Regional units of Greece

The Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy approved the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessments for hydrocarbons research in two areas in Western Greece. This way the Parliament can now approve the activation of the contracts for Aitoloakarnania and Northwestern Peloponnese.

Turkey wants to test the Greek reflexes and attempts to answer to the clear Greek warning that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Kotzias gave a few hour ago. Ankara announced that the oceanographic survey vessel TCG Cesme will conduct “scientific surveys” in international waters. The area is near the islands of Thasos, Limnos and Samothraki at the Northern Aegean Sea.

Greek authorities are planning the creation of pre-departure detention facilities on the eastern Aegean islands, where thousands of migrants and refugees remain stranded, so as to accelerate returns to Turkey.

The Greek Meteorological Services (EMY) has issued an extreme weather bulletin warning of heavy rainfalls, storms, strong winds and topical haze starting Monday evening.

The migration crisis is expected to be among the key issues discussed in a meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on February 13, as the head of opposition New Democracy has turned his fire on the leftist-led government for its failure to manage thousands of migrants and refugees trapped in the country.

Conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday vowed to deal with the problems facings Greece's eastern Aegean islands as a result of the ongoing migration crisis, if New Democracy becomes government in the next elections.

Greek police on Friday obstructed farmers protesting hikes to tax and social security contribution payments from moving their tractors to block the Promachonas checkpoint on the country's border with Bulgaria.

The mayors of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros on Monday jointly presented their demands for measures to ease severe overcrowding at migrant reception centers on their islands during a meeting in Athens with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Farmers all over Greece are up in arms against the Greek government and are preparing to block main highways throughout the country. The mobilisation is scheduled to start Monday in central Greece, where farmers will set up blockades on the national highway in Thessaly in central Greece.

Parts of Rhodope and the whole regional unit of Evros, in northern Greece, suffered a power outage at noon on Saturday due to a technical glitch at the local power station, Public Power Corporation (PPC) said.

Power was gradually restored within an hour.