Greece

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...

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...

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....

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...

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”...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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),...

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),...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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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