Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-03-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] FM says present conjuncture a historic opportunity for Cyprus solution

[02] Greek presidency: preparations for upcoming Brussels Council

[03] Greek defence minister: Greece is not providing any facilities to the

[04] Parliament Committee briefed on Olympics preparations

[05] Main opposition again slams gov't economic policies

[06] EU Troika visits Moscow to encourage Russia to ratify the Kyoto

[07] Travel firms seek gov't action on feared impact of war on Iraq

[08] Greek EU presidency strongly condemns terrorist attack in Haifa

[09] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[10] Weather Forecast: Cloud on Thursday

[11] Greek stocks plunge to new five-year lows on Wednesday

[01] FM says present conjuncture a historic opportunity for Cyprus solution

Foreign Minister George Papandreou said on Wednesday the present conjuncture is a historic opportunity for a solution to the issue of Cyprus.

Papandreou was speaking after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Costas Simitis on European and foreign policy issues and which also included Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Yiannitsis and Deputy Press Minister Telemahos Hytiris.

The foreign minister said the issue of whether referendums on the two sides will go ahead will be examined, adding that Greece has supported the moves of the government of Cyprus, while it should be seen whether there will be political volition on the other side as well.

Papandreou said Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash is insisting on rejecting the plan and that the question is not whether Denktash agrees with the plan but whether he agrees to presenting it to the Turkish Cypriot people for judgement.

Apart from the Cyprus issue, the meeting also focused on issues to be examined by EU leaders during the upcoming Brussels summit.

Papandreou said these issues are very important for the economy, the social policy and the cohesion of European society both now and after enlargement.

[02] Greek presidency: preparations for upcoming Brussels Council

Preparations for the upcoming European Council in Brussels on 20 and 21 March for deliberations on the big questions of European development and employment, were the focus of a meeting on Wednesday between Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and his ministers of finance, labour and development, Nikos Christodoulakis, Dimitris Reppas and Akis Tsohatzopoulos, respectively.

Coming out of the meeting Christodoulakis told reporters that the Greek presidency had so far achieved a number of agreements in significant areas such as savings taxation and the Community patent, as well as on issues associated with employment and social cohesion, which he said gave a new prospect and direction in the European Union.

The Greek presidency, the minister said, fully acknowledging the messages of the times and the expectations of the citizens, was working systematically toward that direction promoting decisions that were changing Europe for the better.

[03] Greek defence minister: Greece is not providing any facilities to the US

Greek Defence Minister Yannos Papantoniou on Wednesday told BBC Radio's Greek programme in London that Greece's policy on the Iraq issue was ''crystal clear'' and was unrelated to the operation of the(US) military installations in Souda Bay on the island of Crete, a defence ministry press release said.

''The facilities have nothing to do with (military) operations, they are associated with existing obligations'', Papantoniou said.

Papantoniou denied reports which, citing Brussels sources last week, claimed that NATO had requested the relocation of two series of Patriot-type missiles from Greece to Turkey for the protection of the neighbouring country in the event of war. According to the same sources, the missiles would be accompanied by Greek expert operators, an act equaling Greek military participation in the war against Iraq, the release said.

''We have not been asked to do anything like that. It is not within our intentions to give up any Patriots to a third country, we need them'' the minister said.

[04] Parliament Committee briefed on Olympics preparations

The head of the Athens Olympics Organising Committee (ATHOC) Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki on Wednesday briefed a session of Parliament's Educational Affairs Committee on all aspects of preparations for the Olympics.

During the meeting, Angelopoulos stressed that there was no ''black hole'' in the budget for the Games and that a sum amounting to 120 million euros was needed for the construction of temporary facilities.

She said that the Olympics budget of 1,962 billion euros was balanced.

On the issue of Olympic security, ATHOC's chairwoman noted that security was a top priority throughout the world while she denied rumours that a tender for the refuse collection contract would be directly assigned.

On Olympic test events, she said a programme for these would be ready in April.

[05] Main opposition again slams gov't economic policies

Main opposition New Democracy once again slammed the government's economic policies on Wednesday, this time focusing on the repercussions of the Iraq crisis.

ND spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos stressed that the Greek economy's woes were only partly due to the international climate of uncertainty and that it was already in a bad state because of the government's dead-end policies.

Pointing to falling company turnover and profits, a plunging stock market, rising interest rates, inflation, high prices, high unemployment and high household debt, Roussopoulos said that the economy's woes were political and that a new policy was needed that only ND could guarantee and implement as a government.

Reacting to the main opposition's statements, government spokesman Christos Protopapas on Wednesday advised ND to ''avoid inappropriate and miserable statements'' about the economy, which served petty party-political goals and generated a sense of insecurity among the public and problems to the overall economic climate.

[06] EU Troika visits Moscow to encourage Russia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol

EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, together with Greek Environment Ministers Vasso Papandreou - President-in-office of the EU Environment Council - and Altero Matteoli of Italy, were due to travel to Moscow on Wednesday to urge Russia to complete ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and discuss a strengthening of Russia-EU co-operation in the fight against climate change, a Greek environment ministry press bulletin said.

Russia's ratification is necessary to enable the Kyoto Protocol to enter into force. The Troika visit to Russia is an EU initiative in the Union's ongoing efforts to secure the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol and effective multilateral action to combat climate change. The Troika will be in Moscow from March 5-7.

[07] Travel firms seek gov't action on feared impact of war on Iraq

Travel firms on Wednesday asked the government to take action on the feared impact on tourism of war on Iraq.

The anticipated war has slowed bookings for 2003 with travellers taking a wait and see attitude, the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises said in a statement.

A decline in demand for Greece as a tourist destination would result in a drop in employment and a deceleration in the rate growth, the statement said.

Additional investment was required to publicise Greece abroad as a holiday venue, it added.

[08] Greek EU presidency strongly condemns terrorist attack in Haifa

The European Union's Greek presidency on Wednesday strongly condemned what it described as the latest terrorist attack which took place in Haifa and resulted in the loss of civilian lives.

''The despicable terrorist incident comes at a time when the international community is fully committed to pursuing efforts aimed at a political solution to the crisis,'' an announcement released by the Greek foreign ministry said.

The announcement further said: ''Indiscriminate violence against civilians only fuels the ongoing cycle of hatred and does not promote the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people'', adding that the EU Presidency wished to express its deep sorrow for the tragic event and to extend condolences to families of the victims.

[09] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.105

Pound sterling 0.693

Danish kroner 7.486

Swedish kroner 9.262

Japanese yen 129.8

Swiss franc 1.470

Norwegian kroner 7.839

Cyprus pound 0.586

Canadian dollar 1.628

Australian dollar 1.792

[10] Weather Forecast: Cloud on Thursday

Cloud is forecast in all parts of the country, with northern Crete likely to see a little rain in the morning. Winds northerly, moderate to very strong, turning gale force in the Aegean. In the north, temperatures will range from -1C to 11C; on the rest of the mainland from 1C to 15C; and in the islands from 4C to 16C. Temperatures in Athens between 6C and 14C; and in Thessaloniki from 2C to 10C.

[11] Greek stocks plunge to new five-year lows on Wednesday

Greek stocks plunged to new five-year lows on Wednesday hit by a wave of selling in blue chip stocks during the last hour of trading in the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index fell 0.35 percent to end at 1,564.49 points, with turnover a low 64.2 million euros.

The Textile and the Food-Beverage sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (1.84 percent and 1.09 percent, respectively), while the parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks eased 0.71 percent.

The IT Solutions, Retail and Holding sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (1.11 percent, 0.58 percent and 0.43 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.41 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index eased 0.20 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.39 percent lower. The FTSE/ASE 140 index dropped 0.37 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 176 to 116 with another 68 issues unchanged.

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