This Week
TUESDAY Alternate Foreign Minister Tassos Yiannitsis attends the inaugural ceremony of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Representatives of FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, headed by its vice president, Issa Hayatou, are to visit Olympic soccer venues for the 2004 Games in Athens. To Saturday. Haralambos Dousemetzis, 25, a Greek graduate student, is to appear before a magistrate in Northumberland, England, accused of two offenses under the Terrorism Act. The student’s secret arrest on Feb. 25 and subsequent detention provoked angry protests from Greece. Agriculture Minister Giorgos Drys visits Bulgaria to attend a conference on «EU Enlargement: Sustainable Agriculture in Regional Development.» UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers and Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos to sign a cooperation agreement in view of the 2004 Olympic Games. Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis and Development Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos to present DEPA gas utility to nine potential investors interested in acquiring a 35 percent stake in the company. Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis and Athens 2004 Organizing Committee President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki hold a news conference on how the Interior Ministry and local authorities will help the Olympic Games. At the Athens Plaza Hotel. Seminar on «Relations Between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia During the Interim Agreement of 1995-2002» to be held at Drakopoulos Hall at Athens University. The seminar is organized by the Macedonian Studies Research Center (KEMIT), the Macedonian Struggle Museum Institute and the ELIAMEP think tank. WEDNESDAY Conference on «The Parthenon Marbles in View of the 2004 Olympiad: International Perspective on the Future of all Antiquities.» Leading Greek and foreign experts, academics and opinion-makers will speak. At Aigli Hall in the National Gardens. Tel. 210.9408.750-2. Foreign Minister George Papandreou participates in the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg in his capacity as president of the EU Council. Athens University Museum hosts a photo exhibition of works by Czech artist Jan Reich, titled «Prague and the Beauties of the Czech Republic.» To March 26. Tel. 210.368.9500. Thessaloniki school students, parents and teachers to stage a protest rally outside the court complex in protest at the trial of 77 school students facing charges from their participation in a protest in 1999. French Embassy begins celebration of Francophony with the participation of embassies of Francophone countries and a presentation of poetry at the French Institute, 31 Sina Street, at 7 p.m. For more info, tel 210.339.8651. THURSDAY Cabinet meets to discuss the impact of a possible war in Iraq on the Greek economy. Foreign Minister Papandreou to attend the meeting of the presidium of the European Convention in Brussels. PhotoVision exhibition on photography, video and more opens at the Piraeus Harbor Organization. To Sunday. FRIDAY EU defense ministers hold an informal meeting at the Astir Palace Hotel, Vouliagmeni. Developments on Iraq and the Euroforce will top the agenda. To Saturday. Communist-led Hellenic Committee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE) stages a protest outside the Defense Ministry on Mesogeion Ave at 5.30 p.m. Attica taxi drivers hold a 24-hour strike from 6 a.m., demanding access to bus lanes. SATURDAY Anti-war protests in several cities. In Athens, protesters will gather at the Old University on Panepistimiou St at noon and march to the US Embassy. In Thessaloniki, the protest will begin at the port’s main gate at 1 p.m. SUNDAY Anti-war rallies are held on Crete outside the US naval base at Souda Bay and in Hania’s Market Square at noon, and outside the NATO base at Tyrnavos near Larissa in central Greece at 10.30 a.m.
