Greece

Greece proposes EU-wide mechanism on rising energy costs

Greece has proposed an EU-wide mechanism for hedging against steep gas price fluctuations to help households tackle rising energy prices across the bloc. Gas prices have surged so far this year…

Read More Here

Greece says will not allow ‘uncontrolled’ migrant flows from Afghanistan

SAMOS, Greece, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Greece will not allow a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis to unfold on its borders following the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Prime Minister…

Read More Here

Greece imposes COVID restrictions for its second largest city

Greece will impose a nighttime curfew and ban music at bars, cafes and restaurants in Thessaloniki, its second biggest city, following an increase in COVID-19 cases, the government said. Infections…

Read More Here

Greek current account turn to surplus in July, tourism revenues up

Greece's current account turned to surplus in July compared to the same month last year on the back of a significant rise in tourism revenues, the Bank of Greece said…

Read More Here

Extreme heat ravages Greece’s mussel harvest

Fisherman Stefanos Sougioultzis cracks open the mussels he cultivated in Greece’s Aegean Sea only to find scores of empty shells. After a summer of scorching heat and warming waters, it…

Read More Here

Greek PM says climate crisis is with us and cost of ignoring it ‘unimaginable’

Mediterranean nations must lead the way in addressing climate change, the Greek prime minister said, warning that the cost of doing nothing was unimaginable, with mankind possibly struggling to survive…

Read More Here

Turkish President Erdogan says to meet Greek PM in New York

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that he would meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York.…

Read More Here

Greece is bouncing back from pandemic rout, says PM Mitsotakis

ATHENS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Greece is on track to produce a primary surplus from 2023, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday, saying the country's economy had shown resilience…

Read More Here

EU’s Mediterranean states demand global action on climate crisis

ATHENS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Leaders of the EU's bloc of nine southern European members on Friday demanded urgent global action to combat a worsening climate crisis and build a…

Read More Here

Greece sees jump in international arrivals in August

International air traffic to Greece picked up strongly in August at the peak of the summer tourism season, civil aviation authority data showed on Friday. Arrivals nearly doubled in that…

Read More Here

Greek unemployment drops to 14.2% in July

Greece's jobless rate dropped to 14.2% in July from 15.0% in the previous month, data from the statistics service ELSTAT showed on Wednesday. Seasonally adjusted data showed 664,384 people were…

Read More Here

Greece plans firm hand on Afghan migrants, wants more EU help

ATHENS, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Greece would seek to block a potential wave of Afghan asylum-seekers fleeing Taliban rule and needs more European Union help on migrant issues, the prime…

Read More Here

Anti COVID vaccine protesters clash with police in Greece

Demonstrations against compulsory vaccination also took place in Istanbul on Saturday, where more than 2,000 Turks protested against the government's new inoculation push. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police fired tear…

Read More Here

Photo Story: Athens Flying Week Air Show at Tanagra Airbase

A Greek Spitfire performs a low pass during an airshow at Tanagra air base, north of Athens, Greece. The performance is part of an annual airshow, known as Athens Flying…

Read More Here

Photo Story: ‘Zorba the Greek’ composer Theodorakis dies at 96

Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis directs his orchestra during a rehearsal at the ancient Herodium Atticon theater at the steps of Acropolis, in Athens, Greece, 20 May 2001 (reissued 02 September…

Read More Here

Greek police use tear gas, water canon during Athens vaccine protest

Greek police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a group of people who threw flares and other objects during a protest in central Athens on Sunday against mandatory…

Read More Here

Freighter sinks after hitting Greek islets, all 16 crew rescued

ATHENS, Aug 28 (Reuters) - A Togo-flagged cargo ship sank on Saturday after hitting Greek islets in the Aegean Sea but all 16 crew were rescued, the Greek coast guard…

Read More Here

Freighter heading to Tunisia sinks off Greek coast, all 16 crew rescued

A Togo-flagged cargo ship sank on Saturday after hitting Greek islets in the Aegean Sea but all 16 crew were rescued, the Greek coast guard said. The freighter Sea Bird,…

Read More Here

Villagers evacuated as forest fire spreads near Athens

People were evacuated from two villages west of Athens on Monday as firefighters battled a new blaze in a forested area that was devastated by flames last week. Authorities ordered…

Read More Here

Greece plans to name heatwaves in the same way as storms

Spurred on by this summer’s record temperatures, Greek scientists have begun discussing the need to name and rank heatwaves, better known for their invisibility, before rampant wildfires made the realities…

Read More Here

Greece says border forces on alert to avoid repeat of 2015 migrant crisis

Greece's border forces are on alert to avoid a repeat of the mass arrivals of migrants that the country experienced in 2015, the government's spokesman said on Thursday, following the…

Read More Here

Greek firefighters battle growing forest blaze near Athens

Greek firefighters are battling a wildfire raging through one of the last remaining pine forests near Athens and said that homes could be at risk. More than 500 wildfires have…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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,…

Read More Here

Tui says Turkey, Greece wildfires not hitting bookings

Wildfires in Turkey and Greece have had little impact on TUI's holiday bookings to these destinations, the company said. Tui said it expects reasonably good profitability in the summer due…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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.…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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,…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

European Commission disburses €4 billion in pre-financing to Greece

The European Commission has today disbursed €4 billion to Greece in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's grant and loan allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Greece…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

EU helps Italy, Greece, Albania and North Macedonia to fight ‘devastating’ forest fires

As forest fires continue affecting various regions in the Mediterranean and the Western Balkans, the European Commission is swiftly mobilising support to assist countries in limiting the spread of the…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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,…

Read More Here

EU health body warns against visiting popular Greek islands over COVID-19

Greece's south Aegean islands were marked 'dark red' on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's COVID-19 map on Thursday after a rise in infections, meaning all but essential…

Read More Here

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,…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

Cyprus talks can resume only on two-state basis, Erdogan says

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday peace talks on the future of ethnically divided Cyprus can take place only between "the two states" on the Mediterranean island. In a…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

Germany lists Greece and the Netherlands as coronavirus risk areas

Germany has declared all of Greece a coronavirus risk area, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Friday, which means that tourists and returning German nationals need to present a…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

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.…

Read More Here

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…

Read More Here

Malta among five Mediterranean countries to give green light to deal on EASO

Ministers from the EU’s Mediterranean countries have given their backing to a temporary deal to strengthen the EU’s asylum agency — the first sign of movement in a migration debate…

Read More Here