Opinions

It’s strange. The world is in flames from the Middle East to Ukraine, and here in Europe we’ll be voting for the new European Parliament in a few weeks’ time, and yet we’re not really focused on the world or even on Europe. No, we’re only interested in the election candidates. And this when previous […]

We’re not in the home straight yet, but they’re not a dot on the horizon anymore. This June’s European elections will bring to a close the cycle of electoral showdowns that began a year ago, in May 2023. The polls record dissatisfaction with the New Democracy government, with the main chaffing point being the cost […]

A police force that does not protect those who seek its protection. An officer who doesn’t even watch over the pavement beside the police station he’s charged with guarding. A Rapid Response unit that isn’t rapid and whose responsiveness is questionable at best. Police officers who respond to a young girl’s cry for help in […]

Even the winners had not expected such a clear victory. There is absolutely no doubt: the big winners are the opposition forces led by the new and old mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu. The equally clear loser is President Erdogan. He had set all his forces in motion to win the municipal elections and failed […]

The government’s “hell week” ended, as expected, with it comfortably winning a vote of confidence, in what turned out to be a far from edifying parliamentary showdown. In the meantime, of course, the government lost two ministers for reasons that are probably unrelated to the opposition’s lack of confidence. It is possible that their loss […]

The government's reaction to the revelations adds three more questions to the long list it has so far refused to answer.

As Greece has launched another major regularisation programme for undocumented immigrants, a comparison with France’s 1981 similar initiative provides us with insights. Drawing a parallel between the two programmes offers a crucial lens to raise questions about the effectiveness and unintended long-term consequences of such policies based on the lessons learned from the French experience. […]

Democratic societies face a choice. As far as dilemmas go, it’s extremely straightforward: they can either have confidence in the justice they provide, or they can’t. If a society trusts its justice system, it doesn’t cast doubts on it over trifles. It doesn’t restrict its purview, either, or casually level accusations about cover-ups or transactions. […]

Is the specter of the Far Right hanging over Greece? Well, no–what we need is a little perspective. The political wing of the Far Right may be making advances in parts of Europe (Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Spain or Italy). But in Greece it remains fragmented and disreputable, consigned to the lunatic fringe. It might […]

– China’s reliance on Russia in security and defense will further decrease. – Russia will gradually become China’s junior partner in all domains, including in the military. – This power asymmetry will stymie the further deepening of Sino-Russian ties. As Russia and China challenge the American hegemony in the post-Cold War international system, they have […]

The prevailing sense, as it emerged from the statements made by its head, was that the Church would downplay the issue, would not add fuel to the fire, and, at some point join the entire civilized world in accepting that there is nothing untoward about same-sex marriages or the baptism of children from such unions. But the Church's decision to make a fight of it, and its unprecedented snubbing of the President of the Hellenic Republic, have now placed the need for the separation of State and Church firmly center stage.

I’m afraid this business with the Church being all sulky with the State over a matter of state could end up being even more of a joke than the “popular gatherings” over identity cards 25 years ago. For one simple reason: State and Church neither co-govern, nor work together. The Church can have an opinion […]