Politics

The remarks are largely considered Tsipras’ first step toward forming a new party that aspires to lead the Greek center left and left. Tsipras was 34 years old when he became Syriza leader 17 years ago and oversaw its electoral leap from 4.6 percent in 2009 to 36.3 percent in 2015. He served as Greece’s prime minister from 2015 to 2019, during some of the most turbulent years of the country’s financial crisis. In summer 2023, Tsipras resigned from the party’s leadership after a crushing defeat in national elections by the ruling center-right New Democracy party. Since then Syriza has faced an existential crisis, leading to many splinters, and lost its status as the country’s main opposition party. Consecutive polls reveal deep distrust of Greece’s political parties, as well as...

Former PM of Greece, Alexis Tsipras.Credit: Amna In his first newspaper interview since resigning from his seat in the Greek Parliament on October 6, 2025, former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed his desire to reconnect with everyday Greeks and return to active politics. Tsipras had previously stepped down as leader of the Syriza party in June 2023. While he did not explicitly state plans to form a new political party, his comments about staying politically active have fueled speculation about a potential new political movement. Tsipras emphasized that he is not stepping away from political life, despite his resignation from Parliament. The former PM explained the reasons why he left Syriza, the party that in 2015 formed the first leftist government in the political history of Greec...

A massive scam to defraud the EU has convulsed Athens this year, after many Greeks improperly received farm subsidies for pastureland they did not own, or for farm work they did not do. POLITICO first reported on the scheme in February. Several ministers and deputy ministers resigned over their alleged involvement in the scandal, which is also under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The EU has already fined Athens €400 million after finding evidence of systemic failings in the handling of farm subsidies from 2016 through to 2023. EPPO had already raided OPEKEPE headquarters in May, meeting physical resistance to its inquiries. This was followed by a raid by Greek police in July. Greece risks losing its EU farm subsidies unless it provides an improved action...

Parts of the Greek diaspora approach Greek politicians with deference. Credit: Greek Reporter Parts of the diaspora still approach Greek politics with the same tolerance that once enabled dysfunction at home. Many approach politicians from Greece with sentiment instead of scrutiny. Opinion article by Steve Bakalis As recent political tensions in France show, the public debate over taxation, social benefits, and fiscal discipline is once again reigniting the very questions Frédéric Bastiat posed two centuries ago — about how much the state can give, and who ultimately pays for it. Everyone wants more support from the state — cheaper services, more benefits, fewer taxes. But as the French economist warned nearly two centuries ago, “Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They...

On this day in 2024, Vasso Papandreou, a prominent figure in Greek politics and a key member of the PASOK party, has passed away at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness. Born on December 9, 1944, in Valimitika, Aigio, Papandreou had a distinguished academic career, studying Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business (formerly ASOEE). She furthered her education in the United Kingdom, earning a Master’s degree from the University of London and a PhD from the University of Reading. In addition to her studies, she held a teaching position at Oxford University. Papandreou was a trailblazer in Greek politics, serving in various ministerial roles under the governments of Andreas Papandreou and Kostas Simitis. She made history as the first Greek European Commissioner, holding...

US President Donald Trump walks after arriving on the South Lawn aboard Marine One, at the White House in Washington, D., US, on January 11, 2026. [Annabelle Gordon/Reuters] Hopes for an even closer cooperation on defense, energy and other fields, but also uncertainty about the impact Donald Trump’s foreign policy might have on the traditionally tense relations between Greece and Turkey, characterized the first year of the US president’s second term, in the eyes of the Greek political world. Trump’s return to the White House for a second term in January 2025 triggered both concerns and expectations within Greece’s government where views are divided. The liberal wing of the ruling center right New Democracy – as well as most of the opposition parties – have serious reserva...

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has strongly criticised Greece for attempting to block Ankara’a entry into the European Union’s SAFE defence initiative, stating his view it is an example of political offiicials feeding on an “anti-Turkish stance” to protect themselves. Fidan did not hold back during an interview with Reuters in Brussels as he expressed his frustration with Greece opposing Turkey’s request to join the new multibillion euro EU initiative aimed at boosting joint military investment across the bloc. “Greek politics feeds on an anti-Turkish stance. Whenever there is a domestic mistake, they immediately bring up Turkey,” Fidan said. “Regarding the SAFE program, the fact that the Greek prime minister boasts in the Greek parliament that he will prevent Turkey from joining, j...

CIA headquarters. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Carol Highsmith / Public Domain Details about the CIA’s secret role in Greece’s 1956 national elections and its parallel activities in Cyprus, including the recruitment of an associate of Archbishop Makarios III, the first President of the Republic of Cyprus, appear in Harvard Magazine’s report “The Life of a Harvard Spy.” The article profiles Richard Skeffington Welch, a senior CIA officer assassinated in Athens in December 1975. CIA Strategist and Architect of Influence: Welch’s Quiet Mastery of Politics in Greece and Cyprus Richard Welch. Public Domain When Welch returned to Greece in the summer of 1975, it felt less like a new posting and more like a return to familiar ground — a country he knew deeply, where politics, history, and cove...

Turkey’s foreign minister has accused Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias of adopting hawkish policies that trip up any efforts from Athens to improve relations with Ankara. Hakan Fidan made the comments in an interview ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled meeting in Ankara between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Fidan told Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper that he “sincerely believes” both Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis “have the intention and the ability” to overcome disputes between the two regional rivals. Asked by the interviewer about Dendias – whom Turkish officials have repeatedly accused of preventing rapprochement – Fidan said: “There is him, there is the audience he appeals to, there are other people apart from him, so thi...

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