Support FREE and independent European journalism – donate to VoxEurop.

Greece

Ahmet Insel on the asylum crisis: Refugees held hostage by Turkey, Greece and the EU

The human tragedy being played out on the Greek-Turkish border definitively buries one of the greatest achievements of international humanitarian law – and with the blessing of the European Union. The timing is good for the autocrat Erdoğan, whose blackmail over refugees is helping divert rumbling discontent in Turkish society.

10 March 2020 – VoxEurop
Rail transport in Greece: Europe’s deadliest tracks

Greece holds the lead in the EU in death and injuries in rail accidents ranking. Part of that is because of the the reduction in maintenance as a result of the austerity plans that followed the debt crisis of the 2010s.

29 February 2020 – MIIR (Athens)
Greece and the refugee crisis: The problem with migrants camps

While it may seem that the refugee-migration crisis is over, more than 100,000 migrants and refugees are still present in Greece. Many of them live in refugee camps, which are not appropriate accommodation solutions because of their location in faraway, poory connected areas.

18 January 2020 – Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (Trento)
After the European elections in Greece: Keeping the country in Europe cost Syriza power

Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras' coalition paid the price for implementing the harsh austerity conditions of the third bailout programme, losing both the European and national elections within a few months.

28 August 2019 – Eurozine (Vienna)
7 July general election in Greece: Old parties strike back

Leftwing coalition Syriza’s rise to power in 2015 seemed to swept away the old greek political order. But a journey through the strongholds of these dynasties shows they never went away. Their power lies deeper in history.

5 July 2019 – VoxEurop
27 Voices for Europe | Greece: Let’s reclaim democracy

The current challenge is not just combating the rise of nationalism and far right extremism, but also taking back democracy from technocracy’s cold and ineffectual grasp.

20 May 2019 – Efimerida Ton Syntakton (Athens)
Greek bailout: Ten infographics to explain the Greek crisis

On August 20th, Greece stepped out from under the supervision of the Troika, whose intervention will go down in history as a model of what not to do when you really want to help a nation recover, as data show.

24 August 2018 – Alternatives économiques (Paris)
Greek crisis: Athen exits bailout, but no quick recovery ahead

On 20 August, Greece officially exited the three-year EU bailout plan it accepted when it was on the verge of bankruptcy and close to be pushed out of the eurozone. While it marks the end of eight years of financial crisis and austerity, the exit from international aid doesn't mean a quick recovery.  

20 August 2018 – EUobserver.com (Brussels)
Greek bailouts: Moving into a New Era?

Nine years of European bailouts have left Greece reeling from painful reforms and investor anxiety. But, with bailouts due to end soon, can Greece make a clean break from the turbulent chapter?

10 August 2018 – SGI news (Gütersloh)
Refugees: Stuck in Patras

Hundreds of refugees and migrants are living in abandoned factories and tents around the port of Patras, hoping to leave Greece and continue on to northern Europe.

22 February 2018 – Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (Trento)
Tourism in the Balkans: An increasingly popular destination

Where new developments in European tourism are concerned, the substantial and steady growth of the Balkans as a destination for vacations and travel is one of the most significant trends in recent years.

25 August 2017 – Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (Trento)
Refugee crisis: What future for “Quechua babies”?

This is the nickname given by medics to newborns whose mother did not make it to the hospital and who are born in a tent. For all babies born in refugee camps, proper registration is key to establish their nationality.

8 August 2016 – VoxEurop
Greece: Why refugees don’t want to resettle

Many of the refugees expelled from the makeshift camp of Idomeni, near the Macedonian border, refused to be resettled in the facilities set up by the Greek government. We give eight reasons behind this choice.

8 June 2016 – VoxEurop
Refugee crisis: Hanging on Turkey

5 April 2016 – VoxEurop
Europe and the refugee crisis: A perfect storm on its way

As migrants continue to flock in from the sea, Greece is facing the threat of having to comply both with its commitments to manage the refugee crisis and with the demands of its creditors. Will it cope?

17 February 2016 – I Kathimerini (Athens)
Greek bailout: Washington Advised Greece in Bailout Negotiations

The US urged Athens to avoid attacks on Germany and to find allies.

30 September 2015 – VoxEurop I Kathimerini
The resignation of Alexis Tsipras: Tsipras at sea

27 August 2015 – To Ethnos (Athens)
Greece gets third bailout: Back home

13 August 2015 – Trouw (Amsterdam)
Youth immigration from Southern Europe: A Generation on the move

Launched by a group of European data journalists, the Generation E project collects the stories of thousands of young Southern Europeans who left their country in search of better job opportunities or education.

10 August 2015 – eutopia (Rome)
Greek stock reopens: Empty purse

5 August 2015 – De Groene Amsterdammer (Amsterdam)
More austerity for Greece: Loading up the boat

18 July 2015 – I Kathimerini (Athens)
After the agreement on the Greek debt: ‘Greece might no longer be a country by the end of this week’

There are only losers in the agreement clinched on Monday at dawn by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his eurozone partners. First and foremost the Greek people and the German and European leaders, believes the European press.

14 July 2015 – VoxEurop
Greek crisis towards a solution: ‘The confidence argument will end up going against those parties who betted on a Grexit’

As European head of State and government were still on a last-ditch summit over Greece in Brussels, European dailies were expressing disappointment about the consequences for the Union of a crisis that had pushed to the limits the nerves of the European citizens and leaders.

13 July 2015 – VoxEurop
Tsipras before the MEPs: Finally a glimpse of European democracy

Alexis Tsipras' appearance before the European Parliament on 8 July was a superb moment in Europe's democratic life, claims the blogger Fabien Cazenave. Of course, the debate did not resolve the Greek crisis. But what a difference to European Councils taking place behind closed doors.

11 July 2015 – VoxEurop
Greece and the rest: The map of the most indebted countries

Among the members of the European Union, Greece is by far the country with the highest level of public debt. This map, created by Vox. […]

10 July 2015 – VoxEurop
A reader suggests: A battle between neoliberalism and democracy is going on in Greece

George Monbiot writing in the Guardian provides a historical context for the current crisis in Greece and in the Eurozone which ought to be seen […]

10 July 2015 – VoxEurop Notebook The Guardian
European press review: ‘Everybody has begun to agree that the eurozone is not one, sacred and indivisible’

The day after a summit of eurozone leaders where Alexis Tsipras presented precious few new reforms and asked for a new aid plan, the European press seems to be losing patience with a crisis whose main actors appear incapable of finding a mutually beneficial way out.

8 July 2015 – VoxEurop
After the referendum in Greece: ‘Eurozone leaders will face Grexit’

Eurozone leaders are gathering in Brussels on Tuesday evening to resume discussions on the financial situation in Greece. The European press wonders whether they will even be able to talk to each other after Greeks overwhelmingly said “no” to the previous bailout plan.

7 July 2015 – VoxEurop
After the referendum in Greece: ‘The odyssey is far from over’

The clear victory of the “no” ("OXI" in greek) vote in Sunday’s referendum unambiguously shows that Greek voters want an end to the austerity measures pushed for by Greece’s international creditors and eurozone partners. While largely welcoming this expression of democracy, the European press stresses that an agreement on a new aid plan is indispensable.

6 July 2015 – VoxEurop
Greferendum: OXI!

6 July 2015 – To Ethnos (Athens)
Referendum in Greece: Europe at its worst

It could not have gone worse, says political scientist Piero Ignazi: the most pessimistic predictions have all turned out to be true. Worse than that, they are past every limit. There is, in fact, no limit to the worse.

4 July 2015 – eutopia (Rome)
Greek Crisis: ‘Greece and euroland: A battle for credibility’

More billions of euros in aid is not the only thing Greece and the Eurozone are scuffling about as credibility is even more important, writes […]

2 July 2015 – VoxEurop Rzeczpospolita
Referendum in Greece: Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz calls to vote ‘no’ to bailout plan

This weekend's referendum gives Greek voters a choice between two radically different futures, Joseph Stiglitz writes in Project Syndicate. Approval of the IMF-ECB-EU troika's terms […]

2 July 2015 – VoxEurop Project Syndicate
Greek crisis: Greece will need much more

According to Czech economic daily’s editor David Klimeš negotiations between the Eurozone and Greece are seemingly technical as both sides are throwing out numbers but […]

1 July 2015 – VoxEurop Hospodářské Noviny
Greek crisis: Greece is now in bad company

The Standaard editor-in-chief Bart Sturtewagen writes that today Greece has joined the same circle as Zimbabwe, Somalia and Sudan. Although it isn’t the first time […]

1 July 2015 – VoxEurop De Standaard
Greek crisis: Greece and the EU are flexing their muscles

Marek Beylin, Gazeta Wyborcza’s commentator, is urging Greece and EU to make a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement which should be, however, more favourable […]

1 July 2015 – VoxEurop Gazeta Wyborcza
Greek debt crisis: Tsipras played his last chips

By calling for a referendum on 5 July on on the series of austerity measures demanded by Greece's creditors in exchange for a bail-out plan, Greek prime minister spread distrust among Eurozone partners and put his country on the brink of economic disaster.

30 June 2015 – I Kathimerini (Athens)
Greek debt crisis: Who’s got the ball?

29 June 2015 – I Kathimerini (Athens)
Immigration: The map showing the migrants who have died trying to reach Europe

By Lorenzo Ferrari. On Thursday 25 and Friday 26 June, EU heads of state and government chiefs met in Brussels for a summit in part focused […]

26 June 2015 – VoxEurop
Greek crisis: Playing Chicken

22 June 2015 – Trouw (Amsterdam)
Debt crisis: Tsipras the magician

12 June 2015 – De Groene Amsterdammer (Amsterdam)
Debt crisis: Alexis Tsipras’ evolving discourse

2 June 2015 – L’Echo (Brussels)
Grexit-Brexit: Open doors

12 May 2015 – Trouw (Amsterdam)
Greek crisis: Towards the exit?

6 May 2015 – Jyllands-Posten (Aarhus)
The Greek crisis explained: What went wrong?

Greece has been rescued for five years – with a lot of effort and money and very little success. What went wrong between Athens, Brussels […]

10 April 2015 – VoxEurop Die Welt
Alexis Tsipras’s visit to Russia: Insert coin

8 April 2015 – I Kathimerini (Athens)
Taxation and solidarity: Why Europe needs a supertax

Despite the crisis, the world of European finance has vast wealth at its disposal. What would be more natural than to impose a tax on it, in order to free up resources for economic recovery and to face the challenges of the future?

7 April 2015 – Les Echos (Paris)
Greece: A friend out there

2 April 2015 – Trouw (Amsterdam)
Investigating Germany’s new role in Europe: The Fourth Reich, really?

Where does Germany stand in Europe? And are its downtrodden southern neighbours justified in comparing its current dominance to the dark days of Nazi rule? […]

1 April 2015 – VoxEurop Der Spiegel
You recommend: Democratic economic choices come through political union

Luigi Zingales writes in Il Sole 24 Ore that Syriza's radical leftist nature should not avert attention from the unfair treatment of Greece. The IMF […]

19 March 2015 – VoxEurop Il Sole-24 Ore