime Minister told his European Union counterparts at the EU summit in Cardiff yesterday that Turkey's internal situation and foreign policy have not changed and that patience and time is necessary for progress to be achieved in EU-Turkey r elations.

He was responding to statements by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who referred to a need to strengthen ties between the European Union and Turkey.

Mr. Simitis also said during the afternoon session that the EU had made considerable overtures to Turkey in Luxembourg, adopting a European strategy.

Outlining the first day of the summit last night, Mr. Simitis said that Mr. Blair referred to a special role Turkey has, due to its geopolitical position, adding that certain "misunderstandings" must be lifted that were created for Turkey through decisi ons taken at the EU summit in Luxembourg.

He added that Mr. Blair favoured the rephrasing of these conclusions to allow for "the lifting of misunderstandings."

Mr. Simitis who took the floor immediately after Mr. Blair, said that the same conditions for rapprochement with the EU which apply to eastern European countries must also apply for Turkey. He said that all EU member- states agreed with this position at the Luxembourg summit and that there was no reason for these decisions to change.

Mr. Simitis said that Turkey was primarily to blame for the lack of progress in relations with the EU.

"Turkey did not come to the European Conference and discontinued the political dialogue with the EU," Mr. Simitis said, clarifying that on the basis of the above Greece will not consent to a change in decisions taken at the Luxembourg summit.

Reports said that Mr. Blair's view was clearly supported by France, the Netherlands and Belgium, while German Chancellor Helmut Kohl reserved his opinion until seeing the text of final conclusions first, which will be presented by the British presidency .

Greece's positions were supported to a certain degree by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who said he did not see the reason why the Luxembourg summit's decisions must be changed.

Greek equities nosedive 5.84 pct battered by turmoil abroad

The Athens Stock Exchange yesterday plunged almost six percent in the first trading session of the week, badly hit by renewed turbulence in international markets.

Traders said foreign investors raked in their profits fearing a possible crash in international markets.

Trade was moderate to active at 53.6 billion drachmas. The general index ended 5.84 percent lower at 2,286.49 points, its lowest level in two months.

Sector indices ended sharply lower. Banks dropped 6.81 percent, Insurance fell 4.25 percent, Investment ended 6.0 percent off, Leasing eased 5.17 percent down, Industrials fell 4.92 percent, Construction ended 5.58 percent lower, Miscellaneous fell 5.45 p ercent and Holding dropped 5.33 percent.

The parallel market index for small cap companies fell 4.67 percent. The FTSE/ASE 20 index ended 6.12 percent down at 1,353.06.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 239 to 11 with another 4 issues unchanged.

Desmos, General Warehouse, Endysi, Sanyo, Seafarm Ionian, Intrasoft, Giannousis, Halyps and Dane scored the biggest percentage gains.

Hellenic Sugar, Pouliadis, Bank of Central Greece, Ionian Bank, Alpha Credit Bank, Ergodata, Athinea, Delta Inform and Remek suffered the heaviest losses, hitting the daily 8.0 percent limit down.

National Bank of Greece ended at 37,350 drachmas, Ergobank at 24,750, Alpha Credit Bank at 25,760, Delta Dairy at 3,850, Titan Cement at 20,030, Intracom at 12,300 and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation at 7, 700.

Domestic money/forex markets stay cool, shrug off upheaval abroad

Greek money and foreign exchange markets were calm yesterday, brushing off turmoil in foreign and domestic stock markets stemming from an economic recession in Japan and the plunging Japanese yen.

The drachma was softer against most foreign currencies. At the central bank's daily fix, the Greek currency fell to 337.06 against the Ecu from 336.10 and 170.59 against the DMark from 170.32 on Friday.

Bankers said the Bank of Greece had allowed the drachma to slip following the national currency's appreciation in the last few weeks against its central exchange rate mechanism parity.

It was devalued by 13.8 percent on March 14 to ease ERM entry.

Domestic interbank rates held steady, and foreign exchange outflows were minimal.

International pilots' union inspects Greek airports

Eight officials of the International Pilots' Union are visiting Greece's civil aviation authority in order to inspect the country's air traffic control systems, sources said yesterday.

The outcome of the inspections will determine whether or not Greece is placed on an airports blacklist compiled by the union.

Greek air traffic controllers have so far refused to operate a new radar system delivered by Thomson of France due the civil aviation authority's refusal to grant them extra pay.

Opening of Patriarchal bureau in Athens officially announced

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos and visiting Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece yesterday announced the opening of a Patriarchal bureau in Athens and coordination of efforts of respective Orthodox Churches to be represented in the European Union.

The two church leaders, who headed their respective delegations at the official talks, also noted in an announcement that the Patriarch will visit Athens sometime after Easter next year.

Members of both delegations noted the "brotherly and peaceful atmosphere" in which discussions over the future relations of the Autocephalus Church of Greece and the Patriarchate occurred.

It should be noted that the Greek Church achieved independent status last century after the founding of the modern Greek state, while most of the regions in northern Greece - liberated during the early 20th century - are legally under the nominal auspices of the Ecumenical Patriachate.

The status of those ecclesiastical bishopries as well as leadership issues have long created tensions between the two churches.

Turkish planes violate Greek airspace south of Crete

Turkish warplanes yesterday infringed on Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) regulations while flying in a region near the island of Gavdos, south of Crete, for scheduled exercises in international airspace, according to sources.

The Turkish warplanes were identified and intercepted by Hellenic Air Force fighter jets.

Athens to host meeting on Balkan peacekeeping force

Military experts from seven countries will meet in Athens from June 22-26 to discuss matters related to the creation of a multinational peacekeeping force to prevent conflict in the Balkans.

The decision to set up the force was taken at a meeting of the defence undersecretaries of eight countries of southeast Europe and the United States in Tirana last month.

The Athens meeting will be attended by delegations from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Italy, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Romania. Representatives from the USA and Slovenia will be attending as observers.

The meeting will focus on issues concerning the organisation and structure of the force's headquarters as well as legal and financial matters.

Crisis management seminar for Partnership for Peace programme

The National Defence General Staff has organised a seminar on crisis management - entitled "Athens '98" - to be held from June 30 to July 3 within the framework of the Partnership for Peace programme.

The objective of the seminar is to brief participants on the means available to the international community for averting or handling crises.

So far, political and military representatives from a number of countries have said they will be attending, including from Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Germany, Denmark, Canada, Britain, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Roman ia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic.

The seminar will also be attended by representatives from NATO, WEU, UN and OSCE.

Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies holds General Assembly

Cyprus will host a special seminar of the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN) next year, to be organised by the French News Agency (AFP) in cooperation with the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), the AMAN General Assembly decided yesterday in Limassol.

CNA took over the one-year presidency of the Alliance from the Egyptian News Agency MENA.

The seminar will take place 16-17 March 1999 in Nicosia and will aim at the technological upgrading and the improvement of the editorial work of news agencies.

During the discussion that took place yesterday, reference was made to specific topics of the seminar, such as transmitting news reports via telephone lines and satellite, as well as on the Internet.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Ahmed, General Editorial Supervisor and MENA Deputy Editor-in-Chief, read the activities report of the Chairman of the Alliance and President and Editor-in Chief of MENA Mahfouz El-Ansari.

Mohamed Amara, Editor-in-Chief of the Tunisian News Agency (TAP) read the financial report of AMAN's Secretary General and said contributions to the bank account, opened last year in Tunisia by member-agencies, reached 24, 000 US dollars.

Three news agencies announced yesterday their contributions to the fund, namely AFP (5,000 dollars), the Athens News Agency (ANA) and the Lebanese News Agency (NNA), each contributing 2,000 dollars.

Furthermore, a working paper was presented by CNA on the MEDNEWS bulletin in Arabic and English, in a bid to strengthen cooperation among member- agencies, through exchanges of news items.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(L.G.)

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