Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-09-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou begins tour of Xanthi-Kavala-Drama

[02] SC presidency a success, Bakoyannis says

[01] Papandreou begins tour of Xanthi-Kavala-Drama

Addressing local inhabitants in Xanthi, Papandreou stressed that PASOK would be "at their side for a new course and a just society".

During stops in local villages, he criticised the government for its entire range of policies and accused Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis of failing to deliver on promises made before the elections.

At the village of Sminthi, where all the residents are Moslems, Papandreou stressed that he had fought to bring about equality for all Greek citizens before the law and the state.

"New Democracy mocked me and talked about submissiveness. I was not being submissive, I was building what I believe modern Greece to be, a democratic Greece that respects everyone, minorities, your villages, your future and does not create discrimination," he said.

He also accused the government of abandoning relations with Turkey that PASOK had fought to improve to their fate, even though Greece should be one of the countries pushing, with conditions, for Turkey's progress within the EU.

Papandreou, who was greeted in Sminthi by PASOK's minority candidate for the Kavala-Drama-Xanthi super-prefecture Gul Beyaz Karahassan, stressed that he had not chosen Karahassan simply to gain votes but because he believed in the minority's ability, readiness and right to have its own leaders play an important role in society, the economy and politics.

In nearby Eulalos, Papandreou attacked the government for creating divisions in society for its easy privileges to oligopolies and the cartels which it served.

He noted that entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU would transform northern Greece from an outlying area to the heart of the Balkans, opening up new prospects that needed to be used based on a plan.

He urged local residents to cast their vote for PASOK in the upcoming local elections, saying that his party would win the next general election and finally carry out the major reform for Greece, which was decentralisation.

[02] SC presidency a success, Bakoyannis says

"The Greek presidency is coming to an end. I believe that the work done was exceptionally good," Bakoyannis said, noting that the Greek presidency's contribution toward peace in many parts of the world had also been acknowledged by several of her colleagues on the Security Council.

"This increases the obligation of Greek diplomacy to continue being present with proposals and its contribution, especially on the issues that it handled during the SC presidency," the minister added.

Regarding Greece's overall participation on the Security Council, which draws to a close at the end of 2006, she described this as "an extremely positive contribution" that had at no time fallen short of the principles and values of Greek diplomacy, which had at all times supported positions that promoted peace in many parts of the world.

"Our contribution to the Security Council was judged successful by all who have any knowledge on the subject at the UN," she noted.

Bakoyannis on Saturday wraps up her visit and returns to Athens from the United States, where she attended the 61st UN General Assembly, led Security Council meetings and had contacts with U.S. government officials.

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