This Week
Monday Prime Minister Costas Simitis to inaugurate the new railway line from Evangelismos to Leptokarya as well as the Tempe and Platamonas tunnels. The ceremony will take place at Larissa’s railway station at noon. – New Democracy opposition leader Costas Karamanlis chairs parliamentary group meeting on the elections. – Foreign Minister George Papandreou, the sole candidate to become PASOK leader, meets with PASOK parliamentary group’s presidency. Separately, he will meet with the leadership of PASOK’s youth wing. – Public Order Minister Giorgos Floridis holds a news conference at noon. – President of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Matias Eorsi, visits Cyprus. To Thursday. – Activists opposed to gold-mining activities in the Evros and Rhodope provinces to stage a protest outside Alexandroupolis Town Hall. The regional labor center has called a four-hour strike for the same reason. – Peloponnese farmers stage protest in Tripolis at noon against the government’s agricultural policy. Tuesday Church of Greece Holy Synod convenes to decide whether to respond to Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios’s demand for approving the list of candidate bishops for Thessaloniki and Eleftheroupolis and finalizing the election date. – PM Simitis, Foreign Minister Papandreou and PASOK General Secretary Michalis Chrysochoidis meet with party’s parliamentary candidates. – National Hellenic Research Foundation hosts a series of lectures on «Byzantium and the Rise of Europe.» At the National Research Center. To February 10. Tel. 210.727.3501. Wednesday New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis to present party’s program on health, at the Hilton Hotel. – Parliament’s multiparty electoral committee convenes at the Interior Ministry to discuss electoral lists. – Itinerary of Olympic Torch Relay through Greece to be announced at news conference at Athens 2004 headquarters, at noon. – Foreign Press Association holds annual pita-cutting ceremony at its building at 23 Academias St, at 7.30 p.m. This will be preceded by the annual general meeting at 5.30 p.m. Tel. 210.363.7318. – Stoa tou Vivliou organizes an exhibition on «The Vision of the Olympians.» Greek Olympic Committee President Lambis Nikolaou and Deputy Culture Minister Nassos Alevras will inaugurate. Through January 29. Tel. 210.325.3989. Thursday Winter sales begin, through the end of February. – PM Simitis to chair meeting of Government Council on Foreign Policy and Defense (KYSEA). – PM Simitis visits Iraklion, Crete, where he will announce the regional Convergence Charter for Crete. To Friday. – Synaspismos Left Coalition to present program and candidates for Parliament at Zappeion Hall at noon. Friday New Democracy’s election planning committee meets. – Three-day meeting of Greek and Israeli writers is held in Kalamata, organized by the National Book Center and Israeli Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature. Sunday Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos begins two-day working visit to Athens.
