XENIA KOUNALAKI

Thessaloniki: City of forgetfulness

Last there for the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in November, I walked past Eleftherias (Freedom) Square and saw it closed off with metal barriers. I was shocked when I realized where I was.

New Democracy’s aspiring mini-Trumps

There are two schools of thought about the far-right.

17.01.2021 / 16:36

Politicians’ pasts count in the present

When does a politician’s past come under the statute of limitations? When are their own sins expunged and when is citizens’ forgetfulness legitimate, even appropriate?

16.01.2021 / 19:11

Greece awaits Merkel’s successor at helm of CDU

With three candidates vying on Friday and Saturday to take over the leadership of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor, Greece is weighing who could best serve its interest.

05.12.2020 / 14:52

Poland and Hungary ‘are being attacked,’ Polish ambassador tells Kathimerini

The European Union’s proposed rule-of-law mechanism, which prompted Poland and Hungary to veto the bloc’s budget, resembles a coordinated attack on the two countries, according to Warsaw.

09.10.2020 / 21:11

The right to rejoice over the GD verdict

Can anyone write about the Athens Court of Appeal’s verdict on Golden Dawn without resorting to clichés? Without using words like “historic,” “victory” or “democracy”? Without mentioning the Brechtian figure of Magda Fyssa or her cry “Son, you did it”? It’s tough.

19.09.2020 / 19:07

The irrationality of fear

When I was young and woke up abruptly in the middle of the night – during that transitionary phase between dream and reality – I used to see shadows and shapes that were not really there.

17.08.2020 / 07:14

The end of Wanderlust?

I’m reading “Flights,” by Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk, which is an ode to travel.

16.07.2020 / 09:41

Greek-Turkish ties come under strain

The already tense relationship between Greece and Turkey has been strained further in the wake of Ankara’s leaking of a supposedly secret meeting between Greek, Turkish and German officials following Turkey’s controversial decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque and amid an increasingly aggressive Turkish stance in the East Mediterranean.

29.05.2020 / 16:19

The joy of a child

The same people that we chose to trust in the past few months are now assuring us that it is now safe for kids to return to school.

17.05.2020 / 17:36

Guns on Crete set back Greek efforts to save lives

All the road signs in the mountain villages in the regional unit of Rethymno on the island of Crete are riddled with bullet holes.

07.04.2020 / 00:13

Italian ActionAid official: ‘This is the time to show that the European project is alive’

Impose strict containment measures while there’s still time. The phrase sums up the advice to Greece from Marco De Ponte, general secretary of ActionAid Italy. In an interview with Kathimerini, the nongovernmental organization official casts light on the reasons for Italy’s devastating death toll from the novel coronavirus.

02.04.2020 / 10:16

Eurobond discussion not settled, German envoy tells Kathimerini

Germany’s rejection of a Eurobond for bankrolling the fight against the spreading coronavirus pandemic is “not at all categorical,” the country’s ambassador to Athens, Ernst Reichel, told Kathimerini in a written interview, leaving some hope of consensus in the future.

20.03.2020 / 13:13

The class dimensions of a virus

There is a social class dimension to the way the new coronavirus is affecting the population, and by that of course I do not mean the indirect revanchism of MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis, of the main opposition SYRIZA party, who almost celebrated the fact that the outbreak in our country started from a woman who returned from a trip to Milan.

10.03.2020 / 10:45

Merkel lauds Greek border stance

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed during talks on Monday in Berlin that they would wait for the next European Union leaders’ summit on March 26-27 to evaluate Ankara’s behavior and ascertain whether there is any good will on its part for a solution to the migration crisis.