Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-01-11

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou informally kicks off nationwide tour with visit to Kaletzi

[02] Event in Thessaloniki seeks support for city's EXPO 2008 bid

[01] Papandreou informally kicks off nationwide tour with visit to Kaletzi (new lead)

Fireworks, ringing bells and an enthusiastic crowd awaiting foreign minister and soon-to-be PASOK leader George Papandreou as he arrived at his family's home town of Kaletzi on Saturday - a private visit that bore all the trappings of a triumphal pre-election tour and has been widely interpreted as the symbolic launch of a nationwide tour announced by Papandreou on Friday.

Accompanied by his wife Ada, his siblings Sofia, Niko and Andrikos and a number of friends of the family, Papandreou alighted in Kaletzi and laid a wreath at the bust of his grandfather George Papandreou, a former Greek prime minister.

After visiting the Papandreou Museum, Papandreou addressed the gathered crowd and thanked the people of Kaletzi for their support in the early stages of his career, asking them to rally together for the new age of PASOK.

His trip to Kaletzi from Athens was interrupted several times by supporters who came out to greet him along the way: including three unscheduled stops at Velos in Corinth, Xylokastro and Aigeira. In statements to local TV crews, he underlined that the public's response had ''exceeded my expectations''.

Arriving in Patras, Papandreou addressed a group of PASOK supporters that gathered in the city's central square in spite of the spitting rain, in a speech that centred on continuity within ruling PASOK and ended with an appeal to the younger generation to join ranks with him and participate in ''the new age that opens before us brings many and interesting challenges.''

George Papandreou has a sterling political pedigree in Greece, being the son of PASOK founder and thrice-elected prime minister Andreas Papandreou and the grandson of Greece's ''old man of democracy'' George Papandreou.

He is now the sole candidate to succeed Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who last week stepped down as party leader and initiated a transfer of power to Papandreou. The succession will be sealed by a grass-roots vote for party leader on February 8, after which Papandreou will lead the party into elections on March 7 as its president and will take over as premier if PASOK emerges victorious after the polls.

[02] Event in Thessaloniki seeks support for city's EXPO 2008 bid

An event to rally local support for Thessaloniki's EXPO 2008 bid took place in the city on Saturday, with the participation of several government ministers.

Apart from a presentation of the bid file submitted by the city for the international trade exhibition, the event was addressed by Macedonia-Thrace Minister Haris Kastanides, who said the city's bid had been well received at the presentation in Paris in December and that the city had an edge over competitors Saragossa and Trieste.

The gathering was also addressed by Thessaloniki's mayor and prefect and Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos, Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Magriotis and a number of MPs from both main parties.

Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos attended the presentation but called away early due to a scheduled meeting with visiting Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Finance Minister Stevko Jakimovski.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article