Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 98-06-30

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 30/06/1998 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• EFG Eurobank submits highest bid for Cretabank
• 24-hour Ionian Bank strike on Friday
• Pangalos: Holbrooke 'jumping the gun'
• Greek consulate denies Turkish press reports of espionage
• ABNA elects MPA's Kouzinopoulos as general secretary
• President receives Spanish crown prince
• Plaque unveiled at poet Kalvos' home in London
• Vasso Papandreou admits gov't errors
• Gov't seeks ways of boosting competitiveness to cut inflation
• Greek stocks rise in edgy trade
• Trade board to arrange Greek participation in Dubai fair
• Greece's Xiosbank boosts share capital by Dr 12.7 billion
• EU Commission again ponders OA restructuring programme
• EU committee ratifies natural gas projects in Greece, Italy
• Greek, German postal cooperation agreement
• Acharnes at Epidavros
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

EFG Eurobank, a member of the Latsis group, yesterday offered the highest bid but with the longest payment period, during an international tender for the sale of state-owned Cretabank.

The sale is part of the government's wide-ranging privatisation programme aimed at shrinking the sprawling public sector and cutting spending.

Cretabank said in a statement that a Latsis group company, representing Eurobank, had offered 93 billion drachmas with payments to be spread over four years.

Three bids were submitted in the tender, all complying with the tender's rules. The bidders were Bank of Piraeus and Macedonia-Thrace Bank jointly, Ergobank and finally, EFG Eurobank.

On the auction block are 97 per cent of Cretabank's common shares and 100 per cent of preference shares.

The government committed itself to wholly or partly privatising a wide range of state enterprises when the drachma joined the European Union's Exchange Rate Mechanism in March, as a prelude to Economic and Monetary Union by Jan. 1, 2001.

Details of the bids given by Cretabank were as follows:

- Luxembourg-based Consolidated Eurofinance Holdings SA bid on behalf of the Latsis group, owners of EFG Eurobank. The bid was 93 billion drachmas, of which 30 per cent is payable within a month: 10 per cent annually for the first three years; and the remaining 40 per cent in the final year

Ergobank, a blue chip on the Athens Stock Exchange, bid 48.1 billion drachmas, payable in a lump sum in a month.

- A joint bid by Bank of Piraeus (75 per cent) and Macedonia-Thrace Bank (25 per cent), both listed on the Athens bourse. The bid was just a little more than 52.37 billion drachmas, of which a little more than 16.977 billion drachmas will be paid in a month; 12.7 billion drachmas in the first year; 11.8 billion drachmas in the second year; and 10.9 billion drachmas in the third year.

24-hour Ionian Bank strike on Friday

The Ionian Bank employees' union called a 24-hour strike on Friday following a court ruling yesterday regarding the presence of striking employees at the bank's recent shareholders' assembly.

The union had initially called a four-hour work stoppage today and a gathering at the Hilton Hotel, where a general assembly of Ionian Bank shareholders was to take place.

However, after the court ruling, which substantively restricts the presence of employees and of representatives of their insurance fund at the assembly of Ionian Bank shareholders, the union suspended today's work stoppage and turned it into a 24-hour s trike on Friday.

Pangalos: Holbrooke 'jumping the gun'

Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, commenting on recent statements by newly-appointed US ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke, who warned a full-scale war in Kosovo involving Balkan countries, said yesterday that the US diplomat was "jumping the gun".

"Maybe he thinks that he's exerting pressure in order to find a solution," Mr. Pangalos said.

Mr. Pangalos said that there could be a problem for Greece if 200,000 ethnic Albanians move from Kosovo towards Albania and 50,000 of them end up in Greece.

Mr. Pangalos expressed the hope that if military intervention does take place in Kosovo it is conducted carefully.

He said that Greece maintains excellent ties with Serbia, adding however, that Belgrade sometimes "does not listen in time."

Greek consulate denies Turkish press reports of espionage

The Greek consulate in Izmir said yesterday it had no knowledge of any incident in the Izmir area concerning alleged arrests of Greek nationals or other individuals connected with Greece.

The consulate was referring to Turkish press reports regarding an alleged case of espionage by Greece.

Consul Andreas Fryganas said Greek authorities know nothing about the supposed "red-handed" arrest of "Turkish officers who gave information to Greek spies."

ABNA elects MPA's Kouzinopoulos as general secretary

The Association of Balkan News Agencies (ABNA) unanimously elected Macedonian Press Agency director Spyros Kouzinopoulos to the post of its general secretary last Saturday during the organisation's 6th general assembly.

The three-member committee of ABNA will consist of Mr. Kouzinopoulos, former ABNA president Milovan Stefanovski and ABNA president-elect Panayot Denev.

The ABNA press release noted the need for Balkan news agencies, journalists and the mass media to carry out their activities in accordance with the criteria of pluralism, objectivity and truth.

It added that the aforementioned values are important for the development of peaceful and fruitful cooperation in the region, especially with the crisis in Kosovo at such a difficult stage.

The press release, issued from Ohrid in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, noted the undivided support for the "Diavlos" programme, which is designed to bring together all Balkan news agencies through new technology and for the Balkan News Bank,which began its pilot-programme operation.

President receives Spanish crown prince

President Kostis Stephanopoulos yesterday received Spain's Crown Prince Felipe who captained the fourth-placed "Aifos" sailboat in the World COREL 45 Championship held in Piraeus.

After the informal meeting which lasted 30 minutes, Stephanopoulos hosted a lunch for Felipe, attended also by the Spanish Ambassador in Athens.

According to informed sources, Felipe expressed the satisfaction of the Spanish royal couple at their recent official visit to Greece.

Plaque unveiled at poet Kalvos' home in London

Greek ambassador to London Vassilis Zafiropoulos yesterday unveiled a plaque commemorating Greek poet Andreas Kalvos, the English Heritage Foundation announced.

The plaque marks the poet's home and school for young ladies, which he operated with his wife between 1857 and 1865 in Maida Vale, London.

Kalvos was born on the Venetian-held island of Zakynthos in 1792, becoming one of the most ardent supporters of Greek independence.

English Heritage launched the first National Blue Plaque Scheme pilot project in Liverpool and Merseyside. Members of the public are invited to nominate famous Liverpulians and 10 blue plaques will be put up over the next few years.

Vasso Papandreou admits gov't errors

Development Minister Vasso Papandreou yesterday acknowledged that the government had made mistakes it was trying to correct but maintained that differences of opinion were over management, not policy. "We acknowledge our mistakes. We are moving ahead and trying not to repeat them," Ms Papandreou told the the daily Ta Nea newspaper in an interview. She rejected anonymous leaks to the media reportedly stemming from national economy ministry officials that she and other ministers opposed government policy as lacking seriousness.

"We must all realise that we are in the middle of a very critical four-year term. A number of policies are unfolding at the moment, but the public has so far only seen the cost, not the benefit, which is a medium-term aspect. We are therefore at the most difficult point in our four-year term," Ms Papandreou said.

At the same time, the government had not done as much as it could to explain its wide-ranging privatisation plan to working people, Ms Papandreou said.

"Of course, this does not mean that there haven't been any mistakes on our part, but we're talking about mistakes in handling issues, not policy," she said.

Ms Papandreou recalled a visit she made last week with Prime Minister Costas Simitis to Skaramangas and Elefsina shipyards, and to Hellenic Petroleum's refineries.

The visit aimed to show that the three wholly or partly privatised firms were successful due to efforts by management and workers.

"Let me recall that about a year ago it was Elefsina Shipyard employees who were protesting on the streets (just as Ionian Bank personnel were doing recently over privatisation)," the minister said.

"But today Elefsina employees are reacting differently because their jobs have been made secure through the development and potential of the enterprise," she said. Ms Papandreou also accused opposition parties of being liberal with their criticism but failing to offer alternative policies.

Gov't seeks ways of boosting competitiveness to cut inflation

The government is seeking ways of boosting competitiveness in the domestic market in order to further contain inflation, government sources said yesterday.

Meeting to debate the issue were Finance Undersecretary George Drys, Development Undersecretary Mihalis Chrysohoidis, the prime minister's economic adviser, Tassos Yiannitsis, and the chairman of the national economy ministry's board of economic experts , George Stournaras. No decisions were taken.

The sources said that although the officials did not discuss a plan to reduce indirect taxes, including that on fuel, the matter remained an option if inflation remained above the year's target in the next few months.

Greek stocks rise in edgy trade

Banks led Greek equities moderately higher on the Athens Stock Exchange in nervous trading yesterday on the deadline of an international tender to sell state-owned Cretabank.

The general index ended 0.60 percent higher at 2,408 points. Trading was heavy with turnover at 104.9 billion drachmas, including a block trade of 8.5 million shares in Hellenic Sugar worth 51 billion drachmas.

Sector indices finished mixed. Banks rose 1.08 percent, Insurance fell 1.03 percent, Investment ended 0.67 percent up, Leasing soared 8.0 percent, Industrials eased 0.26 percent, Construction dropped 1.55 percent, Miscellaneous ended 1.32 percent off, Holding was 1.10 percent up.

The parallel market index for small cap companies fell 0.14 percent, and the FTSE/ASE 20 index rose 0.75 percent to 1,438.26.

Decliners led advancers by 142 to 96 with another 16 issues unchanged. Ergodata, Tzirakian, Alpha Leasing, ETBA Leasing, Sysware, Bank of Athens, Altec, Piraeus Leasing, Epilektos and Duty Free Shops scored the biggest percentage gains hitting the dai ly 8.0 percent limit up.

Bank of Central Greece, Development Invest, Macedonian Mills, Vis, Alysida, Eskimo, Mohlos and Kalpinis suffered the heaviest losses.

National Bank of Greece ended at 39,240 drachmas, Ergobank at 27,210, Alpha Credit Bank at 26,100, Ionian Bank at 13,290, Delta Dairy at 3,605, Titan Cement at 19,940, Intracom at 10,500 and Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation at 7,690 drachmas.

Trade board to arrange Greek participation in Dubai fair

The Hellenic External Trade Organisation (HEPO), a government-sponsored export promotion agency, will organise Greece's participation in an international furniture trade fair entitled Index '98 to be held in Dubai on October 7-11.

Items on display at the trade fair include furniture for households, offices, hotels, restaurants, and hospitals, HEPO said in a statement.

Greece's Xiosbank boosts share capital by Dr 12.7 billion

Greece's Xiosbank, a private bank listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, successfully raised its share capital by 12.7 billion drachmas through a cash payment, it said in a statement yesterday.

The bank offered five new shares for 10 old to existing shareholders at 3, 200 drachmas each, the statement said.

Xiosbank's equity capital now totals 27.3 billion drachmas.

The bank also announced a cut of half a percentage point in its Xios Alma deposit rate, effective today.

The reduction brings this week's rate to an annual 10.47 percent for amounts over two million drachma, at a nominal rate of 10 percent.

EU Commission again ponders OA restructuring programme

Negotiations concerning Olympic Airways' restructuring programme, frozen by the European Commission since 1996, were concluded in Brussels yesterday.

Athens' positions were supported at the European Union's services of the general transport department by Olympic Airways President Theodoros Tsakiridis, among others.

The European Commission's services are examining Greek arguments and they do not appear to have taken finalised decisions so far. The Greek side is making efforts for a political decision to be taken by the European Commission before the summer recess.

Transport Minister Tassos Mantelis is expected to meet EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock in Brussels next week or the week after to discuss the OA issue.

Whether the European Commission will take a decision before the summer recess or will postpone its decision for the autumn is expected to depend on this meeting.

EU committee ratifies natural gas projects in Greece, Italy

The Committee of Inter-European Energy Networks ratified a project concerning the linkage of natural gas networks for Greece and Italy during its meeting yesterday on the revision of a list of EU projects.

The project includes support for the Italian network, an undersea pipeline and a network in Greece.

The Greek side maintains that the network's implementation will widen natural gas supply sources for Greece and Balkan countries.

Ratification was also provided for the strengthening of the Greek power grid on the east-west and north-south axes in the framework of developing the Greek network's international connections. This project constitutes the extension of a project already included in the list.

Greek, German postal cooperation agreement

A draft agreement on cooperation between the Greek and German post offices is to be signed shortly, resulting in the establishment of a joint enterprise that will undertake the mailing of packages, the Macedonian Press Agency reported yesterday.

Officials from Greece's Post Offices and Germany's Deutsche Post, met last week in Athens, MPA said.

The Greek-German post company will also have a board of directors which will comprise three members from each country and one mutually-appointed member.

Acharnes at Epidavros

Aristophanes' classic comedy "Acharnes" will be staged at the ancient Epidavros theatre on July 3 and 4, with noted Greek comedian Thanassis Vengos in the leading role of Dikeopolis.

The comedy is set during the Peloponnesian War.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(C.E.)

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