Greece
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...
Archive
White Dragon to gradually replace Greece’s lignite plants with green hydrogen
In an effort to boost Greece’s decarbonization efforts and phase out the country’s polluting lignite plants, a group of companies formed by the largest...
Afghanistan
Turkey: A state sponsor of terrorism?
Turkey functions like a state-sponsor of terrorism (SST), fueling Islamist extremism domestically and deploying jihadist mercenaries to Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. Listing Turkey as...
Archive
Belarus’ skyjacking of Ryanair flight to arrest dissident journalist rattles EU
ATHENS – An incident in which a Belarusian warplane intercepted a flight between EU-members Greece and Lithuania and forced it down in Minsk on...
Albania
Ukraine’s chances to join NATO are slim to none, despite Zelensky’s claims
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict was once again back in the headlines in April when people across the world followed massive troop build-ups in and around...
Albania
Mid-East turmoil eclipses Greece’s latest Balkan initiatives
Greek officials found time to engage in several rounds of Balkan diplomacy this week, once again taking advantage of the presence in Greece of...
Albania
COVID-19 vaccine supplies trickle into Southeast Europe
In line with global trends, deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Southeast Europe increased in April, but the record to-date shows it was anything...
Archive
Commission proposes to ease restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU
Almost 15 months after Europe effectively closed its borders to the outside world in its efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, the European...
Greece
Greece’s 40-year participation in the European project: Future challenges and perspectives
It would undoubtedly be effective for all Greeks, at this present time. to reassess the real meaning and contribution of the European institutions in...
Albania
Southeast Europe begins to tackle COVID-19 immunization delays
In terms of Covid-19 vaccinations, the gap between Europe’s haves and have nots finally appears to be narrowing, after many months where much of...
Analysis
The “Europeanization” of Greek-Turkish relations: Why the Greeks favor Ankara’s EU membership
Harmonious relations with Greece has become an objective of Turkish diplomacy. The European Union’s policy of conditionality linking progress in EU-Turkey relations to Ankara’s...
Albania
Dialogue for mutual recognition will succeed when the EU joins the US in its Kosovo approach
After the snap parliamentary elections of February 14, Kosovo has a new government facing the EU's facilitated dialogue with Serbia for normalization of relations...
Analysis
The Eastern Mediterranean sideshow
We have just been through a week in which the world focused its attention completely on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Second place went to Afghanistan...
Archive
A Bridge Not Too Far: Connecting Serbia-Greece-Cyprus
Focusing on close ties, the foreign ministers of Greece, Serbia and Cyprus discussed new opportunities for greater cooperation in energy, transport and tourism as...
Cyprus
Conditional cooperation: The EU’s ‘positive agenda’ and Turkey’s policies in the Eastern Mediterranean
Once again, relations with Turkey took center stage at the European Union’s summit meeting. ”We are ready to put more concrete proposals on the...
Archive
EU offers Turkey deeper ties but threatens sanctions over East Med drilling
On March 25, EU leaders held a discussion via video conference on the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and on the European Union’s relations...
Analysis
Blinken reaffirms America’s focus on rebuilding partnerships
During his March 22-25 trip to Brussels, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized repeatedly that the Biden administration will work to rebuild America’s...
Archive
For Greece’s 200th Independence Day, Russia reaches out for relations upgrade
ATHENS - Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Athens on March 24 to discuss bilateral relations with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a conversation...
Archive
EU probes Greece’s largest power producer’s behavior in wholesale market
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess possible abusive behavior by Public Power Corporation (PPC) in the wholesale Greek electricity...
Archive
Israel, Cyprus plan to share Aphrodite gas field, talk first
Israel and Cyprus have reached an understanding over gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea straddling their maritime border, resolving a long-time dispute over the...
Archive
Deep Water: Greece-Cyprus-Israel will connect longest undersea power cable
Cyprus Energy, Commerce and Industry Minister Natasa Pilides, Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, and Greece’s Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas signed on March...
Archive
EU Commission seeks global coalition to protect biodiversity
On the occasion of the World Wildlife Day, the European Commission reiterated its invitation on March 3 to all world institutions to raise their...
Archive
UN’s Guterres to hold Cyprus talks in April
The United Nations on Thursday confirmed it will hold a five-party meeting in Geneva in April to examine the prospects of resolving the Cyprus...
Archive
Development Finance Corporation’s first overseas office sparks controversy
A controversy has erupted in Washington over a Trump-era plan to establish the first overseas office of the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC),...
Greece
Turkey starts exploration in the Aegean
Following the issue of an advisory note (Navtex) blocking an area in the Aegean between the Greek islands Limnos, Skyros and Lesbos from February...
Archive
MEPs to investigate alleged human rights violations by Frontex
Fourteen MEPs are set to investigate the activities of the bloc's border guard agency after several reports emerged unveiling that Frontex was involved in illegal...
Analysis
Is Turkey Biden’s “ally from hell”?
Ten years ago, The Atlantic ran as its cover story a piece titled “The Ally From Hell”. The article followed the raid that killed al-Qaeda...
Armenia
Good cop, bad cop? How the US and Europe want to deal with Erdogan’s Turkey
These are not good times for Turkey’s relations with the West. European diplomats in Ankara refer to a downward spiral to describe the relationship....
Albania
Serbia leading Southeast Europe in COVID-19 immunizations
According to the most recent data, Serbia’s COVID-19 vaccination program, initially using a Chinese vaccine and symbolic quantities from third country suppliers, now leads...
Archive
Gazprom’s TurkStream draws less heat than Nord Stream 2
Gazprom’s TurkStream natural gas pipeline to Turkey and Southeast Europe has drawn less opposition, certainly compared with the controversial Nord Stream 2 from Russia...
Africa
Greece reopens embassy in Tripoli
Greece's Foreign Ministry on Saturday announced it is immediately reopening its embassy in Libya's capital, Tripoli and a consulate in Benghazi.The announcement came a day...
Archive
Greece, Turkey to resume exploratory talks by early March
Greek and Turkish officials are likely to meet again at the end of Feburary or in early March in a bid to scout each...
Greece
Greece’s new century
As Greece prepares to celebrate the bicentennial of the country's independence next month, Greece is also poised to enter a new era in its...
Cyprus
A calmness of sorts in the East Med
With no exploration activities taking place, other than in Egypt, and Turkey refraining from provocations, the East Med is a sea of relative calmness....
Archive
Greece, Bulgaria team for hat trick on Russian gas
Greece and Bulgaria advanced the development of three natural gas projects this week that will lessen the two countries’ dependence on Russian gas.Greece’s parliament...
Archive
Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis elected as first woman SG of PACE
Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis on Tuesday became the first woman ever elected as the next Secretary-General of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). "I am greatly...
Archive
Sefcovic hails milestone for EU Battery Alliance
A second Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to support research and innovation in the battery value chain complies with EU state aid...
Archive
Greece’s #MeToo movement
Greece's Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou's decision to speak out over an alleged sexual assault by a high-ranking federation official in 1998 has set...
Albania
Out in the cold: SE Europe in dire need of vaccine supplies
With the COVID-19 pandemic steadily worsening across much of Europe, the citizens of the continent’s Southeast European region have been left out of much...
Albania
Albania’s Rama cautiously balancing between Erdogan and Mitsotakis
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on January 7, and made a hastily arranged “private” stop,...
Archive
Energean wraps up acquisition of stake in offshore Block 2, western Greece
Greece’s Energean announced on January 7 that it has completed its acquisition of France’s Total’s entire 50% working interest share and operatorship position in...
Archive
Greece’s Orthodox Church defies lockdown order, holds Epiphany services
After announcing earlier in the week it would defy a government lockdown order, Greece’s Orthodox Church on Wednesday opened its places of worship to the...
Archive
Greece and Cyprus detect infections of new COVID strain
The new strain of Coronavirus, first identified in Britain in December, has been detected in Greece and Cyprus, officials from the two Health Ministries...
Archive
Eyeing schools reopening, Greece imposes one-week strict lockdown
Eyeing the reopening of schools on January 11, the Greek government announced on Saturday a one-week strict lockdown, starting Sunday.Under the renewed restrictions, all activities...
Archive
Europe turns the tables on Russian gas
As we move into 2021, Southeast Europe’s concern about security and diversity of energy supply and over-reliance on Russia gas is now history, a...
Analysis
Secretary Pompeo lets Turkey know what Washington really thinks
In an exchange that warmed the hearts of all Greeks and Greek Cypriots everywhere and was reported as front-page news, US Secretary of State...
Albania
The Bulgarian hammer comes down
Firmly refusing to approve the negotiating framework for the “Intergovernmental Conference” required to launch North Macedonia’s EU accession process, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva...
Archive
Cyprus, Egypt, Greece join efforts to stop Turkish actions in East Med
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met in Nicosia, Cyprus, on October 21 where they...
Albania
The Hague to assist Albania and Greece resolve maritime border
In an ironic twist of historical events, Albania and Greece jointly announced October 20 that they were requesting assistance from the International Court of...
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