Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-03-06

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Opposition leaders meet Cyprus President

[01] Opposition leaders meet Cyprus President

Speaking to the press afterwards, Papndreou said he wished President Christofias success in his new duties, adding that the latter would have his support as leader of PASOK and also as Socialist International (SI) president "in the struggle for a just solution of the Cyprus problem."

The PASOK leader said that the Annan plan "is part of history; new opportunities and new challenges are opening on the basis of the European Union acquis communautaire, given the fact that Cyprus is an EU member-state."

"Of course, for the prospects of a solution, Turkey's will is necessary, as the Cyprus issue is a problem of occupation of one member-state of the EU by a candidate country," Papandreou added.

On April 24 2004, 76% of the Greek Cypriot side rejected the Annan plan for a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem, while the 65% of the Turkish Cypriot community endorsed it.

KKE SG Papariga

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Aleka Papariga met on Wednesday afternoon with President Demetris Christofias for talks on the Cyprus issue.

"We considered it our obligation to remind President Christofias, whom we any way know for a long time, that he can count on KKE's support to the people of Cyprus and its president for a just solution of the Cyprus problem," Papariga told reporters after the meeting.

Papariga, who was heading a party delegation, noted "we are on the same wave lengths and we share the same positions with the President of Cyprus, but a Cyprus solution does not only depend on the correct stance of the Cyprus presidency."

The KKE SG also said that she discussed with President Christofias developments in the Balkans, especially the repercussions of the "creation of the protectorate in Kosovo".

Papariga expressed her party's opposition to Greece's participation in multinational military forces deployed in the region, underlining that the government should "state its opposition to Kosovo's independence and not to offer its position as an "exchange" in the dispute over the name of FYROM."

SYRIZA leader Alavanos

Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alekos Alavanos met with President Christofias on Wednesday afternoon.

"We wished to the president success in his task for the resumption of talks on the Cyprus issue and its solution on the basis of United Nations resolutions and the agreed opinion of the two communities," Alavanos told the press afterwards.

"The Cyprus issue is the great issue of Greek foreign policy. We do not speak of a name. We speak of an island occupied by foreign troops. Demetris Christofias' presidency creates new optimism and new possibilities of mobility," Alavanos concluded.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article