Author: Despoina Calatou

A decade after the launch of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou, in her colorful studio in the seaside town of Marathon near Athens, said she was breathing in the fresh air through the window that the project opened for Greece and the world. “If this (initiative) did not exist, we should really be looking for something like this. This is the right time. It is something that should materialize,” she said. For Gerodimou, as well as for billions of people around the world, building bridges and bringing peoples closer together through major infrastructure projects that…

A decade ago, Greece’s economic situation was dire. Almost a third of the workforce was unemployed and the country was underneath heavy austerity measures to huge bailouts from their eurozone neighbors, especially Germany. But today, Greek might just be in the midst of an economic boom. “In the last several years, there’s been sort of an acceleration of an economic turnaround,” said Liz Alderman, chief European business correspondent for the New York Times. “We’re basically at a point now where Greece is essentially booming.” Alderman, who reported on Greece’s upturn, spoke with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about the change in Greek fortunes. To…

Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) has announced it entry into the electric vehicle (EV) charging market with GRID Charge, the new business unit of subsidiary company, GRID Telecom. Entrance into the EV charging market illustrates the Greek TSO’s aim to accelerate the uptake of electric mobility in the country. One of GRID Charge’s primary areas of focus will be the ultra-fast charging sector. The company plans to install new EV fast chargers, including Superchargers DC and Ultra-rapid DC chargers, at specific locations across Greece. “With the creation of Grid Charge, IPTO Group continues to expand its business activities and enters…

Andreas Mallis leans into the smoke and winces from the heat, sweat bursting from his forehead and running down his nose. The 57-year-old boat-tour operator blows on the embers of a fire and carefully turns strips of squid on a grill he hauled from his boat on to shore in the midday sun on the hottest day of the hottest summer Greece has seen in 50 years. A group of tourists that Mallis deposited on a rug under a large juniper tree discuss the wildfires ravaging Greek islands as they wait for their lunch. On Rhodes, Evia and Corfu, thousands of tourists have been evacuated…

Greece is gearing up for an international education boom, with its universities focused on an internationalisation drive and the inception of new Study in Greece initiatives, according to a key stakeholder. Christos Michalakelis, the project manager and president of Study in Greece – whose members now consist of all 24 public universities in Greece – spoke with The PIE News about what’s coming next for Greece’s international education sector. In 2014, the time of Study in Greece’s inception, the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of education were looking to provide a source of information for international students looking to study on Greek…

After the death of a 29-year-old Greek man during violent clashes between Dinamo Zagreb and AEK Athens fans in the Greek capital, prosecutors are questioning more than 100 fans who were arrested, most of them Croats. Prosecutors on Wednesday will interview football fans arrested after clashes in the Greek capital between supporters of AEK Athens and Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb that caused the death of a 29-year-old Greek man. A Greek police representative told BIRN that among the 104 people arrested during the violence in Athens on Monday evening, there were 94 Croats, six Greeks, one Albanian, one German, and…

Greece is among the best countries in the world to visit in 2023, according to this year’s Telegraph Travel Awards. Launched in 1998, the Telegraph Travel Awards returned after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Over 30,000 Telegraph readers voted for their favorite destinations, airlines, and travel companies for the 2023 edition. According to the poll’s results released in July, Greece was named the 11th best country to visit on Earth and the 2nd best in Europe after Italy. Greece achieved a seven-position climb since 2019, and when compared to the 2013 awards, is considered a new entry in the top 20. Greece collects more wins Athens was…

The battle to contain wildfires across Greece continued for a seventh straight day as firefighters struggled to extinguish flames amid scenes of pandemonium prompted by the nation’s biggest ever evacuation of tourists on inferno-stricken Rhodes. With the aid of water-dropping planes, authorities worked around the clock to tame numerous fires. While the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said it was clear the country was “at war with fire”, efforts were being concentrated on dousing blazes raging on the islands of Evia and Corfu, in addition to Rhodes. “This battle is uneven, and it will keep being like that for as long as the…

Britons have long loved to be beside the seaside. It might be the sense of freedom you find on the egde of destination. Perhaps it’s the nostalgia of childhood, or the draw of a day spent swimming and sunbathing? Whatever it is, beaches continue to pull in visitors – and especially tempting is a beach break in Europe. A recent Which? survey explored some of these captivating factors, setting out to discover the UK’s favourite European seaside destinations by asking 3,500 members to rate coastal towns and cities based on 12 factors. Its results give an insight into what makes an ideal…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday met OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid in Washington, discussing security in Europe and Eurasia amid the Russian war in Ukraine. “The two discussed the organization’s success in advancing military, economic, environmental, and human security in Europe and Eurasia despite Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and its obstruction of important OSCE functions,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. Blinken also reiterated “steadfast” US support for the OSCE, including its projects, field operations, and election observation missions throughout the region, according to the statement. Blinken told reporters ahead of the meeting…