On Wednesday, Mr. Papantoniou will travel to Antalya, Turkey, to participate in the annual meeting of Ministers of Defense of countries of Southeastern Europe, which will take place on December 19 and 20.

Employees of state hospitals are on a 24-hour strike, while elementary and high-school teachers are on a three hour strike, from 12-3pm, and during the same hours Civilian Aviation employees are also on strike.

"While Kostas Simitis successfully defended our national interests in the European Council, Mr. Karamanlis, with his statements, is objectively undermining the national effort, said Mr. Protopapas characteristically. The Minister of Press made mention of

pettiness and characterized New Democracy's position as irresponsible and dangers, also expressing the government's sorrow for the Oppositions reaction.

New Democracy responded to the government's spokesperson with statements from their spokesperson, Thodoris Roussopoulos.

It is sad and dangerous that the government conceives the invitation for national cooperation and understanding expressed by the President of New Democracy, thus", stressed Mr. Roussopoulos, who added that the postponement which the government is celebra ting today, guarantees nothing in a solution in favor of Greece's national interests.

"This operational readiness of the so called Euroarmy which was agreed upon in Laaken, without political conditions for controlling its actions, without clearly defining the relation between the Euroarmy and NATO member-countries, does not warrant the Pr iministerial satisfaction", stressed the press office of the Coalition of the Left.

"Mr. Simitis is pleased because we avoided the worst, by postponing relative decisions. But he does not go to the trouble to take responsibility and explain why we found ourselves in such a situation. The postponement of the related discussion to the nex t Presidency does not change the framework of pressures which will continue in view of the upcoming Simitis visit to the US", stressed the party.

is expected to continue until tomorrow afternoon.

Throughout northern Greece cars can move only with non-skid chains, while since this morning traffic has stopped in the rural road networks of Kozani-Ioannina, and Kozani-Larisa as well as, in the mountain road network in the regions of Voion in Kozani a nd in Rodopi and Orestiada in northeastern Greece.

The Lake of Doiran in Kilkis is frozen since yesterday, while a big part of the lake of Kastoria is also frozen.

Thirty five villages are inaccessible in the prefecture of Florina, 16 in the prefecture of Grevena and more than 100 in the prefecture of Kozani. Eleven villages are inaccessible in the prefecture of Imathia, 28 in the prefecture of Kastoria, 11 in Pier ia and over 70 in Orestiada and Rodopi.

Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport is closed since yesterday afternoon because of the snow and ice that cover the runways, while also closed is the airport of Alexandroupolis. The port of Kavala is closed as well because of the 8 Force strong winds blowing

in the region.

Meanwhile, the rescue crews continue their search to locate 53yearold Alexis Antonopoulos and his 9yearold son Yiannis, who were swept away by Diakoniaris torrent that passes through the city of Patras, southern Greece. The prefecture of Achaia has been declared in a state of emergency and serious damage has been caused to shops and houses by the flood waters.

The above were stressed by Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis pointing out that new conditions for a new negotiation are being created within the framework of the EU and its institutional bodies after the Laeken EU Summit results

Mr. Beglitis stressed that before and during the EU Summit meeting in Laeken all the EU countries realized and understood Greece 's sensitivity on the objections it had raised concerning Turkey's involvement in the EU decisions on the Euro-army.

However, the state budget is being discussed in the shadow of a wave of strike mobilizations.

The public hospital employees are on a 24hour strike, while the high school professors and the elementary school teachers participated in a 3hour work stoppage.

A work stoppage was also held by the Public Employees Union, while the Civil Aviation employees also participated in a work stoppage.

The Winbalkans initiative was undertaken by Coalition of the Left parliament deputy Maria Damanaki.

The association numbers 45 women parliament deputies representing 8 Balkan countries.

Addressing the meeting, Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou underlined the role of women in the promotion of peace and stability in the Balkans.

Right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy parliament deputy Dora Bakoyianni stated that the mind of women is oriented toward democracy and peace.

Each of the 3 million packages contains 45 coins with a total value of 5.000 drachmas or 14.67 Euro. The content of the packages is not collectible as it will be used in regular transactions after January 1, 2002.

The small businesses' timely and adequate supply with Euro coins and bank notes is regarded as necessary to avoid having problems after January 1, 2002.