Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-09-27

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM briefed on culture ministry legislative initiatives

[02] FM in Washington, sends warning to Turkey

[03] FinMin:Further reductions in unemployment, deficit

[04] President appeals for global effort for human rights

[01] PM briefed on culture ministry legislative initiatives

Voulgarakis told reporters afterwards that the two discussed a timetable according to which draft bills prepared by the ministry are tabled in Parliament, stressing that one of the pieces of legislation aims to improves efforts at combating the illicit antiquities trade.

The minister said he also briefed Karamanlis on his recent trip to the United States.

Asked to comment on a press report alleging a "secret agreement" with Washington allowing phone tapping during the Olympic Games, Voulgarakis, who was public order minister at the time, said speculation surrounding issue has been exhausted and that the government spokesman has provided clear answers.

[02] FM in Washington, sends warning to Turkey

Speaking in the US Congress on Tuesday, Bakoyannis warned Turkey that it's attitude was not helping its European orientation, stressing that although Greece wanted relations of friendship and cooperation with Turkey based on respect of international law and the rules of good neighbourhood and supported Turkey's EU prospects, Turkey nevertheless must prove intentions to comply with the EU's institutional, political and economic acquis and fulfill its criteria and obligations for membership like all the other candidate countries.

Addressing an audience of 44 Senate and House of Representatives members in the House of Representatives International Relations Committee Hall, Bakoyannis outlined the problems faced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate at Phanar and Turkey's refusal to apply the Ankara Protocol extending its Custons Union agreement with the EU to all the EU member countries to EU member Cyprus, which she said were thorns in Turkey's relations not only with Greece but also with the EU.

Bakoyannis warned that Turkey's attitude was not helping its European prospect, stressing that recognition of the ecumenical nature of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by Ankara and the reopening of the Halki Seminary School would work to Turkey's benefit, as they would render it a country that respects religious freedoms.

Greece, she explained, was interested in relations of friendship and cooperation with Turkey on the basis of respect of international law and the rules of good neighborhood, and also supported Turkey's European prospect. However, she added, Turkey in turn must show that it intended to comply with the EU's institutional, political and economic acquis and fulfill its criteria and obligations for EU accession just as all the other candidate countries.

She further noted the improvement in Greek-Turkish relations in recent years, but pointed out that Turkey's military activities in the Aegean hindered the policy of rapprochement.

Addressing a dinner in her honour hosted by the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, and referring to the Cyprus issue, Bakoyannis reiterated Greece's commitment to finding a lasting and functional solution for the reunification of the island republic, which would take into consideration the work already carried out by the UN, as well as international law, the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and the acquis communautaire.

She explained that every initiative aimed at consolidating the division of the island through upgrading the illegal regime in the Turkish-occupied sector of Cyprus clashed with the efforts for reunification of the island on the basis of a solution mutually acceoptable to the two sides.

Introducing the foreign minister, Greek ambassador in Washington Alexandros Mallias noted that Bakoyannis' father Constantine Mitsotakis (who later became prime minister of Greece) had in December 1969, during the military dictatorship in Greece, testified before the US Congress in the very same Hall, advocating freedom and democracy in Greece.

Among the Congresspersons who delivered greetings at the dinner were Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland), and House of Representatives members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), House Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Shelley Berkley (D. Nevada), Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey), and Carolyn Maloney (D-New York), who is co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues (together with fellow House of Representatives member Michael Bilirakis, R-Florida).

The speakers praised Bakoyannis' work as foreign minister, but also in her previus post of Athens Mayor during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, as well as her contribution to the fight against terrorism and her activities during Greece's UN Security Council presidency for the month of September, particularly the special Security Council meeting at foreign ministers' level on the Middle East organised recently by the Greek presidency.

After referring to the symbolism of the House International Relations Committee Hall, where voices in support of freedom and democracy had been heard during the military junta in Greece, Bakoyannis spoke of the cooperation between Greece and the US, as well as the constructive role Greece was playing in SE Europe and more broadly.

She thanked the Congress and its members in the Hellenic Caucus on their stance in favour of Cyprus, stability in the Aegean, and the protection of human rights and of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey.

On the Middle East, Bakoyannis advocated the vision for the spread of democracy, freedom and human rights, the right of the Israelis and the Palestinians to live in two separate states with secure borders, and stressed the importance of the extraordinary Security Council meeting, at foreign ministers' level, held at the initiative of the Greek Security Council presidency.

She further outlined the strategic role Greece was developing in the Balkans, creating the preconditions for stability, the creation of functional democratic institutions, Inter-Balkan cooperation, the region's growth and its incorporation into the Euro-Atlantic institutions.

On Kosovo in particular, she stressed the desire for finding a lasting and viable solution that would have the support of both Belgrade and Pristina.

Concluding her address, Bakoyannis outlined Greece's efforts in confronting both domestic and international terrorism, rendering the country a credible ally.

She further called for Greece's inclusion in the Visa Waiver Programme which allows citizens of currently 27 countries to visit the US without the requirement of an entrance visa, thus facilitating business contacts and tourism between the two countries.

Bakoyannis also replied to questions from the attending Congress members on such issues as the Middle East, EU-Turkey relations, protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Cyprus issue.

[03] FinMin:Further reductions in unemployment, deficit

ESYE was due to announce the unemployment figures in the next few days.

Alogoskoufis also referred to the draft 2007 budget, which would be unveiled on Monday in parliament and which, he said, was not founded on the revised figures for the Gross National Product (GNP) but on the original figures.

"Our estimates for the 2006 deficit are that we will attain the target of 2.6 percent, based on the old GNP and not on the revised one," Alogoskoufis said.

For next year, "we are close to achieving the target of the Stability and Growth Programme, which is a further reduction of the deficit to 2.3 percent," Alogoskoufis said, adding that "my estimate is that the deficit will be at 2.4 percentage points of GNP".

The minister further announced that the new investment law, which will enter into effect as of 2007, will be unveiled in October. He said the new law will contain small improvements to the existing investment law, while it will also be based on the new map of EU regional reinforcements.

At the present time, Alogoskoufis said, the government was in "delicate negotiations" with the EU concerning the revision of the 3rd Community Support Framework (CSF, 2000-2006), aimed at minimising the risk of losses of funds. "Our philosophy is that the monies that would have gone to projects that have no hope of being materialised will be chanelled to other programmes," he said.

Finally, he assured that more than 80 percent of the funds earmarked for Greece under the 4th CSF (2007-2013) would be channeled to the periphery.

[04] President appeals for global effort for human rights

The two-day conference brings together the heads of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) as well as experts working on setting up such institutions.

Papoulias spoke of "the tribulations which human rights were undergoing in a constant process of changes", and on the "uncertainty created by the intense competition in the globalised economy".

Addressing the meeting, justice minister Anastasis Papaligouras described terrorism as "the number one security problem in the world today, which comprises a pervasive danger and mass threat to the foundations of the modern societies".

This, he continued, could not be tackled only at local or national level, adding that international cooperation was required among police, judicial and customs authorities, and stressed "the risk of the fight against terrorism becoming ideologised and of the creation of institituions ofpolicing of social life, with adverse consequences on the justice-society relations".

In a specific reference to International Law, Papoulias said it sometimes tended to take on the form of "the law of the world order and the forces that impose it", stressing that it was necessary to tackle the deeper causes of terrorism and find the "golden mean" between protection of individual rights and freedoms and the ensurance of collective security.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg was critical of US president George Bush, whom he accused of undermining human rights "with his demand for use of interrogation methods that reach the point of torture, and the detention of individuals without trial for an indefinite period of time".

He was also critical of the EU foreign ministers, saying that in their last meeting they were unable to agree on a common stance condemning the American president's proposals.

The Commissioner described the Athens Round Table as "a critical meeting, at a critical stage for the protection of human rights", and stressed the necessity of implementation of the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights' rulings, warning that "non-implementation undermines the credibility of the Court, while a delayed rendering of justice could be construed as refusal of dispensation of justice.

Greek National Commission for Human Rights president, Professor Aliki Giotopoulou-Maragopoulou, referring to the present situation, stressed that "the serious terrorist strikes of the recent years and the 'counter-terrorism' policy being applied have led to a gradually but steadily reinforced abolition of human rights", adding that "those ruling the world, through the legislation of regulations that abolish fundamental human rights and through the creation of infernos with new torture methods, and with preventive counterterrorism' wars, have abolished human rights and peace".

"At this time, we are faced with a terrible tug-of-war between supporters and abolishers of human rights, new wars are being prepared, and the right of the European National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights to actively participate in all the decision-taking bodies concerning human rights, and particularly counterterrorism, as well as their implementation bodies, must be reinforced," she said.

During the two-day sessions, participants will discuss new opportunities at the European level for NHRIs and, in particular, what new functions these institutions are ready to assume in the context of Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights. There will also be an exchange on the reflections offered by the Group of Wise Persons on how NHRIs -- in conjunction with the Commissioner -- might further support the European Court of Human Rights. Working groups will discuss the role for NHRIs with respect to counter-terrorism legislation and practices, including the so-called rendition flights.

The President of the Greek National Commission and the Commissioner for Human Rights will meet with the media on 28 September at 8 p.m. at the venue of the Round Table (Athens Imperial Hotel).

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