President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi…
Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, on a state visit, is welcomed by PM Costas Simitis at his office. Ciampi met with President Costis Stephanopoulos on Tuesday and with Simitis and opposition leaders yesterday. Mayor Dora Bakoyianni awarded him Athens’s Gold Medal. Foreign ministers Franco Frattini and George Papandreou met and Frattini said Italy would urge the EU to fund sea patrols to try stop illegal immigrants.