THEOHARIS: If someone were looking for an example for the discussion opened by Dora Bakoyannis about “getting on one’s high horse” and arrogant behavior by government officials, they would hardly find anything better than what Haris Theoharis recently said on an Action 24 program.
The Deputy Foreign Minister, indeed responsible for Economic Diplomacy and Extroversion, declared that “we have parties that represent the poor wretch”, but “there are also orderly householders”.
When Tonia Antoniou of PASOK asked him whether he was calling a “poor wretch” someone who cannot make ends meet, he replied “You are the one characterizing him”. Later he even added (for those who did not... understand), that ND “represents the orderly householders”.
Words which, when heard in a discussion about high prices and citizens’ financial difficulties, obviously carry particular weight.
Mr. Theoharis is known, of course, for having an interesting political trajectory. He was elected with To Potami, left, and in July 2016 founded “Democratic Responsibility”. Except that... Responsibility proved rather short-lived, as three months later he found himself out of the party that he himself had founded.
Only to end up later in ND and today in the government.
Let us grant him, however, one thing. When the time came to explain the “poor wretches”, he did not resort to the usual talk about “misinterpretation” and “isolating one phrase”.
“I expressed a wrong phrase”, he admitted.
At least he did not try to convince us that… he said one thing and we heard another.
MAXIMOS: There is concern at the Maximos Mansion over the ill-judged statements by ministers and officials lately. It is the only thing the government does not need right now, at a time when the energy crisis is testing households more and more intensely and while the countdown to the elections has now begun.
The government spokesperson yesterday covered for Sp. Koulkoudinas and K. Tsiaras over statements of theirs which -according to him- were taken fragmentarily, while at the same time keeping his distance from Haris Theoharis, describing his statement about “poor wretch citizens” as “ill-judged”, which as we mentioned earlier he retracted.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting is expected to issue recommendations to blue party officials, trying to put the “brakes” on the discordant notes.
“Own goals”, especially at this time, are impermissible, he will signal, sounding the alarm bell to everyone.
NEW DEMOCRACY: Giorgos Vlachos appeared annoyed in the plenary session of Parliament by the answer he received from the Deputy Finance Minister to his question about consistent borrowers.
The Eastern Attica MP of ND, hearing Dimitris Markopoulos refer to the measures the government has taken for the vulnerable, noted: “You did not answer my question. You did not come to answer me today, but to brush off a question from a strange MP who needles you. And I do not like that at all. The funds feel uncontrolled. We are out of touch with reality, we must regain contact with the broader social strata”.
The deputy minister tried to lower the tone: “I did not call you strange, nor did I throw the ball into the stands. The only government, dear friend Giorgos Vlachos, that can make these provisions is ours”, he stressed.
Without, as it seemed, having convinced the experienced MP.
GEORGIADIS: The clash between Adonis Georgiadis and Maria Karystianou shows no sign of subsiding, this time with a new trigger being MedWatch and the audit of the professional activity of the president of “Hope for Democracy”.
The Health Minister insists that this is an audit like those carried out on other doctors, without political targeting, while Ms. Karystianou is sharply criticizing him and asking that the same rules be applied “to everyone”.
She attacks the government fiercely and accuses Mr. Georgiadis that “he is trying to harm Maria Karystianou, as a Doctor, aiming to damage her excellent professional career”.
The beef has now acquired particular momentum and the serial, as all indications show, will have quite a few more episodes.
VERTICAL CORRIDOR: Sometimes, vindication comes from where you do not expect it. Yesterday’s observation by Chameleon about the risk of the Vertical Corridor becoming collateral damage of the conflict between Trump supporters and the opponents of the American president was confirmed in the most characteristic way.
By… Geoffrey Pyatt. The former US ambassador in Athens is known as a liberal and, politically, a fierce opponent of “Trumpism”.
But he is also a man who worked systematically, both in Greece and later as Deputy Secretary of State responsible for energy resources, with the aim of developing the Vertical Corridor and strengthening energy cooperation between Greece and the US.
That is why his intervention carries particular weight.
Pyatt hurried, with comments on “X”, to remind that behind the Vertical Corridor there is “indisputable strategic and economic logic”, especially now that Europe is moving toward its full independence from Russian gas.
In other words, he perceives the danger that internal political confrontation in the US and the effort to hurt Trump through people in his inner circle may drag down an entire energy strategy, at an exceptionally critical juncture for Europe.
With obvious damage to Greek interests as well.
In the same spirit moved government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis, describing the Vertical Corridor as one of the “major moves that change Greece’s level”, adding that the energy agreements “have a huge energy footprint for the country, and not only”.
His wording may be somewhat… enthusiastic, but the strategic essence was also confirmed by Geoffrey Pyatt.
Who is anything but a friend of Trump.
MARINAKIS: The government spokesperson proceeded yesterday to deny the report that spoke of a “light redesign” of the project, so that it would not pass through the “marine park” that Turkey has announced in the wider area and so that any major tensions might be avoided.
We believe it, because if something like that were indeed happening, there would be a… storm, not only from the right wing of the party, Antonis Samaras and everyone to the right of him, but in all likelihood also from the left wing.
In addition, Pavlos Marinakis categorically denied the reports about threats from Kimberly Guilfoyle to the Greek government as well, having made, as he said, all the communications he needed. That is, with Minister Stavros Papastavrou, who is said to have been their recipient and to have reacted firmly.
Here, the truth is, we were not expecting anything else. I mean, what would he say? “She threatened us, that our transatlantic ally might even bring us down, but we did nothing?”
ELAS: Theoni Koufonikolakou resorted to mathematics and irony to answer government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis. Who “responded” yesterday to the interventions of Alexis Tsipras, not merely by saying again that “he is the politician who would tear up the memoranda, would abolish the memoranda, and loaded us with the third largest and unnecessary memorandum”, but raised the cost of that memorandum to 120 billion euros.
The answer of the spokesperson of ELAS? “To put an end to the joke about the ‘worst memorandum’, please memorize two numbers, Mr. Marinakis: 41-7.
41 billion was the adjustment of the first two memoranda (33 billion euros expenditures - 8 revenues), when ND was governing, which did not bring the country out of the deep crisis but sank it worse. 7 billion was the adjustment in the third (1.9 expenditures - 5.4 revenues). Even a kindergarten child would understand that 41 is greater than 7”.
The element of irony lies at the beginning of Ms. Koufonikolakou’s answer: “Come now, Mr. Marinakis…”, she said, stressing that the party (i.e. ND) that derailed the country fiscally, concealed data and left in the night, set unachievable fiscal targets, left empty coffers and undermined the country’s negotiating position (“Hold firm, Jeroen”) is wagging its finger at Alexis Tsipras, who took the country out of the memoranda”.
This last point was also stressed by Alexis Tsipras himself, speaking last night at the Athens Chamber of Professionals: “I was the prime minister who took the country out of the memoranda”.
Something which, it seems, he will now project more and more often, in combination with… who put the country into the memoranda.
PROKOPIOU: The sale price of a 17-year-old suezmax of Giorgos Prokopiou is being shaped at levels approaching the value of a newly built vessel, in yet another indication of the explosive rise in the secondhand tankers market.
Market sources and shipbroking circles tell TradeWinds that Dynacom Tankers Management is selling the 150,000 dwt Karolos, built in 2009, for an amount above $90 million. The vessel, equipped with a scrubber, is valued by VesselsValue and Signal Ocean at $65 million and $68 million respectively.
The price is essentially at the level of $90 million, which is the current average price of a newly built suezmax according to Clarksons.
A decisive role in the deal appears to be played by the immediate delivery of the vessel to the buyer, as Karolos will be delivered to the new ownership from its current position in the Mediterranean.
According to TradeWinds, two more Greek shipowners were in negotiations for the sale of suezmaxes at similar prices. One deal collapsed, while the second remains pending, as payment of the stipulated deposit is awaited.
“Until the deposit is paid, everything else is simply discussions”, a shipowner told TradeWinds characteristically.
PANAGIOTIDIS: Robin Energy of Greek shipowner Petros Panagiotidis is investing $5.5 million in a sustainable energy company based in Ireland.
The Nasdaq-listed company, which manages two LPG carriers, announced the purchase of convertible loan notes issued by IntegrEn, a company developing digital infrastructure and energy projects in the US and the United Kingdom.
The notes bear no coupon and mature at the end of 2026, while their repayment is provided for with a premium on the initial capital. Part of the investment may, instead of repayment, be converted into shares of an IntegrEn subsidiary.
Robin Energy had cash reserves of $35.7 million and zero debt at the end of June, after the sale of an MR1 tanker. In the second quarter it recorded net profits of $5.6 million, compared with $0.5 million last year, while Panagiotidis stated that the fleet of the two LPG carriers is chartered through 2026 and 2027.
SHIPPING: In the freight market where the “impossible” has now become everyday reality, older VLCCs are recording the biggest rise in values. Signal Ocean speaks of a market that may go down in history as “once-in-a-generation”.
The value of five-year-old VLCCs has increased by 30% year-on-year, while for ten-year-old vessels the rise reaches 42%. For 15-year-old VLCCs the increase amounts to 61%, while 20-year-old tankers have seen their value soar by 90%.
Signal now values a VLCC 20 years old at 71.1 million dollars, compared with just 20.8 million dollars as scrap value. This difference also changes the scrapping decision, as a commercially usable old vessel is worth much more afloat than at the scrapyard.
And the prices of newer vessels are also surprising: Clarksons values a VLCC resale at 193 million dollars, up from 150 million at the beginning of the year. With spot rates exceeding 1 million dollars per day, the market now seems to operate with the logic “the faster you find a ship, the less its age matters”.
HEDGE FUNDS: Athens seems to be gaining ground on the map of international financial centers, as market executives and major hedge funds are beginning to look toward Greece.
As Bloomberg writes, the case of Konstantinos Sarafopoulos of Alpha Bank is characteristic, as he returned to Greece in 2021 after more than 20 years in Britain. At Alpha Bank, in fact, they have created a community of about 120 executives who returned from London.
At the same time, billionaire Chris Rokos is moving his tax residence to Athens, while Millennium Management is opening an office in the city.
According to Bloomberg, tax incentives for wealthy foreigners and repatriates, combined with the improvement of the economy, fiscal surpluses and reforms, are strengthening Greece’s attractiveness.
However, Athens is still far from competing with London and New York. The question is whether today’s arrivals will constitute the beginning of a broader financial ecosystem, the report notes.