Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] Actions against Patriarchate also target Turkey's EU course, Patriarch says

[02] European Left congress ends with appeal against EU's neoliberal priorities

[03] Parliament debate on Greek foreign policy Monday

[01] Actions against Patriarchate also target Turkey's EU course, Patriarch says

"They (Turkish nationalists) are not only targetting the Ecumenical Patriarchate and minorities as a first impression shows. The target is Turkey's European prospect and course. The target is Turkey's prime minister himself, who dynamically wants to bring the country within the European Union," the Patriarch told Greek pilgrims.

"Along with the pleasant start of Turkey's accession talks, there is the revival of nationalism and fanaticism among certain circles here, something which is completely unfit and incompatible with the road our country has just started and which leads to Brussels," he added.

Vartholomeos also expressed hope that Turkey will "belong at last to the great family of European civilised peoples, which will be for the benefit of the Turkish people and will resolve all pending issues pertaining to our Greek community."

Late on Sunday afternoon, the Patriarch was contacted by Greek main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou, who conveyed his "unstinting support" to Vartholomeos over the phone and repeated PASOK's positions concerning the issues of the Patriarchate.

The incidents in Phanar were also commented on by Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, the head of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece, who stressed that there was no reason for disappointment or dismay.

"The place of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been there for the past 17 centuries. Therefore, no one has the right to drive out the Ecumenical Patriarchate from its historic seat. And this is a truth confirmed by time and history. We are at the side of the Patriarch and we defend justice and truth," Christodoulos stressed.

Roughly 200 people marched outside the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar on Friday, kicking off a campaign to have the patriarchate transferred to Greece.

[02] European Left congress ends with appeal against EU's neoliberal priorities

Addressing the 400 delegates from 17 European parties that attended the congress, Synaspismos leader Alekos Alavanos stressed that those gathered in Athens would leave with an awareness that "all of us from the new Left, communist, labour parties, from the progressive ecological and socialist forces, are members of the same party".

He said that the delegates, armed with the resolutions and political decisions made in Athens, should return and put these into action in their societies - the jobless, socially excluded, young people and others - "and fight alongside all those with whom we can change Europe".

In a message immediately after his re-election, meanwhile, Bertinotti stressed the need to create a new force of the Left in Europe in order to give European societies a real alternative.

He emphasised the necessity for a power that will be the most radical expression of opposition to the right, a power that would be a challenge to reformists, while he also called for further expansion of the European Left.

The Athens Declaration underlined that the European Union is in crisis because of the neoliberal choices that "are made in Brussels and which are also the policies of national governments." It appeals for a "convergence of movements and leftist political forces fighting to reverse these priorities and the policies adopted up to this time."

It also pledges to fight against unemployment, social exclusion and job insecurity and calls for an immediate reassessment of the EU budget and fiscal policies, stressing that the ECB should be at the service of employment and growth that targets the less development EU nations.

[03] Parliament debate on Greek foreign policy Monday

The off-the-agenda debate was requested by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who will open it. Opposition party leaders are to follow.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) name issue, upcoming developments relating to the status of Kosovo, Greek-Turkish relations after the opening of Turkey's EU accession talks in early October, as well as the Cyprus issue will be on the agenda.

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