After going through a really difficult time during the country’s long economic crisis, the Greek property market is booming, but that's creating a whole new set of problems.High rental and purchase prices are pricing out much of the local popul

How much is Greece getting out of the RRF?

24 days ago 20m 46s

In the wake of the Covid pandemic, the European Union launched the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) - a package of around 700 billion euros to help member states recover from the economic impact and build for the future.Greece's portion o

Between investment grade and rule of law: Greece’s contrasting images

Mar 21st, 2024 23m 53s

Phoebe and Nick are back to examine the contrasting images of Greece abroad and how they sit side by side.A few months ago, rating agencies started to restore the investment grade for Greece's sovereign debt - more than a decade after it was lo

A year on from Tempe crash, trust fades as questions mount

Mar 12th, 2024 29m 56s

In February 2023, a freight train and a train carrying dozens of passengers crashed in Tempe, central Greece, killing 57 people. A year on from Greece's deadliest train accident, many questions remain unanswered and doubts are growing about whe

SYRIZA embraces the chaos

Mar 5th, 2024 44m 7s

Five years ago SYRIZA was in power in Greece, but it is currently languishing in third place in the opinion polls and the nascent leadership of Stefanos Kasselakis is being constantly buffeted by internal disputes.In this episode, Phoebe Fronis

Triangulation: The shape of things to come in Greek politics

Feb 19th, 2024 17m 30s

Phoebe Fronista and Nick Malkoutzis return after a prolonged absence to discuss what's behind Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's political dominance in Greece and whether things are more complex than they look.Their discussion was prompted by

A decade in Greece: Looking back on the last 10 years

Oct 18th, 2023 1h 11m

This episode of The Agora involves a departure from our normal format as we mark 10 years since MacroPolis was launched.During that time, so much has happened in Greece: The debt crisis, political turmoil, social upheaval, the migration crisis,

Life on Mount Pelion after Storm Daniel

Sep 26th, 2023 31m 52s

Storm Daniel hit Greece in early September, leading to almost 20 deaths and widespread destruction, as well as recriminations about whether there had been sufficient warnings and anti-flood works.The villages and communities of Mount Pelion wer

Understanding Erdogan's foreign policy

Aug 1st, 2023 28m 11s

For our final episode of the fourth series of The Agora, we take a look at what is happening just across the Aegean from Greece, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is back for a third term and already prompting questions about whether

Lost at sea: The Pylos shipwreck and its aftermath

Jul 17th, 2023 33m 17s

On the night of June 14, a fishing boat called the Adriana, packed with hundreds of migrants who had paid traffickers to get them from Libya to Italy, sank in the deep waters of the Mediterranean, about 90 kilometers southwest of the town of Py

Greek elections: That's a wrap

Jun 29th, 2023 34m 44s

At the second time of asking, Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been re-elected as the Greek Prime Minister and his centre-right New Democracy party has won a second term in office.The June 25 elections saw the conservatives cruise to an eight-seat major

Greek Elections: Run it back?

Jun 19th, 2023 1h

Greeks are voting again in national elections on June 25 after an inconclusive ballot on May 21.New Democracy is set to return to power following a big victory last month. The results have raised lots of questions for the main opposition partie

Greek Elections: A post-mortem and a look ahead

May 24th, 2023 33m 12s

The national elections held on May 21 in Greece produced a landslide victory for the ruling centre-right party, which posted a winning margin of more than 20 points over its main rival, left-wing SYRIZA.As the dust settles from this resounding

Greek elections: A marathon, not a sprint

May 16th, 2023 1h 13m

Greece is holding general elections on Sunday, May 21. The vote might lack the drama of previous elections, when the country’s fate was on the line amid a devastating economic crisis, but it could still end up being a rather complicated and ten

A game of marbles: Are the Parthenon Sculptures coming home?

Feb 23rd, 2023 39m 17s

After decades of making little progress in securing the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, Greece appears to be edging closer to a possible deal for the repatriation of the ancient sculptures.Last December, Greek daily new

What's the problem with Greece's media?

Dec 30th, 2022 1h 2m

Recently Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis dismissed concerns about media independence in his country and labelled the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) assessment of Greece as lying in 108th place in the organisation's annual World Press

Greece’s surveillance scandal: Is anybody listening?

Nov 18th, 2022 1h 19m

Since the summer, a surveillance scandal has been gripping Greece. It emerged that the leader of Greece’s third party, PASOK, was being spied on by the country’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) but that there had also been an attempt to ins

Greece sets out on long road to 2023 elections

Oct 3rd, 2022 1h 2m

The leaders of Greece’s three main parties have set out their policies, but also the political parameters, that will define next year’s elections.So, what are the key issue at stake and what will decide the outcome of the vote, or more likely v

How is the Ukraine war affecting Greece?

Aug 24th, 2022 39m 50s

Like so many other countries, Greece is feeling the impact of the Ukraine war in many ways, whether this is through spiralling energy costs, turbulence in the global economy, a shifting geopolitical balance or the flow of refugees into the coun

Rising sun: How will PASOK's revival affect Greek politics?

May 17th, 2022 50m 39s

Greece’s socialist party, PASOK, was the powerhouse of Greek politics since the early 1980s. However, the debt crisis that emerged from 2009 sucked the life out of the centre-left grouping. Its share of the vote fell from 44 pct that year to ro

Losing game: Greece's weak defence against hooliganism

Mar 16th, 2022 45m 53s

Following a deadly attack on a 19-year-old football fan in Thessaloniki in early February, the Greek government has announced new measures aimed at reining in hooliganism.However, we've been here before in Greece. So, will the latest measures a

Riding into the danger zone: Greece gets new jets

Feb 1st, 2022 48m 42s

Greece recently received the first six state-of-the art fighter jets it has ordered from France, hoping that their arrival marks the start of an upgrade of its military capabilities, but also an improvement in its geopolitical standing.The Rafa

The Greek economy: A macro view

Dec 24th, 2021 1h 1m

The Greek economy is back in focus on this episode of The Agora as we take a peak at the 2022 budget and a closer look at broader trends and challenges.MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis provides a whistlestop tour of the budget, explaining

Earth, wind & fire – Greece, clean energy & the climate crisis

Dec 14th, 2021 51m 36s

In the wake of the COP26 meeting, The Agora analyses what Greece brought to the discussion and how this tallies with the efforts being made on the ground to tackle the climate crisis.The head of policy at WWF Greece, Theodota Nantsou, evaluates

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen Angela Merkel

Nov 9th, 2021 55m 39s

The outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel was a ubiquitous figure during the Greek crisis, often making her a target for the frustrations generated by the austerity policies she and her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), advocated.