Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-12-21

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] CHRYSOCHOIDIS: NEW ARRESTS BUT WITHOUT PRESSURE

[02] EU EDUCATION MINISTERS TO MEET IN ATHENS

[03] EUROPEAN COURT: RELIGION NOT ON ID CARDS

[04] INVESTIGATIONS ON COUNTERFEIT CURRENCY IN THESSALONIKI

[05] MARATHON OF MEETINGS FOR SIMITIS

[06] DE SOTO IN ATHENS & ANKARA

[07] PAT COX ON CYPRUS' ACCESSION

[08] PAPANDREOU-MILLER MEETING

[09] GREEK DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER IN SCOPJE

[10] SIX OUT OF TEN UNSATISFIED WITH THE EURO

[11] GREEK INITIATIVES FOR SECURITY IN THE EU

[01] CHRYSOCHOIDIS: NEW ARRESTS BUT WITHOUT PRESSURE

New arrests in the terrorism case and the November 17 organization case, were essentially announced yesterday by Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrysochoidis, during the discussion of the budget, but without specifying when, and specifically stating: We do not operate under the pressure of arrest announcements.

The Minister characteristically said that the past has not yet been cleared up and that there are still certain individuals at large. He also added that the other organizations that were active are aspects with which we will deal with the same strategy and have specific results.

As far as when the arrests will take place, he underlined that the police have their own time schedule. The procedure to be followed will be collecting evidence and substantiating it, and will not move based on suspicions, whispers and weak evidence. Concerning N17, he said that that it has been eradicated since the leadership and most of the members have been arrested.

Finally, Mr. Chrysochoidis pointed out that terrorism is not over in Greece. It is over in the form that it has been known for 27 years, but it is naïve to believe that there will never again be such problems, as in all other countries.

Meanwhile, 5 members of the N17 terrorist group have begun a hunger strike. For the 12th consecutive day, Aggeliki Sotiropoulou has refused to eat the prison food in protest of the conditions she is being kept in.

Meanwhile, the three Xeros brothers and Thomas Serifis are beginning a 48-hour hunger strike, in solidarity to Aggeliki Sotiropoulou.

[02] EU EDUCATION MINISTERS TO MEET IN ATHENS

The meeting of the European Ministers of Education will be held in Athens on March 1-2, 2003, according to an announcement made by the Ministry of Education. The meeting was originally to be held in Ioannina, but the Ministry judged that the location had to be changed due to organizational reasons.

The announcement, issued due to the intention of the federation of university professors to hold an anti-meeting at the same time, stressed that the initiative on an anti-meeting is welcome, if it is being held to incite dialogue, especially when the essential goal, the strengthening of public character of Higher Education, is a central position of the Greek government and the political leaders of the Union.

[03] EUROPEAN COURT: RELIGION NOT ON ID CARDS

The indication of religion, even optionally, will be removed from identity cards, according to the ruling of the European Court for Human Rights, thus finally closing the judicial battle that had broken out in Greece.

The indication of religion is not useful to the identification of a person, and its optional recording may lead to discrimination against certain citizens, while it violates the right of religious freedom, pointed out the Court's ruling, which found the priests' and theologians' appeal to the Council of the State unacceptable to begin with.

According to today's edition of Ta Nea newspaper, the European Court unanimously ruled against every argument used by the Church of Greece in favor of recording religion on identity cards. The thinking behind the decision of the Eurojudges fully justifies the position of the Direction for the Protection of Personal Data, which enforced the removal of religion, as well as the Plenary Session of the Council of State, which found the removal completely legal and constitutional.

[04] INVESTIGATIONS ON COUNTERFEIT CURRENCY IN THESSALONIKI

The authorities in Northern Greece have been on alert over the past few days, due to the circulation of counterfeit bank notes and they have called for attention of bank representatives and civilians, as there is danger that new batches of counterfeit currency will be channeled into the market in view of the holidays.

[05] MARATHON OF MEETINGS FOR SIMITIS

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will be abroad for almost 50 days during the first 6 months of 2003, due to the needs of the Greek Presidency of the EU. The Greek Presidency will begin on January 9 in Athens, with a joint meeting of the Cabinet and the European Commission. At the same time, on 26/1 the European year for people with disabilities will be declared.

Among other things, the Prime Minister's schedule includes:

February: Heading the troika visit to the United States (27/2).

March: The Spring Summit Meeting will be held on March 21, in Brussels.

April: Mr. Simitis will preside at the EU-Africa Summit meeting in Lisbon on 5/4. April 16 will be a great moment, as the Accession Treaty of the 10 new member states of the EU among which is Cyprus will be signed.

May: The tour of the 25 capitals of the EU's member states will begin. On 31/5, Mr. Simitis will preside over the Summit Meeting between the EU and Russia in St. Petersburg.

June: The tour of capitals will continue and be concluded

On 20/6 the Thessaloniki Summit meeting will be held in Chalkidiki. At the end of June, Mr. Simitis will visit the US.

July: On July 1, the Prime Minister will inform the European Parliament of the results of the Greek Presidency.

[06] DE SOTO IN ATHENS & ANKARA

UN Secretary General Special Envoy on the Cyprus issue Alvaro De Soto, will visit Athens and Ankara on January 8, where he will have discussions with both countries' political leaders.

The visit is part of the effort to retain the diplomatic momentum surrounding the Cyprus issue, aiming at resolving it by February 28.

[07] PAT COX ON CYPRUS' ACCESSION

Cyprus will definitely sign an accession treaty, but it has not yet been clarified if it will concern de eure or de facto states, as we know them at present or based on the Annan proposal, stated President of the European Parliament Pat Cox, in an interview to Flash 96 radio.

Mr. Cox, who is visiting Athens, made it clear that the desire to have a reconciled Cyprus cannot be used as an additional requirement in order to keep Cyprus out of the enlarged Union.

[08] PAPANDREOU-MILLER MEETING

The Cyprus and Iraq issues were the main points of focus in the discussion between Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou and US Ambassador to Greece Thomas Miller.

Mr. Miller likened the efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue to a football match, stressing that it's not the score at half time that counts, but the final score.

When asked about the recent statements of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, Mr. Miller stressed that one should not personify politics and added that we must concentrate on the goal, which is resolving the Cyprus issue based on the Annan proposal.

[09] GREEK DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER IN SCOPJE

Deputy Minister of National Defense Loukas Apostolides met with the Minister of National Defense of FYROM, Lucas Buckovski, in Skopje. During their meeting they discussed the proposal for the cooperation of Turkey and Greece with FYROM and Albania (a 2+2 form of cooperation).

Mr. Apostolides then had consecutive meetings with his counterpart Rizva Suleimani, the President of the Parliamentary Committee of Defense and Security, Tito Petkovski, and the Vice President of the Government, Rudmila Sekerinska.

At the joint press conference held with his counterpart Mr. Suleimani, Mr. Apostolides referred to the good atmosphere of relations between Greece and FYROM, while he stressed that it is a strategic goal of Greece to consolidate peace, security and stability in the Balkans.

He also added that Greece will contribute to the accession of FYROM and the rest of the Western Balkan countries to the EU and NATO.

[10] SIX OUT OF TEN UNSATISFIED WITH THE EURO

Six out of ten Greeks are not satisfied with the Euro and would like to return to the drachma, despite the fact that 7 out of 10 have already become familiar with the European currency, according to a Eurobarometer poll.

The sentiments of the rest of Europe's residents are similar concerning the other 11 national currencies of European countries.

Also, based on the evidence of the said poll, 9 out of 10 Greeks are worried about the price increases due to the Euro.

[11] GREEK INITIATIVES FOR SECURITY IN THE EU

The Greek Presidency of the EU will undertake a number of initiatives for the creation of a free, secure and just area shared by the 25 member states of the common European region, stressed Minister of Justice Philippos Petsalnikos at the Council of Justice and Home Affairs, which convened in Brussels with the participation of Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrysochoidis.

The Council discussed the course of negotiations on the agreement plan between the EU and the US, concerning judicial cooperation in criminal cases and extradition.

On the issue of fighting racism and xenophobia, the Council made no decisions and its works will continue during the Greek Presidency. Regarding the application of the principle for mutual recognition of fines, a decision was made for the formation of a positive list of crimes based on the European arrest warrant, as well as for the possibility of suspending it for 5 years.

There was political agreement on the issue of the framework of fighting bribery in the private sector, while most delegations agreed that there should be a minimum on carrying out auction rulings in criminal cases.

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