Greece

Greece says cannot become gateway to EU for fleeing Afghans

Greece does not want to become the entry point into the European Union for Afghans fleeing the escalating conflict in their homeland, Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said, calling for a…

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Greece posts better-than-expected deficit thanks to lower spending

Greece's central government posted a better-than-expected primary budget deficit of 9.07 billion euros ($10.69 billion) for the first seven months of the year, with lower spending offsetting below-target revenues, the…

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Wildfires burn outside Athens, villages evacuated

Strong winds fanned two wildfires outside Athens on Monday, threatening homes and forcing the evacuation of villages. More than 500 wildfires have broken out in recent weeks across Greece, which,…

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Greece appoints new minister to handle wildfire aftermath

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday appointed a new minister in charge of recovery from natural disasters in a bid to defuse growing anger over the struggle to curb…

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UPDATED: Vessel sinks off Greek island, all 17 on board rescued

All 17 people aboard a vessel that sank on Thursday off the Greek island of Milos have been rescued, the coast guard said on Thursday. All aboard were Greek citizens.…

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At least 65 killed in Algerian wildfires, Greece and Italy burn

Exhausted Greek firefighters battled blazes for a ninth day on Wednesday amid sweltering temperatures that also helped stoke wildfires in Algeria, where at least 65 people died, and in southern…

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Greece says EU not ready for new migrant crisis as Afghan conflict grows

The European Union is not in a position to deal with a repeat of the migration crisis in 2015 and must try to keep people from fleeing the growing conflict…

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Greek villagers mount vigil to save homes as wildfires burn for eighth day

Residents mounted a round-the-clock watch on Tuesday to try to save their homes from wildfires ravaging the Greek island of Evia as the government defended its handling of the crisis. Greek fire crews,…

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Greek PM approves 500 million euro budget for wildfire relief, reforestation

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday he had approved a supplemental budget of 500 million euros ($587 million) to fund relief and compensation for people who have lost…

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Greece starts to count cost after a week of devastating fires

Greek authorities have begun assessing the damage from wildfires that have devastated huge swathes of forest and forced thousands to flee from their homes over the past week, as fires…

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Photo Story: Helping the helpless in Greece

Firefighter Dimitrios Zarkadas gives water to an abandoned shepherd dog during a wildfire at the village of Istiaia in the island of Evia, Greece, 09 August 2021. Fires that broke…

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Blaze ravages Greek island of Evia, Firefighting plane crashes in Zakynthos

Thousands of people have fled their homes on the Greek island of Evia as wildfires burned uncontrolled for a sixth day on Sunday, and ferries were on standby for more…

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Blaze ravages Evia island on sixth day of Greek wildfires

housands of people have fled their homes on the Greek island of Evia as wildfires burned uncontrolled for a sixth day on Sunday, and ferries were on standby for more…

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Greece battles wildfires for fifth day in ‘nightmarish summer’

ATHENS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Fires blazed uncontrolled for a fifth day in Greece on Saturday, ravaging swathes of land on its second-biggest island of Evia where hundreds of people…

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‘Where are we going to go?’ Residents flee as fires reach Athens suburbs

ATHENS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Yorgos Papaioannou spent four hours using a garden hose to try to save his newly-built home from a blazing wildfire, until police patrolling his suburb…

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Thousands flee Greece blazes as wildfires sweep through Mediterranean

Thousands of people fled their homes on the outskirts of Athens on Friday and hundreds were evacuated by boat from the nearby island of Evia as Greece faced a fourth…

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Hundreds evacuated by sea from island as Greek wildfires rage

Hundreds of people were evacuated by boat from an island near Athens as Greece braced for a fourth day of wildfires on Friday with emergency services forecasting strong winds and…

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Greece slaps restrictions on two tourist islands to curb COVID

Greece imposed a night time curfew and banned music on two popular tourist islands on Thursday to contain the spread of COVID-19, its civil protection deputy minister said. The Mediterranean…

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Greece battles wildfires for third day, site of ancient Olympics saved

Greek authorities ordered more evacuations on an island near Athens on Thursday and battled a blaze near the site of the ancient Olympic Games in the western Peloponnese as wildfires…

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Greece on high alert as wildfires reach suburbs of Athens

Athens (dpa) - Firefighters in Greece were unable to contain a giant fire that reached the northern suburbs of the capital Athens on Tuesday. The fire is now burning in the suburbs of…

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Greek tourism faces tense ‘summer of patience’

For two balmy weeks in July, hotel manager George Tselios dared to hope his pandemic nightmare was behind him. He was getting 100 bookings a day for his Rhodes seaside…

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Greece issues wildfires warning over ‘dangerous’ heatwave

Greek authorities warned the public against unnecessary work and travel on Friday as temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 °F) in Athens and the ancient Acropolis, its most visited monument,…

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Majority of Greeks trust COVID vaccines despite protests – poll

Nearly two-thirds of Greeks believe getting vaccinated against COVID-19 can beat the pandemic and most favour mandatory vaccination for certain groups such as healthcare workers, nursing home staff and teachers,…

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EPA’s Eye in the Sky: Meteora, Greece

The Monastery of Roussanou is seen during a sunset in Meteora, Thessaly, Greece. The Meteora is a unique geological phenomenon in central Greece hosting one of the largest built complexes…

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Greece searches for missing migrants off Crete

Greece was searching for migrants who went missing after their sailing boat sank off the island of Crete, its shipping ministry announced. A nearby vessel spotted the boat after it…

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Mykonos, Greece’s famed party island, falls silent under new COVID rules

MYKONOS, Greece, July 18 (Reuters) - There was no music and no dancing on Greece's famed party island Mykonos on Sunday as new rules to contain the spread of COVID-19…

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No vaccines, no dinner: indoor Greek restaurants accept only inoculated customers

Restrictions allowing only people vaccinated against coronavirus to be served at indoor restaurants, bars and cafes went into effect in Greece on Friday, with diners broadly in favour of the…

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Greece sees surge of international arrivals in June

Air traffic in Greece picked up strongly in June after the government eased coronavirus-related travel restrictions in May before the start of the key summer tourist season, civil aviation authority…

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Thousands protest new Greek Covid-19 rules, pressure to get jabs

Around 4,000 people protested in Athens on Wednesday against a package of new coronavirus rules that ramp up the pressure on the public to get vaccinated. Alongside the thousands that…

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Greece to require proof of COVID vaccination at indoor restaurants

ATHENS, July 13 (Reuters) - Greece will require customers at indoor restaurants, bars and cafes to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, the government said on Tuesday, to combat…

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Greece orders COVID-19 vaccinations as infections rise

ATHENS, July 12 (Reuters) - Greece has made vaccinations against COVID-19 mandatory for certain workers and announced restrictions to contain the spread of the virus as infections have kept rising…

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Greek economy won’t close again because of COVID-19, PM says

ATHENS, July 4 (Reuters) - Greece's economy would not close again because of the coronavirus pandemic if it was just to protect an unvaccinated minority, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said…

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Greece offers its young people cash and phone data to get COVID shots

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will offer its young people a 150 euro ($180) cash card and a free month of phone data to get their first COVID-19 shot, in a…

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Feeling abandoned by Europe, Greece hardens migration policy

With walled camps and tougher border controls, Greece is hardening its approach ahead of summer when migrant arrivals pick up, defying criticism from aid groups and saying it has little…

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International arrivals in Greece jump in May

Air traffic in Greece picked up strongly in May as the government eased restrictions on travel at the start of the vital summer tourist season, civil aviation authority data showed.…

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Greece faces row over wheelchair pathway at Acropolis

A new concrete pathway to facilitate wheelchair access to the Acropolis in Athens has fuelled a row between authorities aiming to broaden access to Greece's most famous ancient monuments and…

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Greek economy shows resilience in first quarter amid pandemic

Greece's economy expanded in January-to-March 2020 at a faster pace compared to last year's fourth quarter, helped by investments, the country's statistics service (ELSTAT) said on Friday. Seasonally adjusted data…

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Greece rolls out COVID vaccines in migrant camps

Asylum-seekers in Greece lined up to get their coronavirus shots on Thursday as authorities began rolling out vaccinations in migrant camps. The government, which began vaccinating the general public in…

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IMF sees Greek economy growing 3.3% in 2021, boosted by EU funds, tourism

The Greek economy should grow by 3.3% this year and 5.4% in 2022, fuelled by European recovery fund investment, pent-up consumer demand and an expected return of tourism, International Monetary…

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EU backs 800 million euro Greek scheme to help tourism industry through pandemic

The European Commission has approved an 800 million euro scheme by Greece, designed to support tourism companies which have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. “They (the companies) have…

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Gas pipeline link between Bulgaria and Greece delayed until June 2022

A gas pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria aimed at helping Sofia wean off Russian gas has hit another delay and will not become operational until June 2022, the head of…

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Main front of forest fire near Athens under control

Hundreds of Greek firefighters battled a forest fire near Athens for a third day on Saturday, but brought the main front of the blaze under control as weather conditions improved.…

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Greek current account gap widens in March, tourism revenue falls

Greece's current account deficit widened in March compared to the same month in 2020, with the gap reaching 1.462 billion euros from 1.119 billion euros a year earlier, the central…

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Greece evacuates villages as forest fire rages in Corinth region

Authorities in the Corinth region of southern Greece have moved people from six villages to safety as fire fighters battled a forest fire with scores of trucks and 21 aircraft,…

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Greece hopes refurbished airports become ‘bridges’ for freer post-COVID summer

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said more than a dozen Greek airports renovated by a German-led consortium could serve as "bridges" for a summer of greater freedom after months of lockdown…

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Greece banks on tourists for bad loan relief

Rhodes ferry operator Paris Kakas cannot afford another summer lost to the pandemic if he is ever to repay the millions of euros he owes. "We faced a lot of…

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Greece pledges extra 400 million euros help tourism industry

Greece will help its key tourist industry with an additional financial package worth more than 400 million euros ($486 million), the country's finance minister said on Monday. The country, which…

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Photo Story – Labor Unionists protest against the draft bill for the ‘Protection of Labour’

A labor unionist paints slogans at the entrance of Greece’s Labour and Social Affairs ministry, during a protest against a proposed draft bill for the 'Protection of Labour' in Athens,…

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‘Restrained optimism’ for Greek tourism recovery – industry body

The head of Greece's tourism confederation SETE expressed "restrained optimism" on Friday for a recovery in the industry this year after the hammering from the COVID-19 pandemic, forecasting revenues could…

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Greece woos foreign tourists ahead of reopening

Greece kicked off the formal start of its tourist season, announcing a multimillion euro promotional campaign on Thursday aimed at saving its most important economic sector from a second summer…

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Greece to get first tranche of EU recovery funds in third quarter

Greece will receive a first tranche of European Union recovery funds in this year's third quarter, the country's finance minister said on Thursday. "Our expectation is that the first disbursement,…

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Greek tourism minister hopeful of joining Britain’s ‘green list’

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis said on Wednesday he was hopeful Britain would include Greece on its "green list" of quarantine-free holiday destinations when the list is reviewed…

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Spain, Greece preferred for Med vacations – TUI

Spain and Greece are expected to be the most popular Mediterranean destinations this summer, according to travel company TUI. In a statement today, the company said that rising vaccination figures…

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Council of Europe accuses Greece of migrant pushbacks, says they must stop

Europe's top human rights watchdog has urged Greece to end pushbacks of asylum-seekers on its borders, a practice that Athens denies carrying out. In a letter to Greek ministers dated May 3…

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Murder of young mother in front of child shocks Greece

Three thieves strangled a young mother in front of her 11-month-old child on Tuesday after breaking into her home in an Athens suburb and tying up her husband, police said. The thieves…

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Greece reopens beaches after lockdown hoping to lure back tourists

With widely spaced sun loungers and regular disinfections, Greece reopened its organised beaches on Saturday as the popular Mediterranean holiday destination eases COVID-19 curbs in preparation for the return of…

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Greece tiptoes to the official start of the tourism season

Museums in Greece will reopen to visitors next week, a day before the official start of the tourism season on May 15, authorities announced. Venues such as Athens' Acropolis museum,…

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