January 2001January 2001There is widespread public concern in Greece about the consequences from the use of DU weapons in the 78-day NATO bombing on Yugoslavia in 1999. This issue has dominated the mass media news programmes and talk shows for weeks, since the beginning of 2001. Some demonstrations and public meetings have taken place.
During the war, Greek government was replying negatively to questions about the use of DU weapons by NATO and the presence of such weapons in Greece. Only after the recent disclosures, it was forced to admit both.
SYNASPISMOS has denounced the use of DU weapons since the first days of the Yugoslav war. The issue was raised both at the Greek and the European Parliaments by MPs and MEPs of our party.
Following recent disclosures, our party President, MPs and MEPs have issued statements and have tabled questions in the respective Parliaments. In addition, a successful public meeting was organised on 9 January 2001 in Athens by SYNASPISMOS. Speakers included the SYN President, professors of nuclear physics and environmental studies, the President of the Greek branch of the IPPNW, as well as representatives from ecological movements.
SYN proposals
At a press conference in Salonica on 7.1.2001 and after a meeting with officials of the Greek Nuclear Research Center in Athens on 8.1.2001, the SYN President Nicos Constantopoulos made the following proposals:
That
the Prime Minister attends the first Parliamentary session as soon as it
starts its works and inform, publicly and in depth, both the Greek people and
its representatives about the issue. This procedure is part of the
Parliamentary rules.
All
correspondence between NATO and the Regional Environmental Centre based in
Budapest which had started in 1998 with a cautionary character and continued
in 1999 after the Kossovo war should be made public and the respective
ministries (Foreign Affairs, Defense and Environment and Public Works) should
publicize the steps they took in connection with this correspondence.
The
government should assume the responsibility to form a scientific committee
consisting of renowned scientists in order to study the issue in depth and
make suggestions on ways to face it.
The
Greek government should recall the Greek regiments still in the region.
As
far as the EU is concerned Greece should claim a European policy on the matter
and the resources required to face the consequences of this murderous war, the
cleansing and detoxification of the regions that were attacked by DU weapons.
Greece
should support, within the framework of the EU, the UNO and NATO, the
withdrawal, destruction and banning of DU weapons.
Inter-Balkan
cooperation is also required on the issue and generally for the ecological
protection of the region.
So, Greece should contribute for the required moves in this direction.
