Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-10-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] PASOK leadership candidates on campaign trail

[02] Bakoyannis to Skopje: name issue must be resolved

[03] Hundreds join protest bike ride in Athens

[01] PASOK leadership candidates on campaign trail

Venizelos started off his Ileia tour on Saturday in the town of Zacharo, the starting point of mega-fires that swept the Peloponnese in August, where he was briefed on the problems and the process for distributing humanitarian aid to fire victims.

Other stops on his tour included Ancient Olympia and the Kronios Hill before arriving at Pyrgos for talks with local Prefect Haralambos Kafyras and Pyrgos Mayor Makis Paraskevopoulos. Venizelos then visited the offices of PASOK's prefectural committee and met members of the party.

In his statements, Venizelos commented on the slow pace of works to restore Olympia and said he would demand that the government speed up the work if he was elected PASOK's leader, while also noting the need for a new plan for the reconstruction and development of Ileia.

In statements regarding the party's internal affairs, he defended his decision to challenge Papandreou's leadership on the night of the elections, as soon as PASOK's defeat had become apparent, noting that he had been responding to the party leader's own moves.

"If George Papandreou's statement had been different, mine would also have been different," he said.

The next stop on Venizelos' tour will be the port city of Patras in Achaia, where he will address a meeting at a central hotel at 20:00. Earlier, he is to meet Achaia Prefect Dimitris Katsikopoulos and PASOK's prefectural committee.

Papandreou will be in Larissa over the weekend, where he will address a National Confederation of Greek Commerce conference on Saturday. On Sunday morning he will speak at a political rally at the city's indoor sports arena.

Skandalidis: PASOK must change

In statements from Agios Nikolaos in Lasithi on Crete, meanwhile, the third candidate in PASOK's leadership race was underlining the need for change in the main opposition party, regardless of who was elected leader.

"PASOK can win with any president out of the three candidates if it changes but it cannot win with any president if it does not change," Skandalidis underlined in a press conference.

He also announced that on November 4, on the last day of PASOK's National Conference, he would declare which of the two other candidates he considered closest to his own views.

According to Skandalidis, this did not mean that he was backing out of the race and he pointed out that his decision to contend for PASOK's leadership had autonomous elements but was simultaneously a political act that sought to trigger real political dialogue and defuse some of the tension and acrimony between the Venizelos and Papandreou camps.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo shows Papandreou (L) and Venizelos, dated March 3, 2007.

[02] Bakoyannis to Skopje: name issue must be resolved

The foreign minister sent a clear message to FYROM, stressing that the two sides had undertaken a commitment to find a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue, which would be an obstacle to its Euro-Atlantic progress as long as it remained outstanding.

"We say to them: Come so that we can keep to our commitment, set aside obstinacy and the past and come so that we can take together the steps required to move forward toward a better future. We are at a crucial point. It is a time of decision. Hiding our head in the sand has a cost," Bakoyannis underlined.

Commenting on statements by FYROM Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki reported in the Greek newspaper "Ta Nea", Bakoyannis said these showed that those governing the neighbouring state were "captives of their insistence on obduracy and demonstrated their views on respecting their own signature and keeping the agreements they have made".

"How can someone be an ally and a partner when they do not keep agreements and do not respect the spirit of good neighbourhood?" she added, stressing that Greece and the other members of the organisations that FYROM was trying to join were well aware that striving for good neighbour relations and resolving problems were prerequisites for participation in these. She also underlined that Greece "fully preserved all the rights that we have as members of these organisations" in an indirect reference to the possibility of a Greek veto.

The minister had taken an even tougher stance in statements to reporters before the start of the Central Committee meeting. Questioned about Milososki's interview, she said that she had read it and noted that Milososki had listed joining NATO in April as Skopje's first priority, while resolving the name issue was ranked fourth.

"Things are simple: a condition for the first is the fourth," Bakoyannis stressed.

In "Ta Nea", Milososki had repeated arguments that have been made by Skopje in the past, asserting that the name issue was primarily a bilateral problem with Greece and that FYROM would only participate in the UN process for the name issue in order to arrive at an compromise on what Greece - and only Greece - will call FYROM.

Questioned about the prospect of a Greek veto to FYROM entering NATO and the EU, Milososki said there "was no greater cost than national identity and the Constitutional name".

In her speech, Bakoyannis also referred to the results of the European Council in Lisbon and said the agreement on a text for the EU Reform Treaty opened "new roads" for Europe that would allow it to emerge from a climate of introspection that had dominated in recent years with respect to the Constitutional Treaty.

"We must now devote ourselves to the target of keeping to the time frame agreed," she added, noting that there was no longer any room or excuse for delays.

With respect to the Cyprus issue, she underlined that relations between Turkey and Greece could never become fully normalised until a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem were found and said that Athens was continuing to work hard in this direction, in close collaboration with the government of Cyprus.

She also reiterated Greece's support for Turkey's European prospects, with the unwavering position that Turkey's full accession demanding its full compliance with EU terms and requirements, both in its domestic and external behaviour.

In addition to foreign affairs, her address also focused on domestic issues, particularly the current strife within main opposition PASOK.

According to Bakoyannis, who again echoed the message for unity and accord within ND, the situation within PASOK gave the ruling party an opportunity to live up to its responsibility and obligation to "preserve the credibility of politics".

"As long as in PASOK they are busy comparing their 'leftness' and trying to outbid each other on who is more left-wing, they are leaving open on the level of society a crucial area for our party," she pointed out.

Caption: Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis addressing the ruling New Democracy party's Central Committee meeting convened and chaired by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis at a central Athens hotel on Saturday, 20 October 2007. ANA-MPA - Pantelis Saitas.

[03] Hundreds join protest bike ride in Athens

The starting point was the statue of Athena at Pedion tou Areos and the cause was the creation of bicycle lanes on busy Athens thoroughfares, the right to load bicycles onto the Athens Metro and OSE railway carriages and changes to the current cyclist-unfriendly traffic code.

The cyclists poured out onto Alexandras Avenue, blocking the passage of cars, and said they would follow a route going down Zacharoff street, Kifissias Avenue, Vassilisis Sofias Avenue, Filellinon Street, Vassilisis Amalias Avenue, Panepistimiou Street, 3rd Septemvriou Street, Marni Street and Patission Street, with an hour-long stop at 3rd Septemvriou to symbolically mark a cycle lane on the road.

Caption: Young and old defied overcast skies and wet weather in order to join a protest bike ride held in the centre of Athens on Saturday, 20 October 2007, in order to demand the creation of cycle lanes on busy Athens thoroughfares. ANA-MPA/Katerina Mavrona.

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