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Stratos Safioleas

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Mar 21, 1994, 8:48:21 AM3/21/94

Kai to epomevo meros apo tnv epilogn tou filou.

Stratos kai Kurstratos
Di kai Ci

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

Epilogh ar0rwn kai thlegrafhmatwn sxetikwn me thn Ellada, apo 3ena
praktoreia kai entypa.

March 17, 1994

SECTION: THE GUARDIAN FEATURES PAGE; Pg. 25

LENGTH: 1134 words

HEADLINE: LETTER: A FITTING HONOUR FOR MERCOURI

BYLINE: FRANCESCA ANNIS, GILLIAN BARGE, BRENDA BLETHYN, KATE BUFFERY, JULIE
CHRISTIE, STEPHANIE COLE, CHARLOTTE CORNWELL, SINEAD

BODY:
AS actresses we write to express our sadness at the death of Melina
Mercouri, and to salute her outstanding work in film and theatre, as well as her
life-long commitment to the welfare of the people of her beloved country,
Greece.

Her fighting spirit was an inspiration during the Fascist junta which ruled
Greece from 1967 to 1974 and her subsequent life in Greek politics was full of
energy and conviction.

As Greek Minister of Culture she was a true internationalist, celebrating
and encouraging cultural life within her own national boundaries at the same
time as displaying a firm belief in the European Union, echoed in her being
foremost in the establishment of European Cities of Culture. We endorse the
motion signed by 47 MPs last week which mourns her death, and call on the
British Government to take this opportunity to move the Parthenon Marbles from
the British Museum and return them to Athens where they belong. Ms Mercouri
fought long and hard for this and, in a time when people are decrying the
break-up and sale to the West of art treasures from the former Soviet Union, it
would be the honourable thing to do.

The rest of Europe is incalculably indebted to Greece politically and
culturally and the marbles should go home.

Francesca Annis.

Gillian Barge.

Brenda Blethyn.

Kate Buffery.

Julie Christie.

Stephanie Cole.

Charlotte Cornwell.

Sinead Cusack.

Dame Judi Dench.

Frances De La Tour.

Deborah Findlay.

Susan Fleetwood.

Annie Hayes.

Katherine Hunter.

Sue Johnstone.

Miriam Karlin.

Phyllida Law.

Jacquetta May.

Lesley Manville.

Julia McKenzie.

Pauline Melville.

Ann Mitchell.

Tessa Peake-Jones.

Imelda Staunton.

Maggie Steed.

Juliet Stevenson.

Emma Thompson.

Susan Wooldridge.

Marjorie Jates.

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March 19, 1994, Saturday, BC cycle

LENGTH: 241 words

HEADLINE: MODERN ART WORTH $500,000 STOLEN FROM ATHENS MUSEUM

DATELINE: ATHENS, March 19

BODY:
Modern art works by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and others, estimated as worth
more than $500,000, have been stolen from an Athens museum, police said on
Saturday.

The 38 lithographs and prints by some of the world's most distinguished
painters and sculptors belonged to a private collection on display at the
Goulandris-Horn Foundation since February 7.

Prints by Spanish painter Joan Miro, French painter Fernand Leger and Italian
sculptor Alberto Giacometti were among works missing from the Foundation.

Police said the theft took place between Thursday night and Friday morning,
when the Foundation's neoclassical building in the Plaka area under the
Acropolis was not guarded.

''The culprits climbed the back of the building to the first floor and broke
through to the exhibition hall. They knew what they were after and the building
was not guarded,'' Athens police chief Christos Keramidas told reporters.

All the works belonged to the private Teriade Gallery of Modern Art on the
island of Lesvos. They were insured for more than half a million dollars, but
police said they were unsure whether the policy covered theft outside their
permanent home.

Among the missing art works were 12 prints by Pablo Picasso from Verve
magazine in 1954, four 1947 stamps made by Henri Matisse for his ''Jazz''
series, four 1961 lithographs by Marc Chagall for a book, three 1958 lithographs
by Leger and a series of 1971 lithographs by Miro.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

TYPE: International news, analysis, profiles

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 20, 1994

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March 20, 1994, Sunday

SECTION: BOOKS; Pg. 11

LENGTH: 500 words

HEADLINE: Long way home John Colvin on the extraordinary story of a wandering
Greek

BYLINE: BY JOHN COLVIN

BODY:
In the Trail of Odysseus by Marianna Koromila tr by Nigel Clive Michael
Russell, L14.95 THIS modern-day "Odysseus" is Yiankos Danielopoulos, one of 12
Thracian children born in Vasiliko, a whitewashed Greek village of the Ottoman
Empire in 1899, and dying in Attica 88 years later. His life has been compiled
by Marianna Koromila from a privately printed family record that she acquired
from his daughter. It reflects the turmoil of that region in the 20th century.
Born under the Empire, Yiankos lived in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Turkey and
Greece, surviving two nationalities, seven homes and 13 professions, all imposed
by "the gale of the world". Bulgarian violence, Bolshevik revolution, civil war
and Communist take-over were his Eumenides. As a child, he "listened to the
rattle of the pebbles as they were washed up by the waves"; saw woods,
vineyards, wheat fields and boats unloading below his window on return from
fishing. The Thracian traders and shipowners, with relations in all the Black
Sea ports, he described as the seagulls which followed the fish. In winter,
wolves descended from the mountains, threatening the village. "Union is
strength," said Yiankos's father when the horses drove them off. The Great
Powers then changed lines on maps. Vasiliko came under the Bulgars, and life
became untenable. Yiankos and his brothers moved to Constanza in Romania and
opened a grocer's shop. An admiral's wife fell in love with one of the brothers.
The shop received the navy's warrant. Funds accumulated. Bulgaria then invaded
and the family fled to Galatz (also in Romania) with their assets - 50 cases of
macaroni. Yiankos dealt profitably in foreign exchange; money was made. But
Galatz became an impossible place, what with bombing and Cossacks shooting holes
in wine-cases and drowning in the alcoholic flood. The Danielopouloses escaped
to Russia, packed like sardines in a stinking refugee train. Life in their new
Russian home, Berdiansk, was lucrative until the Bolshevik and Anarchist
massacres began, when the family escaped to Novorosisk in 1917, where the
Russian fleet had scuttled. They steered clear of politics, which preserved
them, but chaos came. The family escaped by tug back to Constanza, having
profitably run cafe, shop and currency exchange in the middle of a revolution.
Back in Romania, they enjoyed "party-time" - the annees folles of the 1920s -
until the Crash of 1929. Thanks to family unity, they picked themselves up
again, flourishing even during the German occupation of 1940. But later, in
1950, when Soviet theft and odious oppression became intolerable, Yiankos, his
wife and daughters left for Greece. They arrived in Mount Hymettos penniless,
but went on to farm pistachio, orange, lemon and tangerine trees, cows, hens and
vegetables. Yiankos had survived once more. Nigel Clive's sparkling translation
of Koromilos's book is richly enhanced by Patrick Leigh Fermor's introduction to
that legendary world of the day-before-yesterday.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 20, 1994

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March 20, 1994, Sunday

SECTION: Pg. 23

LENGTH: 1329 words

HEADLINE: Travel: Between a rock and a hard place Will tourism ruin the
monasteries of Greece's Meteora? asks David Clement-Davies

BYLINE: BY DAVID CLEMENT-DAVIES

BODY:
ON THE mountain the wind was whipping freezing rain into my face and
whistling around the limestone pinnacles which vault into the heavens on the
edge of the Thessalian plain. High in the rock faces above me were caves and
abandoned cells where, centuries ago, hermits had sent grappling hooks to God.
But ahead was a more attractive sanctuary: the nunnery of St Stephanou, the
first of the six monasteries that still teeter on cliffside terraces. I was in
the Meteora, the valley of the "suspended ones". The large automatic gates in
front of St Stephanou were locked fast. A little intercom was now the only route
to salvation from the raw cold. Way below, the Greek town of Kalabaka still
hadn't woken up to the looming inevitability of its tourist season and in the
distance, beyond the Peneios river, snow was lifting and swirling off the
mountain tops. Tradition has it that a hermit called Barnabas first arrived in
the Meteora in the 10th century to pursue the ascetic life and, literally, be
closer to God. Others followed, scaling the rocks on wooden scaffolding,
burrowing into the soft stone caves. Then they started to build, hauling stones
up the cliffs, throwing up monastic buildings. By the 17th century, the Meteora
was a monastic beehive with 20 monasteries. I pressed the buzzer. In a moment, a
door higher up opened and a nun appeared. "Ohi. No. Three o'clock," she called
and slammed it shut. St Stephanou was closed for lunch. I buzzed again. No
reply. I pressed on and suddenly an Australian voice answered. Australian? Here,
in the Meteora? "Sister, I'm sorry, but if I have to walk back down the mountain
I think I'll die." She went away to consult the Holy Mother while I wondered
about the propriety of changing my trousers in a nunnery. But when the gates
finally buzzed open, I could have kissed Sister Anita. In fact, at 24, Anna, as
she calls herself now, is still only a novice. She joined the order eight months
ago. As I dripped dry over a gas fire in the convent's neat kitchen, a nun made
me lunch of soup, feta cheese, salad and fish, and I asked Anna about life up
here. This summer, the number of visitors marching past Anna and the dwindling
community of nuns and monks in the six surviving monasteries will be something
like half a million. Kalabaka, the pleasant little resort town in the valley
below, bulges with hotels, bars, discos and ateliers of Byzantine icons. When
Patrick Leigh Fermor stayed in Varlaam Monastery and penned his account in
Roumeli, the watchword was "decline". Now the road that brings coaches up the
hill is being widened. These rock castles which protected the faith for so long
have been well and truly breached. So what did Anna feel about this ungodly
invasion? "I don't mind the tourists. I have no right to," she explained,
"except perhaps when they come with the wrong attitude." At night, she can
sometimes hear the beat of Kalabaka's disco. But she is relieved that the monks
have opposed plans to build a hang-gliding launch off their rock. Out of season
at least, a vision of monastic peace can still be glimpsed. The previous day I
had stood all alone on the gallery of the little Roussanou monastery, with its
metal door the size of a handkerchief. Across the valley, looking towards the
Thessalian Plain, the sun sent warm sheaves of light between the brooding
pinnacles. On the far side of the valley, the domes of Varlaam were sparkling in
the sun. Below were the pink-orange walls and terracotta roofs of St Nicholas
Anapfas and, above them both, lay Great Meteoron, the largest of the monastic
complexes. In January, the Meteora was virtually empty and very still, except
for the sound of tapping on a symandron or wooden board. What an extraordinary
place to worship. Outside the church in Kalabaka there are ancient carvings of
Apollo and Vesta, which suggest there was always a temple here. My hostess,
Anna, was bright and fun, and her natural sympathy spilled over when I
apologised for not finishing my soup. She didn't like the soup much either, but
they had to eat everything they were given. The nuns own nothing, get up at four
in the morning, work on the icons and cook for each other once a week. After
lunch, Anna showed me some of St Stephanou's treasures in the church which is
being newly painted with frescoes. All the monasteries have something unique:
the wonderful paintings by the Cretan Theophanes in Anapfas; the Superior's
throne at Grand Meteoron; the fresco of "St Sissois in front of the skeleton of
Alexander the Great" in Varlaam. And their beautiful little churches all share
the gilded textbook iconography of orthodoxy. Anna led me over to the skull of
St Hyralambos, her favourite relic. The poor man has been put under glass after
somebody chipped a piece off his head. As I stared down at Hyralambos, Anna told
me about Mira, the perfume that rises from the bones of saints. "I wouldn't be
telling you all this," she said suddenly, when she saw the doubt in my eyes,
"but for the way you came here and your own interest." But something had stepped
between us. "Don't write anything bad," she said at the door, "I really believe
it will come back to you." Why should I want to write anything bad? Because
today the position of the Meteora is a sensitive one. Local journalist, Kostas
Alexiadis, told me that the monks have recently been complaining about building
in Kalabaka and are laying claim to land rights that stretch back 500 years.
There has even been a suggestion that the Meteora should be granted the same
self-governing status as the monastic community on Mount Athos, also in
north-eastern Greece. But is this a genuine attempt to protect monastic
purity? It is not a particularly convincing one when, in summer, according to
Kostas Alexiadis, the Meteora has turned into a "holy supermarket". The
monasteries have become wealthy over the years, selling tickets, souvenirs and
icons. The lucrative trade has brought them such unmonkish luxuries as
drainpipes down the cliff faces, intercoms, telephones and "James Bond" gates
and garages. It has helped them to restore the monasteries but has also
attracted criticism. There are suggestions that the monks should use the money
to do more for charity in the area and to better protect their own environment.
The verges along the mountain road are strewn with litter dropped by passing
pilgrims. To make matters worse, there are even some extraordinary rumours of
far-Right sympathies up at Grand Meteoron, and of three people falling off the
cliffs. For Kostas Alexiadis, it ultimately comes down to ideals. "How can the
monks possibly talk about retreat?" he says. "If they are genuine they should go
to Athos." That may not be possible for Anna and the 20 other nuns, since no
women are allowed into Mount Athos, but many of the young and more intellectual
monks who have come to the Meteora have done just that. That evening in
Kalabaka, beyond the video arcade and the disco, the startling rock walls were
lit up like the shrine at Lourdes. The Meteora now feels very much like a
museum, though it is none the less spectacular for that. If the monks really
have sold out or are simply being swamped by tourism, at least Anna seemed
genuine. I stopped off and bought a box of crystallised pears. Twenty one. For
the nuns up there on the rock. David Clement-Davies travelled to Thessalonika
with British Airways (081-897 4000). Fares from L273 return, but ask about
special offers. From Thessalonika, there are hourly buses to Trikala (21/2
hours), with regular connections for the half-hour journey to Kalabaka. The best
places to stay in Kalabaka are the Divani and Xenia motels; Antoniadis, Trikalon
148, is a pleasant inexpensive family-run guesthouse. The Meteora is a 20-minute
walk from the town. Sunvil Holidays (081-568 4499) offers fly/drive itineraries
of northern Greece which take in Kalabaka. From L495 for a week including
flights to Athens, car hire and hotels.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 20, 1994

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Stratos Safioleas

unread,

Mar 24, 1994, 2:28:16 PM3/24/94

Stratos kai Kurstratos
Di kai Ci

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

Epilogh ar0rwn kai thlegrafhmatwn sxetikwn me thn Ellada, apo 3ena
praktoreia kai entypa.

________________________________________________________________________________

March 22, 1994, Tuesday, BC cycle

LENGTH: 444 words

HEADLINE: GREEK BANKS TO LAUNCH FIRST LOAN REFERENCE RATE

BYLINE: By Spiros Pantelias

DATELINE: ATHENS, March 22

BODY:
Leading banks have set up
Greece's first official loan reference rate, the Athens
Interbank Offered Rate (ATHIBOR), to help broaden money markets
and develop new financial derivatives.

Bankers said ATHIBOR, which includes 13 leading state and
private banks, is due to start next Monday.

"It will gradually change the entire structure of bank
lending rates," said George Spelios, the treasurer at Ergobank,
which played a leading role in setting up ATHIBOR.

Pricing of many financial instruments, such as forward rate
agreements, swaps and options, will now be based on ATHIBOR. It
will also reduce disputes between banks and their clients over
lending rates, he said.

There has sometimes been confusion because many banks had no
reference rate or were using other banks' varying interbank
rates to form a basis for their loan rates, dealers said.

ATHIBOR will also allow banks to exploit new opportunities,
such as expanding the emerging market in derivatives in Greece,
they said.

ATHIBOR participants are committed between 10 a.m. and 12.30
p.m. local time to make bid-ask quotes on rates for one, two,
three and six-month periods. They will enter their quotes
directly onto the screens of Reuters, which helped to create
ATHIBOR. The system will then sample prices at random between
11.45 a.m. and noon and set a daily ATHIBOR reference rate.

Bank dealers must deal at the quoted prices for a minimum of
500 million drachmas ($ 2 million). They must also quote rates
with a maximum spread of 150 basis points.

"It (ATHIBOR) is extremely important to us. Banks can only
gain," said a chief dealer. He noted that success would depend
on participating banks being conscientious in joining the daily
fixing period.

ATHIBOR was initially agreed by three state banks, National
Bank, Commercial Bank and Ionian Bank, and two private banks,
Credit Bank and Ergobank.

Eight other private banks signed up on Monday -- Bank of
America, Banque Paribas, Bayerische Vereinsbank, Citibank,
Euromerchant, Midland, National Westminster and Xiosbank.

Spelios noted that the 13 banks would proceed without the
participation of the Bank of Greece, the country's central bank,
which is a major player in the local money market.

"The Bank of Greece did not show any interest. They will be
informed but we will proceed without them," he said.

Under the ATHIBOR agreement any bank may apply to join and
will be include in the system after receiving the consent of
two-thirds of the existing members.

Dealers said the ATHIBOR system was relatively simple but
required the support of all participating money-market dealers
to work.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 23, 1994

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1994 European Information Service
European Report

March 23, 1994

SECTION: IV. INTERNAL RELATIONS; No. 1936

LENGTH: 267 words

HEADLINE: MILLAN SAID TO FAVOUR EU FUNDS FOR GREECE/ RUSSIA GAS PIPELINE

BODY:
Bruce Millan, the EU Regional Policy Commissioner, said he favoured 40% EU
funding for a gas pipeline between Greece and Russia, according to Costas
Simitis, the Greek Minister for Trade and Energy. The Greek Minister made his
remarks after meeting the Commissioner in Athens on March 18, during which he
outlined his Government's plans for the project, which dates back to 1987 before
the collapse of the Soviet Union. At that time, the project cost was expected to
be some USUSD 1 billion, although the figure became academic as the project went
on ice after all the changes in Moscow. The requested EU funding level exceeds
the traditional 35%.

During his Greek visit, Mr Millan also met the Interior Minister, Akis
Tsohatzopoulos, who is responsible for large infrastructure projects such as the
airports at Spata, near Athens, and at Thessalonika. The two men then met the
Secretary of State for the Economy, Georges Romaios, for a visit to the Acheloos
river valley and sites for proposed flow diversion projects for irrigation and
power generation schemes. Past proposals have been the subject of severe
criticism by environmentalists.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 23, 1994

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March 21, 1994, Monday, BC cycle

LENGTH: 482 words

HEADLINE: FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS EXAMINE GREEK ECONOMY'S PROBLEMS

BYLINE: By Spiros Pantelias

DATELINE: ATHENS, March 21

BODY:
The International Monetary Fund
and the European Commission will scrutinise Greece's battered
economy this week, with both groups likely to train their fire
on gaping state deficits and the failure of a succession of
governments to collect taxes.

IMF experts began a visit here on Monday to get information
for their annual report on Greece, while the Commission is to
consider a hard-hitting report on the economy on Wednesday.

But National Economy Ministry officials tried to play down
the latest international scrutiny of the tottering economy, with
total debt now estimated at about 150 percent of the annual
gross domestic product.

"There is absolutely nothing extraordinary in this (IMF)
visit. They visit Greece once a year, always around this time,"
a National Economy Ministry official said.

He said Greece's economic problems are under the close, and
routine, examination of leading foreign institutions such as the
IMF and of the European Commission.

Harsh criticism in a leaked version of the Commission's
report and in the Greek press prompted National Economy Minister
George Yennimatas to issue a statement defending his policies
and 1994 estimates.

A copy of the report, obtained by Reuters in January, called
on Greece to adopt additional measures to raise tax revenue and
limit spending growth if it wanted to meet 1994 budget targets.

"The (Commission) report, which refers primarily in 1993,
is a slap at the economic policies and the tax measures of (the
conservative) New Democracy party," Yennimatas said.

The socialist government, elected in October, would stick to
its economic targets, he added. The fall in inflation, interest
rates and the current account deficit all signalled the economy
was improving, he said.

The Commission will discuss its report on the Greek economy
in 1993 at a meeting this week before submitting it to the
European parliament, an adviser to Yennimatas told Reuters.

Greece's 1994 budget predicted that government revenue would
grow by 23 percent and spending by 17.6 percent. This would mean
a primary budget surplus of 2.3 percent of GDP, compared to a
0.3 percent deficit in 1993.

But Greece has a poor record of meeting revenue targets and
curtailing spending. "The experience of 1993 creates
cautiousness for 1994," the EU report said, referring to
revenue growth of less than 10 percent in 1993.

Among the few bright spots which IMF and Commision experts
are likely to praise is the slow but steady fall in inflation,
to 11 percent on a year-on-year basis in February from 14.5
percent a year earlier. This helped cut the rate on key 12-month
treasury bills to 18.75 percent, from 20.25 two months ago.

The experts are also likely to applaud a fall in the current
account deficit to $ 282 million in the first 11 months of 1993
from about $ 2 billion in the same 1992 period.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 22, 1994

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Copyright 1994 Economist Intelligence Unit
Crossborder Monitor
(formerly Business International)

March 2, 1994

LENGTH: 112 words

HEADLINE: Greece: Third investment-law reform in as many years is in the wings

BODY:
Foreign investors say the uncertainty created by such frequent changes is
dampening enthusiasm for capital commitments to Greece. Among planned revisions
is one that raises the upper limit of investments eligible for a grant, subsidiy
or tax exemption from $10m to $12m. However, if an investment exceeds $120m and
creates more than 500 new jobs, than it may receive assistance after government
approval. Another change would grant larger subsidies for local production of
goods that before were manufactured elsewhere. Still another would restore to
regional offices of the national economy ministry the right to approve
investments of up to $20m.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 21, 1994

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March 19, 1994

SECTION: OPINION

LENGTH: 147 words

HEADLINE: IN OUR PAGES: 100, 75 AND 50 YEARS AGO; 1894:Troubled Greece

BODY:
PARIS - According to the latest despatches, affairs in Greece are taking a
turn which may prove anything but favorable to the Tricoupis Ministry. The
financial situation is again becoming troublesome. The Greeks are beginning to
fear lest some of the great Powers of Europe should treat them as Portugal has
been treated, and recall their Ambassadors. If Greece does not keep her
engagements, Europe will begin to feel more strongly than ever that certain
countries adopt such a course. Greece could, by the exercise of a very moderate
degree of economy in internal affairs, bring about a rapid amelioration in her
finances. Small Powers which borrow money will have to get into the habit of
settling with the great Powers which lend it.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE-MDC: March 21, 1994

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