Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-05-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] EU, Greece do not accept terrorism as political action, PM says

[02] Public sector employees call strike on Monday

[03] EU sets priority on nutrition model

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[05] Buying in small caps leads ASE higher on Wednesday

[01] EU, Greece do not accept terrorism as political action, PM says

The European Union and Greece do not accept terrorism as a means of exercising policy, Prime Minister Costas Simitis said on Wednesday, in his capacity both as premier and European Union Council President.

Simitis spoke strongly against terrorism commenting on a statement made by U.S. President George Bush following the latest murderous terrorist attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Following the attack Bush had said that ''the war on terrorism is continuing''.

Speaking during a joint press conference he held with Maltese Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami in Valetta, he said that ''I would like to express my sorrow for the victims. I would also like to condemn this act and I would like to reiterate that my country, as well as the European Union does not accept terrorism as a political means. All of us should try to put an end to such means of action''.

''The Union always had the policy, that we should combat terrorism and we never said that we believed that this issue was resolved. On the contrary, it is necessary to continue the effort aiming to secure peace, since terrorist activity provokes retaliation,'' Simitis said.

''We should continue our effort aiming at wiping out the causes of those terrorist actions whichever they may be: poverty, nationalism, feelings of oppression,'' he added, stressing that ''peace can be achieved in the Middle East, as well as in all the world, only if we focus on the causes and combat them. And that is what we are trying to do''.

Simitis was in Malta, as part of his EU capitals tour where he discussed the agenda of the June Thessaloniki EU Summit. In Malta, as in almost all other capitals of the new member-states, the European Constitution, now being drafted, took center stage.

[02] Public sector employees call strike on Monday

The Civil Servants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY) on Wednesday announced that it called on its members to strike on Monday, protesting the compensation package offered by the government.

Demands for the new payroll program for public employees include the coverage for income losses in 2002 and 2003, the incorporation of extra bonus pays in the basic salary and an agreement for payment of back-pay.

[03] EU sets priority on nutrition model

The European Union has placed special emphasis on creating a European nutrition model, Agriculture Minister George Drys told an international ice-cream symposium in Thessaloniki on Wednesday.

Representing the EU, Drys said environmental policy played an important part in supplying safe food to consumers.

The EU's White Paper on food safety proposed a new approach starting with the European Food Safety Authority while shaping common legislation on food safety, he noted.

In addition, the minister stressed that Greece's rotating EU presidency was optimistic that debate in Community bodies would have a positive outcome; and that the public was entitled to safe, quality products.

The agenda of the international ice-cream symposium, held under the auspices of the International Milk Federation (IMF), includes technology, the nutritional value of ice-cream, its contribution to health, organic ice-cream, and the product's market segment.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.159

Pound sterling 0.717

Danish kroner 7.483

Swedish kroner 9.251

Japanese yen 135.3

Swiss franc 1.525

Norwegian kroner 7.936

Cyprus pound 0.591

Canadian dollar 1.610

Australian dollar 1.795

[05] Buying in small caps leads ASE higher on Wednesday

Greek stocks moved higher on Wednesday supported by renewed buying activity in smaller capitalisation stocks in the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index rose 0.55 percent to end ata 1,742.04 points, with turnover an improved 112.9 million euros.

The Metals, IT, Cement and Investment sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (2.11 percent, 2.11 percent, 1.90 percent and 1.80 percent, respectively), while the Textile and Holding sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (1.47 percent and 0.52 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 0.59 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.94 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index jumped 1.34 percent and the wider FTSE/ASE 140 index rose 0.73 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 211 to 90 with another 57 issues unchanged.

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