Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-07-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] Justice minister addresses EU ministerial council, deplores London terrorist attacks

[02] SE European energy charter to be signed in October

[03] Fuel market slowing in 2005

[04] UN secretary general congratulates FM Molyviatis for Greece's work as Security Council president

[01] Justice minister addresses EU ministerial council, deplores London terrorist attacks

Papaligouras, who represented Greece at the meeting together with Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis, stressed Greece's solidarity in the condemnation of terrorism as the "number one security problem in the post-coldwar world', adding that "a terrorist strike against one of the EU member-states is a strike against all 25 European partners."

Papaligouras referred to the enactment of an EU legal framework for the prevention and suppression of terrorism and stressed that the enactment of cooperation and information exchanging bodies, as well as of judicial and police contribution mechanisms, render the seeking and detection of culprits possible, with the discovery of the culprits involved in the terrorist strike in Madrid being a recent example.

The minister also proposed that the causes of this evil be tackled in a political manner, saying that "democratic Europe owes its own political response to the world on the modern-day scourge of terrorism."

[02] SE European energy charter to be signed in October

"Creation of an integrated, regional energy market, which is an event of major importance, will further reinforce the ties among peoples in the wider region and act as a powerful basis for cooperation in all sectors of the economy, as well as energy," Sioufas said in a statement.

The move was decided at a meeting in Vienna on Tuesday of prime ministers of the Southeast European Energy Community, following a proposal by the United Kingdom, which currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency.

Taking part in the energy group are Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania, Turkey and Kosovo. Moldova is an observer.

The charter will create a new, EU-backed regional energy market for electricity and natural gas that will benefit countries, companies and consumers, the statement said.

[03] Fuel market slowing in 2005

The report said the domestic petrol market was down 3.1 percent in the January-March period, with oil product distribution companies reporting sales of 3.4 million metric tonnes from 3.5 million in the same period last year.

Stat Bank said the market was stable last year, after recording a 9.0 percent growth rate in 2003. The report said sales of petrol rose 2.4 percent in the first three months of 2005, while sales of heating oil and diesel oil dropped 4.9 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. Large enterprises are hit the hardest by the slowdown in demand while smaller enterprises manage to overcome more easily market difficulties.

EKO topped the list of the domestic fuel market in the first quarter, followed by BP and Shell, with all three companies losing market shares to smaller competitors. Avin, Jet Oil, Aegean Oil, Elin Oil, Revoil, Silk Oil and Kaoil reported improved market shares over the same period.

Aegean Oil and Revoil reported growth rate of more than 20 percent.

The report said a dramatic increase in crude oil prices was expected to affect the domestic market and to further cut consumption.

The 55 fuel distribution companies in the Greek market reported an 8.9 percent increase in turnover, but their pre-tax profits fell 15.2 percent. Sales totalled 8.29 billion euros, while net profits were 153.7 million euros.

The report said that a low price policy would continue to benefit small Greek companies in 2005. Shell saw its profitability plunge by more than 80 percent, while Avin reported a 30.2 percent fall in profits.

[04] UN secretary general congratulates FM Molyviatis for Greece's work as Security Council president

The two men discussed a series of issues during their 30-minute meeting at the UN headquarters which concerned Greece, its region and the international situation in relation to the UN's role.

"We had a useful and constructive meeting, I would say a friendly and pleasant meeting as always, in any case, with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. We were preoccupied by a whole series of issues of wider, as well as of particular interest for Greece," the foreign minister said.

After saying that Annan congratulated Greece for its performance as Security Council president so far, Molyviatis said various issues concerning the Security Council were discussed, such as the September summit when the Organisation's reform issues will be discussed, adding that he will attend the summit and so will Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

"We discussed the Cyprus issue, of course. We examined its present state and its prospects for the future. We also discussed the issue of the name of Skopje (the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), which we discussed earlier in a meeting with the secretary general's special envoy Matthew Nimetz. Lastly, we discussed Kosovo and the present situation and developments looming," Molyviatis further said.

Asked what exactly was said about the issue of Cyprus, the foreign minister said "we discussed the present situation, prospects appearing and the need for these efforts to be continued to enable suitable conditions to be created for the resumption of the process of finding a solution to the problem."

Responding to another question on whether the issue of the appointment of a new envoy for the Cyprus issue was discussed, as well as the possibility of a new mission in the region by a UN official, Molyviatis noted that "such detailed issues are not discussed at meetings of such a kind. However, the mood and the spirit is for us to continue the effort to enable suitable conditions to be created."

As regards the possibility of some new proposal being made on the issue of FYROM, he said "I do not think that there is an issue of a new proposal at the moment. We discussed what the present situation is and how developments are appearing."

Replying, lastly, to a question on whether a meeting will be held in New York on the issue of Cyprus in September, such as a form of quadripartite meeting for example, Molyviatis said "there is no such planning at the moment. But you know our views on a quadripartite meeting."

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