In Brief
Voting rights
Socialists seek changes to bill for Greeks living abroad The main opposition party PASOK yesterday objected to two provisions in a government bill designed to boost the voting rights of up to 400,000 Greeks living abroad. During a debate on the bill at the Foreign Ministry, PASOK deputies said they objected to two proposed changes to current legislation. The proposed changes include the possibility of a presidential decree being used to determine the date of diaspora Greek voting and the counting of diaspora Greek votes in the first round of voting which, PASOK claims, could affect the final outcome. Power protests PPC heralds new coal plant Residents of Aliveri, on the island of Evia, protested yesterday after the Public Power Corporation (PPC) confirmed that it will be building a power plant fueled by the low-grade coal lignite in their area. «Our application for a license for an 800-megawatt coal plant in Aliveri has been approved,» PPC Chairman Takis Athanassopoulos said when inaugurating the power board’s stall at the Thessaloniki International Fair. Name games The prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Nikola Gruevski, yesterday launched a fresh attack on Athens on the 17th anniversary of his country’s independence from Yugoslavia, blaming Greek authorities for the Macedonia name impasse. «Greece wants us to change our name across the entire international spectrum and for all the world to call us by the name that it chooses,» Gruevski declared during a speech in Skopje’s central square. There had been no official response from Greece by late yesterday. Pharmacies shut Pharmacies will be closed today due to a 24-hour strike by pharmacists in opposition to an amendment that forces them to give social insurance funds a 3 percent discount when they accept payment for prescription drugs. The amendment to the law requires pharmacies to then recoup this money from pharmaceutical firms. Lawyers strike Courts will remain closed today and tomorrow after the Athens Bar Association (ABA) decided yesterday to extend its 48-hour strike. Lawyers are protesting against what they claim are «unconstitutional» changes to the tax system. The ABA also slammed the alleged arrest of a lawyer while she was submitting papers at the Omonia police station on behalf of a migrant who wanted to obtain a residence permit. The lawyer was allegedly held after one of the documents was deemed to be a forgery. Undercover arrest A 27-year-old man was arrested at a KTEL intercity bus station in Thessaloniki yesterday after trying to sell a kilo of hashish to an undercover officer. The suspect, a foreign national, had asked for 2,000 euros for the drug, according to police. Inmate at large Police said yesterday that they had yet to trace an inmate who failed to return from a furlough to the main jail of Argolida, in the Peloponnese, on Saturday. Police are assuming that the inmate is on the run. It was unclear what he had been convicted of.
