Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-05-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] Support for Cyprus' EU membership reaffirmed in Clerides' Athens talks

[02] Greek defense minister holds talks with FYROM's leadership

[03] French central bank chief shrugs off criticism of euro

[04] Cash injection for budget from surprise corporate earnings

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Friday

[07] Greek stocks remain under pressure, end lower

[01] Support for Cyprus' EU membership reaffirmed in Clerides' Athens talks

Greece's opposition parties on Thursday reaffirmed their unanimous support of Cyprus' EU membership course, in visiting Cyprus president Glafcos Clerides' separate talks with the political party leaders.

Clerides met Thursday morning with main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Costas Karamanlis, Coalition of the Left and Progress (SYN) leader Nikos Constantopoulos, ND honorary president and former premier Constantine Mitsotakis, and Communist Party of Greece (KKE) leader Aleka Papariga.

After his meeting with the Cyprus president, Karamanlis said that Cyprus should accede the European Union during the Greek EU presidency (in the first half of 2003), during the 15-nation bloc's first wave of enlargement.

He said ND supported Clerides' efforts for finding a viable and just solution to the Cyprus issue founded on the relevant UN decisions and the acquis communautaire.

Karamanlis stressed that Cyprus' membership should proceed regardless of whether a solution had been found to the island republic's political problem, adding that no one could put up obstructions to that, as it would be contrary to reality, legality, and the European reasoning.

Constantopoulos and Papariga also stressed, during their own meetings with Clerides, that in no instance should Cyprus' EU accession be linked to a resolution of Cyprus' political problem

[02] Greek defense minister holds talks with FYROM's leadership

SKOPJE (ANA - N. Fragopoulos) Greek Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou on Thursday concluded his one-day visit to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), where he met with the political leadership of the country.

The Greek minister stressed the importance of the inviolability of FYROM's borders and those of other Balkan countries, during his meetings with state and political leaders, a term, he underlined, for the region's stability and development.

During his visit here, Papantoniou met with FYROM's President Boris Trajkovski, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, Parliament President Stojan Antov, Defense Minister Vlado Popovski and representatives of the main opposition Socialdemocratic Union party vice-president and general secretary Vlado Buckovski and Georgi Spasov, as well as the vice-president of the Albanian Democratic Party Menduh Thaci and the president of the Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity Aburrahman Haliti.

Emerging from his meeting with Popovski, during which they signed a draft bilateral agreement for cooperation on defense matters, Papantoniou appeared satisfied with its results and said that the two sides had discussed more extensive cooperation between their respective armed forces, such as the stationing of FYROM officers with Greek units participating in international peace-keeping missions and the participation of FYROM army officers in Greek military schools.

Also discussed was the participation of Greek units in programs for the rebuilding of homes and other projects taking place in FYROM.

[03] French central bank chief shrugs off criticism of euro

The governor of France's central bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, said in Athens on Thursday that he welcomed use of the euro in Europe, brushing off criticism that the new currency lacked a federal government and budget to buffer shocks from individual economies.

''The growth and stability pact sets the bounds within which a national economy can move and allows the imposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance. This is not envisaged under any other federal system in the world,'' Trichet said in a speech to the French Chamber of Commerce of Greece.

''We can also use the weapon of a country's national budget...The euro itself constitutes a structural change, as is the single market,'' he added.

Trichet is widely seen as heir apparent to the president of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, who steps down from the post in 2003.

[04] Cash injection for budget from surprise corporate earnings

Deputy Finance Minister George Floridis said on Thursday that the budget would receive an unexpected injection of 380 million euros from 2001 earnings posted by state-owned Public Power Corporation and the Football Pools Organisation.

The two companies showed higher than expected earnings, strengthening the budget, Floridis told reporters.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro

U.S. dollar 0.928

Pound sterling 0.637

Danish kroner 7.497

Swedish kroner 9.200

Japanese yen 116.2

Swiss franc 1.465

Norwegian kroner 7.542

Cyprus pound 0.583

Canadian dollar 1.427

Australian dollar 1.673

[06] Weather Forecast: Scattered cloud on Friday

Scattered cloud is forecast in all parts of the country with rain in the west later in the day and storms in the northwest. Winds variable, moderate to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 12C to 27C; on the rest of the mainland and in the Ionian from 14C to 29C; and in the Aegean islands from 16C to 25C. Sunshine in Athens, with temperatures between 15C and 28C. Scattered cloud in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 14C to 26C.

[07] Greek stocks remain under pressure, end lower

Greek equities remained under pressure for the second consecutive session in the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday pushing the general index far below the 2,400 level it had breached earlier in the week.

The general index fell 0.88 percent to end at 2,346.20 points, with turnover a subdued 98.1 million euros.

The Insurance sector was the only one to scored gains (0.58 percent), while the Publication, Textile and Wholesale sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (2.71 percent, 2.66 percent and 2.55 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.89 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index eased 1.28 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index dropped 1.64 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 285 to 51 with another 22 issues unchanged.

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