URSULA: Imagine waking up one morning to find Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey seeking “associate member” status in the European Union. Not with the obligations of full membership, but with special privileges and access to EU processes.
Science fiction? Not necessarily, as you will see, but the Greek government appears to have recognised the danger in good time.
Athens, along with Berlin, Paris and Rome, blocked the approval of a joint EU–Canada declaration the day before yesterday. The reason was Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to make Canada the Union’s first “associate member”.
A status not provided for in the EU treaties, with no defined rights or obligations.
What is even more… remarkable is that the Commission president announced it in September, without prior consultation with national governments.
First she… gave the new relationship a name, then left her partners to work out what it meant!
Another display of institutional arbitrariness, then, from the German politician with her familiar “imperial” ambitions, who sought to cast member states as spectators.
For Greece, however, the significance of the issue goes beyond Ursula’s institutional manoeuvring.
Athens does not oppose closer co-operation with Canada. But it rejects the creation of a new status without prior agreement on what it entails.
Greek diplomatic sources have also stressed that closer ties with Canada should not be presented as a move against the US.
URSULA II: It is not hard to guess why Greece reacted as it did. The country has a vital security relationship with Washington, particularly in the face of the Turkish threat. It therefore has no reason to risk an unnecessary confrontation with Trump.
There is also the purely Turkish dimension.
Ankara has powerful supporters in the Commission (including Estonia’s foreign affairs commissioner Kaja Kallas and the defence commissioner, Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius), as well as in European capitals, where there is a push for closer co-operation with Turkey, particularly on defence.
If a new category of privileged relationship is created, Turkey could seek it in future, too, without meeting the conditions for full membership. A risk Greece must take into account.
The EU–Canada summit, which begins today in Montreal, will show whether the objections lead to a change in wording, a postponement of the decision or the abandonment of the disputed designation.
What is certain, however, is that when a new door opens in Europe, we must consider who else might walk through it.
NEW DEMOCRACY: Kyriakos Mitsotakis has set the electoral bar very high, although, given that the campaign season is under way, “anything goes”, as the more experienced observers say.
“We will settle for nothing less than ‘heatwave temperatures’ again at the spring 2027 election. We had results in the 40s; here in Kilkis, we want 40s”, the prime minister said during his recent tour of northern Greece.
At the same time, however, the polls are less encouraging for New Democracy, and political analysts say it will be very difficult to repeat the party’s 2023 performance.
Nevertheless, the strategy at the Maximos Mansion continues to focus on winning an outright majority, and doing so in the first round. The government points to polling from the corresponding pre-election period four years ago, which also put New Democracy’s support well below its eventual result.
Although, as everyone agrees, the circumstances were entirely different then…
GSI: The Athens–Ankara test of wills is approaching, with surveys for the installation of the Greece–Cyprus electricity interconnector cable in the background. The French vessel Abeille Marengo, which will carry out the surveys, is already in the port of Heraklion, Crete, and the relevant NAVTEX notices are expected to be issued in the coming days, according to the current plan.
The plan is for the project to resume from the point where work stopped in 2024, while Turkey is demanding written notification of the vessel’s passage.
“There is no other country here, apart from Greece, that can issue a permit for the cable. The plan will proceed as normal, and we will fully protect the national interest”, Deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Chatzivasileiou said on ANT1, adding:
“A permit is one thing; notification is another. Companies can issue an announcement to inform people when and where they will be carrying out work”.
For his part, the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, referred to “moves being made without publicity”. It remains to be seen whether they will produce a positive result.
PS SECURITY: A new security services company is setting up its headquarters on Koliatsou Street in Corinth.
The newly established company’s articles of association cover everything from chartering hot-air balloons and gliders to aerial crop-spraying services and high-tech drone surveying.
MAROUSI: Two different companies sprang up within a few hours at exactly the same address in Marousi.
At 5 Nemeseos Street, DMK Investments and investment company NT.EN.SI set up their own business base.
Meanwhile, in Sternes, Chania, the Diamantakis family put up €500,000 in cash to establish Diamantakis Property, betting on the development of property portfolios and tourist rentals. Almost simultaneously, in Filothei, Durenne appeared with €200,000 in capital for exactly the same purpose.
IMITHEA–ERRIKOS DYNAN: Imithea (Errikos Dynan) reported sales revenue of €130.1m last year on a consolidated basis, after rebates and clawbacks.
Last year was the first in which the clinics and rehabilitation centres that Imithea bought from Euromedica were consolidated.
Adjusted EBITDA came to €12.3m, and would have reached €17.2m if the Euromedica clinics had been consolidated from 1 January 2025. The group ended the year with a net loss of €7.7m, owing to high finance costs of €9.27m.
Total debt stood at €183.7m on 31 December 2025 (71.4m in bank loans, with the remainder in finance leases and factoring), while cash and cash equivalents came to €9.4m.
ATTICA BAKERIES: Attica Bakeries Ltd is one of the companies involved in the alleged extensive tax evasion scheme, allegedly masterminded by Angelos Giannakopoulos. The company was established in 2012 as Attikoi Fournai Ltd by Georgios Giannakopoulos, son of Angelos, and Argyro Giannakopoulou, daughter of Angelos, and was subsequently renamed Attica Bakeries.
In February 2015, Georgios Giannakopoulos bought out his then business partner and, in November 2016, transferred a 5% stake in the company to Georgios Frangos for €300, paid in cash.
In other words, the entire company was valued at just €6,000 (!), even though Attica Bakeries reported turnover of €836,600, gross profit of €550,400 and net profit of €55,500 in 2015, with no debt.
In December 2020, Mr Frangos transferred his 5% stake to Ukrainian national Stella Migley for €300 (again, paid in cash) and left the company.
ATTICA BAKERIES II: If the transfers of 5% stakes for a fixed price of €300 are striking, the way administrative expenses flexed to almost exactly match gross profit is even more glaring.
As the table shows, Attica Bakeries Ltd’s administrative expenses varied with a flexibility that mirrored gross profit, leaving the company reporting small profits that dwindled to almost nothing over time.
From 2021 to 2024, annual net profit ranged from €1,200 to €4,600, while the company recorded a loss of €22,000 in 2025.
Attica Bakeries Ltd – Key financial figures (amounts in €000s)| | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|
| Gross profit | 550,4 | 297,0 | 257,0 | 301,6 | 234,7 | 109,2 | 269,9 | 489,9 | 638,5 | 298,2 | 231,3 |
| Administrative and other expenses | 494,8 | 274,0 | 247,0 | 276,0 | 224,7 | 143,2 | 267,4 | 485,3 | 637,2 | 296,8 | 253,3 |
| Net profit | 55,5 | 22,4 | 10,2 | 24,1 | 7,6 | -33,9 | 2,5 | 4,6 | 1,2 | 1,3 | -21,9 |
PPA: The establishment of Piraeus Supply Chain Gateway Single-Member SA (PGSC SA) by PPA SA, with initial capital of €30,000 on Akti Miaouli, shows the Master Plan moving from paper to reality.
There is much more to the story. The subsidiary’s main task is the €77.5m mega-project on the 80,000-square-metre site of the former Public Materials Management Organisation in Keratsini: a modern logistics centre and free zone. But the market is already discussing a move into tourism.
The expanded articles of association pave the way for an international concession tender for two historic warehouses covering 23,800 square metres at Ietioneia Coast, with a view to converting them into four- and five-star hotels with a capacity of 350 rooms.
The port’s management team took the lead on the first board, with PPA chief executive Su Xudong as chairman, Angelos Karakostas as vice-chairman and Xie Yin as managing director.
From containers to room service, Piraeus is moving up a gear, and investors are taking note.
AIA: Third-quarter results at Athens International Airport were in line with consensus estimates, thanks to the performance of its non-aviation activities.
Total revenue and other income rose in the third quarter, reaching €530m for the nine months (+0.6% year on year), while third-quarter EBITDA came to €162.7m, making up the shortfall from the two preceding quarters.
Adjusted EBITDA for the nine-month period thus reached €331.2m, down 1.3% year on year, compared with a 7.6% decline in the first half.
Third-quarter net profit after tax came to €92.1m, taking the nine-month total to €173.5m (down 6.6% year on year). Net profit in the fourth quarter last year was about €21m. To meet this year’s net profit target of €200m, earnings in the current quarter will need to be significantly higher (>20%).
FOURLIS–IKEA: Dividend income from subsidiaries saved Housemarket’s profitability last year.
The company received €36.98m in dividends from subsidiaries, while earnings before interest and tax fell to €1.86m from €8.4m in 2024. EBITDA declined to €16.63m from €21.8m in 2024.
The decline resulted from a substantial increase in administrative expenses and, to a lesser extent, selling expenses.
Premises costs rose significantly to €33.12m from €26.46m in 2024, while payroll costs increased by 9.86% to €27.3m.
PREMIA: Premia Properties has established a new special-purpose investment vehicle, BLACKBERRY CITY Single-Member SA, with initial capital of €25,000 and registered office at 59 Vasilissis Sofias Avenue.
The background suggests the listed company is preparing to add new assets. Its chief executive, Konstantinos Markazos, has been appointed to head the new entity, sending a clear signal that the project is being overseen at the highest level of management.
The company’s purpose is broad but focused, covering the purchase, sale and exploitation of non-residential property, as well as the development of tourism infrastructure.
The move is part of the listed company’s wider investment plan to further strengthen its portfolio in strategic sectors of commercial real estate and hotel assets.
As the property pie grows, special-purpose vehicles get moving, and investors wait to see which exact “prime asset” will be served first.
METLEN: Metlen Energy & Metals SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of listed British holding company Metlen Energy & Metals Plc, is set to report dividend income of more than €123m this year. The subsidiary continues to house all of the group’s production activities and assets.
Alongside the €83m it received from METKA, its coffers have been or will be topped up by a further €30.09m from Protergia Thermoelectric.
This is the company through which Metlen holds a 65% stake in Korinthos Power.