During his speech, Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou referred to his father, drawing on the 6th anniversary since his death.

"Andreas Papandreou fought battles for peace. He fought battles for equality of every person and their right to live a decent life. He fought for Democracy and the right of each citizen to have a voice" he said, and added: "My father believed that each p erson, regardless of strength, regardless of the color of his skin, regardless of his sex or sexual preferences, regardless of his nationality, his religious beliefs or his cultural background, must have equal rights and obligations in his community", he stressed.

Mr. Papandreou made a comparison between the life of Andreas Papandreou and N. Mandella. "Both of you loved politics: from the events of a simple meeting, to achieving change. Both of you had a direction and a path through which you were willing to lead your people. Both of you preferred dialogue to the use of violence. Both of you risked much and were ready to sacrifice yourselves for the values you believed in. But what is more important than all other values is that you managed to overcome you peoples ' fears", he underlined.

Mr. Papandreou stressed that the administration of fear will probably color politics for years to come: "Fear of what is new, different, everything unknown, for everything that requires us to produce change".

"On the one side, we can keep our fears and nourish them, because they are easy solutions to difficult political problems. We can transform our fears into political platforms. We can persecute immigrants, isolate minorities, sever our societies from the world and turn our backs to the opportunity of technological development.

Or we can follow a different path", he said.

"In a society where nobody would accuse another going to extremes, you faced fear and the fear of those around you and chose to deal with it with decisive solutions", he said addressing Mr. Mandella.

"You chose the difficult path of imprisonment and tolerance, the difficult path of democracy and integration, the road full of challenges of modernizing and development. As a result, your community owes you nothing less than its survival and existence. A s for us, we owe you something greater still: Our commitment that we will continue to face the challenge of making our world a better place. You have inspired to move to that. You are our inspiration", he ended.

During the event a video with Mr. Mandella's struggles, his commitment to the people he served faithfully in his country and all over the world, was shown.

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Kostas Simitis held a luncheon for Nelson Mandella and Frederick de Clerk, the two protagonists in the fall of the apartheid.

Mr. Mandella was scheduled to meet with the Mayor of Athens, Mr. Dimitris Avramopoulos, and receive the golden key to Athens and then attend a dinner at the Onasis Foundation, but was taken ill this morning and has been forced to cancel all plans.

According to the Ambassador of South Africa to Greece, Mr. Mandella felt ill due to the fatigue and the many hours of flight, while his condition is not worrying.

"It is really difficult for the human mind to conceive the dimensions of the misery of such a great number of our fellow people on this planet. People who have been torn from their land are estimated at about 50 million. 80% of them are women and childre n, without counting the civilian victims of armed conflicts and wars, in which case women and children constitute 80% of the victims. And without including the 1.3 billion of the earth's population living in complete poverty, 70% of which are women, once again! Women, not only live through the cruel conditions of being refugees, but furthermore go through inhuman and tragic treatment due to their sex, such as rape, forced prostitution, physical assault, sexual violence, forced sale of their children, espe cially girls, violence within the family, and worse living conditions", pointed out Mr. Papandreou.

"We all have the obligation and the duty, we citizens, countries, governments, to stand against this catastrophic consequence of human rights violations against women, who are the symbols of life and hope for the future of this world. These women, that w e know can offer so much for the consolidation of peace, security and development in their countries, and to of the world community", he stressed.

"We must all fight, not only for the protection of human rights, but for the establishment and functioning of democratic institutions, and cooperate to decrease or eradicate the reasons constantly creating more refugees in our times. It is a challenge fo r all democratic countries and their citizens, not only in Greece, but in Europe and the whole world, to construct societies and institutions for multicultural cohabitation, respecting differences and fighting racism and xenophobia" he underlined, adding that the world community has no future when so many of our fellow people live in poverty, subjection, underdevelopment, torn from their homes, in violence and war.

"For us here in Greece - since we have lived through tragic conditions of being political and financial refugees - it is an obligation to stand by the UN Supreme Commission for Refugees, and our cooperation is one our foreign policy priorities", he ended .

The discussion on the articles continued in the absence of ND and KKE, which left from the article discussion to be completed today.

Minister of Labor Dimitris Reppas repeated that New Democracy has no alternative proposal and that is why it is dodging the fight, while he noted that this social securities reform responds to the commitment the PASOK government made towards the Greek pe ople.

The Opposition was attacked and deputy Minister of Finance Giorgos Floridis, who underlined that "it kept its positions secret".

Shadow Health Minister of New Democracy, Nikitas Kaklamanis, justified ND's departure, by saying that "ND will not participate in this discussion because it does not want to participate in the deceiving of the Greek people".

The President of the Coalition, Nikos Konstantopoulos, cauterized the departure of ND and KKE, because - as he said - they are making it easier for the government to pass a bill that does not have social consent, with no parliamentary difficulties.

"If ND believes that this bill is extreme, why does it leave and make it easier for the government to pass it with no parliamentary difficulty? Why is KKE being carried away by ND and making it easier for the bill to pass with their stance? We do not agr ee with the government's practice in bringing a bill that does not secure social cohesion and lacks social consent, and we do not support it. But we are here and will stand up for our views and will even carry out open votes on controversial articles, kno wing of course what the results will be. Because this image of a Parliament discussing major issues in front of empty seats is unacceptable", stressed Mr. Konstantopoulos characteristically.

During the passed 20 days, more than 2,500 refugees have passed from our neighboring country, through the Evros river, into Greece, where they were arrested, while more than 500,000 Afghanis are trying to reach European soil through Greece, according to "Flash" radio.

It should be noted that the entrance of illegal immigrants into Greece - according to "Flash" - takes place during midday, in groups of 30-40 people. Illegal immigrants, passing through a well guarded military area on Turkish soil and caught in Greece, a re sent back to Turkey 15 days after their capture, from where they will try to return with the first chance they get.

No itineraries will take place today from Kavala, Thasos, Keramoti, Volos, Skiathos, and Skopelos, resulting in the discomfort of tourists. All ships remain tied in at the docks, and only one dolphin will make the trip from Kavala to Thasos.

The strike is causing serious problems, as thousands of travelers cannot reach the islands. On the contrary all itineraries from Samothraki will take place normally.

In the meanwhile, member of the coordination committee of the PNO, Mr. Zacharatos, stated that the strikes will be intensified if their demands are not met.

The conference is expected with great interest as important matters will be discussed concerning the pending issue of the FYROM name, the future of the Pan-Macedonian, the exploitation of the "Alexander the Great" Institute in Dion, Pieria, the exploitat ion of young Macedonians, etc.

The 56th Conference acquires greater interest because it coincides with the 90th anniversary of the liberation of Macedonia. A special event will be held commemorating this anniversary and the main speaker will be MPA General Director Mr. Spiros Kouzinop oulos. The event will be held in the presence of a delegation of Alexander the Great descendants from the tribe of Kalash in Pakistan.

Of the stocks trading today, 113 recorded gains and 188 had losses, while the value of 72 stocks remained unchanged.

The Commercial Bank of Greece plans the immediate expansion of the network of the Yugoslav bank which is a developing one and already has 14 branches in Serbia and Montenegro.

The signing of the special documents for the implementation of the contract, as well as the formal presentation of the buyout deal will take place in Belgrade in July.

Mr. Simitis stated that the three institutes of higher education together with the University of Peloponnese, which will open in September, will complete the higher education network in Greece.

Also, it was decided that 46 new departments will be created in universities and technological institutions by 2010 aimed at the expansion of higher education and the strengthening of the country's competitiveness in the specific sector.

Labor Minister Dimitris Reppas satisfied only the bank employees' demand to turn their auxiliary social security fund into a legal entity.

Mr. Reppas clarified that the social security fees for the working mothers with one child will be covered for a year by the state budget. Those with two children will be covered for a year and a half and the mothers with three children will have their so cial security covered by the state budget for two years.

He stated that if the Greek demands are not met Greece will use all means at its disposal.

Mr. Protopapas stated that Greece responded immediately to the requests made by the International Court. All the information was transferred to the International Court by the Greek Justice Ministry, added Mr. Protopapas.