This Week
Monday Prime Minister Costas Simitis to chair an emergency EU summit in Brussels in an attempt to forge a common policy on Iraq issue. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will attend. Earlier, the EU’s foreign ministers will meet. Agriculture Minister Giorgos Drys meets with farmers’ representatives to discuss subsidies. Representatives of the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee, headed by its chairman, Vitaliano Gemelli, pay an official visit to Athens. To tomorrow. US Embassy and consulates to remain closed in observance of Presidents’ Day, which marks the birthdays of US presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) holds a two-day summit on Human Trafficking in Ioannina. To tomorrow. Employees at state broadcaster Hellenic Radio and Television (ERT) stage a six-hour work stoppage today and tomorrow, from 6 p.m. to midnight, demanding permanent status for those working on short-term contracts. Tuesday Prime Minister Simitis and Foreign Minister George Papandreou brief their counterparts from 10 countries that will be members of the EU in 2004 and another three candidates on the results of the previous day’s emergency summit. In Brussels. Prime Minister Simitis will meet with Glafcos Clerides, president of Cyprus until the previous Sunday, in Brussels. Athens Bar Association’s employees hold a three-hour work stoppage, from noon to 3 p.m., demanding more pay. Wednesday New Democracy opposition party leader Costas Karamanlis chairs a meeting of the ND parliamentary group on «The Future of Europe» In Parliament. Former ND PM Giorgios Rallis and Euro MP and former European Commission President Jacques Santer will attend. Thursday Employees of the National First Aid Center (EKAB) stage a five-hour work stoppage to discuss their course of action following the crash of a medical airlift helicopter on Feb. 11. Book Fair opens on Klafthmonos Square. To March 3. Athens Bar Association employees hold another three-hour work stoppage, from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., demanding more pay. Friday Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan due in Athens. Saturday EU energy ministers hold an informal meeting in Thessaloniki. The impact of a possible war in Iraq on EU economy will be on the agenda.
