In Brief
Turk industrialists irked by EU attitudes to membership ANKARA – Turkey’s top business group criticized growing opposition to the country’s membership in the EU in a letter sent to Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, the group said yesterday. The Association of Turkish Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSIAD) rejected a «privileged partnership» for Turkey, proposed by German Christian Democrat leader Merkel, tipped to win September’s general elections. Sarkozy, who hopes to replace Jacques Chirac as French president in 2007, is a strong opponent of Turkey joining the European Union. Ankara is due to start entry talks in October. «We think the comments made by Sarkozy and Merkel during their Paris meeting were odd. In a letter to both, we expressed our unease about their view on a privileged partnership for Turkey,» said Zafer Ali Yavan, TUSIAD representative in Ankara. Yavan said everybody was aware that Turkish membership of the bloc would take time after the start of accession talks scheduled for October. «TUSIAD said in its letter that Turkey would make the utmost effort during the negotiations and as a result a more peaceful, more prosperous and a faster-growing Europe will emerge,» said Yavan. (Reuters) EFG Eurobank and Intracom announce Hellas On Line deal EFG Eurobank Ergasias announced late yesterday the initialing of an agreement for the sale of its wholly owned Internet service provider Hellas On Line to telecoms equipment-maker Intracom. «The signing of the definitive sale contract and the completion of the transfer will take place after the conducting of financial and legal controls and is conditional on obtaining the legally required licenses and approvals,» it said in a statement. Power stations Groups investing in the energy sector are expecting a summary of the tender for the construction of the first of the three privately operated electricity power plants in the next few days. According to sources, the draft proclamation provides for guaranteed minimum proceeds per megawatt, with the bidder offering the lowest guarantee winning the tender, while the project will have to be completed within 2.5 years. Public consultation on the bill will continue until August 20. All details will be announced in September, with the final binding process expected in December. DeLonghi, Kenwood Listed electrical goods retailer Tasoglou has signed an agreement with DeLonghi of Italy for the setup of a new subsidiary named DeLonghi, Kenwood Hellas SA. The latter will supply in Greece the DeLonghi products that Tasoglou distributed until today, along with the Kenwood products made or distributed by DeLonghi. Tasoglou will participate with 49 percent and Spyros Tasoglou will be the new company’s CEO. Q-Telecom Info-Quest’s telephony subsidiary, Q-Telecom, now offers its cellular-phone subscribers with WAP fresh multimedia services, such as polyphonic ringtones, java games and screensavers through the four-digit numbers of other entertainment and information companies. Later Q-Telecom will offer surfing on WAP sites on the Internet.
