Opinions

Predictions are always risky, but they’re even trickier than usual right now that the prospects for the European (and Greek) economy in 2024 depend on the outcome of events that are either ongoing or will not be happening until the middle or end of the year.

In 2024, the Western Balkans will have to navigate domestic political volatility, security problems and an uncertain ‘restart’ in enlargement policy

 The decline of the Greek language in the United States is a poignant issue, rooted in insufficient funding and a lack of prioritization

2023 was an important year for migration and asylum in the European Union (EU), but also worldwide

The Linguistics professor from the University of Ioannina talks about the challenges facing the Humanities today, but also about an academic initiative, the International Summer University, which will this year be completing its first decade in operation.

There are times when the sound of the shifting tectonic plates of history rings out a little more clearly

Every living organism mobilizes its immune system in response to external invasions and threats. Failure to do so indicates a system that is in decline and nearing the end of its life cycle. A reaction, even if it fails to cure the system, indicates that the system is functional and alert. In political terms, the […]

I wrote in last year’s Outlook that the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis had thrown Europe’s ambitions of strategic autonomy into disarray. Europe’s military and energy dependencies leave little room for manoeuvre in an era in which weapons have the first word and economic relations are weaponized for political ends. I […]

2023: an assessment The consolidation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule over Turkey was the most significant political news of 2023. Neither the painful earthquakes of 6 February 2023 nor the unprecedented mobilization of the οopposition was enough to bring change to Turkey’s political arena. Despite disappointment at the delayed mobilization of the ill-prepared Turkish […]

In last year’s Outlook, we expressed our concerns that 2023 could turn out to be the “most difficult” year yet for Greek-Turkish relations. Our concerns were not founded entirely in the fact that—though the year was ending with Greek-Turkish tensions at lower and/or more controlled levels than the two years that preceded it (2021 & […]

The past year was one of the calmest in Greek-Turkish relations, with the rapidly improving bilateral climate culminating in the recent High Cooperation Council meeting and the adoption of the Athens Declaration

The war which began on 7 October 2023 has radically altered Israel’s political agenda

The Mediterranean, and the Eastern Mediterranean in particular, has once again demonstrated its ability to surprise us—usually in a bad way, since it is currently in the throes of growing chaos

The public has a right to know what really happened in a case involving practices that wouldn't be out of place in the Latin American underworld

When I assumed my duties as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister on 16 June 2011, the first adjustment programme of the Greek economy had proved to be inadequate and what was urgently needed was a second programme entailing a much larger loan, along with a bold reduction and radical restructuring of the Greek public […]

The past two weeks have been very busy for the Greeks living in the United States

Bektashism-Alevism represent a unique dogma within Islam that has shaped a fascinating dimension of Islamic mysticism as well as a captivating mosaic of traditions, ceremonies and anthropological interactions, from Anatolia in Turkey to the Balkans and lately to Europe. It has its roots in Persian-speaking Central Asia, the 13th century Khorasan, and, among other things, […]

Indeed, AI can act as an efficiency multiplier in many areas of public governance

10 December marks the annual commemoration of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Together with the UN Charter, the Declaration forms the de facto foundation of today’s global governance system. This very system that has been shaking for a while and is now crumbling after […]