Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis appeared optimistic about the course of the Greek economy and the growth rates after the meeting he had with Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos.

There is progress in the sector of the economy that will become more obvious in the following months, stated to reporters. He clarified that a discussion has been made on the economy and it was established that there are signs of recovery at a European level as it was expected. The improvement is stable. Greece has the highest growth rate among the EU member states and it is capable of achieving even higher growth rates than the target set. He also said that the EU has moved ahead with the materialization of European programs aimed at strengthening the growth rates at a European level and Greece will benefit from this development.

Mr. Simitis briefed Mr. Stephanopoulos on current developments and referred to the Inter-Governmental Conference, the EU Summit meeting Brussels and the Greek-Turkish relations in view of the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to Athens tomorrow.

On the issue of the European Constitution, Mr. Simitis mentioned that no important progress has been made but there was convergence of views and certain extreme positions were overcome. He also said that the Italian EU Presidency will present a draft Constitution and appeared optimistic that an agreement will be reached before the end of the year.

On the proposal that will formed by the Italian EU Presidency, he stated that it will be close enough to the views expressed by everybody but it will not cover one or two countries that have expressed fundamental disagreements.