SAMARAS: To pick up the… gauntlet and respond to Dora Bakoyannis and what she has been accusing him of lately, Antonis Samaras decided.
With a video on Tik Tok and speaking with his close associate, Nikos Tsoutsias, the Messenian appeared sharply caustic toward the former minister and attributed the attacks against him to her defeat in the 2009 internal party elections.
“Do you know how many years have passed since she lost the leadership to me? Seventeen. What can we do? She still hasn’t recovered. Let her sort things out with her brother first”, the former prime minister noted, awaiting the new round of their confrontation.
Continuing the beef, in another video, Mr. Samaras briefly repeated his ideological platform, commenting on those who argue that if he forms a party, he will deprive ND of self-reliance:
“Self-reliance requires 37%, I was telling them to do ten things and they did the opposite. That’s why ND went from 40% to 20%”, referring to same-sex couples, national issues, small and medium earners, high prices, scandals and justice. “And suddenly I am the one who is to blame?”, he wondered.
P.S. In any case, the former prime minister was once again targeted by an… old friend, Giorgos Karatzaferis. “He is a peculiar case. A man who rises through betrayals. But betrayal has an expiration date”, the former LAOS president said in an interview, recalling “the fate of Nenekos”, the 1821 war captain who submitted to Ibrahim.
MITSOTAKIS: The prime minister’s international obligations over the next ten days are significant, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, when he will be in Ankara for two days for the NATO Summit.
Next week (Monday and Tuesday), the prime minister will travel to Paris, where he will participate in a meeting of leaders of the “Coalition of the Willing”, followed by a leaders’ dinner.
At the same time, he will attend the celebrations for July 14 (France’s National Day).
LATINOPOULOU: Aphrodite Latinopoulou continues the… vendetta with the Roma, insisting on harsh, extreme rhetoric.
Asked in an interview what she would do if she were on an island only with Roma and had to choose one of them, the president of Voice of Reason replied: “They are gypsies. There is no characteristic and nothing in the world that would make me choose them. I would prefer to leave the island and swim with the sharks. In short, I would kill myself”.
You could call that racist…
KARYSTIANOU: The road for “Hope for Democracy” is not paved with… rose petals, and this has been regularly proven lately.
The latest incident is the fact that Maria Karystianou and the party’s former member, Ioannis Fronimakis, are heading to the courts, because of the allegations by Maria of Tempi about direct pressure she received regarding her much-discussed company and its relationship with funds.
“I received an undisguised blackmail attempt: they urgently asked me to hastily shut down the company, erase its traces, make sure it appeared nowhere and hide it. As you saw, we did not alter absolutely anything, because for me the most important thing is that everything is in the open.
I personally received this urging for cover-up from Mr. Fronimakis and from certain others”, Ms. Karystianou stressed (on OPEN), to whom her former political companion responded via Facebook, announcing that he filed a lawsuit against her “after the slanderous things she uttered against me about blackmail”.
Something seems to not be going well with the new venture…
MYKONOS: As is well known, the island of the winds is also an island of business passions. These seem to have recently reached new heights, with one of the most cosmopolitan beaches being the object of desire.
We learn that an unknown company, with insignificant capital, recently tried to acquire the use of this particular beach, even though formally it did not have the legal qualifications to enter the direct award process.
Behind this company, malicious tongues say, there was a foreign factor, not just big, but… very big.
Who, as we hear, pulled every string possible (even at high political levels, as has become customary in recent years on this particular island) to win the beach. Nevertheless… he stumbled.
The (legal) obstacles, our sources say, were put up by a businessman with whom the factor has long been, as we say… at loggerheads, also informing the Property Service, which controls the concession.
As a result, the process got stuck and today, in the heart of the season when high-end tourism hands out thousands like… lettuce leaves, a part of the cosmopolitan beach is without sunbeds and umbrellas! Something completely unusual for the cosmopolitan island!
The dispute between the two not only has a past, it also has a future. Which, judging by what happened with the beach, does not at all favor profitable business deals.
P.S.: Anyone who knows how many... hundreds are charged for one umbrella with two sunbeds in the most “cosmopolitan” spots of Mykonos, together with the... extras, also understands the opportunity cost of a beach whose significant part remains empty for 5-6 months. We are talking about a lot of money!
ENERGY: Three and a half years since the framework for self-consumption with rooftop photovoltaics, known as net-metering (energy offsetting), was abolished by order of the Commission to be replaced by net-billing (simultaneous offsetting), the institutional framework is still pending.
The lost opportunity for the sector, but also for consumers, was highlighted a few days ago in a letter to the Prime Minister by the Association of Photovoltaic Companies (SEF).
We learn that the letter had an effect. The column’s information suggests that the new framework, which had been blocked (for an unknown reason) at the Ministry of Environment and Energy, is soon to be put out for public consultation. Perhaps even within the week.
Its basic philosophy is said to move along the lines of the observations the market has submitted from time to time, simplifying the self-consumption regime. Both in the sense that the new framework will clarify what will apply in the case of virtual simultaneous offsetting, and that it will set a fixed price for the surplus excess energy injected into the grid for household consumers.
The same decision will also include the regulation for “balcony photovoltaics”...
HELLINIKON: Another piece of the puzzle in the large residential project at Hellinikon fell into place. Last week, the Standard Environmental Commitments were approved for the underground parking area of 263 spaces in building block A-P1.9, which is part of a complex of five buildings with residences, retail stores and dining areas.
The project also includes 16 private swimming pools and underground auxiliary spaces.
INVESTMENT: ROLOPAK secured the inclusion of its plastic packaging products production unit in Acharnes under Standard Environmental Commitments, paving the way for the next phase of the investment.
Inclusion under PPD means that the activity is licensed through the simplified procedure of environmental category B, without a full study.
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY: Medicair Bioscience Laboratories received the environmental “green light” for the creation of a pharmaceutical quality control laboratory at its facilities in Oinofyta.
The unit will be active in analyses and the quality control of pharmaceutical products.
COCA COLA 3E: The company secured approval of environmental terms for the expansion of the storage and distribution center in Kifisia, moving ahead with the modernization of one of the group’s most important logistics facilities.
The plan provides for demolitions of existing buildings with an area of 8,783.6 sq.m. and the construction of new facilities of 11,053.9 sq.m. of offices and support facilities, as well as charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
According to the study, the facility will operate exclusively as a product storage and distribution center and not as a production unit, serving the company’s logistics needs with dry cargo storage volume exceeding 211,500 cubic meters and cold cargo of approximately 6,600 cubic meters.
AVAX: The stock’s performance reached 13% (+13.1%) last week after Friday’s close at 3.885 euros.
The stock continues to be at the center of interest, as the market continues to value the strong backlog and the prospects of the construction sector.
Management, in the context of the General Assembly, estimated that this year the backlog will move at 2.8 billion euros, that is, at roughly the same levels as last year, while the group’s growth will be based on the three pillars of concessions, energy and real estate.
At the same time, it ruled out scenarios of a share capital increase, with the group’s chairman Christos Ioannou pointing out that “we do not have any investment plan that is not already covered by the company’s existing borrowing and cash capabilities”.
Although the company does not provide annual guidance, it stated that it is targeting EBITDA of 150 million by 2030, with 40% of revenues coming from non-construction activity.
MOTOR OIL: Also notable was the performance of the Vardinogiannis group company, which with an upward streak of four sessions achieved an 8.5% rise, closing at 41.40 euros.
It had been preceded on Monday afternoon by the announcement that the Aktor group submitted a proposal for the acquisition of 75% of the shares of the companies “ILEKTOR S.A.” and “THALIS E.S. S.A.”, which are active in the waste management sector, with emphasis on the operation and exploitation of waste treatment units and concession projects (PPP).
The market capitalization is approaching 4.6 billion euros.