Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-08-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] Enlargement, EU-US relations at the focus of Helsingor FMs' meeting

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

[03] Weather Forecast: Unsettled on Saturday

[04] Greek stocks continue moving lower

[01] Enlargement, EU-US relations at the focus of Helsingor FMs' meeting

HELSINGOR (ANA - Ch. Poulidou) - The European Union's foreign ministers met here on Friday to discuss the enlargement process of the Union before the October 30th informal summit in Brussels.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, in briefing the press, said that the ''15'' discussed the confirmation of the time-table for the enlargement, stressing that during that summit the ''15'' should finalize a common stance on the agricultural policy and the list of the 10 new member-states should be announced.

He added that they should also agree on a supervisory process to look-over the results of the efforts of candidate member-states up to the date of their accession.

During their second session of the day, the ministers discussed the European prospects of Bulgaria and Romania and expressed an array of opinions concerning the Greek proposal to establish a firm target-date for the accession of the two Balkan nations to the European Union.

The ''15'' foreign ministers also focused on conditions in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and were briefed on the recent violence in Skopje, by Javier Solana, the Union's foreign policy and defense high representative, who said that he is planning to visit the landlocked republic the latest by Sept. 9th.

The tense relations between the European Union and the United States concerning the possible campaign against Iraq, was also on the agenda of the ''15'' foreign ministers of the Union here at Helsingor.

Although it was not on the agenda, the US insistence that peace-keeping troops be exempt from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, took center stage in this informal meeting of the Union's foreign ministers.

The ''15'' will discuss the issue in an effort to find a ''compromise'' solution, based on a proposal of Britain.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Monday

Reference buying rates per euro until Monday released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.991

Pound sterling 0.640

Danish kroner 7.484

Swedish kroner 9.246

Japanese yen 117.2

Swiss franc 1.481

Norwegian kroner 7.440

Cyprus pound 0.577

Canadian dollar 1.543

Australian dollar 1.794

[03] Weather Forecast: Unsettled on Saturday

Changeable weather is forecast in all parts of the country, with cloud, rain and storms in many areas. Winds variable, light to moderate, turning strong in the Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from 15C to 25C; and in the rest of the country from 17C to 29C. Temperatures in Athens between 19C and 28C; and in Thessaloniki between 18C and 25C.

[04] Greek stocks continue moving lower

Greek stocks ended lower the last trading session of the week in the Athens Stock Exchange following a declining trend in other European bourses on Friday.

The general index fell 0.43 percent to end at 2,129.06 points, with turnover an improved 126.3 million euros, reflecting block trades in several listed companies.

The IT, IT Solutions and Bank sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day (2.27 percent, 1.48 percent and 1.46 percent, respectively), while the Cement, Textile and Publication sectors scored the biggest percentage gains (1.91 percent, 1.41 percent and 0.51 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.94 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.19 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index eased 0.06 percent.

broadly, decliners led advancers by 178 to 115 with another 56 issues unchanged.

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