News archive of December 2018

Kathimerini was granted access to the home of Manos Hadjidakis, one of 20th century's most prominent Greek composers, to watch rehearsals for the Manos Hadjidakis Cycle, a series of performances by the Greek National Opera at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

With numerous awards under her belt, including from the Academy of Athens, and having collaborated with great conductors, Alexia Mouza's recital at the Athens Concert Hall comes hot on the heels of her Carnegie Hall debut. The critically acclaimed Greek pianist will perform Chopin's Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor and Liszt's Sonata in B minor. The recital starts at 8.30 p.m.

Inspired by Emily Dickinson's well-known verse calling for a sideways reflection upon truth, Liana Sakelliou discusses issues of gender identity with four renowned Greek women writers who have been translated and published recently in the United States: Zyranna Zateli, Maria Mitsora, Amanda Michalopoulou and Ersi Sotiropoulos.

Regional governors and mayors have a very important role in the day-to-day of citizens, as they are responsible for decisions that are of immediate concern to us. These officials are customarily elected on the basis of party affiliations or other such irrelevant factors, a practice that needs to be left in the past.

A new fund providing auxiliary social security to about 2 million workers in different professions in the private sector has been the focus of talks among social partners, employer associations and the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), which have now entered an advanced stage.

While Greece has managed to digitalize much of its bureaucracy, this has not reduced red tape or made it cheaper. Indeed, Greeks pay indirect taxes amounting to hundreds of millions of euros for financial as well as personal transactions, hidden in the form of an administrative fee, known as "paravolo" in Greek.

After a nightmare November, champion AEK returned to winning ways on Sunday beating Xanthi to climb back into the top four of the Super League, while Panathinaikos snatched a last-minute equalizer at Aris and Atromitos dropped points at struggling Apollon Smyrnis. PAOK and Olympiakos are in action on Monday.

Unless something pretty spectacular happens, Greece is at risk of going through a major experiment in political anthropology over the next few years, having to learn whether the country can be governed under a system of simple proportional representation.

Private sector union GSEE has called a four-hour work stoppage on Monday in order to facilitate participation in a protest rally in downtown Athens marking International Day of Disabled Persons.

Greece will need to revert to glorious performances of the past if it is to harbor any hopes of making Euro 2020, as the draw for its qualifying group on Sunday has placed it against Italy, Bosnia and Finland among others.