Pest control for Euro meet
The first security measures ahead of Greece’s hosting in June of the European Union summit in the northern Halkidiki peninsula went into effect yesterday, and are expected to result in millions of deaths. But few people are likely to complain. For the past four summers, regional and local authorities in northern Greece’s prime tourist destination, a three-pronged peninsula east of Thessaloniki, have mounted campaigns to exterminate the vast swarms of mosquitos that infest the area from spring to mid-autumn. This year, due to the June 19-20 end-of-presidency summit at the Porto Karras resort in Sithonia, the government is particularly eager to produce results. Workers started yesterday to spray insecticide in selected spots along the 350-kilometer Halkidiki coastline, in a drive that will end in late October. Initially, the government planned to hold the summit in Thessaloniki, but decided on the resort some 120 kilometers southeast of the city in the hope of discouraging anti-globalization activists from mounting protests.
