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The 2023 Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards
The 2023 Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards Many of the biggest names in the Greek shipping industry, but also dynamic and important service providers, were recognised with prestigious awards on Friday, December 1 as the 2023 Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards were presented in front of an industry audience of about 1,100 guests. The event marked the 20th Anniversary of the Greek Shipping Awards and was full of reminders of the history of the shipping world’s biggest awards event. A [...]
Privatisations in Greece: The end of the road (with a question mark)
Privatisations in Greece: The end of the road (with a question mark) by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Costas Mitropoulos, who served as CEO of the first Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund in 2011-12 – in fact this was the privatization outfit Greece had to build in order to deliver on the demands of the country’s creditors in the rough seas of its debt crisis – has written a book on this very topic: the saga of privatisations in Greece. A seasoned [...]
CLIA presents cruise industry’s Action Plan for Greece to the Greek Government
CLIA presents cruise industry’s Action Plan for Greece to the Greek Government From left to right: Maria Deligianni, National Director, Eastern Mediterranean, CLIA, Christos Stylianides, Minister of Maritime Affairs & Insular Policy, Marie Caroline Laurent, Director General, CLIA Europe, Kerry Anastassiadis, Strategic Advisor, MSC Cruises, Chris Theofilides, CEO, Celestyal Cruises Representatives of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), members of the Government, and key stakeholders discussed CLIA’s proposed Action Plan for Greece for the next five years, during a [...]
“The Greeks are back”: High-level executives recommend changes
“The Greeks are back”: High-level executives recommend changes by Antonis D. Papagiannidis A group of high-level Greek executives who ply their trade in large companies around the world have convened – in a “The Greeks are back” format – in Athens to try and set out policy proposals in order to contribute to the ever-relevant goal of attracting investment to Greece. Some of their findings (more at www.greeksareback.gr) : As one would expect, the field of AI and of Cyber-security [...]
Dealing with an environmental impasse
Dealing with an environmental impasse by Antonis D. Papagiannidis A roundtable organized by the Association “Law-Nature” and the Tsatsos Centre for European Constitutional Law, coming soon after environmental extreme events have shaken public opinion in Greece (wildfires in summer, floods in autumn), tried to put in perspective the means available to deal with such unprecedented climate challenges that are becoming part of our life. As stated by two participants coming from different walks of life but resolutely trying to shed [...]
The 2022 London Hellenic Prize
The 2022 London Hellenic Prize This year’s London Hellenic Prize was awarded to Caroline Vout for her seminal study of classical sculpture, “Exposed: The Greek and Roman Body”. Dr Vout’s book has received great plaudits from classicists, art historians and art critics for its originality and wide range. Classical sculpture is explored not only as the traditional representation of beauty or religious devotion, but also as the expression of realism, social requirements, human needs and aspirations of everyday life. From [...]
When East meets West in a constructive mood: The Empress Theophano Prize goes to the United Nations in 2023
When East meets West in a constructive mood: The Empress Theophano Prize goes to the United Nations in 2023 by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The humanitarian role of multilateral institutions, this is what the United Nations was honoured for – in the person of Secretary-General Antonio Gutterres – with the Pan-European Prize Empress Theophano. Founded in 2020, to reward “individuals or organisations who make an outstanding contribution to bridging Europe’s historic diversities”, the prize is awarded annually on the first Saturday [...]
Onassis Prizes 2023
Onassis Prizes 2023 Costas Grammenos, the Chairman of the Centre and a true visionary Three world-leading academics received grants for finance, international trade, and shipping contributions. The Onassis Prizes 2023 were awarded at The Guildhall in London to Darrell Duffie, Marc Melitz and Siri Pettersen Strandenes. Established in 1978 by Aristotle Onassis's hand-written will, the Onassis Prizes are awarded in the aforementioned sectors as they are the areas in which Aristotle Onassis achieved international renown during his lifetime. [...]
European promises of accession as a way out from a “frozen conflict” in Ukraine?
European promises of accession as a way out from a “frozen conflict” in Ukraine? by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Could it be that the lightning visit of EU Commission President to Kyiv (unannounced until it happened: peculiar, given the bandwagon of publicity following Ursula von der Leyen whenever she ventures in foreign-affairs terrain), meeting President Zelenski to congratulate Ukraine for “excellent progress […] impressive to see” in preparing for accession negotiations, be some kind of smoke-screen for pressure being brought to [...]
The Athens/ECB version of the Delphic Oracle
The Athens/ECB version of the Delphic Oracle by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Ain 2008, almost 15 years ago, while the clock was already ticking for Greece’s financial crisis that led to the near-miss of Grexit in 2015, the Eurosystem central bankers and the Governing Council of the ECB convened in Athens to more-or-less celebrate the tenth anniversary of the launch of the third stage of EMU and the process leading to the Eurozone creation (European Council of May 3rd, 1998). This [...]
The exercise of summitry – and Greek foreign policy in the Middle East
The exercise of summitry – and Greek foreign policy in the Middle East by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Greek P.M. Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined the Cairo Peace Summit, a conference of mainly Arab and European leaders and officials trying to de-escalate the Israel-Hamas conflagration and to avoid a generalised war flare-up in the Middle East. By a peculiar turn of things, the Cairo Summit was attended by three Greek dignitaries: Mitsotakis was joined by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis, but also by European [...]
War has changed – shockingly so
War has changed – shockingly so by Antonis D. Papagiannidis War is a horror; so is terrorism, an insidious substitute to war. Problem is, war has changed in our days. War has changed in shocking but also in ensnaring ways. War has been always changing and adapting – all along getting ever more deadly. Passing from longbow to gunpowder must have been a horrible experience for European belligerents of the 14th century; so was greeting the Gatling gun on battlefields [...]
Through the looking-glass: the art of drafting Budgets in Greek circumstances
Through the looking-glass: the art of drafting Budgets in Greek circumstances by Antonis D. Papagiannidis For the real fans of Lewis Carroll’s works, one of the deeper aspects of “Through the looking-glass” is the fallacy of equivocation; that is, of using the same term/the very same word to denote clearly different – possibly even opposite – objects or meanings. In the time-honored charade of drafting budgets in Greek practice – not to forget that ex post assessments of the budget’s [...]
Greek leaders discover Europe anew: in shining or dark context?
Greek leaders discover Europe anew: in shining or dark context? by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Greece belongs to Europe, to the “European family”: ever since the Eighties, when a Euro-hesitant public opinion turned decidedly Euro-phihe (for a period of more than a decade Euro-enthusiastic) this is a tenet of Greek politics. A brief spell of Euro-disappointment when Greece and Greeks experienced the tough love of bail-out/Adjustment Programmes based on austerity, was decisively reversed when the spectra of Grexit became apparent. A [...]
Of slips-of-the-tongue, of major foreign policy issues and of Greek politics
Of slips-of-the-tongue, of major foreign policy issues and of Greek politics by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Greece is one of the rare countries where major issues of foreign policy /of international relations, are termed “national issues”, thus calling for less-to-nil dissent for fear of those deviating from “national consensus” being pilloried as of lesser national loyalty. A bad thing for the 19th century – far worse, in different in terms, for the 21rst. One cannot easily forget cases as those hunted [...]
Greece hovering between the Balkans and “Europe”
Greece hovering between the Balkans and “Europe” by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Less than a fortnight ago, a high-profile meeting of West Balkans leaders (with the conspicuous absence of Albania) convened in Athens at the initiative of Greece and with the EU leadership joining in. After all, the stated intention of this regional mini-Summit was for the West Balkan countries to resume their long slog towards a future in the European fold: in 2003, the ‘Thessaloniki initiative” had set in motion [...]
An awkward success for Greece: investment grade won back amidst natural calamities
An awkward success for Greece: investment grade won back amidst natural calamities by Antonis D. Papagiannidis It is quite strange an experience for a country to get back its investment grade rating – lost in 2009, at the onset of Greece’s financial debacle – when it is reeling under successive shocks of raging wildfires and devastating floods. Still, it just right now that Greece’s sovereigns recorded the belated success of getting a BBB (low) rating, with stable trend, by DBRS [...]
The Greek economy facing 2024 – just before the Thessaloniki Fair ritual
The Greek economy facing 2024 – just before the Thessaloniki Fair ritual by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Traditionally, the Thessaloniki International Fair – attended as it is by everybody who counts in Greek politics, especially the Prime Minister, along with the court surrounding politics – constituted the setting for positive assessments of the Greek economy performance, plus whatever criticism can be presented, but essentially for a glimpse at the economic policies to be implemented in the year to come. Up to [...]
The Mitsotakis version of family hospitality-based foreign policy
The Mitsotakis version of family hospitality-based foreign policy More than 30 years ago – in July 1991 to be more precise, when the world order was being rearranged with the crash of the Soviet Union – Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis (Constantine) greeted to the Crete family home of the Mitsotakis clan no less the then US President George Bush, Sr along with First Lady Barbara Bush. The 3-day stay of the Bushes benefited of all the hospitality associated with Marika [...]
The Right-Left balance in Europe: Spanish and German angles revisited
The Right-Left balance in Europe: Spanish and German angles revisited by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Spain has emerged from its recent snap general election with Right-wing Partido Popular leading, with 47 more seats than it had in the last (2019) vote; the snap election was called by the ruling Left-leaning coalition around Socialist PSOE, after they did worse than expected in last May’s regional elections. PSOE came a close second to PP, giving the lie to those who thought that PP [...]
Interest on Greek public debt: a case of “there is no free lunch”
Interest on Greek public debt: a case of “there is no free lunch” by Antonis D. Papagiannidis After many years during which the fight to gain some sort of fiscal equilibrium was of pre-eminent importance for Greece, the fact that the first semester of the current year ended with a 2.1 bn euros surplus in the implementation of the 2023 budget was surely cause for satisfaction (Notwithstanding the fact that quite a portion of such good performance is to be [...]
Of high-visibility personalities covering their bets
Of high-visibility personalities covering their bets by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Economies run partly – or, sometimes, mainly – on psychology; so, leading figures have always the tendency to play on forecasts and/or warnings so as to contribute to what is considered the common good. Take for one Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase since 2005 – the quintessential leading figure of global finance (of Greek ancestry: his grandfather Theodore Papadimitriou cut his teeth at banking in Smyrna and [...]
Will the benefit of the doubt given to the new Government allow for important changes to be attempted?
Will the benefit of the doubt given to the new Government allow for important changes to be attempted? by Antonis D. Papagiannidis It is part of Greek political life, however little acknowledged by analysts when it actually occurs. After an election in Greece, even when tempers have run high in campaigns and public posturing, there is a reflex of the body politic – regardless of every single citizen’s choise at the voting urn – to grant the winner quite wide [...]
Looking forward to the set-design for the Mitsotakis-Erdogan Vilnius meeting
Looking forward to the set-design for the Mitsotakis-Erdogan Vilnius meeting by Antonis D. Papagiannidis The Vilnius NATO Summit (of July 11/12) was further prepared by a seven-nation meeting last week at the Hague, with NATO SecGen Stoltenberg joining the Presidents and/or Prime Ministers of the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Albania. The set-up of this group was consciously staying clear of major NATO nations: it is a measure of the efforts of the Alliance to weave closer ties [...]
Has Greece shifted to the Right? Is this part of something wider?
Has Greece shifted to the Right? Is this part of something wider? by Antonis D. Papagiannidis Greece was always – certainly in the post-WWII years/probably ever since the mid-Twenties when the flow of Asia Minor refugees altered decisively social structure and politics – a Centre-Left/Left leaning country. Even when ruled by Right-wing Governments, which was often the case especially in the post-War years when the US influence was most pronounced and anti-Communist imperatives were strictly enforced, underlying Left-leaning reflexes were [...]