Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-02-04

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

CONTENTS

[01] EJC delegation in Athens

[02] Spiliotopoulos at Euroleague draw

[01] EJC delegation in Athens

Greeting the delegation, Papoulias expressed his pleasure at the meeting and harked back to the thriving Jewish community in his native city of Ioannina that was almost entirely wiped out in the Nazi concentration camps of WWII, underlining the personal loss that this entailed.

"You understand that my childhood years I spent with classmates and friends, girls and boys, from the Jewish community and that cannot be forgotten," he stressed.

The Greek president also expressed fervent support for the peace process in the Middle East, and hope that it would "finally reach a happy conclusion." At the same time, he said that this would require a "certain bravery and a great compromise, a historic compromise; Both the state of Israel must exist in safe borders and a Palestinian state, which has much to gain from its cooperation with the state of Israel."

In the evening, Bakoyannis is scheduled to address a Holocaust Commemoration event marking the National Day of Remembrance of the Greek Jews who perished during the Holocaust. The event will be held at the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron).

Bakoyannis will represent the Greek government, while President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias will also be attending.

The event is organised jointly by the Athens prefecture, the Central Jewish Council of Greece and the Jewish communities of Athens and Thessaloniki.

According to an announcement regarding the EJC visit, it aims to persuade Greece's leadership to introduce stiffer penalties for hate crimes and to voice concern over the rise of the right-wing, nationalist Popular Orthodox Rally (LA.OS) that has now entered the Greek Parliament. The delegation will also call for the country to become more involved in promoting education about the Holocaust and to "stem the growing tide of anti-Semitism and xenophobia".

Caption: President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias (right) on Monday met European Jewish Congress (EJC) President Moshe Kantor (left), who was visiting Athens at the head of an EJC delegation. ANA-MPA - Alexandros Beltes.

[02] Spiliotopoulos at Euroleague draw

"We believe that the Euroleage and all the important sports events help promote a country, help promote brotherhood and peaceful cooperation between two peoples," he said in comments at the event.

Earlier, Greece's tourism minister had been received by the regional president of Madrid Esperanza Aguirre.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos.

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