BALKAN STUDIES

Panos Belias
(RIEAS Research Associate)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 12 July 2019

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

Introduction

After the 2008 financial crisis, the world economy faced an enormous challenge, the severity of which had not been matched since the Great Depression. However, this time round, the economic policies that were followed around the world were aimed at stimulating the economy which was contrary to the austerity policies that were followed during the Great Depression (Roeger& Veld, 2012). A year later, things got worse for five European countries (Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Greece) as they were under the additional pressure of the nascent Sovereign debt crisis. Severe austerity measures had to be implemented in all five countries in order to put their economies on a trajectory that would converge to sustainability in the mid-term (Lane, 2012). After many years of economic hardships, the Greek people, who were at the epicenter of the sovereign debt crisis, demonstrated their desire for change by electing a new prime minister. ... Read more

Victor Davis Hanson
(Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author, most recently, of The Case for Trump)

Copyright: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/06/greece-finds-new-footing-as-a-player-on-the-world-stage/- June 6, 2019.

By balancing between rivals and finding new friendly interests, it magnifies its own importance. After Greece temporarily hosted a pair of U.S. military drones, Greek defense minister Panagiotis Kammenos said last fall that, “It’s very important for Greece that the United States deploy military assets in Greece on a more permanent base.” Indeed, Greece just took delivery of some 70 military helicopters that it had purchased from the U.S., and there have been discussions about basing American drones, air tankers and other military aircraft on Greek soil. COSCO, a state-owned Chinese shipping and logistics-services company, has invested more than 3.5 billion euros in renovating the historic Greek port of Piraeus, which is now the second-largest port in the Mediterranean. The Chinese brag that it will soon become the busiest. The massive renovation is part of China’s 35-year lease of two of the port’s container terminals and the Chinese purchase of a majority stake in Piraeus’s port authority. Read more

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Reproduction permitted provided the author www.kassandros.gr is mentioned

Copyright Link: https://kassandros.gr/2019/06/01/the-center-does-not-hold/?utm_source=Kassandros&utm_campaign=55e393a39c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_06_01_09_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cb1657fca1-55e393a39c-46602839

“…Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…”
The Second Coming (poem) – W. B. Yeats 1919

Reading the news after the European elections one would believe that it is almost a victory for the progressive forces of Europe.
Nothing is further from the truth. Analysts sounded happy that only 112 populist and right-wing MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) entered the European Parliament which represents only 14%....Read more

Kiril Avramov and Ruslan Trad
(Kiril Avramov and Ruslan Trad are the team behind the Borderline Watch Project. Kiril is a post-doctoral fellow at the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas at Austin. Ruslan is a freelance journalist and analyst with over ten years’ experience covering MENA, Balkans, and Turkey regional issues).

Copyright: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2019/05/17/self-appointed-defenders-of-fortress-europe-analyzing-bulgarian-border-patrols/ - The home of online investigations

The peak of the migration crisis in Europe might be over, but it has provided lasting excuses for paramilitary proto-militias to continue to mobilizesupport in Bulgaria. Via their “defense of the European fortress” from a new “Islamic conquest,” they provide a platform for both overt and covert international cooperation between leading figures of the European radicalfar-right and local volunteers, who seek to acquire specialized training from Russian ex-special ops instructors. Read more

Copyright: Reproduction permitted provided the author www.kassandros.gr

Reposted at RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 31 March 2019

Italy is the most profoundly European Country, in Europe.

Rome, together with Greece formed modern Europe, its philosophy, religion, politics, political systems, law, administration, literature, arts, and culture.
In its over 2,500 years of history, Italy developed the soul of Europe. Renaissance radiated to Germany, every educated Englishman had to visit at least Florence, meanwhile, the French were inviting the Great Italian Masters to embellish it.

The Pope was and is dominant in Spain and Opera is mostly Italian in the whole World. The great trading Cities of Venice, Florence, Pisa, Trieste, and Genoa, bridged materially the known World while Lombards shaped modern Banking....Read more

A Short Description

Sideris Zissis
(Legal Advisor, Expert in Public Administration, LLM in Public International Law, PhD Candidate in Public International Law, Athens, Greece)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 31 March 2019

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

The new legislation on strategic investments adopted by Greek Parliament induces five (5) radical changes for the treatment of strategic investments. It characterizes an investment as “strategic” on the base of proposed budget. For the first time the limit of capital is below of 20 millions of Euros, which means that investments can be benefit by the positive provisions of the law and more investment plans could take place....Read more