KYRANAKIS: The ND Secretary was asked about the fierce government attacks on PASOK, in a radio interview (on SKAI).
“The party you attack more than all the others is PASOK”, a journalist observed. “That is not true. I do not agree. Our opponent is the Left”, replied Konstantinos Kyranakis.
“Is Mr. Androulakis not your opponent?”, he was asked. “ND’s opponent is the Left”, he repeated.
And whoever understood, understood.
SYRIGOS: And while the blue Secretary chose not to place today’s official opposition opposite ND, another party MP, professor Angelos Syrigos, contrary to the official line, did not exclude anyone from the discussion on post-election collaborations. Not even… Antonis Samaras.
“For me, the critical thing is that the country should not remain ungoverned. From that point on, agreements are made on the basis of programs… You cannot exclude something in advance, for everyone. Not only for Mr. Samaras, if he forms a party, but for anyone”, he stated (on Athens 984).
Stirring the already troubled waters.
SAMARAS: And since the discussion is about the former prime minister, he may not yet have announced his party, but his cadres have begun appearing on television panels, preparing the ground.
As Thanasis Skordas, a close associate of Antonis Samaras, did yesterday (on ANT1), engaging in an intense dialogue with ND Achaia MP Christina Alexopoulou:
“There is a large political vacuum in society. The people who feel they are not represented, there is a search for a new expression. ND sees the distance being created with a significant part of its social base and does not understand why this is happening. It moved away from the traditional principles and values of the party”, stressed, among other things, the former Deputy Minister of Development, to whom the woman from Patras replied:
“The only one who leaves and returns to ND is Mr. Samaras, not the principles and values of the party. New buildings cannot be made with old materials, all the failures of ND are lining up with him, they lost the elections and were not elected with ND. It is a hodgepodge of idle politicians.
A second betrayal by Mr. Samaras and his court is something the country cannot endure. It is arrogance at 75 years old to believe that you can change Greece”.
A… harsh winter is looming.
NEW DEMOCRACY: At the same time, on Piraeus Street they are preparing for the party’s 52nd birthday, on October 5 (instead of the 4th, which is the regular date), which will be celebrated at the old OSY depot.
In fact, in order to show that they have not moved away from the principles and values of the founding declaration, they decided to bring back to the front line of the communication battle the original torch, with the well-known red flame, which had been withdrawn in recent years!
As can also be seen in the relevant invitation already being sent to blue cadres, the historic emblem dominates the center of the card, indirectly inviting New Democracy supporters to… turn a deaf ear to the sirens and remain faithful to the party.
KARYSTIANOU: Maria Karystianou is considering leaving Greece if she does not manage to enter Parliament with “Hope for Democracy”.
“If we do not manage to enter Parliament and convince people that citizens can truly do better, people who do not have party experience but have the experience of life and work, then for me it will be over”, she stressed in an interview (on Mega) and continued:
“And whether I will stay in Greece? The truth is that I will leave. I do not want to. I love Greece very much. I truly want to do the best I can.
But if in the end we are left alone -which I do not believe, I believe that people support us-, should I stay and watch people like, as we are seeing now, Mr. Georgiadis speaking so disparagingly and have it happen that we have a rain of scandals that remain unpunished? No, I could not endure that. It is unbearable”, she noted, at a time when the polls show her party in free fall.
The coming period will be decisive for the political -and not only that, it seems- future of Maria of Tempi.
NATSIOS: The president of “Niki” Dimitris Natsios was breathing fire against the government on the occasion of “the murder, as he said, of Giorgos Mazonakis.
“The revelations being made show your indifference to human life, your insatiable thirst for money. You showed provocative indifference toward the para-clinics.
The murder of Mazonakis by doctors who belong to your circle, combined with the Tempi trial where the parents denounce the cover-up of human bones, lead to one conclusion: you do not love people, you love your chairs, the billion-euro deals”.
He of course lashed out at Adonis Georgiadis (without saying his name but with phrases clearly pointing to him), concluding that “the outgoing government has its suitcases in hand and you are looking for how to save your ministers from the special court”.
The president of PASOK also insistently (though unsuccessfully) asked Mr. Schoinas for the condemnation of the Health Minister, referring to the phrases “you’ve been smoking weed” and “conspiracy nuts” that he hurled two days ago at television journalists.
And September is not even over yet…
GEROULANOS: Pavlos Geroulanos does not appear at all positive about the return to green territory of Theodora Tzakri and Nina Kasimati.
“Every broadening must be done on the basis of principles and values. For me, the people who supported PASOK (i.e. in the difficult times) or did not abuse it, always have a priority. The behavior of the others will be judged by our cadres and our bodies”, he repeats tersely and… bluntly when asked this question.
Information, of course, says that Mr. Androulakis insists on their return because of the strong electoral audience they have in Pella and in Piraeus B, respectively, however it is an open secret that Mr. Geroulanos is not the only one reacting.
Because a… googling shows both (independent, today) women MPs to have “abused” PASOK in the first two memorandum years, moving to the then SYRIZA.
Suspense…
GREEK-TURKISH: In the context of the UN General Assembly, Tayyip Erdogan spoke about resolving issues in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean with good neighborliness and respect for international law.
To journalists in New York, he added that Turkey is not an enemy of Greece, but its “neighbor and ally” in NATO.
Correct words. Geography, after all, leaves the two countries no other choice but to coexist, as government sources also noted yesterday.
Except that, on the same day, the… cold shower came from Ankara.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense, referring to the electricity interconnection cable between Greece and Cyprus, sent the message that work in areas which Turkey considers to be its continental shelf must be coordinated with it in advance.
But it did not stop there. It also stated that Turkey does not allow activities without permission which, in its judgment, overlook its rights and interests.
This is a “detail” which, as you understand, has particular importance. In fact, it changes everything. It is one thing for Turkey to be informed about the movement of a research vessel, and another to demand to give the... green light for it to work.
In the second case, Ankara is in practice claiming the right to obstruct the project, invoking its own claims regarding the continental shelf.
So from the side of our neighbors there is a regular “Scottish shower”.
GREEK-TURKISH II: The issue is no longer theoretical. Athens and Paris are preparing the resumption of surveys for the Great Sea Interconnector with a vessel under the French flag.
According to the information that has been made public, the coastal states, including Turkey, will be informed about the area and duration of the works.
However, information does not constitute a licensing request.
According again to the existing information, the arrival of the French vessel is expected to take place soon, even within October (they are just reports, you will say, so such unofficial… milestones change easily), in order to continue the surveys in the wider area of Kasos, where they had stopped in July 2024.
What is certain, however, is that one way or another, after the agreement with the French of Meridiam (which took 66% of the shares in the project) and our proud statements, at some point the move will have to be made so that everyone does not take us for a joke (again).
So the issue is not theoretical, the time for actions is approaching. Ankara may insist on its positions with diplomatic protests (trying to support the argument that Greece is a bad neighbor), or try to impose them at sea as well.
And then of course, matters may come to a head, opening dangerous scenarios.
BATTERIES: He is asking for a subsidy of 249 million euros for an investment of… 271 million euros. The reason is a businessman who is exerting pressure on the Ministry of Environment and Energy for a subsidy for a storage project in Ptolemaida, as Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy Nikos Tsafos claimed in a post yesterday.
"On the occasion of repeated publications regarding a storage project in Ptolemaida, I would like to present some facts and explain what has happened. This specific project had requested direct support from the state of €249 million (over a decade) for an investment of €271 million.
This request was rejected because the amounts were disproportionate to the amounts we gave to other storage projects through tenders. Specifically, the support requested was 33% higher compared to that received by the projects that participated in the third storage tender, which in fact concerned the lignite transition areas.
Also, there are now many projects that want to proceed without any state aid – which reasonably raises today the question of whether we should finance one project when other investors do not ask for support?”, the deputy minister wonders.
BATTERIES II: However, Mr. Tsafos also dwells on something else, which may be of even greater importance, the fact that the investor is said to be taking the investment around the ministries, claiming that he has a letter of support to the Commission for funding from the Connecting Europe Facility.
“First of all, the project does not have ‘secured funding’ from Europe as is being written – we are talking about an application cycle where various projects from all over Europe compete to secure support.
In this specific cycle we prioritize projects that are more innovative (e.g., carbon capture and storage or hydrogen) and that have no other route in order to proceed. For storage we have a specific strategy – and recently we announced that we will put an additional €200 million through an open call and tender procedures so that batteries can move faster.
In the end, the basic question that remains unanswered is ‘why is this project so special’ as to justify today and under current conditions such special treatment compared to all the other storage projects in the country?”, Mr. Tsafos concludes in his post
JP MORGAN: Grace Peters, head of JP Morgan’s global investment strategy, estimates that stocks can continue to move upward, even in an environment of higher bond yields, on the condition that companies meet the increased demands for their profitability.
As she said in an interview with Bloomberg Television, bond yields are strengthening due to strong growth data, increased financing needs for investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and concerns about inflation, as the price of oil moves above $100 per barrel.
Peters noted that the yield on the 10-year US bond has risen by about 40 basis points during September. However, she believes that equity markets have already absorbed a significant part of the pressure.
For 2027, she estimates that the already high expectations for corporate earnings can be confirmed or even revised upward. At the center, according to her, are companies with strong pricing power and greater earnings visibility.
EUROBANK – BULGARIA: The Finance Ministry of the neighboring country proposed the imposition of an extraordinary tax of 33% on excess profits in banks and other sectors.
The tax will concern the portion of profits that exceeds 120% of the average taxable profits of the 2020-2025 period, while 90% of the estimated liability will be paid, through advance payments, within the year.
Possible adoption of the proposal will have a small impact on Eurobank, which is the only domestic bank with a strong presence in the Bulgarian market, as it owns the country’s fourth largest bank (Postbank), based on assets.
The tax rate in Bulgaria stands at 10%; however, Eurobank falls under the rules of Pillar II, which set a minimum effective tax rate of 15%. If the Finance Ministry’s proposal is adopted and a tax on excess profits is imposed, it will have to be clarified whether its imposition reduces/offsets the taxable base of the Pillar II regime.
According to Wood’s estimates, the potential burden from the adoption of the proposal would reduce Eurobank’s earnings per share for 2027 by about 1.4%, with partial offset from Pillar II or 2.2% without it.