Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-04-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] Weather Forecast: Cloudy on Wednesday

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[03] Athens ready for EU's historic day of enlargement

[04] Greek and French DMs discuss European defence and Iraq

[05] PM Simitis meets, Prodi, d'Estaing, Solana

[01] Weather Forecast: Cloudy on Wednesday

Cloudy weather is forecast in all parts of the country, with rain or storms likely in the north from late afternoon. Winds variable, light to moderate to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 6C to 19C; on the rest of the mainland and in the Ionian from 8C to 20C; and in the Aegean islands from 10C to 20C. Temperatures in Athens between 10C and 20C; and in Thessaloniki from 8C to 18C.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.087

Pound sterling 0.691

Danish kroner 7.484

Swedish kroner 9.210

Japanese yen 130.8

Swiss franc 1.511

Norwegian kroner 7.942

Cyprus pound 0.591

Canadian dollar 1.582

Australian dollar 1.797

[03] Athens ready for EU's historic day of enlargement

The European Union's heart is beating in Athens as the leaders of the member-states began to arrive on Tuesday in the Greek capital, to officially welcome 10 new member-states.

The historic signing of the Accession Treaty will take place on Wednesday at the Attalus Arcade in the ancient market of Athens, in the shadow of the Parthenon, on the cobblestones where democracy was born.

The leaders of Cyprus, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Malta, Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia will be here for the signature along with the leaders of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey that have also applied for accession to the Union, but will be admitted later.

The accession treaty will go into effect on May 1st, 2004, providing time for the acceding countries to ratify their entry, as some (Malta, Slovenia and Hungary) have already done, via referendums.

The festive occasion also has a business side to it, as during this meeting the EU leaders will hold an Informal Summit to discuss the current EU domestic and international conditions.

Specifically, the 15 EU leaders are expected to discuss the role of the United Nations in the post-war Iraq. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan also arrived in Athens on the invitation of the Greek EU presidency.

For Thursday, the Greek EU presidency, has scheduled a European Conference that will include all the 25 EU members the three candidate member-states and Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Serbia-Montenegro, Norway and Iceland.

[04] Greek and French DMs discuss European defence and Iraq

PARIS (ANA - O. Tsipira) - Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou and his French counterpart Michele Alliot-Marie discussed European defence and the issue of Iraq here on Tuesday.

The two ministers also referred to the initiative by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg which will be convening in Brussels on April 29.

Speaking to reporters after his talks, Papantoniou said the Greek EU presidency has a positive view of these countries' initiative, believing that ''it will give an impetus to the overall effort being made by all EU countries for the strengthening of European defence in the framework of the constitution to be prepared, as well as in the framework of the EU's Council of Defence Ministers.

On the question of Greece not participating in this quadripartite meeting, Papantoniou explained that since all European countries are not participating, Greece cannot participate since it is holding the rotating EU presidency.

The Greek defence minister also said the new government of Iraq should enjoy the support of a large community of countries and not of one power exclusively, such as the United States is.

''This government should also be recognised by the people of Iraq and by neighbouring countries. Consequently, the participation of the UN will be extremely useful and considerable. I want to believe that the United States will realise by itself the need for the UN's participation,'' Papantoniou said.

[05] PM Simitis meets, Prodi, d'Estaing, Solana

Prime Minister Costas Simitis held separate meetings on Tuesday night with European Commission President Romano Prodi, Convention for the Future of Europe President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and EU High Representativefor Security and Defence Policy Javier Solana.

The three politicians departed from the Maximos Mansion without making any statements to reporters.

National Economy and Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis was also present at the meeting with Prodi.

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