Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-01-31

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

CONTENTS

[01] Simitis cites federal model towards EU's 'genuine political union'

[02] Gov't spokesman on inter-religious conference

[03] Greek, Turkish FMs expected to meet in New York

[04] Piraeus Port Authority to go public

[05] Turkey seeks to bring Greece into energy plan

[06] Fulbright Foundation launches "EU-US relations" program

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[08] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Friday

[09] Greek stocks end Thursday's session flat

[10] Courts throughout Greece to close for judges' protest

[01] Simitis cites federal model towards EU's 'genuine political union'

BRUSSELS (ANA) Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis continued his visit to Belgium on Thursday, a day after his address to the European Commissions plenum and a joint press conference with Commission President Romano Prodi, by speaking at Bruges College dEurope.

In his address, entitled ?The Future of Europe: Economic and Social Cohesion in an Expanded European Union?, the Greek premier called for the evolution of the current 15-member bloc into a ?genuine political union? based on a federal model.

He stressed that after the successful changeover to the euro in 12 out of the Unions 15 member-states, the EU must now move rapidly in order to evolve into such a political union, warning however, that the Communitys ?model of integration? must be respected in the process.

Echoing his statements before the Commission a day earlier, the Greek PM reiterated that EU expansion into eastern Europe and the Mediterranean i.e. Malta and Cyprus must be concluded, thereby allowing the Union to act as an enormous factor of stability, democracy and prosperity for the entire European continent.

Along these lines, Simitis said a robust and federated political union that also sports an eminently competitive economy guaranteeing full employment, social solidarity and economic balance must comprise the new ?progressive vision? for Europe.

[02] Gov't spokesman on inter-religious conference

Foreign ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis said on Thursday Greece has made it clear to Turkish authorities, and Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem in particular, that Foreign Minister George Papandreou will not attend the inter-religious conference in Istanbul "if the Turkish Cypriot community participates in any way in an upgraded manner."

Beglitis said that on the part of Cem, and the Turkish foreign ministry in particular, there is full confirmation that the Turkish Cypriot community will participate in the Istanbul meeting with community status and that on the basis of this confirmation Papandreou and his Cyprus counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides will be participating in the conference.

The spokesman deplored statements recently made by various Turkish officials on the Cyprus issue, stressing that such statements do not contribute to the direct talks going on in Cyprus and prove Turkey's intransigent stance on the question of Cyprus.

Beglitis added that the statements do not come as a surprise since they have been expressed by Turkey over the past 30 years.

[03] Greek, Turkish FMs expected to meet in New York

Foreign Minister George Papandreou is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem early Friday Greek time in New York, on the sidelines of the sessions of the international Economic Forum which will not be held in Davos, Switzerland, for the first time this year.

According to sources, the two ministers will discuss procedural issues in view of the dialogue which will start soon at a level of experts.

In Athens, the government spokesman described the dialogue with Turkey as desirable and reiterated that the only difference which Greece recognises is the limits of the continental shelf.

[04] Piraeus Port Authority to go public

The Piraeus Port Authority is to hold an initial public offer (IPO) for entry into the Athens Stock Exchange's main market, Merchant Marine Minister George Anomeritis said on Thursday.

Available will be 6,375,000 shares currently belonging to the state, representing 25.50 percent of the company's share capital, at a nominal value of 2.0 euros, Anomeritis said.

Also on sale to the port authority's staff are 303,000 stocks at 20 percent less than the price to be set in the IPO.

In addition, incentives will be provided for retail investors to hold stock with two free stocks to be given for for each ten retained for six months. The ceiling is 200 free shares per investor, Anomeritis added.

The decision to go ahead with a flotation for the Piraeus Port Authority as part of the government's privatisation programme was taken on Thursday by Anomeritis and other ministers.

[05] Turkey seeks to bring Greece into energy plan

Turkey is seeking to become a gateway for the transportation of energy from the Caspian and central Asia to Europe, a plan in which Greece could play a major role, a Turkish government official said on Thursday.

Ankara and Athens were in talks for the creation of an electricity transmission line between the two countries, the Turkish deputy energy and natural resources minister, Yurdakul Yigitguden, told a conference in Athens arranged by the Economist magazine.

In addition, Turkey, Greece and Iran were evolving cooperation on the transportation of natural gas in which Greece could become a transit centre for supplies towards the west, Yigitguden said.

Turkey which began importing natural gas from Iran and Tehran last year, was in talks with Athens for expansion of the network into Greek territory, he added.

As part of the plan, Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos met on Thursday with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh.

"Iran has 17 percent of world natural gas reserves, ranking second after Russia. It wants to cooperate with Greece and Turkey to export the product," Zaganeh said.

"Iran's objective is not only domestic consumption in Greece, but also natural gas exports to the European Union market," he added.

On Wednesday, Zaganeh told the conference that Iran planned to increase the production of natural gas to more than 500 million cubic metres per day in 2005 from 300 million.

"We will boost our natural gas exports to Turkey to 10 billion cubic metres a year from 4.0 billion," he said.

[06] Fulbright Foundation launches "EU-US relations" program

The U.S. based Fulbright Foundation on Thursday announced the launching of a scholarship program on the study of "the European Union, and its relations with the United States".

According to a press release issued, interested candidates must be citizens of European Union member-states, actively involved in European Union affairs at a professional or academic level, perform at the highest levels and speak English proficiently.

[07] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro

U.S. dollar 0.870

Pound sterling 0.615

Danish kroner 7.487

Swedish kroner 9.243

Japanese yen 115.65

Swiss franc 1.486

Norwegian kroner 7.903

Cyprus pound 0.581

Canadian dollar 1.378

Australian dollar 1.711

[08] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Friday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country, with early morning mist. Winds south-southwesterly, light. In the north, temperatures will range from 2C to 19C; on the rest of the mainland from 7C to 20C; and in the islands from 9C to 18C. Cloud will build up in Athens, with temperatures between 8C and 19C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 5C to 18C.

[09] Greek stocks end Thursday's session flat

Equity prices ended Thursday's session flat reflecting investors' reluctance to open new positions in the market amidst high volatility in international markets and lack of positive news in the domestic market.

The general index ended 0.03 percent higher at 2,596.75 points, with turnover a low Dr 40.8 billion, or 119.7 million euros.

The Holdings, Wholesale and Textile sectors scored the biggest percentage gains (1.45 percent, 1.11 percent and 0.99 percent, respectively), while the Insurance, Cement and Telecoms sectors suffered the heaviest losses (0.74 percent, 0.35 percent and 0.28 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.24 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 0.09 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.43 percent up.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 187 to 121 with another 52 issues unchanged.

[10] Courts throughout Greece to close for judges' protest

Judges and public prosecutors throughout Greece will abstain from their duties and stage protest rallies for two hours between 12:30 and 14:30 p.m. on Thursday. The judges are demanding measures to combat the slow speed of judicial processes and a solution to problems faced by their pension funds.

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