The Prime Minster of Finland Paavo Liponen is to conduct an official visit to Greece between January 17-19, in order to discuss matters related to his country's undertaking of the European Union's rotating presidency as of July 1, 1999. Mr. Liponen will be received by the President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos, his Greek counterpart Kostas Simitis and the President of the Hellenic Parliament Apostolos Kaklamanis. Bulgaria's Defense Minister Georgi Ananiev is to arrive in Athens today in order to attend tomorrow's Southeastern European Defense Ministers meeting. An agreement is expected to be signed at the meeting concerning the formation of a multi-national Balkan peacekeeping force whose headquarters will initially be established in Bulgaria's sister capital city of Plovdiv. The motorway will embark from the Kulata-Promahona border station and will cross through the Greek city of Serres before ending in Thessaloniki.
Later plans call for the motorway's extension to Athens.
The present motor route between Thessaloniki and Sofia takes four hours. The new motorway is expected to be ready by the year 2004, when Athens will host the Olympic Games. OSCE monitors allowed to visit the eight hostages have stated that they are in good health and are confident they will be freed. The European Parliament is to embark on a debate today concerning the censure vote against the European Commission, whose 20 members are faced with dismissal over charges of fraud and mismanagement. The allegations were brought forward by socialist European deputies and concern an array of topics, spanning the funding of humanitarian programs amounting to millions of dollars to favoritism.