Athens

Athens, April 16 (Tanjug)- Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis Friday said that "not only has military intervention in Yugoslavia failed to resolve the Kosovo and Metohija issue but has made it even more difficult," and underscored that "it is quite clear now that problems in the region can be resolved in no other way but through dialogue and by political means."

Prime Minister Simitis announced a new Greek initiative for peace in the Balkans, which he will present to the European partners and the U.S. at a NATO session in Washington early next week.

Alongside of the well known Greek position calling for a political solution to the Kosovo and Metohija crisis, a solution which Athens maintains musts imply the inviolability of the existing borders in the Balkans and respect for the rights of the national minorities, Greek electronic media singled out as an essential element of the new Simitis proposal the call for an immediate end of all war operations and the undertaking of a planned development of the Balkans.

According to sources close to the Greek government, Athens is optimistic about the reception of its proposal, and believes that it could be backed by France and Germany, since the two countries have from the beginning been acquainted with the arguments on which the Athens proposal for a solution in Kosovo and Metohija is based.