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During the early stages of the Euro 2020 soccer championship in June, aside from the games on the pitch, we also saw political issues emerge. One of those was related to the Prespes agreement, and we saw the North Macedonia national soccer team’s use of the name “Macedonia”. Prime Minister Zaev also ended up apologizing for a tweet where he used the term “Macedonia.” These moves sparked a...

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EU governments gave Albania and North Macedonia - whose bid to join the EU is tied together - the green light to begin accession talks more than a year ago, but the process has officially stalled. One reason is that Bulgaria has put a hold on any talks with North Macedonia, which is preventing the process from moving forward. At the same time, Albania still needs to undertake more reforms to...

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For the first time since 2015, Greece was invited to participate in the informal meeting on Syria that took place on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition Against Daesh - or the Islamic State - in Rome. Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who participated, stated this was a significant step which marks the return of Greece to crucial discussions on developments in the...

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The Greek government announced it will offer a pre-paid card with 150 euros to young people aged 18-25 to get at least one shot of a vaccine against Covid-19, as part of an incentive to increase the number of vaccinations in the country. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the card a “freedom pass”. The move comes as the government is hoping to fully reopen its economy after recently...

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During the peak of the financial crisis, Greek banks were weighed down by over 100 billion euros of non-performing loans. Since then, a new set of tools has emerged to help manage this bad debt, and a large amount has been transferred from the banks to other entities. While this has improved the overall outlook for Greece’s banks, the problem of bad debt remains. In her latest report for...

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EU leaders travelled to Brussels today for a two day summit, with the agenda formally focusing on relations with Turkey and Russia, migration, and COVID-related travel rules. There was also growing anger over an anti-LGBTQ+ law passed by Hungary’s parliament, and 17 EU leaders, including Prime Minister Mitsotakis and President Anastasiades, signed a letter prior to the summit vowing to fight...

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Turkey is seeking to play a vital role in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US forces by offering to provide security to Kabul's international airport, and has been holding talks with the US on logistic and financial support for the mission. Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said last week that the US and Turkey had agreed to a plan for the Turks to continue...

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Germany and the United Nations are hosting an international conference on Libya in Berlin this week, and diplomats are aiming to take stock of Libya’s political progress, prepare for a national election set for December, and discuss the withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries. The majority of the attendees already met at the first international conference on Libya, which was also hosted by...

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Turkey’s Constitutional Court on Monday accepted an indictment filed by a top prosecutor seeking a ban on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for alleged ties to the outlawed PKK, paving the way for a case to shut down Turkey’s third-largest party. The HDP denies formal links to PKK, and says any attack by Erdogan’s ruling party and its far-right nationalist allies is retribution...

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A labor reform bill that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said would bring Greece in line with the rest of Europe and align the country’s labor laws with the digital age was passed late on Wednesday after a contentious debate in Parliament. The bill also set rules on remote work, expand paternity rights, and includes safeguards against sexual harassment in the workplace. Panos...

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Over the last year Turkey’s drones have seen action in conflicts ranging from Nagorno Karabakh, to Syria, to Libya, with the flagship of Turkey’s drone fleet, the Bayraktar TB2, at the center of international attention. In a recent piece in War on the Rocks, expert Aaron Stein highlights Turkey’s drone program, with an eye on how Ankara has pioneered drone use for the social media age. As a...

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As Bulgaria prepares for its second election in three months on July 11th, Bulgarians are confronted by a number of political scandals and allegations of corruption. Some of these allegations include accusations against the former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who has dominated Bulgarian politics over the last decade. Meanwhile, the United States has also upped the pressure on Bulgaria,...

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President Biden was in Brussels for his first in-person NATO summit on Monday, where he stressed the importance of the transatlantic alliance, telling European allies that "America is back." During the summit President Biden also held his first face-to-face meeting with Turkish President Erdogan. Both President Biden and President Erdogan stated that talks had been productive, but no major...

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This week has seen a number of developments in Greece, from news related to the pandemic, to tourism, to protests over a labor reform, to tennis stars Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas having a historic run in the French Open. Nikos Efstathiou, a journalist with Kathimerini, joins The Greek Current to discuss these news items. We look at the status of the country’s vaccination campaign, the...

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In the lead-up to President Biden’s meeting next week with Turkey’s President Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit, there have been some rumors circulating that there is an agreement or a deal on the table over the Russian S-400 missiles that may help salvage relations between Turkey and the US. Diplomatic sources, however, have denied that there is any agreement in place. Expert Alan...

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On Wednesday Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Marco Rubio introduced new legislation in the Senate to strengthen the United States’ defense partnership with Greece. The bipartisan legislation, titled the US-Greece Defense and Interparliamentary Partnership Act of 2021, aims to increase support for Greece’s military modernization, authorizing...

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Developments in Greece and at the EU level this week have put the migration crisis back in the spotlight. On Monday Greece declared that Turkey is a safe destination for asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria. In theory this could stem the number of arrivals at Greece borders, as it would allow it to return asylum-seekers from these countries to Turkey. In the...

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On June 14th Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to meet with Turkey’s President Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Their meeting will be intimate, with, at most, a top aide from each side present. According to officials involved in the preparation of the meeting, this face-to-face setting could lead to a more frank exchange of views. The Greek side reportedly has...

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Professor Aristotle Tziampiris joins us on The Greek Current today to explore his latest piece in World Politics Review, in which he outlines how Greece is reshaping the Eastern Mediterranean. We look at how Greece’s foreign policy establishment views the broader region, and how this has led it to pursue a national strategy with four pillars, including close relations with Israel, a deepening...

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Last week Reuters broke a story that Turkey had used its veto power within NATO to water down an official condemnation of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko for forcing down a passenger plane flying from Greece to Lithuania to arrest Roman Protasevich, a dissident journalist that was on board. Lukashenko’s actions drew criticism from around the world, and the EU introduced sanctions in...

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