Greece - ekathimerini.com (English)

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1. Banks’ interest takings reach €6.5 bln in Jan-Sept

   Deposit interest expenses paid by banks in the first nine months of 2025 decreased by 13.2%, limiting the corresponding expenses to €4.7 billion from €5.4 billion in the same period last year.

2. EFKA anticipates surplus of more than €1 bln in 2026

   The Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) is estimated to secure a surplus of €1 billion by the end of 2026, driven by an increase in revenues, mainly from social security contributions, of at least 4%.

3. ATHEX: Pressure on banks sends index lower

   Pressure on bank stocks after the four-day Christmas break resulted in minor losses for the main index at Athinon Avenue.

4. Dismantling clientelism

   The challenge for the Greek political system as a whole is to dare free itself from all manner of clientelist practices, as embodied by the Cretan farmer who testified on the EU agricultural subsidy scandal, known as “Frappe.”

5. Spinning on borrowed hopes

   A merry-go-round in Omonia Square at Christmastime at the start of the new millennium demonstrates how spending on Athens’ festive decorations reflected the big hopes that were built up but would end up derailing in the first, rough quarter of the 21st century.

6. Cartoon (29/12/2025)

7. Are we really done with single-party governments?

   Observers of our political affairs who have been announcing the end of the two-party system for years and, by extension, the Metapolitefsi (the period after the restoration of democracy), have been joined in recent weeks by some unexpected advocates.

8. Planned burning enters Greece’s wildfire strategy

   Greece is moving to legalize prescribed burning as a wildfire-prevention tool under a draft law by the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry titled “Active Fight.”

9. Farmers escalate protests, blocking highways and border crossings

   Farmers across Greece escalated protests on Monday, blocking major highways and border crossings and causing severe disruption to road traffic and freight transport.

10. No shift to retirement age till 2030

    The government and the Labor Ministry have decided to temporarily freeze changes to the age of retirement.