Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-07-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek prof. Kafatos named to prestigious new EU scientific council

[02] Greeks still consider EU membership a plus

[03] Japanese poster exhibit in Lesvos

[01] Greek prof. Kafatos named to prestigious new EU scientific council

The brief resume on the Greek scientist presented by the Commission in its announcement says that Kafatos was born on the island of Crete, he has graduated from Cornell University and has completed his PHD in biology at Harvard University.

In 1969 Kafatos had already been the youngest professor at Harvard University, where he had taught until 1994, while in parallel he had been an assistant professor of biology at Athens University from 1972 until 1982.

Kafatos was also the founder and director of the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Institute at the Research Centre of Crete from 1982 until 1993, and is director-general of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

The announcement released by the Commission is as follows:

"Today the European Commission is announcing the names of the 22 eminent men and women who will be the founding members of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), a funding organisation for frontier research proposed by the European Commission under the Seventh Research Framework Programme (2007-2013). The Scientific Council will be an independent body whose role is to determine the ERCās scientific strategy and ensure that its operations are conducted according to the requirements of scientific excellence. The 22 scientists were chosen by an independent panel of high-level scientists, chaired by Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Universities.

The 22 founding members of the Scientific Council are:

Dr. Claudio BORDIGNON (IT)

Professor Manuel CASTELLS (ES)

Prof. Dr. Paul J. CRUTZEN (NL),

Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (BE)

Dr. Daniel ESTEVE (FR)

Prof. Pavel EXNER (CZ)

Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim FREUND (DE)

Prof. Wendy HALL (UK)

Prof. Dr. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (SE)

Prof. Dr. Fotis C. KAFATOS (GR)

Prof. Dr. Michal KLEIBER (PL)

Prof. Norbert KROO (HU)

Prof. Maria Teresa V.T. LAGO (PT)

Dr. Oscar MARIN PARRA (ES)

Prof Robert MAY (UK)

Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (AT),

Prof. Christiane N?SSLEIN-VOLHARD (DE)

Dr. Leena PELTONEN-PALOTIE (FI)

Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (FR)

Dr. Jens R. ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (DK)

Prof. Salvatore SETTIS (IT)

Prof. Dr.med. Rolf M. ZINKERNAGEL (CH)

[02] Greeks still consider EU membership a plus

Specifically, 56% of Greeks surveyed believe that EU membership has benefitted the country as do 54% of their EU counterparts.

However, on the issue of the single currency, Greeks appear divided with 49% saying they support monetary union while 49% oppose it, compared with an EU average of 59% and 35%, respectively.

Regarding the future of the country's economy, 59% of Greeks expect it to get worse, 11% are optimistic that it will get better, while 27% expect it will remain the same. This compares with an EU average of 37%, 19% and 38%, respectively.

Unemployment tops Greeks' concerns, with 63% expecting it to increase over the next 12 months, 8% expecting it to drop and 25% predicting it will remain stable.

Other concerns on Greeks' lists, by order of priority, are the country's economy overall, inflation and crime.

As for European issues, the majority of Greeks - 76% - favours a common European foreign policy, 80% also support a common defence policy and 60% support the adoption of an EU constitution (not necessarily the existing treaty).

The EU average on these issues is close with 67% favouring a common European foreign policy, 77% also favouring a common defence policy and 61% supporting the adoption of an EU constitution.

Additionally, on the issue of Turkey's EU accession, Greeks are in step with their European peers. Specifically, 70% of Greeks surveyed said they were against Turkey joining the Union, compared with 74% of Germans, 70% of French, and 80% of Austrians, among others, with the EU average in favour of Turkey's EU accession standing at 48%.

[03] Japanese poster exhibit in Lesvos

Japanese Ambassador to Greece Toshio Mochizuki attended the inauguration of the exhibit, which is being held within the context of the campaign "2005: EU-Japan Year of People to People Exchanges."

The same posters were exhibited at Venice Biennale 2005 and in Sao Paolo, as well as in France, Croatia and Serbia.

After Greece, the exhibit will travel to Finland, Slovakia and Norway.

The exhibit is being organised in cooperation with the Japan Foundation, a government organisation established in 1972 whose aim is to promote Japanese culture abroad.

The TERIADE Library and Museum of Modern Art, which was founded in August 1979, is named after Mytilene native Stratis Eleftheriadis, known as Teriade, and houses a permament exhibition of works -- lithographs, engravings, woodblocks, paintings -- by Baudin, Bornard, Bores, Chagall, Ciacometti, Grimaire, Laurence, Le Corbusier, Leger, Matisse, Miro, Picasso, George Vakirtzis, Theofilos (Hadjimichail), Manolis Kalliyannis, Orestis Kanellis, Callirhoe Marouda, George Rorris and Yannis Tsarouchis. It also houses 29 rare books by the art critic containing the works of these artists.

Teriade left Mytilene in 1915, at the age of 18, for Paris to study law, but instead became a renowned art critic, patron and publisher.

From 1937-1975 he commissioned most of the significant artists of the first half of the century to produce a series of works for his quarterly journal "Verve" or the later 'Grands Livres', which comprise the TERIADE museum's permanent exhibition and are displayed in 16 rooms spread over two floors of the museum, which was built specifically for this purpose.

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