Opinions

"above all else, democracy is a culture"

My first visit to a second-hand clothing and accessories store (Greeks call them “used clothes” but that just sounds wrong… or is it just me?) was when Evocative Thread Treasures first opened its doors behind a metro station downtown. I was already following them on Instagram when I saw the most incredible yellow coat I […]

"We’ve made a democracy, now we have to make the democrats".

Greece has frequently been at the epicenter of European attention in different fields. The outbreak of the debt crisis in 2009 and the risk of Greece to leave the Eurozone and cause a systemic domino effect, for instance, heavily influenced European economic governance. In difficult times for the national economy, it was the role of […]

So, obviously, we don't expect Erdogan and Mitsotakis to settle accounts that go back multiple decades. But we do expect them to talk.

Europe’s immediate neighborhood of the Western Balkans is facing symptoms of deterioration such as a worsening situation regarding the rule of law, rise of nationalist forces challenging international treaties and a deterioration of good neighborly relations with the European Union and its members. Political dynamics cast a shadow over the region’s economies, slowing down any […]

The European elections are a painless process in themselves, but this time round they paved the way for an electoral contest that could seriously disrupt European democracy. President Macron has called a general election, the French are voting in the first round today, and the latest polls show a clear lead for the unrepentant far-right […]

What does the selection of Mark Rutte as the new NATO Secretary General mean for the future of the Alliance and Greece?

Αt a time of various crises, tensions, but also οf military conflicts,  how do people assess humanity’s prospects? What can Greece, the birthplace of Western culture, expect from Eastern cultures? An answer is provided by a recent resolution of the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations, adopted by consensus, which declares  June 10 as […]

No one has ever claimed or implied that Chairman Mao was centre-left. I suspect that if someone had told him so to his face, he wouldn’t have known what they were talking about. Not that this has prevented Greece’s centre-left from honouring him by confirming a famous saying of his in practice: “great disorder under […]

Only hypocrites or the deliberately obtuse can claim not to have understood what happened in the European elections. Because, one, there’s nothing complicated about it, and two, it’s clear as day. New Democracy didn’t bother actually talking to the voters, never so much as mentioned the things that concern them, so it’s no surprise many […]

Europe’s voters have shifted the political balance to the right. In France and Germany, traditionally the political power centers of the European Union, far-right parties are celebrating historic triumphs. How these tectonic shifts will affect political processes remains to be seen. The leaders of the right-wing parties are notorious for their radical rhetoric. Finding consensus, […]

If a visitor to Greece believed everything they heard recently on TV and in the coffee shops, they would have fallen from the clouds today. Because—amazingly—the citizens of Greece aren’t voting to bring down the government or raise up the opposition! No, we will have the self-same government and opposition tomorrow. Nor are they are […]