The French Prime minister also said that the summit meeting accomplished the necessary reform of the European structures, expressing his thanks to the Belgian government and especially to the Belgian Prime minister, who contributed to the substantially to a unanimous agreement. Mr. Chirac stated that compromises were made for the basic European Union views. The President of the European Council Romano Prodi criticized the obstacles set at the course of the negotiations and especially the exercising of veto, a development which created problems even to discussions. According to General Army Staff sources, the kidnappers could be Abhazian autonomist guerrillas or members of the organized crime. The UN official in the region is expected on the spot today.
Kidnapping is a common phenomenon in the area, and ransom is usually the motive.
It should be noted that 14 months ago, another Greek captain who had been kidnapped, was released after the UN mediation. Karamanlis criticizes public administration Main opposition New Democracy party leader Kostas Karamanlis, who concluded his tour to Eastern Macedonia yesterday, stated that a contact of confidence with the people constituted New Democracy's top priority. He also blamed the public administration for corruption and called on the government to adopt his party's views on public administration and show confidence to the Greek civilians. The head of Cyprus' negotiating team for European Union entry, Yorgos Vasiliou went to Budapest yesterday, in order to attend a meeting of negotiators for the first group of candidate countries. Views will be exchanged on the progress of entry procedures and, in general, EU expansion under the new developments of the summit meeting in Nice.