‘Time to finish with terrorism’
With Prime Minister Costas Simitis still in Washington, where he pledged that the problem of domestic terrorism in Greece would be solved, Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis made a stirring declaration in Parliament yesterday that Greece will «finish» with terrorism. This prompted debate over whether the police might be close to solving the problem. «Terrorism has been defeated ideologically and politically in Greece,» Chrysochoidis told Parliament. «It has to be defeated operationally so that we can finish with this situation. And we will finish with it because we all want to be finished with it. Because terrorism is an agent of instability in our country and it creates problems for its reputation.» He was responding to a question on crime tabled by members of the opposition New Democracy party. The issue of terrorism had been included in the text of their question, but in their speeches they had dropped it. Chrysochoidis, who was late arriving, responded to the text. Chrysochoidis criticized a paid declaration in the Washington Times newspaper by a «concerned Greek American» claiming that Greece «sponsors terrorism.» «Some unofficial, private circles in the United States are behaving in an indecent and insulting manner at our country’s expense,» Chrysochoidis said.The minister and Athens 2004 president Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki discussed security for the Games yesterday. The winter sales start on Monday. Shops must either carry the discount rate for similar groups of items or four prices – the original price in drachmas and euros, and the discounted price in both currencies. Sales will continue until the end of February.
