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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-06-02Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, June 2, 1998TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] IONIAN BANK’S STAFF CONTINUE STRIKEAthens, June 2 (MPA)Although a Greek court ruled last week that the strike conducted by Ionian Bank’s disgruntled staff is illegal and has barred its resumption, the undaunted employees are determined to press on with their protest to the privatization of the bank, continuing the strike today and tomorrow. The Athens-based First Circuit Court ordered workers at state-controlled Ionian Bank to end the strike they have held since May 11.Today, officials of Ionian's staff association, the Federation of Greek Bank Employees' Unions, and the General Confederation of Greek Labor are to meet in order to discuss the government’s dialogue proposal. In its ruling, the Court said union leaders would be fined GRD400,000 (about $1,200) on a daily basis if the order was ignored. As for the employees, under Greek law, staff members failing to return to work after such a ruling also face the possibility of dismissal. In its reasoning, the Court held that the striking Ionian workers have essentially barred thousands of customers from having access to their savings accounts, since there isn’t even a skeleton staff on duty to serve them.[02] GOVERNMENT IS ADAMANT ON SELLING IONIAN BANK, SAYS REPPASAthens, June 2 (MPA)Government spokesperson Dimitris Reppas stated yesterday that the government’s decision to sell Ionian Bank will be adhered to. “The decision has been made. The timetable has been decided,'' Mr. Reppas stated, following a four-hour meeting between the cabinet and the socialist PASOK party's leadership. Mr. Reppas noted that the government would unwaveringly implement and defend the policy it had announced. He added that the inner Cabinet meeting had confirmed the government's unanimous decision to sell Ionian's majority stake, exactly as announced on April 30. "The procedure to be followed will be of a competitive nature through the Athens Stock Exchange," he confirmed, adding that the general shareholders' meeting of Ionian's parent company, Commercial Bank, would take place on June 19 to approve the sale. The government is resolved to apply any lawful means to implement this decision, he said, and called on Ionian's employees to assume their responsibilities. "The government's aim is for this affair to end without victors and vanquished," he declared.[03] NATIONAL ECONOMY AND FINANCE MINISTER ON IONIAN BANK’S SALEAthens, June 2 (MPA)National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou has also stressed the government’s resolve to sell the Ionian Bank, in spite of the employees’ reactions. ``The unofficial meeting between PASOK's general secretariat and the cabinet reaffirmed unanimously the decision to privatize Ionian Bank at the agreed time schedule,'' Mr. Papantoniou told a news conference yesterday. Mr. Papantoniou said that the meeting restated the government's decision to sell a majority stake in the bank and that terms of the sale would be submitted for approval to the board of Commercial Bank of Greece, Ionian's main shareholder, on June 19.Mr. Papantoniou urged striking Ionian Bank employees and union federation leaders to hold a dialogue on safeguarding jobs after the bank's sale. He stressed that there was abuse of the right to strike, and pointed out that in every demonstration the same nucleus of protesters had been identified. [04] THESSALONIKI TO HOST TRANSPORTATION CONFERENCEThessaloniki, June 2 (MPA)Thessaloniki is to host the Conference of Multimodal Transport and Transit Trade in Southeast Europe from June 4-6, an event organized by HELEXPO, the organizer of the Thessaloniki International Fair, in cooperation with the Department of Communications Technology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The event is to address legal and administrative issues pertaining to difficulties encountered in crossing borders, methods and practices associated with multimodal transport in light of new technology and the use of logistics, multimodal transport corridors and infrastructure (terminals and junctions), networks, services and international cooperation. Among those participating in the conference will be senior officials and representatives of European Union directorates, the ministries of transport and communications, of environment, town planning and public works, of finance, of merchant marine, universities, cultural foundations of Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and other countries and transport organizations.[05] THESSALONIKI’S SEISMOLOGY CENTER RECORDS AFGHANISTAN QUAKEThessaloniki, June 2 (MPA)The earthquake that occurred on Sunday in Afghanistan and which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale was clearly recorded by the Thessaloniki Aristotle University geophysics lab as registering 6.9 on the Richter scale. According to University seismologist, Vassilis Karakostas, Afghanistan "belongs to the Eurasian seismic zone, which starts from Gibraltar, runs through Greece, India and Afghanistan, and ends in Indochina". He further explained that this zone had its strongest seismic activity in Greece, namely, the island of Kephalonia.[06] GREECE’S AND ITALY’S CULTURE MINISTERS CALL FOR COOPERATIONAthens, June 2 (MPA)Greece’s Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his Italian counterpart Walter Veltroni urged European countries to strengthen their ties in the movie-making sector in order to challenge Hollywood’s monopoly on the entertainment industry. ``Everybody must realize that Europe is not only (about a single) currency but a continent with strong cultural links, able to create an industry to rival that of America's,'' Mr. Veltroni said. Mr. Venizelos said both Greece and Italy, having both won the two top awards at this year’s Cannes film festival, have agreed on several joint projects to boost cooperation. Mr. Vetroni said the European Union had recently agreed to host a European version of the Oscar awards, to be broadcast across the continent, in an effort to strengthen European cinema.[07] ALBANIA: CONFLICT IN KOSSOVO COULD LEAD TO WAR, UN RUSHES TO RELIEFTirana, June 2 (MPA)Albania has issued an appeal to the international community to intervene in order to end the “cleansing” that Serbia has embarked upon in Kossovo. Moreover, the Albanian government warned that he conflict would escalate to a full blown war. According to Albanian press reports, 2,000 persons from Kossovo have sought refuge during the last two days in northern Albania. Serious fighting erupted in Kossovo over the weekend, causing people to flee into Albania, United Nations Spokesman Fred Eckhard said yesterday. According to preliminary reports from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 1,300 people fled into Tropoje, in northern Albania in the largest such exodus to date, Mr. Eckhard said. The UNHCR does not know how many people have been displaced in the latest fighting, but there are reports some are trapped and cannot cross the border. There was heavy and indiscriminate shelling in two villages alongside the border with Albania, he continued. Workers in the hills could see 120 millimeter mortars being fired into the villages. The UNHCR and other UN agencies are rushing relief supplies into the area.[08] KOSSOVO’S RUGOVA AT UN HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORKUnited Nations, June 2 (MPA)At a press conference given at the United Nations Headquarters in New York yesterday, the President of Kossovo’s Albanian community, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, described the situation as very dangerous and said Serb police and military action had left many people dead. Massive ethnic cleansing was quite possible in Kossovo, although Albanians make up 90 per cent of the population, he said. He urged the international community to do more to end the massacres. Independence for Kossovo was the best political solution and would bring stability to the whole region, including Albania and FYROM and would also help the Serbs as well, he added. Moreover, Dr. Rugova said he had urged UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan to provide more support for Kossovo and to initiate preventive measures, including the establishment of a human rights monitoring office. He had also urged support for a United States initiative to start talks between Prishtina and Belgrade. However, he stressed, police and military action must stop, for any talks to succeed. At a meeting with United States President Bill Clinton, Dr. Rugova said he also called for some kind of international civil administration as an interim measure.[09] GREECE ASKS FOR EXPLANATIONS FROM UK ON ITS “WAR SCENARIA”Athens, June 2 (MPA)An article published in the British newspaper “Sunday Times”, which wrote of a “hot incident” taking place in Cyprus if the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles are installed in Cyprus and the airlift prepared by the British government for the emergency evacuation of British tourists and pensioners in case of war in the island, has provoked the reaction of the Greek government.The Greek ambassador to London Vassilis Zafeiropoulos has lodged a protest to the Foreign Office over the report.. Mr. Zafeiropoulos stressed to Foreign Office officials that such articles created serious negative repercussions for the tourism of both Greece and Cyprus and should not be used as a means of exerting pressure to secure the cancellation of the missiles' installation. A British Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that the government was not involved in the article’s publication. British defense ministry and foreign office representatives questioned the credibility of the reporter who wrote the article. A Foreign Office representative was quoted as saying that the article had also damaged British foreign policy. [10] OLYMPIC AIRWAYS PILOTS REFUSE TO WORK OVERTIMEAthens, June 2 (MPA)In a violation of their recent agreement with Olympic Airways management, the national air carrier’s pilots are refusing to work overtime.They are protesting the elimination of various routes, such as Dubai -Bangkok, as well as the administration’s decision to hire 45 pilots, as opposed to the 75 requested by the Pilots’ Union. [11] AIR FRANCE PILOTS ON STRIKE, WORLD CUP OPERATION THREATENEDParis, June 2 (MPA)A strike threatened by the pilots of the French national carrier Air France could undermine the smooth operation of the world cup soccer tournament Mudial. The pilots are protesting an offer to exchange 15 percent of salary for stock in the airline since, they say, this amounts to a loss of two months' salary a year. Air France has canceled its flights through Thursday, but the pilots' union strike notice is for two weeks -- in other words, for five days after the world cup soccer tournament opens next week, June 10 to July 12, and it is renewable. As such, Air France, which has painted its aircraft with huge figures of soccer players from all of Mudial’s 32 participating nations, faces the prospect of seeing its fleet grounded throughout the world cup festival. According to statistical data, Air France pilots are among the best-paid pilots in Europe, their average salary being just over 120 thousand dollars a year. In light of the strike, Air France management has promised to use non-striking crews to bring world cup teams into France, although it says that it cannot guarantee the transport of the thousands of fans, whom they may be able to accommodate with the French state railroad’s 200 extra high-speed train routes on a daily basis.[12] COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S ENVIRONMENT COM/TEE TO MEET IN GREECEAthens, June 2 (MPA)The Committee of Environment, City Planning and Local Administration of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary Assembly is typo convene on Thursday, June 4, at the island of Lesbos, in order to examine environmental issues concerning the Mediterranean region. The three-day conference is to feature the participation of deputies from 40 countries and a number of studies will be presented on the Mediterranean basin, the Aegean, waste management and sea pollution.Among those to salute the conference are the Minister of the Aegean Elisabeth Papazoi, the undersecretary of Environment, City Planning and Public Works Th. Koliopanos and the vice-president of the Hellenic Parliament P. Sgourides. [13] GREEK COMPANY UNDERTAKES ROAD PROJECT IN ROMANIAAthens, June 2 (MPA)A five-billion -drachma project in Romania has been undertaken by Greece’s “Proodevtiki” which will oversee a consortium of Greek technical companies building roads in the Romanian city Kluz.The project concerns the repair and expansion of a road axis whose length measures 32 kilometers and will be funded buy the European Bank of Investments. It was granted to the Greek company following an international bidding process . [14] LONDON’S MAYOR IN THESSALONIKI ON THURSDAYThessaloniki, June 2 (MPA)London’s preparation for the arrival of the European Union’s common currency, the Euro, is to be the topic of a speech to be delivered by the British capital’s mayor Alderman Richard Nickols, during his visit to Thessaloniki.The British mayor is to visit Thessaloniki on the invitation of the Hellenic-British Chamber of Commerce whose office in northern Greece will host a dinner on his honor. The event will be held on Thursday evening. Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at http://www.hri.org/MPA/Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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