![A girl rides a scooter inside a mall with closed shops, in the suburb of Glyfada, south of Athens, earlier this month. [AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/shuttered_shops_ap-768x480.jpg)
It was announced last Thursday that due taxes, whose payment had been suspended from March 2020 until now, will remain frozen until the end of the year.
ANALYSIS
![A checkout worker wears a mask and gloves to protect herself from Covid-19 at an Athens supermarket in this March 2020 file photo. Ian Bremmer notes that the virus has disproportionately hit the earnings of low-income and service workers. [InTime News]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/supermarket_mask_intime-320x200.jpg)
A year into the pandemic, the health effects of Covid-19 speak for themselves – more than 105 million people known to be infected worldwide, more than 2 million dead.
After a five-year hiatus marked by grievances over their rival claims to Mediterranean waters, Turkey resumes talks with Greece on Monday in the first test of its hopes to reverse deteriorating relations with the European Union.
National interest, rather than personal ties, is the key factor which determines a state's foreign policy-making – even more so when we are talking about the world's leading power. That said, the personal dimension remains part of the equation.
Days after Turkey took delivery of Russian missile defense systems in July 2019, top security officials in the Trump administration were in full agreement that Washington should deliver on its threat to impose sanctions on its NATO ally.
For France, it was the final straw. For Turkey, it was a misunderstanding. For NATO, it could be a turning point.
Turkey appears to have revived the old and outdated argument that the delineation of a continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) hinges upon geological characteristics.
Eurozone government debt will surge this year on the coronavirus pandemic, but while another debt crisis is unlikely, large differences in indebtedness as countries emerge from the downturn could seriously test their unity.
The disastrous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is pushing Europe towards an existential crossroads. In defining the measures to respond to the crisis, two opposite blocks are forming.
The toughest job central banks face in the next five years is managing uncertainty. In the euro area, inflation is persistently low and the ammunition available to raise it is minimal.
Despite being devastated by the virus, Italy is not about to surrender its economic sovereignty.
It was April 17, 2010, and Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull had just erupted, sending out great big ash clouds that were causing widespread air traffic disruption in parts of Europe. In Athens, the Greek government was anxiously preparing for the first visit by its creditors’ mission chiefs.
It’s official – the Athens Stock Exchange was the best performing equity market in Europe last year, reflecting international investors' newfound confidence in Greece’s recovery.
At the 2012 opening of Trump Towers in Istanbul, real estate mogul Donald Trump sang the praises of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, telling a mostly Turkish audience that their leader, prime minister at the time, was “highly respected” around the world.
Greek bond yields have this year exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts, with the cost of borrowing for the Greek state declining by over 72 percent since the start of 2019.
Global growth is projected to slow down further in the next few months, affecting Greece and the rest of the eurozone, warn analysts at Pimco, one of the world’s leading investment funds.
Concerns about a possible new influx of undocumented migrants into the country are increasing on both the eastern Aegean islands and in the region of Evros, northeastern Greece, with the approach of the October 30 deadline that the Turkish government has given Syrian refugees to leave Istanbul (or be forcefully removed).
The word most frequently used by Greeks to describe their new government is “weird.”
Analysts tell Kathimerini they view the government’s program as a step in the right direction, with Standard & Poor’s noting it will be credit positive toward the country’s rating, as long as the pledges to creditors are fulfilled.
The European Union describes wildfires as “a serious and increasing threat” across the continent.
For some US officials, the Trump administration’s failure to persuade Turkey not to buy a Russian air defense system may have its roots in a coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan three years ago this week.
The fate of Greece should not only be an EU concern. A thriving Greece could boost Arab Mediterranean Sea economies from Morocco to Lebanon.
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