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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 98-10-14
BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY
Thessaloniki, October 14, 1998
TITLES
[01] SECOND ROUND OF LOCAL ELECTIONS TO BE HELD THIS SUNDAY
[02] 1999 BUDGET FINALIZED TODAY BY GOVERNMENT
[03] PACKAGE OF MEASURES TAKEN FOR KOSSOVO
[04] NATO’S “DYNAMIC MIX ’98 ENDS IN NORTHERN GREECE
[05] AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR TO ARRIVE IN ATHENS TOMORROW
[06] ATHENS-HELD CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS COMPUTER MILLENNIUM BUG
[07] GREEK GOVERNMENT SALUTES HOLBROOKE-MILOSEVIC AGREEMENT
[08] GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER AT EUROPEAN SOCIALIST PARTY’S
PRESIDIUM
[09] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH VARTHOLOMEOS VISITS AUSCHWITZ IN POLAND
[10] MILOSEVIC AND HOLBROOKE REACH AGREEMENT OVER KOSSOVO
[11] UN SECRETARY-GENERAL PLEASED WITH HOLBROOKE-MILOSEVIC DEAL
NEWS IN DETAIL
[01] SECOND ROUND OF LOCAL ELECTIONS TO BE HELD THIS SUNDAY
Thessaloniki, October 14 (MPA)
Government officials are getting ready for the second round of
municipal and county elections to be held this weekend.
While the current in New Democracy remained high, due to the fact
that its candidates have the lead in most municipalities,
supporters of the ruling PASOK party are standing by their policy,
amid comments that the message from voters was received.
Democratic Movement leader Dimitris Tsovolas called his supporters
to vote by conscience. He said, "We should vote under the criteria
of the candidate's reliability and of whether their programs are
progressive or not".
In Thessaloniki, New Democracy-backed Vassilis Papageorgopoulos
won 44.3 per cent of the vote, compared to the 31.3 per cent
pulled in by PASOK's Thrasivoulos Lazarides. That gives
Papageorgopoulos reason to hope for victory in the run off against
Lazarides. The 15 per cent of voters who chose the Left and
Progress Coalition candidate Spyros Vougias in last Sunday's race
will be crucial in determining the outcome of the run off.
[02] 1999 BUDGET FINALIZED TODAY BY GOVERNMENT
Athens, October 14 (MPA)
The government’s finance and economy staff are to finalize
the state budget for 1999, in a conference headed by National
Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou.
Mr. Papantoniou announced yesterday that the government will
press on with its austerity program, stressing that the results
oft he local elections are not to affect the state’s policy.
According to reports, the state is looking to reduce the
Value Added Tax on the electricity bills by 10%. Moreover, the
government plans to reduce indirect taxes on cigarettes and
alcoholic beverages.
[03] PACKAGE OF MEASURES TAKEN FOR KOSSOVO
Belgrade, October 14 (MPA)
Belgrade has announced that it will adopt a package of
measures that will lead to a solution to the political crisis in
Kossovo.
Serb President Slobodan Milosevic is expected to soon sign
agreements with both NATO and the OSCE which will allow
international missions into Kossovo.
[04] NATO’S “DYNAMIC MIX ’98 ENDS IN NORTHERN GREECE
Thessaloniki, October 14 (MPA)
NATO’S military exercise "Dynamic Mix 1998" ended yesterday in
northern Greece with the participation of the Alliance's members
in Greece, Italy and Turkey simultaneously.
. Konstantinos Panagiotakis, commander of the First Army, said
that yesterday’s "NATO exercise aim was to keep and impose peace
in a certain region, to support peacekeeping efforts". The plan of
the exercise was to defend refugee camps
[05] AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR TO ARRIVE IN ATHENS TOMORROW
Vienna, October 14 (MPA)
Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima is expected to arrive on an
official visit to Athens tomorrow, as part of a tour of all
European Union capitals.
Mr. Klima, who will be received by Greek Premier Kostas Simitis,
currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.
[06] ATHENS-HELD CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS COMPUTER MILLENNIUM BUG
Athens, October 14 (MPA)
The Greek Management Association, in cooperation with the
European Council of Management, is to host a two-day conference
beginning tomorrow concerning the various ways to address the
computer millennium bug in the year 2000.
Minister of the Interior Alekos Papadopoulos and the managing
director of Commercial Bank of Greece, George Michelis are to
address the event, which will be held this Thursday and Friday,
October 15-16, and which will be inaugurated by the British
Ambassador to Athens Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith.
The conference will present solutions to the millennium bug
applied by international corporations in sectors including
industry and services.
The bug will cause many computers to fail by reading the date 2000
as 1900 because computer software programmers have abbreviated
each year to the two final digits in order to save computer
memory.
The conference is being held under the aegis of the British
Embassy in Athens.
[07] GREEK GOVERNMENT SALUTES HOLBROOKE-MILOSEVIC AGREEMENT
Athens, October 14 (MPA)
The Greek government has saluted the agreement reached yesterday
between Serb President Slobodan Milosevic and US presidential
envoy Richard Holbrooke concerning in Kossovo
Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas stated that the agreement
was welcomed with a sense of relief, which, as seen by the
statement issued at the end of the Antalya summit, is shared by
all the countries of the region.
“Greece hails the agreement reached by Messrs. Holbrooke and
Milosevic for ending the crisis in Kossovo. In this framework, it
calls on the Kosovar leadership under Mr. (Ibrahim) Rugova to
proceed to the process of peace-making, and on UCK to now show the
courage required by peace," he said in a statement.
Moreover, he added that "Greece congratulates the architects of
the agreement, President Milosevic and Mr. Holbrooke. It draws,
however, attention to how near the danger of the conflagration
drew and how all margins for negotiation had to be exhausted.
"The Greek side will make all efforts for the peace process to
succeed. As in the past, Greece will participate with men and
means in the organs that will be set up, particularly in the
"Compliance Verifying Mission" of the OSCE, which constitutes the
catalytic expression of Prime Minister Kostas Simitis' initiative
last June.
"Greece believes in the favorable outcome of this process, which
also constitutes an indisputable vindication of its Balkan policy,
and calls on its friends and partners in Europe and the
neighboring region to join forces in this great task," Mr. Reppas
concluded.
[08] GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER AT EUROPEAN SOCIALIST PARTY’S
PRESIDIUM
Brussels, October 14 (MPA)
Greece’s Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos and deputy
Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis participated in the European
Socialist Party's (ESP) presidium meeting held in Brussels
yesterday.
The participants examined the prospects for European socialists in
light of June’s European Parliament elections.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Tsochatzopoulos said that after a
briefing by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on the agreement
reached between US mediator Richard Holbrooke and Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic, the Presidium dealt with the
proclamation of the European socialists.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos said that the target of yesterday's discussion
was the adjustment of European socialists to new factors and
exceeding traditional structures and formations existing in the
past. He said that the present dialogue showed that there are
strong views by several representatives of socialist parties,
including Greece, who want a traditional depositing of the
principles and values of the socialist movement in Europe.
[09] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH VARTHOLOMEOS VISITS AUSCHWITZ IN POLAND
Warsaw, October 14 (MPA)
Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos visited the WWII Auschwitz-
Birkenau concentration camps yesterday as part of his visit to
Poland.
The Patriarch stated that Nazism was a "foul religion that
penetrates the brain of some people".
On Sunday the Patriarch held a joint mass with Polish Catholic
clergy in Warsaw, while he later awarded Orthodoxy's highest
distinction to Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Prime
Minister Jerzy Bouzek.
[10] MILOSEVIC AND HOLBROOKE REACH AGREEMENT OVER KOSSOVO
Belgrade, October 14 (MPA)
United States Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke and Serb President
Slobodan Milosevic have reached an agreement that could lead to an
end of the Kossovo crisis.
Specifically, as per the agreement, Mr. Milosevic must take four
steps: withdraw special troops from Kossovo, sign an agreement on
the verification mission, sign an agreement on airborne
reconnaissance over Kosovo and hammer out a ``framework
agreement'' by November 9 outlining
future talks with ethnic Albanians.
Mr. Holbrooke confirmed that Belgrade is willing to allow the
2,000-strong verification mission by the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe.
The force will be supported by non-combat aircraft carrying out
aerial surveillance over the Serb province.
Mr. Holbrooke said the OSCE mission will have freedom of movement
and has been given guarantees of security by Belgrade. He added
that NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana is expected to fly to
Yugoslavia in the next few days.
Mr. Holbrooke said he hoped the deal would lead the way to
"autonomy and self-determination" for the people of Kosovo.
But he also warned: "We're not out of the emergency
yet. We're still in it."
President Milosevic told the nation in a television address that
the accord removed the threat of military intervention. He added
that “the agreements ... are entirely in accordance with the
interests of our country,'' and cited`` enormous pressures that
we have been exposed to.''
[11] UN SECRETARY-GENERAL PLEASED WITH HOLBROOKE-MILOSEVIC DEAL
New York, October 14 (MPA)
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has stated that
he warmly welcomes the news of a breakthrough in efforts to end
the Kosovo crisis.
"It is of paramount importance that both sides in Kossovo honor
their commitments and fully comply with the provisions of Security
Council resolutions 1160 and 1199," Mr. Annan said in a statement,
adding that he intends to send a mission to the region in the
coming days in response to a request from the Security Council.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
the leading humanitarian agency on the ground in Kossovo, welcomed
the report of the agreement and said it hopes that the reported
agreement will contribute rapidly to reducing the level of fear
which is impeding so many displaced persons from returning to
their homes.
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