Politics

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis delivers a speech during a debate on the no-confidence motion against the government in parliament in Athens, 7 March 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/ALEXANDROS BELTES Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his government on Friday, attempting to launch a restart in the shadow of widespread protests over how his centre-right government has handled the Tempi train crash issue. Mass protests over the crash that cost 57 lives in 2023, the upcoming start of a parliamentary investigation into a former deputy minister for alleged wrongdoing related to the crash, a no-confidence motion filed by opposition parties last week and recent negative ratings in opinion polls have prompted Mitsotakis to change his cabinet line-up. In an opinion poll conducted by TV Channel S...

ISTANBUL Greek trade union confederation, PAME, on Thursday called for protests after Israel attacked the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla."We call on all trade unions, every worker, to strengthen solidarity with the Palestinian people. Everyone, on October 10th, to the demonstration at the embassy of the murderous state of Israel," PAME wrote on US social media company X.The union, which is one of the country's biggest unions affiliated with the Greek Communist Party (KKE), condemned the attack on the flotilla, also including the Greek ship “Oxygen,” and stressed that it is a "continuation of the genocide" against the Palestinian people."It is emboldened by the plans and the support of the USA, the EU, and the governments that back its crimes for the interests of the monopolies in the reg...

The Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport announced that EV drivers can now apply for a new exemption from parking fees in municipal parking lots, which will now remain active until the end of 2026. Privately managed parking spaces are not part of the deal. The exemption from parking fees can be applied for online on the Greek government’s website. The applicant will receive a parking sticker once the application is approved.The free parking measure applies to fully electric and low-emission vehicles with maximum CO2 emissions of 50 g/km. The regulation is initially valid until 31 December 2026 but could be extended again.In 2020, the Greek government adopted a major package to promote electric mobility. That included an EV subsidy scheme of up to 15 per cent of the purchase price...

Maria Damanaki, the former leader of Greece’s left-wing Synaspismos party, ex–EU commissioner, and current principal advisor to the international ocean conservation alliance Oceans 5 discusses the challenges of the green transition, Donald Trump’s impact on climate policy, the debate over hydrocarbon exploration, and whether dialogue with Turkey is inevitable.Interview by Niki LymberakiFor the past several years, Maria Damanaki has been dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans. In this interview, she speaks about her cooperation with the Greek government, the energy puzzle of the Eastern Mediterranean, and Greece’s complex relationship with Turkey. She also reflects on the dilemmas facing Europe’s Left, her years at the helm of Synaspismos—the coalition that eventually evolved into Syriz...

Greece’s centre-right government initially blamed ‘human error’ for the collision involving two trains which, it emerged, had been moving in opposite directions on the same line for some 12 minutes. The official investigation into the disaster is still going on, with questions still unanswered about signalling, radio communication and the responsibility of the stationmaster in Larissa, the station which the passenger train had just left moments before the head-on crash. The first four carriages were derailed, two of which were engulfed in fire. Some of the victims survived the initial crash, only to perish in the fire. Founded the summer after the crash, the victims’ association now has more than 240,000 followers on Facebook. “Because we knew that things were very difficult and that it wo...

(H1) We expect that through their posts the politicians will seek primarily to “construct” a positive self-image, rather than “attack” their political opponents (partially accepted).As already mentioned, relevant previous research on Instagram has shown that (Greek) politicians -independent of their political role- prioritized their self-presentation in a positive way over the “attack” against political opponents (Poulakidakos and Koutsikos, 2023). According to Fig. 1, Kyriakos Mitsotakis (the incumbent prime minister) appears to be almost totally dedicated to constructing a positive self-image, while the opposition leaders try to “balance” their TikTok strategy between a positive presentation of the self (mostly in the case of Nikos Androulakis) and attack to political opponents (mostly b...

Greece’s main opposition party, PASOK, submitted a no-confidence motion against the ruling New Democracy government on Wednesday, escalating political tensions as public anger over the government’s handling of the Tempi railway disaster and broader governance issues continues to mount.The motion comes in the wake of mass protests held across Greece last Friday, where demonstrators voiced frustration over the slow pursuit of justice for the 57 victims of the Tempi train crash and what they perceive as a cover-up and the government’s failure to address widespread institutional failures.An image of the aftermath of the Tempi rail disaster where 57 passengers, mostly youth, perished.It is the second time in a year that PASOK has attempted to unseat Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis through a ...

[Ismini Vlassopoulou/AMNA] Since the Greek parliamentary elections in May 2023, the contest for second place in political polls has resembled a game of musical chairs. The runner-up spot has rotated between leftist SYRIZA, once the main opposition party; socialist PASOK, currently holding that title in parliament; and, most recently, the anti-establishment party Course of Freedom. Now, Course of Freedom’s leader, Zoe Konstantopoulou — who broke away from SYRIZA in 2015 to form her own party the following year — appears to be solidifying her grip on second place. And she’s making no secret of her ambitions. With frequent television appearances, Konstantopoulou has begun actively articulating her political vision. According to Giorgos Arapoglou, CEO of Pulse polling company...

Mass protests are expected to bring parts of Greece to a standstill on Friday — the two-year anniversary of the country's deadliest railway disaster. JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: Mass protests are expected to bring parts of Greece to a standstill tomorrow, the two-year anniversary of the country's deadliest railway disaster. Public outrage over the Tempi crash is resurfacing, with a new poll showing 72% of Greeks believe the government tried to cover it up. Journalist Lydia Emmanouilidou reports.LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU: Evdokia Tsagli remembers laughing moments before the train she was on collided head-on with a cargo train. Her carriage spun through the air.EVDOKIA TSAGLI: I think I said over 100 times to myself, when is it going to stop? When is it goi...

ATHENS, June 27 (Reuters) - Greek migration minister Makis Voridis resigned on Friday after being implicated in a European Union investigation into the misuse of subsidies to Greek farmers but he denied any wrongdoing.The EU earlier this month imposed a 392.2 million-euro ($460.3 million) fine on Greece over a major scandal involving the mismanagement of agricultural subsidies by a government agency between 2016 and 2022. Sign up here."Because my status as a suspect of committing criminal acts is not consistent with my status as a member of the government and in order not to hinder the government's work, I submit to you my resignation," Voridis said in a letter to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.Mitsotakis accepted Voridis' resignation and a government spokesman said a replacement woul...