GERAPETRITIS: “If I had known that we would find ourselves in such a turbulent period, obviously we would not have submitted our candidacy.”
This was the unbelievable phrase uttered by Giorgos Gerapetritis about Greece’s participation in the UN Security Council, speaking last Friday at the University of Toronto.
Even if we accept that he was trying to make a joke about the difficult work his ministry has to do, the “joke” was completely unacceptable. Because the Security Council is not a club you join for classy… diplomatic relaxation. It exists precisely for periods during which international peace is threatened!
But apart from everything else, he also contradicts… himself. Because on June 4, 2024, two days before Greece was elected, the same minister was saying in New York that our candidacy coincides “with two wars underway” and with geopolitical tensions.
He had in fact described the period as difficult and demanding, adding that we await it with… eagerness. What is certain, however, is that we did not go to the Council believing that the world was on… vacation.
GERAPETRITIS II: Greece, let us recall, received 182 votes, presenting its participation as an opportunity to defend International Law and the peaceful settlement of disputes. This choice was certainly correct.
Especially for a country that invokes international rules against revisionist claims in its region, presence in the UN’s top security body has value when the rules are being tested.
No one expects Greek diplomacy to solve the world’s wars on its own. That, however, does not mean that its head is allowed to give the impression that he would have preferred to have avoided the responsibility that the country sought and assumed.
Even more so when in a few days, in October, the country is expected to assume for one month the presidency of the Council. A very bad time for the responsible minister to say, to put it more colloquially, “oh man, what have we gotten ourselves into”!
PASOK: A thematic campaign under the general title “The Greece that produces” is being organized by the official opposition in the first weeks of October, which will “close” with a central political event somewhere in Western Athens (Peristeri or Aigaleo, according to discussions) and a speech by Nikos Androulakis.
Which may coincide with the anniversary of PASOK’s great electoral victory in 1981 (October 18), which will awaken “Andreas memories”...
For the campaign, the model of Crete (on the occasion of the “3rd of September”) and of central-western Macedonia (before the TIF) will be followed.
This means that teams of party officials and MPs will fan out into the regions, adapting the campaign to local particularities, for example “Larissa - farmers” or “Nemea - wines”.
This model falls under a central planning according to which “instead of holding one central event in Athens to state our positions, we go to local communities and specialize them”. While, beyond this, visits are also being scheduled to workplaces, such as public services, in order to communicate the party’s positions.
The tactic of “intensive and targeted introversion” from Charilaou Trikoupi is logical, if one takes into account that it yielded polling benefits in September.
ELAS: Alexis Tsipras had his… moment of honor over these two days, since there was not a single party in the left-progressive space that did not send arrows at him — some of them particularly poisonous.
“The country has one Louis, it does not need another”, declared, for example, PASOK spokesman Kostas Tsoukalas, criticizing the sense among “some” that “the country owes them”.
Sharp but within the political framework was the general secretary of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas: after stressing that the system “is doing everything it can to restore the sinful social democracy”, he added that, in this context, “it is promoting Mr. Tsipras’s rebranding”. About whom he said that he appears “available to once again do the dirty work on behalf of the system”.
The new “red” attack comes as no surprise because the latest polls showed that ELAS is “snagging” 19% from the KKE…
As for Zoe Konstantopoulou, the poison overflowed in her own words: “He went to America without knowing English and babbled in front of Clinton. As prime minister he ridiculed the country because he didn’t know a word of English”, was one reference.
In order to present herself as the protector of Greek society from the “fraudster Tsipras”, who “is in coordination with Mitsotakis and they are trying to set up a bipolar contest”.
From Amalias’s side, meanwhile, they avoid any comment toward the others and focus only on PASOK, which they continue to call a “competing” party and not an “opponent”.
This was in fact emphasized yesterday by ELAS spokeswoman Theoni Koufonikolakou, in order to soften an earlier statement of hers that PASOK is not an adjacent space to ELAS, referring then to the rhetoric of its leadership.
Full speed ahead for the polls of October…
MOTOR OIL: Investments amounting to 236 million euros were carried out during last year by Motor Oil Renewables (MORE), the largest part of which concerned the procurement of mechanical equipment.
Last year, construction works began on electricity storage stations in Florina (Vevi site), Phocis (Ternitsa site) and Boeotia (Sanida site), with a total capacity of 72MW, which were completed in the second quarter of this year and the stations were energized last April. Since then they have been in trial operation.
Last May, a 22.5 MW wind project was energized, which is also in trial operation.
MOTOR OIL II: On June 30, 2026, MORE transferred to PPC Renewables (DEIAN) 51% of twelve subsidiary companies with photovoltaic licenses, in which the PPC group already held 49%, for a price of 60 million euros.
Beyond the price, debt was reduced by approximately 87 million euros, due to its assumption by DEIAN.
At the same time, the agreement with PPC Renewables provides for the transfer of operating wind parks, with a capacity of 107MW, for 192 million euros (before contractual adjustments), with simultaneous assumption of the debt by the seller.
Overall, that is, MORE collects approximately 252 million euros from PPC and focuses more on batteries.
Within the framework of the agreed transaction, two companies will be transferred to DEIAN (Aioliko Parko Kellas, Opountia Oikologiki) as well as wind parks of Aioliki Hellas Energeiaki (i.e. parks in Psaromyta, Treis Vryses-Kato Lakkomata, Mikrovouno, Tsamarodachi).
MORE will contribute the above assets into two SPVs, which it established last June (Aioliki Energeiaki Fokidas, Aioliki Avra) and will transfer to DEIAN 100% of their shares.
The price of 252 million euros and the assumption of debt by DEIAN will “lighten” MORE’s balance sheet, while the operation of storage systems will limit the damage from negative prices and production curtailments.
On 31/12/2025, MORE’s loans amounted to 924.39 million euros and net debt to 773 million euros. MORE closed 2025 with losses of 31.5 million euros, as gross profit recorded a decline of almost 50%, due to reduced electricity production from RES and increased purchases of electricity, which drove up cost of goods sold and administrative/distribution expenses.
EBITDA fell to 108 million euros from 123 million euros in 2024.
MARINAKIS: Vangelis Marinakis’s Capital Group is said to have agreed to purchase a newbuilding suezmax from Belgium’s Exmar, in yet another significant transaction in the tanker market.
According to shipbroking and other market sources, the vessel, with a capacity of 157,000 dwt, is being built at South Korea’s DH Shipbuilding shipyards and is expected to be delivered in 2027. The price is said to have been set at just over 106 million dollars.
Exmar had ordered this specific vessel, together with three more suezmaxes, about a year earlier, at a price close to 85 million dollars per vessel. If the transaction is confirmed, the resale yields significant capital gains for the company.
The move comes within a particularly strong market for suezmaxes, with vessel values and freight rates at high levels. Indicatively, recent time-charter agreements have moved at 120,000-125,000 dollars per day.
Vangelis Marinakis is also continuing to strengthen his fleet, having taken delivery in recent months of four suezmaxes and having a total of 37 tankers under construction, with a total value of approximately 4.2 billion dollars.
LATSIS: Greece’s Latsco Shipping of Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis is proceeding with the sale of the two oldest VLGCs in its fleet, taking advantage of the rise in gas carrier values and freight rates in the LPG market.
According to shipbroking sources, the company sold the sister ships with a capacity of 84,000 cbm, “Hellas Hercules” and “Hellas Poseidon”, both built in 2015. The first is said to have changed hands for about 95 million dollars, while for the second Chinese interests agreed to pay 101 million dollars.
The price difference within a few weeks reflects the speed with which VLGC values have strengthened, as spot freight rates have surged, among other things due to problems in passage through the Strait of Hormuz and the increased cost via the Panama Canal.
After the sales, Latsco retains six VLGCs, built from 2016 to 2025. The two vessels had been ordered in 2013 from Hyundai Heavy Industries, at about 75 million dollars each.
ATHEX: The share of Hellenic Exchanges ranked first in returns on Friday, strengthening by 8.35% to 10.64 euros, with a gain of 0.82 euros per share.
The stock reached new 220-month highs, troubling those who had accepted Euronext’s public offer at about 7.14 euros.
Friday’s rise took place with 50,848 shares and turnover of 541,516 euros. It is noted that the stock is up more than 68% this year.
OTE: OTE played a leading role at the close of the previous week. The share moved for most of Friday’s session without particular flare-ups, but at the close the scene changed.
The purchases concentrated at the close of the session and in the auctions propelled it to 20.10 euros, with a 4.85% rise (+0.93 euros).
2.06 million shares changed hands and turnover surged to 41.05 million euros.
AIA: The rise of the Athens International Airport in Friday’s session was strong, but the element that stood out was the trading volume.
The stock closed up 2.28% at 12.12 euros while 1.23 million shares were traded, with a total value of 14.84 million euros.
The picture shows active interest from large portfolios in a stock considered a defensive choice with stable cash flows.