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No end to wildfires [InTime News]
Welcome to the weekly round-up of news by Kathimerini English Edition. Greece continues to struggle with the implacable destruction caused by wildfires that continue to burn across the country, with the front in northeastern Greece still active after nine days in the largest recorded fire on European soil in years. Despite the efforts of over 600 firefighters from all over Europe that have been working around the clock, supported by a fleet of aircraft and helicopters, there is no end in sight. Aside from the raging fire in northeastern Greece, with evacuations being ordered as late as Sunday, there are large fires in other parts of Greece, including a major blaze on the island of Andros. A total of 21 people have also perished in this latest round of fires, among them two children. Most of the bodies were found in northeastern Greece. With conspiracy theories on the causes of the fires swelling, there was a breakdown of social order this week when three men filmed a group of 13 migrants they had locked up in a trailer, accusing them of arson. The vigilantes were placed under house arrest pending their trial, while the migrants whom they had imprisoned are facing charges of attempted arson. The first four migrants of the group were released without restrictions following a meeting with a magistrate. The environmental damage caused by the fires has also dismayed both the public and experts, with the latter warning that regeneration in the burnt areas may take decades. As of Thursday there were a total of 128,148 hectares of burnt land, almost a 200% increase compared to the annual average. In Attica alone, more than 33% of wooded areas have been burnt in the last seven years. There is also a significant degradation of air quality due to toxic particles from the fires, something experts warn will continue for a long time after the fires are put out. In fact, the volume of particles is so high that they have reached Malta and southern Italy. The fires even damaged the monastery of Osios Loukas in Central Greece, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important Byzantine monuments in the world. Spotlight
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OPINION
 [InTime News]Greece’s geographic location, along with its membership in the EU, make it the ideal country to act as India’s gateway to Europe. The bilateral relationship between the world’s first and today’s most populous democracy, can prove to be mutually beneficial. An effort to deepen relations should be pursued, not limited to just the sphere of economics but also including defense and security. Athens is deeply committed to its western orientation, with an unwavering dedication to Euro Atlantic institutions, enhanced by a total fulfilment of its obligations and a steadily growing reliability. At the same time, and in the context of pursuing its interests, a closer cooperation with the third largest economy in the world is self-evident. As two nations with a long-standing maritime outlook, Greece and India are proponents of a rules based order in the seas – that holds true for both the Aegean and the Mediterranean as well as for and the Indo-Pacific – and both highlight the need for respecting the provisions of the Law of the Sea and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations. The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi noted in an interview with Kathimerini, that Athens and Delhi share the goal of “value chains linking Indian and Greek companies to the wider EU market”. For Greece, the mere size of India – from its economy to its clout in the world – offers enormous opportunities in a multitude of sectors. Exploring them should be part of a national strategy. |
| CHART OF THE WEEK |
 Data released by the European Union statistics agency Eurostat on Greece’s Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices confirms that Greek food prices are not mirroring the de-escalation seen in other European countries. This was exacerbated by Greece’s inflation rate increasing in July. Overall, Greece has the ninth highest food inflation rate in the EU. Despite a small de-escalation of prices in April, unlike the EU and the Eurozone countries, Greece has seen a growing rate of food inflation for months. Dairy products, and in particular cheese, remain one of the worst “offenders” with a year-on-year price growth of 16.9%. |
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| ECONOMY IN A NUTSHELL |
| “The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index broke a four-week losing streak and climbed back to just under 1,300 points this week, with the benchmark closing 1,299.76 points. The general index grew by 2.88% from last week.” |
| “The Greek real estate market saw a flurry of activity this year, with over 112,000 transactions concluded by August 10 in comparison to a total of 139,000 for the total of 2022 and 105,000 in 2021. Foreign investors remain one of the key drivers behind this increasing sales volume.” |
| “Greece’s four largest banks (Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece, and Piraeus Bank) have repaid 31.1 billion euros of the 50.9 billion that they had drawn from the European Central Bank and Eurozone country central banks. This is largely due to increasing interest rates that made retaining the liquidity unsustainable.” |
| WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA |
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Editor's Pick The government decided to go with the classic populist rote. Instead of suggesting solutions, it is looking for culprits to blame.Paschos MandravelisRead the article |
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| Kathimerini English Edition is published as a single paper with the International Edition of NYTimes |
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