The Agora

Donald Trump may not have accepted Joe Biden's victory in the US elections, but the rest of the world is preparing for a change of guard in Washington.

Greece is among the countries that will have a very keen eye on what the new American administration will bring to the table in terms of foreign policy.

The recent flare-up in tension between Greece and Turkey means that Athens is hoping Biden will be more active in southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, providing more presence and certainty going forward.

The Agora host Nick Malkoutzis and producer/co-host Phoebe Fronista discuss what's at stake before MacroPolis foreign policy analyst Alexandra Voudouri and George Tzogopoulos, a senior fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and the Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE), give their views on what to expect in the months to come.

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Amid more pressing issues, the 10th anniversary of Greece's first international bailout went slightly under the radar earlier this year.

However, to round off the first series of The Agora podcast, we have brought together three experts on the subject. Together, they look back at the events of a decade ago, which left a big mark on Greece, and asses the continuing impact of the first memorandum of understanding (MoU).

Host Nick Malkoutzis speaks to Megan Greene, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Marcus Walker, the South Europe bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, and MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis.

These seasoned Greek crisis watchers discuss, among other things, why Greece had to be bailed out, whether there were any alternatives, what kind of flaws the adjustment programme had and what were its main legacies.

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In this episode, we have returned to one of the first topics we covered so can examine how the Greek economy is coping with Covid-19.

Our producer, Phoebe Fronista, has been speaking to Constantinos Kouvaras, the area director in Greece for the Bacardi drinks company, to get a feel of how things are developing in the real economy. It turns out that the picture is constantly changing.

Host Nick Malkoutzis speaks to an expert on Greek banks, Jonas Floriani who is a director in the research division of Axia. They discuss how the downturn is affecting local lenders, who were only starting to recover from the knocks they suffered during the previous crisis.

In the second half of the show, Nick catches up with MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis and the site’s business reporter, Omaira Gill, to find out if tourism has provided Greece with a lifeline or whether the macroeconomic picture is bleak.

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In this episode, we take to the streets of our home city, Athens, to get an idea of what interventions would improve life in the Greek capital.

Our producer Phoebe Fronista speaks to MacroPolis features writer Georgia Nakou about the Great Walk, a pilot scheme introducing pedestrian walkways and bicycle lanes to the heart of the city.

The addition has sparked controversy and criticism. Phoebe and Georgia walk part of the route and sit down to discuss its positives and negatives.

In the second half of the show, The Agora host Nick Malkoutzis speaks to tour expert and archaeologist Heinrich Hall.

They discuss why Athens is the way it is and what can be done to make life here better for residents, as well as visitors, without sanitizing the city and losing its flawed, but appealing, identity in the process.

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Usually, The Agora podcast is dedicated to analysing the latest political, geopolitical, economic and even social developments affecting Greece.

In this episode, though, we have gone in a different direction.

Sixteen years on from one of the greatest upsets in sporting history, we look back at how Greece managed to win football’s European Championship in 2004.

A collection of journalists who followed that tournament and had a close eye on Greek football in the subsequent years join host Nick Malkoutzis to discuss how this incredible success was achieved and what legacy it left.. 

In the process, they also share some personal accounts of those heady summer days all those years ago.

The three guests are: Paris-based sports writer, commentator and documentary filmmaker Barney Spender, the man behind Road to Sparta documentary about the legendary Spartathlon race; Kathimerini English Edition business and sports journalist George Georgakopoulos; and Graham Wood, an Athens-based journalist and communications expert who has covered football for UEFA.com and Reuters, among others.

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In this episode, we're taking a closer look at the Greek media landscape. We'll be asking why the public has little trust in the country's media and examining what difficulties a local independent outlet faces as it tries to upset the established pattern of news coverage.

Our producer, Phoebe Fronista, speaks to MacroPolis features writer Georgia Nakou regarding the controversial 20-million-euro package provided by the Greek government to a variety of media outlets as part of the coronavirus campaign.

She also catches up with Dimitris Xenakis, the co-founder of Inside Story – a subscription-based investigative and long form journalism site in Athens - to get an idea of the obstacles his organisation has to overcome.

Our host, Nick Malkoutzis, has a discussion with Antonis Kalogeropoulos, a Communication and Media Lecturer at the University of Liverpool. Antonis was a research partner for annual Digital News Report published by the Reuters Institute in July. The report suggests that just 28 percent of Greeks trust most news most of the time, which was one of the lowest figures among the 40 countries surveyed.

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On the latest episode of The Agora podcast, we examine Greek-Turkish relations, which are going through another rough patch.

Athens and Ankara being at odds is not something new, but a rising number of issues have been causing friction between the two capitals over the last few months.

In late February, the Greek government decided to shut its land border with Turkey after Ankara gave free passage to migrants.

Turkey has also laid out plans for oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, including in spots that Greece considers to be part of its continental shelf.

Also, there is growing consternation in Greece about the possibility of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, once the symbol of Orthodox Christianity, becoming a mosque again.

Host Nick Malkoutzis discusses all these flashpoints with MacroPolis foreign policy analyst Alexandra Voudouri and Harry Tzimitras, an expert on the Eastern Mediterranean.

Nick also speaks to Spanish journalist Andres Mourenza about the book he recently published. It’s called Sínora (borders in Greek) and is about the border areas between Greece and Turkey and the people that live there.

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For the last few years, Greece has been in the frontline of the migration challenge - at least as far as Europe is concerned.

Having a country with such limited financial and administrative resources in so prominent a role has generated a wide range of problems.

There have been times when Greece was lauded for its efforts and others when it was admonished for failing to deliver.

In the latest episode of The Agora podcast, host Nick Malkoutzis and MacroPolis features writer Georgia Nakou take a look at the latest developments, including a contentious decision to remove several thousand refugees from their current accommodation in Greece.

Also, our producer Phoebe Fronista visits a shelter for unaccompanied minors in Athens to find out what life is like there and to hear the thoughts of the people running the facility.

Nick also speaks to Daniel Howden, the managing director of Lighthouse Reports, which helps newsrooms investigate migration-related issues, about the myriad challenges and the way our societies and authorities approach the issue.

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The European Commission has presented its proposal for a recovery fund to help EU countries stimulate their economies and overcome the impact of the coronavirus.

In this episode of The Agora, Nick Malkoutzis speaks to John Springford and Christian Odendahl from the Centre for European Reform think-tank about what kind of economic damage the pandemic will leave behind and how EU member states might overcome this setback.

Nick also has a discussion with Greek economist and academic George Pagoulatos about what the Commission's proposal means for Europe, and Greece in particular.

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The second episode in our new podcast series looks at how the Greek tourism industry is faring amid the turbulence caused by the coronavirus.

Host Nick Malkoutzis speaks to a specialist on the subject, Eleftheria Pantziou of Greek Travel Pages, to find out what the usually busy summer season is likely to entail for hotels and other businesses that rely on visitors coming to Greece.

The Agora’s producer Phoebe Fronista reports back after checking out a couple of places in Athens that would normally be teeming with visitors at this time of year.

Nick also has a chat with MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis and business reporter Omaira Gill about the importance of tourism to the Greek economy.

They discuss why simply focussing on what will be open and what the experience for tourists might be like is not the big story. Instead, the spotlight should be on the many businesses and households that rely on tourists for their livelihood and the difficulties they are likely to face in the coming months.

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