The Greek Letter - ekathimeriini .com - Debating the future of European seccurity architecture - 18 May 2025

 

Debating the future of European security architecture[Reuters] Constantine CapsaskisNewsletter Editor Welcome to the weekly round-up of news by Kathimerini English Edition. It was a busy week on the road for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as he met with Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni in Rome and new Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin. The Greek railway network was one of the key issues on the agenda in Rome, particularly as Hellenic Train S.A., the trains operator, is owned by Italy’s state owned Ferrovie dello Stato. An agreement was reached between Ferrovie and the Greek Transport Ministry for the Italians to invest 360 million euros in upgrading the network, including the purchase of 23 new trains. Mitsotakis also hinted at the elephant in the room, namely the blooming relationship between Rome and Ankara, stating that “it is critical to choose our interlocutors on the basis of whether they ultimately align with the foreign policy and interests of the [European] Union”, before adding that “European defense, our strategic autonomy, is not well served by creating new dependencies.” The same elephant was encountered a day later in Berlin, during the prime minister’s meeting with Chancellor Merz, with Germany widely seen to be pushing for Turkey’s inclusion in Europe’s new security architecture. “These types of sales but also future defensive cooperation agreements should meet some basic criteria”, said Mitsotakis expressing his opinion on the possible sale of Eurofighter jets to the Turkish Armed Forces. Another item discussed during the meeting was Greece’s relation the German defense industry, which had for many years been one of the primary suppliers of the Hellenic Armed Forces but has not been included in major recent projects including the “Achilles Shield” air defense system.  In the meeting, Merz discussed expanding Germany’s role in Greece’s 25+3 billion defense spending programs, but no agreement was reportedly reached. Greece is intensifying its efforts to contain, to the extent possible, Turkey’s participation in the European Union’s 800-billion-euro defense fund, calling on its European partners to recognize that it has been flexible but that its concerns should be considered. On this front, despite the perceived inertia in bilateral relations with Turkey as any agreement that could bring about tangible results still looks to be out of the picture, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis met with Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan this week on the sidelines of a gathering of NATO ministers in Antalya. The two discussed the next meeting between Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with it likely to take place in early July following the NATO summit in the Hague on June 24. Spotlight The Environment Ministry submitted an amendment to Parliament this week in an attempt to mitigate the fallout from the Council of State’s written decision which suspended all building permits issued under the New Building Code. The amendment has proven to be controversial, as it has been accused of providing a way to bypass the court’s decision and of interfering in ongoing trials. Specifically, the government measure will allow unfinished buildings at any stage of the work (including the earliest stages), and buildings whose permit was revoked or are under review by a court, to proceed under the original regulations of the New Building Code by paying a municipal fee. The government’s regulations also explicitly exempt major projects like the Elliniko development from the Council of State’s decision citing their development as an issue of public interest.   The Education Ministry is moving ahead with its plan of introducing teacher evaluations despite strong resistance from thousands of educators, with more than 2,500 of them being referred to disciplinary committees for refusing to participate or actively obstructing the process. The introduction of evaluation processes across the public sector is a key government policy, and minister Sophia Zacharaki has emphatically told the board of the Greek Primary Teachers’ Federation (DOE) that evaluations will proceed without retreat. “Evaluation does not have a punitive aspect, but seeks to improve and empower public education,” she said. However, in implementing this the Education Ministry also had its inefficient side exposed this week when it forgot to send a lawyer to represent the government in the case of a teacher who had been suspended for obstructing the evaluation of a colleague. The teacher eventually won her appeal and her reinstatement.

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OPINION Tom EllisEditor-in-Chief, Kathimerini English Edition Greece and its ports[AMNA] As a result of its prime location, which makes it a natural gateway to Europe in the Eastern Mediterranean, and conflicting interests, stemming from diplomatic alliances on the one front, and commercial partnerships on the other, Greece finds itself at the center of a complex geopolitical puzzle. Among its many critical pieces the ports of Piraeus, the country’s largest, as well as of Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis, stand out. It comes as no surprise that the US is not thrilled with the fact that one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean in terms of throughput, is controlled by the Chinese. Washington will try to minimize Beijing’s influence in Piraeus, while making a concerted effort to bring the other two of Greece’s major ports under American control. Especially Thessaloniki, is seen through the wider geopolitical prism of the India, Middle East, Europe Corridor (IMEC) for which there is growing interest in the US Congress. Athens’ strategic cooperation with New Delhi, and the join project which includes Cyprus and Israel among others, has an additional regional dimension given the traditional tensions between India and Pakistan, the latter being supported by Turkey. The pressures from different global players is heavy and it will become even more so in the near future, while the present geopolitical volatility and unpredictability make the already complex equation even more difficult to solve. For the time being the Port of Piraeus is operating normally despite a US decision, a few months ago, to blacklist its majority owner, COSCO, after the US Defense Department declared that the latter, China’s largest shipping group, worked with China’s military.  COSCO, one of the world’s largest shipping groups, stated that none of its units on the list are military companies. The US blacklisting had alarmed Greece given Piraeus’ pivotal commercial role. Meanwhile, the Greek government is putting pressure on the Chinese side to make the necessary development and infrastructure improvements in the Port of Piraeus it had committed to. The issue was discussed at a meeting last week between newly appointed Shipping Minister Vassilis Kikilias and Chinese Ambassador to Greece, Fanq Qiu, with the latter noting Beijing’s interest in deepening and expanding the bilateral cooperation in Piraeus and beyond. One thing is becoming clear; in the months ahead Greece’s ports will be at the forefront of a wider race for control and influence between major players with conflicting goals.

CHART OF THE WEEK

The increase in the number of arrivals of migrants and refugees that set out from Libya, particularly Egyptian nationals, is turning into one of the major dimensions of the country’s struggle with trans-Mediterranean flows. Over the last year, the number of individuals choosing to cross via this particular route, that starts from Tobruk and ends primarily on the islands of Gavdos, Crete, and Rhodes, has increased by 135%. This has caused great consternation to the Migration Ministry, as most of those arriving are looking to claim asylum, despite most seemingly not qualifying as they are not fleeing an active warzone. “This means that they need to be returned to their point of origin, but this process is not at all easy”, noted a ministry source to Kathimerini.

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ECONOMY IN A NUTSHELL

“The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed above the 1,800-point threshold this week (1,804.06 points) for a new 15-year high, with the benchmark growing by 22% so far in 2025. On a weekly basis, the index was up 3.06%.”

“Credit rating agency Fitch revised its outlook on Greece from stable to positive, affirming its ‘BBB-‘ credit rating. The company said that the revision reflects the country’s strong fiscal performance and ongoing debt reduction efforts.”

“A significant slowdown in the rate of property price increases was recorded in 2024, as the average annual nationwide rise in prices was limited to 6.5% last year from the 12% recorded in 2023.”

WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA

19/05/2025Pontic Greek Genocide Remembrance Day: Events will be held across the country to commemorate the systematic killing of Greeks who lived on the shores of the Black Sea at the start of the previous century. 19/05/2025Tempe Inquiry: PASOK is set to submit a motion for a parliamentary inquiry into former transport ministers Kostas A. Karamanlis and Christos Spirtzis. 20/05/2025Ministers in Brussels: Minister of State Akis Skertsos and Deputy Minister and Government Spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis will meet with EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath. 22/05/2025Eurobasket 2029: Greece is among the frontrunners to host the 2029 FIBA European Basketball Championship, having last hosted the continent’s major competition in 1995.

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PODCAST

16/05/2025 • 15:36Albania’s Edi Rama secures unprecedented fourth term in powerJohn Psaropoulos, an independent journalist and Al Jazeera’s correspondent in southeast Europe, joins Thanos Davelis as we look into Albania’s recent national elections, its EU ambitions, and what the re-election of Prime Minister Edi Rama means for Greek-Albanian relations.

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