Greece
North Macedonia
North Macedonia: Resuming course towards the political dark side?
As most analysts predicted after the strong showing of the nationalist presidential candidate in the first-round presidential elections on April 24, VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian...
The Negroni Diaries
With Sweden now a NATO member, what’s next?
Sweden completed the necessary diplomatic formalities on March 7, depositing its instrument of accession with the U.S. State Department in Washington, which manages the...
Democracy & Human Rights
Intellexa Commercial Spyware Consortium sanctioned
The U.S. Government announced on March 5 a new set of sanctions on the members of the Intellexa Commercial Spyware Consortium based across Europe....
Oil & Gas
Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal going live after test runs
The Gastrade consortium confirmed on February 18 the long anticipated Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Alexandroupolis in Greece’s province of Thrace has received...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Playing politics with EU veto power – a very old game
In late November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, standing alongside visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, told the media that he was against the “bilateralization”...
Zero Tolerance
Zelensky Athens visit eclipses Mitsotakis’ informal Western Balkans Summit
Receiving a full house of Western Balkan leaders, as well as several EU luminaries, in Athens on an evening when much of northern Greece...
Greece
Back to Business: Greek conservatives rout socialist opposition parties in second round elections
Delivering an undeniable demonstration of Greece’s current focus on stability and the need to generate continued economic growth, the June 25 election produced the...
The Negroni Diaries
Strange goings on in Northern Greece seem to worry Ankara
Government-linked Turkish media have indicated concern about a series of visits and events in Greece’s Evros prefecture -- the Greek-Turkish border region -- which...
Greece
Boomerang! Greek socialists’ election jiggering backfires
Even though the Greek left-socialist party Syriza massively reconfigured the electoral system in 2016 to favor their long-term return plans before being ousted by...
Greece
Eclipsed by Ukraine concerns, Blinken visits Turkey and Greece
After attending the Munich Security Conference on February on 17-19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed for a brief regional mission to Turkey...
Zero Tolerance
Biden’s choice takes the reins at the American Embassy in Athens
US President Joe Biden’s nominee as next Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis arrived in Athens May 7, a day after his career diplomat predecessor...
Albania
TAP pipeline transports first 10 bcm of Azeri natural gas to Europe
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG has announced that a total of 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from Azerbaijan has now entered...
Energy
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine boosts East Med region role in EU energy security
In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and EU’s renewed effort to cut reliance on Russia, the East Mediterranean could play an increased role...
Bulgaria
EU takes action to protect European biodiversity
The European Commission said on February 9 it is taking legal steps against 15 Member States in order to step up the prevention and...
Arts & Culture
The cultural wealth of the neoclassicial buildings of the Greek city of Pyrgos
The neoclassical buildings are the evidence, the living proofs of the history of an area, often imbued with elements of local architecture but always...
Energy
Greece’s Energean sees first gas from Israel’s Karish by Q3
Energean’s floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) for the Greek company’s flagship Karish project offshore Israel is expected to be ready for sail-away by...
Bulgaria
Sofia and Skopje begin joint effort to resolve conflict
Hoping to generate enough material to prevent Sofia’s cadre of Balkan reporters from decamping to nearby ski resorts, the governments of North Macedonia and...
Energy
Scotland awards massive seabed rights for wind farms in North Sea
The Crown Estate Scotland announced on January 17 the results of the ScotWind seabed tender, after receiving 74 bids for the 15 areas that...
Greece
Biden’s Greece nominee survives Senate hearing
George Tsunis, President Joe Biden’s nominee as next ambassador to Greece, survived his January 12 hearing with the Democratic-majority Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC),...
Greece
Biden’s Greece nominee survives Senate hearing
George Tsunis, President Joe Biden’s nominee as next ambassador to Greece, survived his January 12 hearing with the Democratic-majority Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC),...
Energy
Black Sea Bank loan to support Energean’s Epsilon field in Greece’s Prinos
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is providing a loan of up to €90.5 million to Energean Oil and Gas, the Greek...
Cyprus
Impact of high energy prices on industry in the East Med region
Europe is still roiling under the impact of high energy prices that do not seem to be going away any time soon. Dutch hub...
Albania
Mitsotakis lightning Bulgaria visit has regional focus
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Sofia December 20, opening contacts with the new Bulgarian government through meetings with newly elected Bulgarian PM Kiril...
Archive
Tales of mystery and imagination in Skopje – Part 2
North Macedonia’s conservative opposition failed in its November 11 bid to topple Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s government. This happened only because ruling coalition lawmakers...
Archive
Israel, Greece, Cyprus seeing green energy future
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades met in Jerusalem on December 7 where they reaffirmed...
Croatia
What happens when due diligence cannot or will not be applied?
When due diligence and a basic compliance process is not followed bad things happen. On October 21, 2021, an investigative journalist centre published a...
Archive
The EU and the hijab
Given my relentless, savage, repetitive and – if I may say so – eminently fair criticism of the European Union, I could easily forgive...
Archive
Tales of mystery and imagination in Skopje
The November 11 no-confidence vote in Zoran Zaev's government was stopped after an extremely difficult day for lack of a quorum. Extraordinary events during...
Archive
Greek-led panel wants cultural, natural monument protection to be part of global climate strategy
On November 2, the Greek Government - through its Coordination Unit at the UN -organized a high-level event chaired by George Kremlis, a principal...
Archive
Following election flop, Zaev announces resignation plans
North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his planned resignation on November 1 after his social-democratic party massively lost the second round of municipal...
Archive
Egypt, Cyprus and Greece ink deal to construct electricity interconnector
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el–Sisi met in Athens, Greece, on October 19 where they...
Albania
Greece again agrees to expand US defense cooperation
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to Washington October 13-14 to participate in a scheduled session of the US-Greece Strategic Dialogue, where he met...
Analysis
Defense pacts and energy in the Eastern Mediterranean
The Greeks have finally come to the realization that despite a period of relative calmness Turkey is not about to abandon its assertive behavior...
Afghanistan
Athens rocked by Biden’s nomination of political operative
After an extended period of uncertainty over who would be tapped, on October 8 US President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate influential...
Analysis
Lebanon’s public debt default
The nature and causes of sovereign debt differ from one country to another. Yet, the popular or engineered narrative of debt usually conceals its...
Archive
Time is not on our side: EUMed 9 leaders discuss climate crisis
ATHENS - Meeting at Greece's capital on September 17, the EUMed 9 summit leaders signed on September 17 the Athens Declaration on climate change...
Archive
Greek government approves White Dragon and Green HiPo hydrogen projects
US company Advent Technologies Holdings announced on September 7 that its two EU-backed White Dragon and Green HiPo projects in Greece have been approved...
Archive
Greece’s Energean sees higher production and revenues, lower CO2 1H 2021
The London-based independent E&P company focusing on developing resources in the Mediterranean, Energean. announced on September 2 to the London Stock Exchange and the...
Archive
Greek Foreign Minister Dendias chasing shadows in Skopje?
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to North Macedonia August 31, for a hastily scheduled official visit to the country while his own capital...
Cyprus
Greece, Israel and Cyprus talk enhanced cooperation
Amid continuing regional and global challenges, the foreign ministers of Greece, Israel and Cyprus met on August 22 in Jerusalem and discussed enhancing their...
Africa
As UN issues stark climate warning, wildfires spread across Med region
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a stark warning, noting that Climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying. The report,...
Analysis
Is the EU learning any lessons from the pandemic?
The European Union - a powerful force for good or a self-serving bureaucratic oligarchy? Whatever your view, the EU is certainly a catalyst for...
Analysis
Erdogan’s visit to the Turkish-occupied northern district of Cyprus
Whatever Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expected to come out of his visit to the occupied part of Cyprus – on the day that...
Afghanistan
When the “New Middle East” meets the “New Europe”
Middle Eastern experts have commented widely on the “new” foreign policy of the United Arab Emirates. Many of these same commentators have gone so...
Afghanistan
From Vienna to Tripoli, the Muslim Brotherhood’s impact is felt on both sides of the Mediterranean
Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has recently undertaken a number of legislative initiatives that target Islamist groups and movements, which are active within the country,...
Afghanistan
A broken migration system
Turkey and Greece are both transit countries for migrants on their way to Germany and wealthy destinations in northern Europe. Migrants are resilient. Many...
Albania
Balkan rumblings: Setbacks on enlargement and new Prespes violations
Against the backdrop of another EU presidency (Portugal) failing to move ahead this month on the Enlargement issue as well as a generally slow...
Archive
EU antitrust chief approves Greek public support for Alexandroupolis LNG terminal
A €166.7 million Greek support measure for the construction of a new liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece complies with EU state...
Archive
Greek-Turkish Relations and the “Biden Factor”
This past week has been bustling with diplomatic activity that, of course, ultimately culminated in a meeting between US President Joe Biden with his...
Albania
EU enlargement: Cui bono?
EU enlargement: cui bono? Several Foreign Ministers from EU countries visited Tirana and the North Macedonian capital Skopje in the last weeks to meet local...
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