Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 98-06-22

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 22/06/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Prime minister optimistic on definite success of 2004 Olympics
• Ionian Bank employees end six-week strike
• Kranidiotis criticises US of policy error
• Turkish admiral: Ankara has no right to prevent passage of ships
• Palestinian and Israeli personalities to meet in Rhodes
• Germany called on to pay reparations
• Simitis: Gov't determined to succeed in targets it has set
• Memorial service held for Andreas Papandreou
• Karamanlis says Epirus is in urgent need of development
• Papoutsis outlines EU Commission's policies on trade
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Prime Minister Costas Simitis was upbeat in an address to the 2004 Olympic Games National Committee's inaugural meeting at the Olympic Academy in Ancient Olympia on Saturday, saying that the Olympiad was a great opportunity to show the image of modern Greece.

"Organising the Olympic Games in 2004 is a great opportunity for us to show the image of modern Greece. All of us together will succeed in the difficult task we have ahead of us. And the results will be worthy of our expectations. We can succeed and will shall succeed," he said.

Mr. Simitis said that the choice of Athens was not an act of grace for Greece, nor a self-evident gesture of honour for the ancient Olympic spirit. He said it was recognition that modern-day Greece has the abilities and can undertake such a top international event, the greatest sports event in the world and one of the greatest events of world communication such as the Olympic Games are.

"Consequently, we shoulder commitments towards the International Olympic Committee and the world Olympic family. However, we primarily shoulder commitments towards our very selves. Towards our cultural heritage, towards the modern and optimistic image of Greece," he said.

Mr. Simitis said that the appropriate preparation and success of the final result are unbreakably bound with two major political choices of Greek society. Firstly, he added, this success will provide a considerable impetus to the country's modernisation and development and, secondly, will secure an equally important promotion of Greece, modern and creative Greece, on the international front.

"Organisation of the Olympic Games started from the moment that the IOC's decision was announced in Lausanne. We mobilised from the very start, having full consciousness of time. But, in parallel, with the will also to show that Greece is aware of the comparative facts and can make the most effective, the most flexible and the most economically-suitable choices," he added.

"The preparation of the Olympic Games in 2004 is a unique opportunity for the promotion of an important initiative which has already been processed by the Culture Ministry and was unanimously ratified by UNESCO's General Assembly, the initiative of the Cultural Olympiad. Not only of the first Cultural Olympiad of 2000-2004 but of a permanent international non- governmental institution headquartered in Ancient Olympia," he said.

Ionian Bank employees end six-week strike

Employees at Ionian Bank returned to work today ending a six-week strike. The decision to end the stoppage was taken by a general assembly of workers late on Saturday.

It came a day after shareholders in Ionian's parent company Commercial Bank voted to sell a 51 percent stake in the bank, at a late night meeting on Friday called after protesting Ionian workers disrupted and eventually cancelled the scheduled morning meeting.

Employees at Ionian Bank have staged a rolling strike since May 11 to protest the privatisation, despite court rulings declaring the strike illegal.

On hearing of the end of the strike, both Commercial Bank management and National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou reiterated an earlier commitment to safeguarding jobs and pension rights of workers at Ionian.

Kranidiotis criticises US of policy error

Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis yesterday criticised the United States of a policy error in basing its initiative to resolve the Cyprus issue on equal treatment of Turkish and Cypriot entry into the European Union.

"The levers for pressure (US presidential emissary on Cyprus) Richard Holbrooke is seeking to use are those of the EU. It would be good if he sought levers to exert pressure that the US have in the economic sector," Mr. Kranidiotis told the Cypriot Phileleftheros newspaper.

"Only if the US really pressures Turkey is there a chance of Ankara changing its line on the Cyprus issue ... The EU lever belongs to the EU, which is using it appropriately and effectively," Mr. Kranidiotis said in an interview.

He said that Athens and Nicosia should work hard to ensure the island republic's entry into the first wave of EU expansion.

"This is the strongest negotiating tool, and it belongs to our side," Mr. Kranidiotis said.

Turkish admiral: Ankara has no right to prevent passage of ships

Former Turkish Navy Chief Guven Erkaya said yesterday that Turkey has no right to prevent the passage of ships from the straits even if they are carrying S-300 missiles. Mr. Erkaya was placed in retirement last August and since then he has been an adviser for Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz on issues concerning the straits.

In an interview published in the newspaper Milliyet yesterday, Mr. Erkaya also referred to the recent crisis in Cyprus and claimed that there will be no hot incident.

Replying to a question on whether it was true that according to the Montreux accord, Turkey has no right to stop and check ships passing through the straits, Mr. Erkaya said "yes, we have no such right. Whatever the cargo and the flag of the ship, it has the right of passage", adding that "the sole condition for passage to be prevented is for a trial to be pending."

Palestinian and Israeli personalities to meet in Rhodes

A meeting between personalities from Israel and Palestine will take place in Rhodes between July 1-5 in the presence of European Union envoy to the Middle East Miguel Angel Moratinos.

The meeting will also be attended by Israel's Labour and Culture ministers, the Palestinians' negotiators Hussein and Saad, as well as other officials.

The meeting is taking place with the mediation of Greece to be represented by Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis.

Parallel to the meeting, a journalistic conference will be held on the island, organised by the International Centre for Peace in the Middle East. It will be attended by about 90 journalists from Israel and Palestine, as well as foreign press correspondents based in Tel Aviv.

Issues to be examined include the role played by the mass media in resolving local disputes, the image of the Palestinians and the Israelis before and after the Oslo agreement and the role played by the European media in the Middle East.

Germany called on to pay reparations

The three-day "Greek-German Friendship Conference on Reparations" came to a close in Delphi yesterday with the adoption of a resolution calling on the German Federal Republic to recognise crimes perpetrated during the German occupation of Greece in WW2 and the destruction of the Greek economy.

"The Conference calls on the German government to recognise the historical and political responsibility towards the victims and to apologise. It also calls on it to schedule the payment of compensation for these victims and to make some kind of reparation for the misery and destruction they experienced, on condition that reparation not to fully depict reality. It must request dialogue with the victims and the Greek government and not to try to gain time with methodisations," it said.

The conference was held at a peculiar conjuncture concerning the history of German reparations, since the time limit for appealing the ruling taken by a court in the town of Levadia expires today.

The German government does not recognise the jurisdiction of Greek courts in adjudicating reparation cases. At the same time, German courts are refusing to compensate the victims of the Wermacht and the SS.

With their resolution, the Greek and German delegates recognise the injustice which the German state is continuing to do to Greece and call for its correction.

Simitis: Gov't determined to succeed in targets it has set

Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Saturday reiterated his government's determination to succeed in targets it has set for the viable and balanced development of the country.

Mr. Simitis was addressing the mayor of Ancient Olympia after arriving in the framework of the first meeting of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games National Committee.

"Our government is determined to succeed in the targets it has set for the viable and balanced development of the country, for the modernisation and competitiveness of our economy, for the safeguarding of the geopolitical position and the strengthening of the international role of Greece. Stability, development and social protection. The results of this policy, of these choices of ours, appeared at the recent summit in Cardiff where Greece confirmed its strength and international prestige," he said.

Referring to trade union activities in the country, Mr. Simitis said that "no trade union reaction can stop us. No effort by small groups using force as a weapon can create an obstacle in the country's development, the prosperity and acquired interests of all the Greeks."

Mr. Simitis said that the government is exactly in the middle of its term of office and has more than two years before it to complete the implementation of its programme and present the results of a policy which is succeeding in its targets step-by-step .

Memorial service held for Andreas Papandreou

A memorial service was held at the Athens First Cemetery yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the death of prime minister and founder of the ruling socialist PASOK party Andreas Papandreou.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Costas Simitis, members of the government, PASOK deputies and officials, Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis, Andreas Papandreou's widow Dimitra Liani-Papandreou, members of the Papandreou family and a large crowd of people.

Mr. Simitis said on arrival at the cemetery that the work of Andreas Papandreou is a source of inspiration and quest.

PASOK Central Committee Secretary Costas Skandalidis said that Andreas Papandreou lives in the thoughts, the hearts and the lives of all and always inspires, unites and leads PASOK.

Karamanlis says Epirus is in urgent need of development

Speaking in Ioannina yesterday, main opposition New Democracy party leader Costas Karamanlis said that the Epirus region needs a great effort to restore damaged confidence between the state and citizens.

Mr. Karamanlis, who concluded a tour of Ioannina and the Aetoloakarnania prefecture, was speaking at a meeting organised by his party on the development of Epirus and employment.

"Epirus lies outside the major networks, such as those of energy, while it holds the regrettable record of the poorest region in the European Union and the region with the highest unemployment indicator. It has low absorptions in the Community Support Framework and whatever choices for projects made were not the result of comprehensive planning but were fragmental. The Egnatia motorway, a project of paramount national significance and national priority, is being delayed unjustifiably. We have no other ground for delays," he said.

Mr. Karamanlis also said that Epirus joining the fourth zone of incentives together with Thrace was a paramount priority.

Papoutsis outlines EU Commission's policies on trade

European Union Energy Commissioner Christos Papoutsis analysed the European Commission's policies on trade and small and average-size enterprises, as well as Greek trade prospects at the annual general assembly of the National Confederation of Greek Trade (ESEE) held last night at a downtown Athens hotel in the presence of President Kostis Stephanopoulos, Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis and representatives of parties and foreign trade delegations.

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