In the face of vociferous anti-Chinese sentiment from many former Soviet nations in Europe, and pressure from the US on NATO allies to fall in line with Washington, China is still receiving a warm welcome around the Mediterranean. For the past year, China has been battling to keep its relationship with Europe alive in the midst of growing pressures from multiple directions. It has one core st [...]

Turkey is facing mounting pressure from its NATO allies in the Eastern Mediterranean region which makes its decision to deploy and operate the Russian-made S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft weapon system fully justified, says Ret. Major General Nejat Eslen commenting on Athens' alleged plan to acquire fifth-generation F-35 stealth jets in 2021. On 16 November, Greek weekly newspaper Proto Thema [...]

ATHENS - Ex-Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has published recordings from 2015 closed-door talks with the Eurogroup on his country’s bailout program to expose the "awful" decision-making of the troika creditors. A trove of audio files recorded between February and July 2015 is available on the website of Varoufakis’ self-styled pan-European DiEM25 party. In a video message, he said he [...]

The US State Department has informed the Greek government of its ‘strong position’ regarding foreign states providing any assistance to Iranian oil tanker that was recently released by Gibraltar despite all Washington’s pressure. [...]

Greece's national rail company TrainOSE has been sold to Italy's state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) for €45 million ($48.1 million). The sale is part of Greece’s €86 billion bailout agreed with international creditors two years ago. [...]

Athens has signed a €368.5 million deal to sell the operator of Piraeus port to the Chinese shipping group COSCO, Reuters reported. This is the second major privatization for the country since last year. Under the deal, COSCO will acquire 51 percent of the listed Piraeus Port Authority for €280.5 million and the remaining 16 percent for €88 million after five years, once it concludes mand [...]

Greece has signed its first major privatization deal granting control of over a dozen regional airports to a German company. The agreement is part of international creditors’ demands to privatize state assets to secure €86 billion in bailout funds for Athens. The €1.23 billion contract gives a 40-year lease to the Frankfurt airport operator Fraport. [...]

As EU leaders met with the Turkish PM to finalize a €3 billion ($3.18bn) deal on easing the Syrian refugee crisis, his Greek counterpart criticized Turkey’s “mercurial” pilots for airspace violations that cost billions but in no way help to tackle people-smuggling through borders on the ground. Alexis Tsipras took to Twitter to point out that it was ironic that while having billions of [...]

Conditions for hundreds of migrants stuck on Balkan borders worsened on Sunday as temperatures dropped and a first smattering of snow fell. Countries along the Balkan route taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking refuge in western Europe last week began filtering the flow, granting passage only to those fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. [...]

Athens has approved a deal to hand over the operation of 14 airports to a German company. The 40-year contract worth €1.23 billion was awarded to Fraport AG, which currently runs Frankfurt Airport. The airports are not the only things on sale in Greece right now. Other travel hubs like ports and railways, the national lottery, water utilities and even the islands are to be sold off. [...]

Germany's Bundestag has supported a third bailout package to Greece in a majority vote, paving the way for further negotiations of fresh money being provided to Athens of up to €86 billion. 439 MPs voted in favor, 119 - against, while 40 abstained. The details of the three-year aid package are now set to be thrashed out between Greece and its partners in the eurozone. The process is expect [...]

Freshly out of the Greek Finance Minister’s chair, Yanis Varoufakis has declared that his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble wants to punish Greece – sacrificing it to reform the monetary union. In his article forDie Zeit, Varoufakis said that the goal of the German finance minister is to "discipline member states who opposed his very special plan to reform the eurozone by sharpening the [...]

The Greek parliament has voted in favor of a bill enacting the reforms required by its European creditors as part of a new bailout plan. This paves the way for the controversial 85-billion-euro bailout deal defended by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. An overwhelming majority of Greek MPs voted in favor of the reform package, with 229 voting ‘Yes,’ 64 voting ‘No’ and 6 abstaining. [...]

For the so-called 'radical leftist' from Greece is only the latest in a long line of ‘radicals’ and 'leftists' to betray the people who had voted for them and cave into the demands of imperialist international finance capital. The only surprising thing about Alexis Tsipras' capitulation to the troika is that anyone should be surprised by it. [...]

A summit of all EU leaders scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled with eurozone leaders only meeting to "conclude talks on Greece" On Saturday, a meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers was adjourned without reaching any conclusion. Early on Sunday, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, tweeted that the eurozone leaders’ meeting will start at 14:00 GMT. [...]

A former Goldman Sachs banker suggested Greece start legal action against his former employer over complex financial deals that helped the country hide its national debt in 2001 and continue borrowing despite its poor economy, the Independent reports. The banking giant made as much as $500 million from the transactions known as "swaps", which translated Greek debts issued in dollars and yens in [...]

As cash withdrawals from Greek banks reach €100 million a day the country’s banking system will end up bankrupt on Monday if no deal with creditors is reached over the weekend, some senior bank executives told the Financial Times (FT) on Friday. Cash withdrawals are at a high rate despite capital controls imposed by the Greek government. [...]

In an impassioned speech, the un-resigned UKIP leader Nigel Farage told Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to take "courage" and quit the euro after the latest emergency bailout talks broke down. Farage said it was time to “get back control of your country,” adding the banks would “give you no more.” [...]

The Bank of England (BoE) has warned the Greek debt crisis is a threat to UK financial stability and could trigger wider problems on financial markets. In its twice-yearly Financial Stability Report published Wednesday, the BoE claimed the risks associated with Greece had “worsened” and that the situation “remains fluid.” [...]

Greece may take EU institutions to court to stop its creditors from pushing the country out of the Euro-zone. Athens' bailout expires Tuesday and a default could mean it is exiled by Brussels. “We are taking advice and will certainly consider an injunction at the European Court of Justice. [...]

Again Athens finds itself at loggerheads with its creditors, particularly the IMF. The Greeks appear to be willing to do only enough to stay in the Eurozone, while the rest of Europe is willing to offer it just enough support to stay afloat – all awhile making the Greek economy almost impossible to grow. Is the Euro a failure? CrossTalking with Mitch Feierstein, Stephen Haseler, and Scheheraz [...]

As an equal member of the EU, Greece does not need to ask permissions from anyone to let the Greek people speak and have their voices heard, PM Tsipras told his parliament, promising that the state's sovereignty and future will be decided via referendum. Referendums have been used all across Europe as a way for people to directly express their will and have their voices heard, and Greece is ful [...]