|
|
|
Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2000-04-06
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, April 6, 2000
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] PM VOWS TO RAISE WAGES, DURING CAMPAIGN ADDRESS
[02] MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER ADDRESSES PARTY SUPPORTERS
[03] FIRE RAVAGES SAMOS ISLAND, ARSON SUSPECTED
[04] EU TRADE COMMISSIONER SPEAKS TO MPA
[05] ELECTORAL SYSTEM: PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
[06] ELECTIONS: MOMENT OF TRUTH APPROACHES
[07] GREEK WOMAN BOMB EXPERT FIRST IN EUROPE
[08] THESSALONIKI'S JEWISH COMMUNITY DENOUNCES THE GERMAN
PRESIDENT'S BEHAVIOR
[09] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS WILL VISIT ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
[10] MARGINAL LOSSES OF 0.03% IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[11] THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WILL TRAVEL TO THEIR PLACES OF ORIGIN TO
VOTE ON SUNDAY'S ELECTIONS
[12] THE ILLEGAL TRADE OF IVORY AND FUR ACCUSATIONS AGAINST GREECE
ARE UNFOUNDED
[13] THE WORLD ECONOMY WILL HAVE A GROWTH RATE OF 4% IN THE
CURRENT YEAR
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] ANOTHER GREEK-AMERICAN WINS SENATE PRIMARY
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] PM VOWS TO RAISE WAGES, DURING CAMPAIGN ADDRESS
Prime Minister and ruling PASOK party leader Costas Simitis
guaranteed wage rises considerably above inflation and vowed that
the next four-year term will focus on a "welfare state", during an
election campaign rally in the city of Kozani, western Macedonia,
yesterday evening.
Lashing against the main opposition party of New Democracy
and its leader Costas Karamanlis, Mr. Simitis reminded the crowd
that during N.D.'s three-year tenure (1990-93) in power 2,000
people had lost their jobs in the area, but were reinstated by the
succeeding PASOK government.
With Sunday's parliamentary elections fast approaching, M.
Simitis is to go on-line today where he will field questions from
the general public.
[02] MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER ADDRESSES PARTY SUPPORTERS
With Sunday's parliamentary elections rapidly closing in,
main opposition leader, New Democracy's Costas Karamanlis, is to
address his party's final pre-election campaign in Athens today.
During a visit at his party's main election booth in the
capital's central square yesterday, Mr. Karamanlis addressed party
supporters and stated that ND overcomes the dividing political
lines of the past and is open to all Greeks, regardless of
political belief.
[03] FIRE RAVAGES SAMOS ISLAND, ARSON SUSPECTED
A state of emergency has been declared on Samos, where
blazing fires that broke out yesterday afternoon continue to sweep
throughout the island, turning thousands of acres to ash.
The Public Order Ministry's secretary-general is presently at
the island, along with the chief of the fire department, while the
Minister of National Defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos, also at Samos,
expressed his suspicion of arson.
[04] EU TRADE COMMISSIONER SPEAKS TO MPA
The application of electronic trade is the "key" to the
survival of small-to-medium enterprises in a unified Europe,
according to the European Union's Trade Commissioner Pascal Lemy.
In an interview with the Macedonian Press Agency, Mr. Lemy
stated that the SME's flexibility stemming from their size, can
work to their advantage when it comes to surviving the competition
with international powerhouses.
"The European Commission tries to assist the SMEs in gaining
access to funding and networks, so that they may maximize the
benefits that arise from their small size and flexible structure,"
he stated, pointing to electronic trade as one of the ways to
facilitate the SMEs.
Regarding the basic axes of the Commission's trade policy for
2000, Mr. Lamy stated that, to start with, emphasis will be given
to the start of a new round of negotiations over global trade
issues, concurrent with a series of regional and bilateral talks
with various countries, in order to resolve the hurdles that arise
from multilateral trade relations.
"Our aim is to embody trade in the European Union's
development policy," he said.
[05] ELECTORAL SYSTEM: PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
Greece's electoral system, providing the basis on which the
country's parliamentary elections of April 9, 2000, will take
place, is a system of reinforced proportional representation, in
consecutive distributions of seats.
There is a three-percent threshold for entering the 300-seat
parliament. At the end of three distributions of seats (see below)
a further "smoothing out" process is applied to ensure that each
party crossing the threshold has a minimum of 70% of the seats
corresponding to its percentage of the vote.
Of the parliament's total seats, 288 are allocated to
parties through the three consecutive distributions and the
smoothing out process. The 12 seats occupied by state deputies are
distributed directly to the parties, by the Simple Proportional
System, in which the entire country is regarded as a single
constituency. In the Single Seat constituencies, the system is
practically "first-past-the-post". For the purpose of distribution
of seats the country is divided into:
A. First Distribution: Fifty-six electoral regions where the
eligibility rate is calculated by the so-called "plus one" system
(dividing 100% by N+1, where N is the number of the seats in each
region, rather than dividing 100% by N.)
B. Second Distribution: Thirteen major regions for the seats
not yet allocated in the first distribution process.
C. Third Distribution: A single nationwide region for the rest
of the seats not yet allocated. The winning party is practically
certain to secure absolute majority of seats in Parliament, even
with a slight lead over the second party. It may fall just short
of absolute majority if several factors combine, for example: if
first and second parties fall below 40% and within less that 0,5%
of each other; third party exceeds 10% of vote nationwide, and at
least four smaller parties secure over 3% each.
[06] ELECTIONS: MOMENT OF TRUTH APPROACHES
Greece's 8.5 million registered voters go to the polls on
Sunday to elect a new government, with the ruling Socialists
(PASOK) running neck and neck with conservative New Democracy as
both battle to sway undecided voters.
Prime Minister and PASOK party leader Costas Simitis is
confident of a socialist victory, while Costas Karamanlis, New
Democracy leader is also certain that his party will emerge the
winner.
With political parties wrapping up their campaign tomorrow,
these national elections appears to have no clear favorite.
With universal suffrage at age 18 and compulsory, elections
in Greece are held officially every four years. Polls are to open
at sunrise and close at sunset.
[07] GREEK WOMAN BOMB EXPERT FIRST IN EUROPE
She's young, smart, capable and beautiful, and a mother of
two to boot, yet what she does for a living would make most men
run scared.
Penelope Nafti is a bomb expert, a 12-year member of the
Attica Police Headquarters' Bomb Squad and Europe's only woman to
hold such a hazardous post, with the exception of England's army
which also has female bomb experts.
Ms. Nafti, a bomb location and diffusion expert, has been
decorated by the Italian police for her assistance in the arrest
of a suspect.
[08] THESSALONIKI'S JEWISH COMMUNITY DENOUNCES THE GERMAN
PRESIDENT'S BEHAVIOR
Thessaloniki's Jewish Community feels deeply insulted by
German president Johannes Rau's failure to lay a wreath at the
Holocaust Monument during his visit to Thessaloniki yesterday.
Jewish Community president Andreas Sefiha will communicate the
fact to the American Jewish Community which has invited Mr. Rau to
be one of the main speakers in its annual meeting organized to
take place in Washington in May. Mr. Sefiha will also raise the
issue in the American Jewish Community meeting which he will
attend himself.
Mr. Sefiha in a press conference he gave today wondered if
Mr. Rau's omission has offered the moral framework needed by the
new generation of Germans who have a special interest to be oppose
to any form of hatred, bigotry, human rights violations, barbarity
and war.
Mr. Sefiha expressed his deep regret because Mr. Rau did not
think that it is a moral obligation to honor the 50.000 Jews of
Thessaloniki, making up 1/5 of the city's population before WWII,
who were the victims of Nazi atrocities. He said that the least
Mr. Rau could do would have been to lay a wreath at the monument
for those innocent victims but instead he did not feel the need
even for a verbal expression of regret.
The president of Thessaloniki's Jewish Community also
stressed that he regards as hypocritical the apology given by
German officials for the Jewish Holocaust, adding that apologies
from now on will be regarded as hypocritical and not acceptable,
stressing that the issue is purely ethical.
To the question on the war reparations requested by Greece
for the Nazi victims, Mr. Sefiha stated that the issue is not the
reparations themselves, adding that if they want to pay
reparations to feel better they can do it. He said that himself
could never ask for compensation, stressing that he regards as
unethical to change into money the deaths of Thessaloniki's 50.000
Jews. However, Mr. Sefiha believes that it is an obligation for
the remaining Jews in Thessaloniki to demand the return of the
ransoms they paid to the Germans during the Nazi occupation of
Greece in order to save their relatives from forced labor. It
should be reminded that the Germans had asked for 50 million DM
from the Jews to exempt them from forced labor and they managed to
get 40 million.
Finally, the president of Thessaloniki's Jewish Community
announced that last November there was a secret operation for the
rescue of 78 Jews from Dagestan with the help of Norwegians and in
honor of Thessaloniki's Jewish Community the operation was named
Freedom Flight Thessaloniki. The Jews from Dagestan were taken to
Israel and later followed more rescue operations.
[09] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS WILL VISIT ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
Greek president Kostis Stephanopoulos will be on a formal
visit to Israel and Palestine on May 14-18.
Mr. Stephanopoulos will have contacts with the state and
political leadership of Israel and Palestine, where he is
scheduled to meet with president Yasser Arafat.
[10] MARGINAL LOSSES OF 0.03% IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
The Athens Stock Exchange had marginal losses of 0.03% today
and the general index was at 4.811,62 points. However, the volume
of transactions was increased compared to yesterday at 157 billion
drachmas.
According to most analysts, today's picture, that was
characterized by slight fluctuations in the general index and a
small purchase interest, will be repeated in tomorrow's session as
well, the last one before Sunday's parliamentary elections.
Also, most of the analysts believe that the market will show
an impressive recovery in the first weeks of summer when foreign
institutional investors are expected to return to the Athens Stock
Exchange.
[11] THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WILL TRAVEL TO THEIR PLACES OF ORIGIN TO
VOTE ON SUNDAY'S ELECTIONS
Hundreds of thousands of people will travel to their places
of origin to vote on Sunday's parliamentary elections.
According to the Athens newspaper "TO ETHNOS", the governing
socialist party of PASOK voters, who will have to travel to their
places of origin are estimated at 300.000, while the right-wing
opposition party of New Democracy also raises the number of its
own voters that belong to this category at the same level. In a
total of 1.250.000 voters that will have to move to different
parts of the country to vote the two major parties have undertaken
to cover the traveling expenses of half of them.
The number of PASOK voters that will travel by car increased
by 100% compared to 1996. PASOK has reserved all the air tickets
it is entitled to and four ships have been chartered to take its
voters to the islands of Limnos, Chios, Mitilini and Crete. From
its side, New Democracy has chartered one ship for the island of
Chios and is now looking for more ships.
Regarding the voters who live abroad, it was made known that
they will come from 25 countries mainly, from Cyprus and the big
European countries.
In an extensive analysis the newspaper "TO ETHNOS", presented
84 scenarios on the April 9 election result, pointing out that
even with a 0.01% lead, which is translated into just 1.700 votes,
a party can form an independent government.
The newspaper "TO ETHNOS" considered 84 scenarios that are
based on the electoral law, according to which the distance
between the two parties ranges between 0.10% and 3.50%. Statistics
specialists have conducted research according to which, the
election winner can secure the absolute majority of the seats in
parliament with a marginal lead of just 0.01%.
The distance between the two main rival parties can be small
but when translated into parliamentary seats the distance between
them becomes considerable. According to the newspaper, if one
party has a lead of 0.10% secures over 151 seats and can have 38
deputies more compared to the second party in parliament.
[12] THE ILLEGAL TRADE OF IVORY AND FUR ACCUSATIONS AGAINST GREECE
ARE UNFOUNDED
The accusations concerning the alleged illegal trade of ivory
and fur through Greece were characterized as unfounded by Greek
agriculture ministry forest department director Neoklitos
Georgiadis responsible for the implementation of the United
Nations CITEF agreement with Greece.
Speaking to MPA, Mr. Georgiadis stated that special interests
and expediencies are behind the accusations included in a British
"Royal Society for the protection of animals" report which
characterizes Greece as one of the main gates for the illegal
trade of ivory and fur which are protected by international
agreements.
Mr. Georgiadis stated that the report issued by the British
organization is malicious and the fact that it was issued just
before the CITEF members conference scheduled to take place in
Nairobi on April 10-20 is not accidental, adding that "many games
are being played and many different interests are at stake".
[13] THE WORLD ECONOMY WILL HAVE A GROWTH RATE OF 4% IN THE
CURRENT YEAR
The world economy will have a growth rate of 4% in the
current year, according to the International Monetary Fund, IMF,
in its biannual report that will be published next week.
The IMF is concerned over the course of the Japanese economy
that is unable to move ahead in spite of the efforts that are
being made.
However, IMF director Stanley Fisher said that the existing
favorable preconditions in the world economy constitute a good
basis for the promotion of the necessary reforms, adding that new
specifications must be in effect for the granting of loans as many
cases of credit misuse have been recorded as for example, in the
case of Russia.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[14] ANOTHER GREEK-AMERICAN WINS SENATE PRIMARY
Following the trail of US senators Paul Sarbanis and Olympia
Snowe, another Greek-American, Ron Klink (D-Pennylvania) has won
his state's senate primary, ready to challenge the re-election of
Republican Senator Rick Santorum.
The 48-year-old Klink, whose roots are from the Dodekanese
cluster of islands, easily won the statewide race among six
candidates, receiving 43 percent of the votes.
|
