MacroPolis

From the National Energy and Climate Plan to COP26: What has Greek climate policy learned?

By: Georgia Nakou

A lot has happened in the two years since Kyriakos Mitsotakis, freshly elected as Greek PM, took to the stage at the UN General Assembly in 2019 to launch “a new, ambitious, national strategy on energy and climate change” for Greece, a strategy which was outlined and quantified in the National Energy and Climate Plan adopted a few months later.

SYRIZA presses for answers on hospitals amid mounting Covid deaths

Main opposition party SYRIZA is pressing the government from multiple directions for more clarity on its strategy for handling the pandemic, as the daily figures suggest no let-up in the spread of the virus and its human toll.

PM stands firm on Covid rules as health data deteriorates fast

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted on Monday that his government has no intention of curtailing the freedoms of Greeks who have been vaccinated, even though concern about the spread of Covid on the community grew over the weekend.

Mitsotakis rules out another lockdown, dismisses criticism of new Covid measures

Controversy over the latest raft of Covid-19 measures rumbles on, with the opposition accusing the government of double standards and political opportunism and industry reacting to the cost of implementation. On Wednesday, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis defended the government’s choices in a TV interview which is already provoking strong reactions.

Athens turns attention to Libya, advocates EastMed energy cooperation

Following an intense period, during which Greece signed a defence deal with France and renewed the Mutual Defence Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) with the US, Athens is once again turning an eye to the Eastern Mediterranean region as well as North Africa.

Tsipras tries to put PM on spot by pushing for 800-euro min wage

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has gone on the offensive against the government, calling for the minimum wage to be raised to 800 euros and for the consumption tax on fuel to be lowered as counter-measures to confront the wave of inflation troubling Greek households.

Leaders joust over Covid policy as death toll rises but public interest wanes

The government’s handling of the pandemic came under scrutiny again on Monday as leaders debated the latest Covid developments in Parliament.

ND presents united front at anniversary event, but factional tensions lurk

An event to mark the 47th anniversary of the founding of New Democracy and Greece’s 40-year history in the European Union offered the party an opportunity to reaffirm its unity, refocus its identity and calm the internal tensions that have marked recent weeks.

Gennimata withdrawal throws open KINAL leadership race

A shadow was cast over the leadership contest at centre-left KINAL on Tuesday when it emerged that current party president, and frontrunner according to the opinion polls, Fofi Gennimata was admitted to the hospital and announced that she would not be standing in the race.

Evia flooding reopens government's summer wounds

Flooding on the island of Evia over the weekend indicates that the government has not yet been able to put behind it the fallout from this summer’s wildfires, which cost New Democracy and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis some points in the opinion polls that have been published since September.