the Greek Letter - ekathimerini. com - Constantine Capsaskis - 12 July 2026 - Athens reiterated its concern over the potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.

 

Permit to fly[U.S. Central Command via AP] Constantine CapsaskisNewsletter Editor Welcome to the weekly round-up of news by Kathimerini English Edition. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and a Greek delegation attended the NATO summit in Ankara this week, where Athens reiterated its concern over the potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. “An alliance needs to be based on the fundamental principle of good-neighborly relations,” said Mitsotakis on Wednesday, decrying the Turkish threat of war (“casus belli”) over a possible exercise of Athens’ legal right to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean. “I think we need to be cognizant of the fact that the sensitivities of all NATO allies need to be taken into consideration,” he added. “After all, we are a defensive alliance, and I’m sure that these outstanding issues can be resolved in the spirit of good-neighborly relations and in the spirit of cooperation.” The prime minister also emphasized that “significant legal obstacles” remain in place to the acquisition of the F-35s by Turkey, primarily linked to its earlier acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system. The Greek government has also raised its concerns directly with Washington, emphasizing that weapons sold to one ally should not be used against another. Three members of the United States Congress have told Kathimerini that the key precondition for any change in US policy on selling F-35s to Turkey remains the fate of its Russian-made S-400 air defense systems. “The law is clear: as long as Turkey possesses the S-400s, Ankara is barred from the F-35 program. Congress has made that clear on a bipartisan basis, and any attempts by the Trump administration to circumvent that law are simply unacceptable”, said Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. In response to calls by Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the summit that Turkey must be included in European defense spending, Athens has also made it clear that it will continue to use its veto power to exclude Turkey from the EU’s SAFE defense spending program unless the country withdraws its casus belli legislation. “The Greek position is absolutely clear: the existence of the casus belli constitutes a formal threat of war and is not diminished by time or by public opinion becoming familiar with it. It is diminished only by its definitive withdrawal”, said a senior diplomatic source. Erdogan also used the occasion to call for renewed negotiations on the delimitation of maritime zones in the Aegean, stating that “we hope that first our foreign ministers, and then, if necessary, we ourselves will sit down at the table to discuss this matter. But let me say this clearly and openly: resolving these issues is first and foremost the duty of leaders”.   Spotlight The situation within leftist party SYRIZA continues to deteriorate, with Sokratis Famellos stepping down as leader. In his resignation letter, Famellos accused the internal opposition within his party of “torpedoing our decision [to work with Alexis Tsipras’ ELAS] from day one, insulting the collective democratic procedures” that chose co-operation with the new party, also retaining, however, some sharp words for former party leader Tsipras. “Despite going above and beyond from our side, there is a public rejection of co-operation and convergence by ELAS”, he said. An extraordinary party meeting, held on Saturday at the initiative of Pavlos Polakis, Rena Dourou and Nikos Pappas, now called for a reversal of the party’s previous decision to work with ELAS. Of course, the three are fighting not just for the party’s survival but also for their own political future, as it has been made clear that they would not, for various reasons, be welcome at ELAS. The extraordinary meeting also saw the reported cancellation of Polakis’ expulsion from the party, with the outspoken MP stating once more that he would run for the party’s leadership. A mass exodus of approximately 14 MPs is expected in the coming days, following an earlier trickle that continued into this week with the resignation of MP Katerina Notopoulou.   Two men were arrested on suspicion of torching the Marfin Bank branch on central Stadiou Street during a mass protest against austerity measures on May 5, 2010, that killed three bank employees. The incident is widely considered one of the darkest chapters of the country’s financial crisis. The authorities also issued a warrant for a third suspect, a 46-year-old woman who currently lives in the United Kingdom. The woman voluntarily contacted Greek authorities, insisting on her innocence, and has stated that she will return to Greece immediately. The arrests are a result of a two-year reinvestigation conducted by the Homicide Division of the police’s Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, with the authorities linking the suspects to the incident by comparing images taken during the demonstrations with photographs discovered in a house in the Athens neighborhood of Koukaki during an anti-terrorism investigation into explosives. According to a police source, one suspect “was wearing exactly the same hat and carrying the same handmade backpack that he was seen with on the day of the incidents”.

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OPINION Tom EllisEditor-in-Chief, Kathimerini English Edition Cross party populism[Shutterstock] As we are getting closer to the next national elections, expected to take place sometime between the end of September and the Spring of 2027, we are witnessing a dangerous race of populism, both between the government and the opposition and within the latter. While almost everyone agrees that what the Greek economy needs is discipline, reforms and transparency, what seems to be on the pre-election agenda is how to offer more goodies to the voters. Even more worrisome is the fact that this populism comes from the country’s main political forces, supposed to be the more realistic and serious ones, and not from the fringe of the political spectrum. The ruling Conservatives, which are polling around 26%, criticize both former prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ Greek Leftist Alliance (ELAS), second in the polls with around 16%, as well as the other major center left party, PASOK, which follows in third place with around 10%, for announcing measures that the economy cannot afford. But at the same time, the government has made no secret that it is preparing to offer numerous subsidies and announce other supportive measures in the upcoming Thessaloniki International Fair in September. It is interesting how the government chooses to interpret its own subsidies as necessary for social justice, while describing what the opposition proposes as dangerous moves that would derail the budget. Hence, we are faced with a rather “unhealthy” competition between on the one hand the ruling Conservatives and the two main parties of the Center Left, and on the other between the latter two, in their effort to attract voters, both the ones that participated in the last elections, but also the huge number that abstained in the last national elections of June 2023 who are seen as a potential game changer, as they were almost half of the registered voters (47%). In any case, for the objective observer, the situation is not serving the interests of an economy which is in desperate need of politically difficult reforms rather than popular payouts. In the last months the country’s central bank has repeatedly sounded the alarm to the political system, in an effort to avoid a potential fiscal derailment.

CHART OF THE WEEK

Despite the fact that the overall real estate market has seen a slowdown in the rate of price increases, several areas in the capital region of Attica have seen a substantial price hike. The prime driver of this increase seems to be higher quality properties currently entering the market, with homes on offer possessing higher specifications and energy ratings. Overall, during the second quarter of the year, nationwide asking sale prices rose by 6.1%, compared to 6.1% the previous year, and asking rental prices only increased by 1.3%, compared to 7.2% in the year before.

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ECONOMY IN A NUTSHELL

“The Euronext Athens (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,513.22 points, down 0.95% from last week.”

“The cost-of-living crisis continues to hit Greek households hard, with a large portion unable to meet the cost of basic needs. Additionally, just over one in two Greeks (50.5%) is unable to cope with unexpected expenses in 2025, such as home repairs or doctors’ fees. This is the data presented in the latest Eurostat report, with Greece having the highest rate of financial insecurity in the European Union, whose average stood at 29.2%.”

“Installed wind power capacity in Greece reached the 6 GW milestone, at the end of the first half of this year. The goal was reached following the installation of a total of 65 new turbines, with an investment cost of approximately 400 million euros. It is worth noting that almost as many wind farms were connected to the grid in the first half of 2026 as during the whole of 2025.”

WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA

15/07/2026Defense Deals: Parliament will debate and vote on two defensive co-operation agreements with Bulgaria and Montenegro. 17/07/2026Epidaurus: The National Theatre of Greece will stage Euripides’ Alcestis at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. 18/07/2026SYRIZA: SYRIZA’s central committee will meet again next week at a critical juncture for the party’s future.

Editor's PickThe real problem begins after the first installment for the acquisition of a foreign-made weapons system is paid. This is usually done without ensuring that the system also has long-term technical support in Greece.Vassilis NedosRead the article

PODCAST

27/06/2026 • 59:37Andreas Papandreou’s legacy: 30 years since his deathHarris Mylonas, Kostis Kornetis, Alan Makovsky, and Lambrini Rori join Thanos Davelis as we dig into Andreas Papandreou’s legacy, exploring what brought him to power, how he reshaped Greece’s political culture after the collapse of the dictatorship, his controversial approach to diplomacy and how this impacted US-Greece relations, and his lasting legacy in Greek politics today.

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