ATHENS, March 18 (Xinhua) — The Greek Cabinet Council of Foreign and Defense Affairs approved on Thursday a double deal to sell a majority stake of 75.1 percent at the Greek shipyards of Skaramangas near Athens to Abu Dhabi Mar (ADM) shipbuilding group and purchase 7 submarines from Germany built at Skaramangas.
According to the agreement, the state-controlled ADM will head the new consortium scheme at Skaramangas. The German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems which is already involved in the Greek shipyards will retain a 24.9 percent stake, while the Greek government reserves the right to veto the further transfer of shares and dismissal of Greek employees. The new owners had asked for the lay- offs of up to 350 workers in the first place.
Under the final deal, the Greek side will finally receive a submarine named \”Papanikolis,\” which was constructed at Skaramangas, but leans, at a price of 300 million euros from Germany.
With a certification for safe navigation by German experts, Greece intends to resell it to a third country at a price that can reach 500 million euros. According to government sources, there is interest, but Athens does not rule the prospect \”Papanikolis\” will join the force of the Greek Fleet.
The Greek Navy will also get five new Type 214 submarines and one Type 209 which cost 500 million euros each. The deal on the submarine program between Athens and Berlin has an almost 10-year history, but there have been long delays and complications.
According to an earlier agreement, Greece would pay up to 200 million euros per year for nine years, but the German side, as Greek government sources stressed, asked for a higher amount of money in the near future.
\”This solution protects jobs, protects the Greek industrial infrastructure and shipbuilding, protects the interests of the Greek Navy and the interests of the Greek state amid a severe financial problem in the best possible way,\” Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos stressed. (1 euro = 1.3660 U.S. dollars)
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BRUSSELS, March 18 (Xinhua) — The eurozone trade balance fell back into deficit in January, the first since last September, the European Union (EU)\’s statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday.
The first estimate by Eurostat showed the 16 EU nations that share the euro registered a deficit of 8.9 billion euros (12.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the first month of 2010, compared with a surplus of 4.1 billion euros in December of 2009.
It was the first time the eurozone trade balance with the rest of the world was in negative territory since September of 2009.
But the deficit was smaller than that recorded a year ago, when the euro zone posted a deficit of 12.1 billion euros, mainly thanks to the recent depreciation of the euro against the U.S. dollar amid Greek debt crisis.
Official figures also showed the 27-nation EU registered a deficit of 22.5 billion euros in January, compared with a smaller deficit of 2.5 billion euros in the previous month and a larger deficit of 28 billion euros in the same period of last year.
For the whole year of 2009, EU trade flows with all of its major partners fell, except for exports to China, which rose by four percent compared with 2008 despite an international economic crisis.
Its exports to Russia dropped the most by 37 percent and decreased by 18 percent to the U.S., the EU\’s largest trading partner. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.732 euro)
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Gauthier Lefevre, staff member of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) who was abducted in Sudan\’s western region of Darfur in October, is interviewed in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, March 18, 2010. Gauthier Lefevre was freed on Thursday. (Xinhua/Mohammed Babiker)
PARIS, March 18 (Xinhua) — A third French hostage was freed in Sudan on Thursday after being held by local militants for nearly five months, French authorities confirmed later on the day.
The 35-year-old Gauthier Lefevre, a worker of the International Committee of the Red Cross, was kidnapped in the restless Darfur region, west of Sudan, in October 2009.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy thanked the Sudanese authorities \”for their particularly precious help in handling this crisis,\” according a statement from the Elysee Palace.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also expressed his happiness about the release of the aid worker, who he said was the last French national held in Darfur. \”I severely condemn those who target humanitarian workers and endanger the population for whom humanitarian aid is indispensable, \” a ministry statement quoted Kouchner as saying.
Two other French aid workers were freed in Darfur last weekend after being held hostage for nearly four months.?
Gauthier Lefevre, staff member of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) who was abducted in Sudan\’s western region of Darfur in October, arrives in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, March 18, 2010. Gauthier Lefevre was freed on Thursday. (Xinhua/Mohammed Babiker)
Gauthier Lefevre (R), staff member of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) who was abducted in Sudan\’s western region of Darfur in October, hugs his colleague in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, March 18, 2010. Gauthier Lefevre was freed on Thursday. (Xinhua/Mohammed Babiker)
Gauthier Lefevre (L), staff member of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) who was abducted in Sudan\’s western region of Darfur in October, arrives in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, March 18, 2010. Gauthier Lefevre was freed on Thursday. (Xinhua/Mohammed Babiker)
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BUDAPEST, March 18 (Xinhua) — The Hungarian government and the Defense Ministry have begun an investigation into two Israeli planes that flew over Budapest\’s Ferihegy Airport twice on Wednesday, as if to land, but then continued their flight, the daily Magyar Nemzet reported on Thursday.
Israeli Ambassador Aliza Bin-Noun said the flyovers had been routine and the craft, which belonged to the Israeli Air Force, had permission from the Hungarian National Transport Authority. The Foreign Ministry of Hungary was also aware of the action, she said, vehemently denying that the aircraft were spy planes. The two planes had conducted similar maneuvers at Varna Airport in Bulgaria,Bin-Noun added.
Hungarian Defense Ministry spokesman Istvan Bocskai said Defense Minister Imre Szekeres had initiated an investigation to determine who had granted the planes permission to conduct the \” approach and flyover\” maneuvers, adding that the Defense Ministry had no prior knowledge of the Israeli action.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, meanwhile, demanded immediate information from the foreign, defense and transport ministers.
The Hungarian National Transport Authority issued a statement on Thursday afternoon saying that the two Israeli Air Force planes had been in compliance with Hungarian law and had observed all safety regulations. The request to conduct the flyover had been timely, the statement added, and had gone to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which had transferred it to the air traffic control section of the National Transport Authority, which in turn granted permission to conduct the exercise.
Security expert Georg Spoettle told local wire service MTI that the maneuvers looked like a test flight, not an espionage action because both planes were flying low and in broad daylight. He also noted that the El Al Israeli Airline flew between Tel Aviv and Budapest on a daily basis and could have been used for intelligence gathering if that had been the goal. Spoette is a German security expert who worked in Berlin with the German National Office of Criminal Investigations for over twenty years. He now lives in Hungary.
Spoettle noted that the two planes, whose photo appeared in Magyar Nemzet, were tactical craft, used to transport troops and observe foreign planes entering their home air space, not spy planes. He added his belief that the aircraft were undergoing technical tests, possibly testing to see how far they could travel without refueling.
http://www.zokn.com The on-strike taxies line up on a street in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) The on-strike taxies line up on a street in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) Taxi drivers attend a demonstration in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) Taxi drivers attend a demonstration in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) The on-strike taxies line up on a street in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) Taxi drivers attend a demonstration in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) Taxi drivers attend a demonstration in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) Taxi drivers confront policemen during a demonstration in Athens, capital of Greece, March 18, 2010. Taxi drivers union in Athens called a 24-hour strike in protest against the new taxation measures announced by the Greek government on Thursday. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) http://www.znnw.com
BELGRADE, March 18 (Xinhua) — Serbia\’s possible boycott of the Western Balkans conference this weekend in protest against the invitation of Kosovo threatens to spoil the first meeting of all the political leaders in the region in 18 years.
The joint organizers Slovenia and Croatia have so far failed to secure the presence of both Serbia and Kosovo, the former Serbian province which declared independence in 2008.
The absence of Serbia would undermine the conference\’s goal of resolving regional disputes before European Union accession talks.
Serbian President Boris Tadic said earlier that Serbia would take part in the conference if Kosovo \”participates within the format defined by Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council,\” or UNMIK Kosovo, the acronym for the UN mission in Kosovo..
The ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on Feb. 17, 2008. Serbia has said it would never recognize Kosovo\’s independence, regarding the move as contrary to international law.
However, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said he would only attend the meeting as a representative of a sovereign state, not UNMIK Kosovo.
Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said Wednesday that \”I believe that everything will be arranged and that all those whom we, as organizers, are expecting at this conference will be there.\”
Earlier, Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor described the prospects of getting Serbian and Kosovo officials together at the conference as \”an impossible mission.\”
Pahor\’s surprise trip to Belgrade on March 17 in a bid to salvage the regional conference was unsuccessful in convincing Tadic to relent.
The conference, under the name \”Together for the European Union: Contribution of the Western Balkans to the European Future,\” is to be held on Saturday in Slovenia.
The Slovenian foreign ministry said Wednesday that the meeting would go ahead this weekend regardless of a possible boycott by Serbia.
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UN war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia needs more time: Ban
UNITED NATIONS, March 16 (Xinhua) — The United Nations war crimes tribunal set up in the wake of the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s will need more time to complete its work after originally being scheduled to wind down at the end of this year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Tuesday.
The secretary-general told reporters at the United Nations Headquarters in New York that \”there is some broad agreement now that the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) may need at least a few more years, to 2013 or so,\” before it can finish its work.? Full story
Slovenia and Slovakia want Western Balkans in EU
BELGRADE, March 15 (Xinhua) — The Western Balkans is important for peace in Europe and should be included in the European Union, Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk and his visiting Slovakian counterpart Ivan Gasparovic agreed at their meeting in Brdo Pri Kranju, Slovenia on Monday. Efforts to improve trade and the EU accession of Western Balkan countries, topped talks between Tuerk and Gasparovic.
President of European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso (R) and visiting Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou attend a press conference after their meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 17, 2010. (Xinhua/Wu Wei)
by Liang Yeqian, Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, March 18 (Xinhua) — Labor unions across Europe will take action as Greece is left alone in the economic crisis by other short-sighted European Union member states, Yannis Panagopoulos, president of umbrella labor union GSEE, told Xinhua in an interview.
\”The solidarity of other European labor unions has been impressive. We witness the phenomenon of German labor unions denouncing their government\’s unwillingness to back Greece,\” Panagopoulos said, referring to the fact that Berlin, together with other EU member states, is still not offering Greece enough support to solve its fiscal crisis.
Apart from making pledges of support, EU labor unions, especially those from Southern European countries, will join forces in the near future, perhaps in May, he said.
Panagopoulos believed that EU member states should give Greece more help for their own development.
\”The Portuguese, Spanish and Italian people understand that we share the same destiny; they all know that when Greece gets through this adventure, it will be their turn next,\” he said.
Panagopoulos stressed that over 70 percent of the Greek debt is owed to British, French and German banks.
\”You see that if Greece will not be able to pay, the European financial system will be greatly affected,\” he said.
\”The current stance of some European political leaders is unacceptable. The problem is not only Greek, it\’s European,\” he added. \”If they do not support Greece, there will be a domino effect across the continent.\”
Speaking to Xinhua in the GSEE headquarters, Panagopoulos echoed a request made by Greek state officials, analysts, economists and citizens these past few weeks.
\”What we ask for is that Greece will be able to take loans on the same interest rates as others,\” he said, urging the EU to crack down on speculative trading blamed for aggravating the Greek debt crisis.
Moreover, he warned that the EU might become a puppet of the United States and other markets if Europe doesn\’t reform its mechanism to balance inequalities across the EU.
Commenting on what went wrong in Greece, Panagopoulos pointed to the structural weaknesses of the Greek national economy and a series of mistakes made by previous governments.
He claimed the EU member states which hesitate to support Greece should also share the responsibility.
\”Part of Europe\’s political elite knew what was going on, that the previous conservative government was hiding the truth, but due to ideological links, nobody would speak,\” Panagopoulos said.
