Mitsotakis government

Greece will respond resolutely in defending the EU's external borders against possible migrant pressure from Turkey, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of "lying" about the migrant crisis.

Erdogan Threatens Athens Directly: If we Open our Borders, I don't Know what will Happen to Greece

The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (ERBD) on Monday announced a 75-million-euro investment in Public Power Corp. (PPC), the ATHEX-listed utility that ranks as Greece's dominant electricity provider and producer.

The European development bank said it has joined a 1.35-billion-euro share capital increase announced by PPC.

The Movement for Change characterizes the handover of the PPC from the government to the private interests, in a comment of its Press Office, concerning the announcement of the increase of the share capital of the company. It points out that this is happening at a time when rising energy prices are threatening households and businesses.

By George Gilson

Amidst rampant talk of early elections, main opposition Syriza leader and former PM Alexis Tsipras in a major address at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) this evening unveiled his party's programme and lambasted government policy in a variety of areas, from management of the COVID-19 epidemic to economic, heath, and education policies.

Romania can count on Greece's "full support" in its efforts to join the Schengen Area and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), visiting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in a joint statement delivered today with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu. Dendias also spoke about the importance of supporting the Western Balkan countries.

A ministerial meeting chaired by the Greek prime minister was held on Monday to focus on stepped up checks and inspections throughout the country to confirm that Covid-19 restrictions are being applied and followed, as concerns heightened in the country over a coming surge in the number of "Delta variant" cases.

The Mitsotakis government on Friday evening tabled a landmark draft bill envisioning reforms in much of the country's labor sector, changes that the pro-business and pro-market government underlined as long overdue, but which are expected to generate heightened criticism by the political opposition and Greece's still formidable unions.

"Athens presented ambitious plans for the utilization of resources from the Recovery Facility. This is about 30 billion euros. Brussels is impressed by the future project "Greece 2.0", Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.

Former prime minister Antonis Samaras one week ago adopted an aggressive stance on Greek national issues.

He did so in a flashy manner on the eve of the resumption of exploratory talks with neighbouring Turkey in Istanbul.

Just weeks before the EU is scheduled to begin thrashing out a new migration and asylum pact, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis will hold talks with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer in Berlin on 20 February and will present Athens' proposals for a swift processing of asylum applications and an equitable EU-wide burden-sharing plan.