Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-10-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM chairs inner cabinet meeting on civil protection, EYP

[02] Leftist parties table questions

[03] 94 stolen Íeolithic artifacts returned

[01] PM chairs inner cabinet meeting on civil protection, EYP

Pavlopoulos stressed that civil protection in Greece was being improved and pointed out that a draft bill now in Parliament already contained articles that clarified areas of overlapping or joint responsibility following the merger of the interior and public order ministries. This would mean that the country's local authorities and security services, as well as all other state agencies involved in dealing with disasters and accidents, would be able to operate in a better coordinated and more effective fashion.

Other issues settled by the bill were linked to critical decisions that had to be made in such situations, such as decisions to evacuate areas during a crisis. He noted that this responsibility would be given to local governments, as was reasonable, with security services in a supporting role.

Another area covered was that of a register of voluntary organisations so that they would be able to receive financial assistance and equipment that would allow them to play an important role.

Pavlopoulos also announced plans to improve the emergencies number 112, so that it also gave out information to those calling in from abroad to find out what was happening in Greece.

Regarding the government's plans for EYP, the minister announced that a draft bill would probably be tabled in Parliament before Christmas and would concern the democratic organisation and operation of the service.

Pavlopoulos said the government intended to introduce a public prosecutor operating within the framework of EYP who would have a specific term and be consulted for every decision connected to lifting confidentiality and related issues. According to the minister, this would put an end to all intervention by political figures that did not have any judicial capacity.

Another planned innovation was the creation of a coordinating council for the handling of information on an inter-ministerial level, so that information of national significance might be evaluated without infringing on individual freedoms.

Finally, Pavlopoulos said that EYP would be certified at the Council of Europe as the state agency responsible for safeguarding information and protection against electronic crime.

The interior minister stressed that EYP would be subject to organised and in-depth Parliamentary control and said that the government would ask MPs to take practical steps and set up the Parliamentary organs and procedures needed to put this into practice when the bill was being debated in Parliament.

Foreign minister on illegal immigrants

Answering other questions related to a rising tide of illegal immigrants entering Greece, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis stressed that there was a significant increase in their numbers and that Greece could not cope with any more.

"We therefore need excellent coordination between domestic services but also cooperation with the European Union," she stressed.

According to Bakoyannis, the issue had been raised at all levels of the EU in order to be able to protect European borders. She stressed, meanwhile, that immigrants were not just a Greek problem since they saw Greece as a transit country for getting to the rest of Europe.

"As a consequence, this is an issue that concerns all of Europe, so that the cooperation of European services but also the money that must be given for a common coast guard are necessary for dealing with the problem," she underlined.

Asked whether the illegal immigrants were being facilitated by Turkey, Bakoyannis said the issue had been raised with Turkish authorities and the government had lodged demarches with the Turkish government on this issue. There would be closer cooperation between the two sides to jointly deal with the problem, which originated on the shores of Turkey, she added.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photograph showing Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis addressing a meeting of the Cabinet in August 2007.

[02] Leftist parties table questions

According to Alavanos, cooperation between these local institutes and foreign universities is in complete conflict with Article 16 of the Constitution, a unique -- for the western world -- provision that prevents all but the state from founding and operating universities.

The leftist leader also claimed that prohibition will solve any existing or likely conflict between Community and national legislation, considering that based on Article 251, Paragraph 7 of the EU Treaty, the Community fully respects the jurisdiction of member-states over their education system and the content of the curriculum offered, a position reiterated in the Reformed Lisbon Treaty, as he opined.

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) MP Spyros Halvatzis queried the prime minister over the issue of wage-earners' social and pension rights, while accusing the government of preparing a new anti-popular attack using "social dialogue" as a pretext.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of KKE deputy Spyros Halvatzis.

[03] 94 stolen Íeolithic artifacts returned

The archaeological treasure was stolen 22 years earlier during an armed robbery at the house of collector Constantinos Theodoropoulos in Larissa and was then sold to a museum in Munich. They include stone and clay seals, stone tools and vials and some 63 marble and clay figurines. According to the National Museum's curator, these last stand out because depictions of the human form "were special in the Neolithic era".

Commenting on the return, Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis stressed that dealing with theft and the illegal trade in antiquities remained at the centre of the culture ministry's policies and said he was satisfied with the outcome in this specific case.

The minister also read out a message from his predecessor George Voulgarakis, who was unable to attend the ceremony for the handover of the antiquities.

"An effort that had remained outstanding for about 20 years has been completed and brought to the surface a huge political issue: the inefficiency that exists in public affairs when there is no continuity in the state and its functionaries," Voulgarakis' statement stressed.

Liapis particularly concurred with a statement by Voulgarakis that "Greek successes in the area of stamping out antiquities smuggling create and reinforce a new climate in Greece and abroad for a new approach to the great moral problem of illegal trade in cultural treasures".

Caption: The repatriated collection of Neolithic artifacts on the display at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007. ANA-MPA / STR

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