Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] President in Thessaloniki for Oct. 28 holiday

[02] MP Mantouvalos expelled from ruling party

[03] Athens mayor meets US officials in Washington

[04] Athens Academy at risk from traffic fumes, buses

[01] President in Thessaloniki for Oct. 28 holiday

He will be met on his arrival at Macedonia airport at 19:30 by Macedonia-Thrace Minister Nikos Tsiartsionis, Thessaloniki Prefect Panagiotis Psomiadis and Thessaloniki Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, MPs and local officials, as well as military honour guard.

The president's schedule of engagements in the city include attending the official mass at the Church of St. Demetrius on Wednesday morning, an official dinner given in his honour by the Macedonia-Thrace Minister on Wednesday afternoon, attending an event at Thessaloniki's Aristotelian University at 18:30 and a reception given in his honour by Thessaloniki's mayor late on Wednesday evening. On Thursday he is due to speak at a dinner held in the 3rd Army Corps officers club.

Papoulias will attends Friday's military parade on Alexander the Great Avenue on the coast, along with Defence Minister Spilios Spiliotopoulos, after depositing a wreath at the 3rd Army Corps war heroes monument in the morning.

[02] MP Mantouvalos expelled from ruling party

Mantouvalos, who has decided to keep his seat in Parliament as an independent MP, was informed of the decision during a meeting with Meimarakis, who stressed that the manner of his resignation was unorthodox and that he automatically waived all rights to party functions and privileges arising from office as a result.

ND's party secretary also underlined during the meeting that "no one is given a carte blanche" and that Mantouvalos had been elected with votes given to New Democracy.

Commenting on the party's decision, Mantouvalos stressed that he did not intend to resign his seat in Parliament while again claiming that he was being targeted without being at fault.

"I am being tortured and abused without being at fault in absolutely any way. It is certain that I am a target, and one of organised interests acting in a specific way," he told reporters.

He also expressed bitterness at the announcements made by Meimarakis, while claiming that voters in Piraeus were asking him to stay. He strenuously denied that the immunity from prosecution granted MPs motivated his decision to keep his seat in Parliament, stressing that he would be "present" if there was any reason to lift his immunity.

Mantouvalos announced his resignation to the press on Monday, claiming that recent press reports that targeted the MP were linked to "merciless" internal party clashes on a local level. He also claimed that there was an unseemly partisan attitude towards himself and stressed that he was not at fault in any way.

[03] Athens mayor meets US officials in Washington

She is also due to be received at the U.S. State Department by Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, a former ambassador to Greece, and to speak at the Woodrow Wilson foundation on "Diplomacy and Economic Growth: The Geostrategy of Greece in Southeastern Europe".

During her visit to the U.S. capital, she will attend a reception held in her honour at the Greek Embassy in Washington and a dinner given by Congress' Hellenic Caucus.

Bakoyianni's tour also took in the city of Chicago, where she laid the foundation stone for a Greek Museum and Cultural Centre and granted an interview to the Greek-American community's daily newspaper "Ethnikos Kyrikas", in which she spoke on domestic politics in Greece and stressed that Greece's expatriate community's were the country's best ambassadors.

On Wednesday, Bakoyianni will make her way to California, where she will attend the inauguration ceremony of the "Constantinos Mitsotakis" Greek Studies Chair created at Stanford University with a two-million-dollar endowment from the Greek-American business tycoon Angelos Tsakopoulos.

She will attend celebrations for the October 28 Greek national holiday in San Francisco and meet with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

[04] Athens Academy at risk from traffic fumes, buses

They said the monument was particularly at risk from the buses that use the area around the Academy as the starting point of their routes.

Conservationists stressed that marble details on the building, such as the exceptionally well-crafted painted and gilt lamp brackets, had been severely abraded to the point where they had lost their colouring and some of the detail of their carvings. They also pointed out that the damage was up to 10 times worse on the side of the building where the buses parked, compared with those on the other side.

The Academy said it had repeatedly exhorted the government and transport services to remove the buses from its vicinity, stressing that the building's lifespan was being seriously shortened by their presence.

It said its pleas had recently found a response in the form of funds to carry out repairs on the roof, carvings and painted friezes, while Athens Public Transport Organisation (OASA) President Simos Simopoulos had promised to move the buses from the corner of Panepistimiou and Sina roads as of November 1.

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