Of competitiveness and innovation by Antonis D. Papagiannidis An eerie feeling of end-run in Greece’s uphill struggle to leave behind the shadows of successive crises – from the decade-long debt crisis to the corona-virus one and now to the geopolitically-tinted energy crisis with a resurgent inflation backdrop – and to contend for a positive future [...]

Of European Commission forecasts and of Greek country risk by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Greece seems all set to become a positive outlier for growth in 2022 within the EU and the Euro-area. So much is evident from the European Commission Winter Economic Forecast 2022 where Greece is expected to reach a 6% GDP increase, compared [...]

Greek post-WWII industry: of fallacies and unsung truths by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The saga of Greek post-WWII manufacturing that helped to propel the economy to developed-world status ended somehow abruptly in the Eighties. It left behind a number of popular fallacies that either belittle or misrepresent the real achievements of a vibrant sector. It is [...]

Greek real estate in 2022-23: peering through the looking glass by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Central Bank interest rate hikes and the overall shift to restrictive monetary policy, along with the feeling that real estate in many places around the world had reached a new bubble territory, lead to falling housing markets. Meanwhile, the changes in [...]

The diehard experience of trickle-down economies and of fiscal rigour by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The way in which the markets (yes, the self-same markets any government with impeccable neo-liberal credentials swears by) ejected first the British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwazi Kwarteng, then the PM Liz Truss herself should serve as a lesson on how [...]

Diverging snapshots from the migrant front by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Five snapshots from the – increasingly horrifying – front of migrants /refugees crossing the Aegean or the land border at Evros river and adding to Greek-Turkish tensions: The latest snapshot: 92 stark-naked asylum-seekers were landed at the Greek bank of the Evros river, evidently pushed [...]

EPC: the new kid on the block? by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The original version for a European Political Community, or EPC, goes back – believe it or not! – to a failure story of the early Fifties in the budding European integration of these times. Back then, the Paris Treaty establishing a European Defense Community [...]

Greece faces Turkish aggression but also international aloofness: the need for public diplomacy by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The Greek-Turkish dispute has taken an unpleasant turn within the last days. Although openings for some sort of de-escalation remain present – the Prague meetings over the European Political Community offer the chance of an Erdogan-Mitsotakis face-to-face which [...]

The Erdogan – Mitsotakis routine: it takes two to tango, but also to brawl by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The 77th UN Assembly General (September 20-26, in New York) was the venue for quite peculiar an interaction between Turkish President Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis. Already, the bets are on over what kind of climate [...]

TIF 2022: a manifold venture plans ahead by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The Thessaloniki International Fair (the 86th of a long series since it started in 1926 – with breaks in wartime – and hopes to celebrate its centennial with an opening of its planned new locale) is the traditional venue for the country’s political system [...]