This Week
Monday Doctors employed by the Social Security Foundation (IKA) begin a four-day strike. Through Thursday. State hospital doctors in Athens and Piraeus begin a three-day walkout from surgeries and outpatient clinics. Civil aviation employees begin a 48-hour strike demanding more money. Through Tuesday. Municipal employees continue strike, at least until Tuesday. PM Costas Simitis chairs interministerial meeting on Olympic preparations. Athens 2004 Organizing Committee President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou visit Olympic installations at Goudi and Hellenikon. New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis chairs a meeting of the party’s parliamentary group at 10.30 a.m. Police, coast guard and fire brigade officers plan protest outside Hilton Hotel where PM Simitis and other senior officials will be attending a ceremony commemorating «Police Day» at 6.30 p.m. Foreign Minister George Papandreou visits Barcelona. Transport Minister Christos Verelis, in Ioannina, presents EU priorities with regard to Greece. Commemoration of 176th anniversary of naval battle of Navarino, which helped secure an independent Greece, at town of Pylos, Messenia. Greek and Russian warships will be in attendance. Tuesday Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is due in Athens for official visit. To Wednesday. US State Department special coordinator for Cyprus Thomas Weston due in Athens. NATO’s outgoing Secretary-General Lord Robertson pays a two-day visit to Athens. Employees at the National First Aid Center (EKAB) hold work-stoppages from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and from 9. p.m to 11.p.m., demanding more pay and that their profession be classified as dangerous (resulting in more bonuses and earlier retirement). Wednesday Left-wing and anti-globalization groups have scheduled a demonstration at Klathmonos Sq at 4 p.m. to oppose an expected visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell. The visit will not be taking place. IOC Coordination Commission delegation led by Denis Oswald is due in Athens to inspect Olympic preparations. To Friday. Parliament to discuss the economy. Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad presents Greek edition of her book «The Bookseller of Kabul» at the Athens Journalists’ Union (ESHEA), 20 Academias. Tel. 210.380.3730. The Association for the Modernization of Society (OPEK) holds a conference on «The Future of Modernization: Center-Left or Center-Right?» Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, New Democracy MP Giorgos Alogoskoufis and the former president of Synaspismos Left Coalition Maria Damanaki to attend. Tel. 210.362.5295 or www.opek.gr. Thursday State hospital doctors in Athens and Piraeus begin a 48-hour strike demanding higher salaries and more staff. Through Friday. Employees of the National First Aid Center (EKAB) stage a five-hour work stoppage, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will hold protest marches from Mavilis Sq to the Health Ministry in Athens, and from Kamara to the Macedonia-Thrace Ministry in Thessaloniki. Communist-led unions hold protest rally at Syntagma Sq at 6 p.m. demanding higher wages and pensions, fewer work hours per week (35) and earlier retirement (at 60). President Costis Stephanopoulos to attend an event at the Athens Academy commemorating «Ochi» Day (October 28, 1940), Greece’s entry into WWII. PM Simitis chairs an inter-ministerial meeting on the difficulties faced by repatriated Greeks, Muslims and Roma. Omma Center of Contemporary Art is organizing the fourth International Artists’ Workshops in Hania, Crete. Tel 28210.42100 or www.omma.gr. To November 7. Mediterranean Women’s Forum holds the fifth international conference on «Women: Migration and Intercultural Dialogue.» At the War Museum and the training center of the Agricultural Bank, 154 Venizelou, Nea Erythraia. To Sunday. Tel. 2310.422.270. Friday Civil Servants’ Union (ADEDY) holds a 24-hour strike. Employees of the National First Aid Center (EKAB) stage a 24-hour strike. National federation of state hospital employees (POEDHN) meets to discuss further strike action. President of the European Court of Human Rights, Luzius Wildhaber, to speak at Athens Bar Association event commemorating 50th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights. Foreign Minister Papandreou attends EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg. European Constitution will top the agenda. IOC’s Denis Oswald and Athens 2004’s Angelopoulos-Daskalaki hold a press conference at the Athens 2004 headquarters at Nea Ionia. Saturday Democratic Social Movement’s (DHKKI) central political committee convenes to discuss the course of the party in view of parliamentary elections in the spring.
