This Week
Tuesday Athens taxi fares go up by an average of 4.6 percent. Special increases also apply to fares to and from Athens International Airport. Ecofin in Brussels to discuss Greek request for lower fuel taxes. Bank employees’ union (OTOE) stages a 24-hour strike demanding more pay and a 35-hour week with no cuts in wages. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis chairs Cabinet meeting. International Association for Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences organizes a conference on the ozone layer, at the Cipriotis Complex Hotel on Kos. To June 8. Tel. 210.727.4133. Ecocinema Festival focusing on films on the environment opens on Rhodes. To Sunday. Wednesday The Olympic Flame’s journey around the world begins with a ceremony at 7.30 p.m. at the Panathenaic Stadium. The flame will then leave for Sydney, the first stop on its international route. PASOK leader George Papandreou visits Iraklion, Crete, as part of European Parliament election campaign. Thursday Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos meets with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York. General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) and civil servants’ federation (ADEDY) stage a 24-hour strike demanding permanency for contract employees. A rally is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Klafthmonos Sq. Culture Ministry’s contract employees stage a 24-hour strike. Protesters will march to Interior Ministry at 10 a.m. Primary and secondary school teachers stage a demonstration at 12.30 p.m. outside the Education Ministry demanding more funding for state education. Acropolis Rally begins. To Sunday. Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis visits New York to promote Athens ahead of the Olympic Games. To Sunday. Posidonia Exhibition President Themistoklis Vokos holds a press conference on the forthcoming Posidonia 2004 International Shipping Exhibition, on June 7-11. Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis and Aegean and Island Policy Minister Aristotelis Pavlidis will speak. At the Yacht Club, Piraeus. French Institute, in collaboration with University of Crete and Athens University, organizes a round-table discussion on «Critical Political Philosophy and the Question of Emancipation Today.» At the French Institute auditorium, 31 Sina, tel 210.339.8600. Friday PASOK leader George Papandreou visits Patras. Solidarity NGO, Romanian Embassy and the International Organization for Migration host conference on «Romanian-Greek Cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs – European Framework.» Archbishop Christodoulos will speak. At the Inter-Orthodox Center of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, Palaia Pendeli. Tel. 210.869.5039. Saturday Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos to address a special conference organized by the Cypriot Federation of America in New York. Sunday Animal welfare organizations stage a demonstration at noon at Syntagma Square.
