DOKOS: Since Friday, Maximos and more generally the government's communication mechanism have made an enormous effort, in the hope that the noise from the video conversation of the secretary general for National Security, under the prime minister, with famous Russian pranksters might die down.
With PASOK leading the way, which persisted afterward, a series of political parties directly demanded his resignation, especially parties to the right of ND, such as Greek Solution and Niki, while other political opponents attacked the prime minister directly and the government as a whole.
Perhaps more ironic and sharp, however, was Antonis Samaras, whose public comment was limited to a… question: “Is Mr. Dokos still in his position?”.
Both Thanos Dokos himself and government “circles” tried to argue that he did not reveal, unintentionally, any “confidential or classified” information to the pranksters. That is not exactly the case, however.
Because he spoke to the pranksters about the visit of the EYP chief to Ukraine, the immediately previous day, in order to hold meetings with his counterparts in the Ukrainian intelligence services.
No matter how much someone searches, they will not find any prior publication or announcement about this visit, either in the Greek or in the Ukrainian media.
Such visits, moreover, are rarely publicized, precisely because, regardless of whether they have been formally classified, they certainly are... confidential.
DOKOS II: In addition, while discussing with the pranksters the possibility of a new incident involving Ukrainian drones in Greek seas, he gave them -and therefore the Russian side as well- a very clear picture, which they certainly could not have had on their own, of how the Greek government would actually react.
Information that is valuable, because it is one thing to learn what has been made public regarding diplomatic actions, and another for someone to tell you “first-hand” how the country will react, as the prime minister’s secretary general for National Security!
Nevertheless, the government did not appear willing to do its opponents the favor of pushing Mr. Dokos to resign, for two reasons.
The first is that many and various “resignations” have already intervened, so each new one unravels the… sweater even more. In addition, Dokos had the “luck” that his mishap followed a series of other similar incidents, involving political figures in various countries of the West.
We are talking about several well-known to very famous politicians, as well as national security advisers, over the past few years, with a recent example —before Thanos Dokos— being a security adviser to the president of a Baltic country.
DOKOS III: Having watched some snapshots of such mishaps, we were left with the question of how these two Russians keep achieving their goal again and again, when the trick has surely grown old.
The Greek case confirmed our suspicions, as the “government circles” we mentioned above rushed to leak that “communication protocols are being strengthened”, after the fact.
The security protocols that were activated before the video conversation were rather… ridiculous, at least as he himself presented them, in his interview with SKAI, an excerpt of which is in the video below:
It seems that everyone first waits to suffer in order to learn, instead of learning from the mishaps of... those before them!
P.S.: For the record, this is not the first time that the otherwise likable Dokos has put the government in a difficult position. In 2020, then as deputy national security adviser, he spoke about joint exploitation in the Aegean with Turkey and caused an uproar, going so far as to place his resignation at the prime minister’s disposal. Will it prove to be the second time... fatal? Time will tell.
KARAMEROS: The decision of Giorgos Karameros to resign as an MP in order to head, free of burdens… to ELAS of Alexis Tsipras, had long been expected.
So much so that the relevant soundings had also been made to the first runner-up of SYRIZA in Eastern Attica, Christos Spirtzis, as to whether he intended to take the seat.
The answer, as had leaked many times, was “no”. On the one hand because SYRIZA no longer expresses him (he had resigned long ago from all party bodies) and, on the other hand, because if he were to consider going to ELAS he would not be able to do so as a… seat-holder.
If Mr. Spirtzis insists until the end on “no”, the seat will be given to the next runner-up, Myrto Korovesi, who however followed Stefanos Kasselakis after his expulsion from Koumoundourou and today is vice president in his “Democrats”.
The second runner-up was Nassos Athanasiou, who recently passed away.
Mr. Karameros did announce his decisions on Saturday (very) morning, however the official resignation letter from his MP seat will reach the presidium of Parliament in the coming days: that is, until “procedural issues” are settled, mainly the fate of his associates who work as appointed staff in his parliamentary office and for whom an MP or party position must be found to absorb them.
As we learn, there will soon be more resignations of MPs, either current SYRIZA members or former ones who in the meantime have become independent. Like, for example, former SYRIZA, now independent, Giannis Sarakiotis, who has not hidden his support for Alexis’ new party.
SYRIZA: The worst thing that the executives-members of SYRIZA’s Central Committee who are also heading toward ELAS can do is remain in their positions until the body’s new meeting on Saturday, support the previous decision (for the party not to run in the elections) and the next day… leave.
It is being heard that quite a few intend to move in this way, so that Sokratis Famellos remains with supporters and “the party does not fall into the hands of Polakis”.
That is why the executives of the (former?) minority, Polakis-Dourou-Pappas etc. are calling on those who want to leave SYRIZA to do so before Saturday, that is, before the Central Committee meeting. Otherwise, they will denounce a “fake majority” which they will also characterize as “dishonest”.
And all this while SYRIZA is polling at just above one percent…
TSIPRAS: After the events, the videos and the announcements, the Greek Left Alliance is moving on to more …direct-journalistic forms of communication.
Today at noon the party’s first press conference will be given on the subject “The Mitsotakis seven-year period - Seven years of lies, lost opportunities, corruption”. The presentation will be made by the Head of Economic Affairs Fragkiskos Koutentakis, the Head of Labor Affairs Dionysis Teboneras and the Press Representative of EL.A.S. Theoni Koufonikolakou.
And this, as we learn, is the indirect response to the government “system” that recalls the referendum of July 5, 2015, because of yesterday’s anniversary, attempting to turn the discussion once again to that hot six-month period.
“You talk about the past and we will talk about the present and the future”, is the message of this first press conference…
TSATSAKIS: Greek Modion Maritime proceeded with its third ship purchase for 2026, continuing its strategy of expansion through second-hand medium-age bulk carriers. The company of Myron Tsatsakis agreed to acquire the post-panamax Yangze 905, with a capacity of 92,500 dwt and built in 2010.
The price of the transaction was not disclosed, however market estimates place the vessel’s value between $15.8 million and $17.7 million. With this specific purchase, Modion Maritime’s total spending for the acquisition of five kamsarmax and post-panamax vessels over the last two years now exceeds $100 million.
The Yangze 905 is expected to join the company’s fleet in July, raising Modion Maritime’s managed fleet to 21 vessels. The Tsatsakis family currently owns 15 bulk carriers and two chemical tankers, while the company’s growth is based exclusively on the purchase of second-hand vessels, without orders for newbuilds.
This strategy is accompanied by limited sales, as over the last two years the company has divested only one 1998 panamax, achieving a net increase in its fleet.
According to shipping sources, Modion Maritime’s owned vessels are free of bank borrowing, a fact that gives it significant flexibility for new moves in the second-hand vessel market.
SHIPPING: A page is turning in the history of the historic Propeller Club of Piraeus with the election of Danae Bezantakou to the presidency of the organization, as she becomes the first woman to assume the position since its founding, 91 years ago. Her election took place on June 29 and her term will last until 2029.
Danae Bezantakou succeeds Kostis Fragkoulis, who led the Greek branch for seven years and remains president of the international Propeller Club organization.
“Today is a historic day for the Propeller Club of Piraeus, with a woman at the helm for the first time in our 91-year history”, Mr. Fragkoulis stated.
Head of Navigator Shipping Consultants and particularly well known in the shipping sector for organizing conferences and events, the new president comes from a family with a presence of more than five decades in shipping.
For the last seven years she held senior positions at the Propeller Club of Piraeus, while she has developed strong activity for attracting young people to the shipping profession, founding the Young Executives Shipping Forum and authoring a children’s book on shipping.
At the same time, she has taken the lead in strengthening female entrepreneurship through the Greek Mentoring Network, while her close ties with the USA are estimated to further strengthen the international role of the Propeller Club, which traditionally serves as a bridge of cooperation between the Greek and the American shipping communities.
HYDROCARBONS: A new round of discussions has been sparked by the recent 15-month extension received by Helleniq Energy for exploration work in the “Ionian” block.
The aim is for the group, which holds 100% of the concession, to move to the next phase with a strong international partner by its side and, as sources familiar with the processes tell the column, those with whom it is initially discussing are ExxonMobil and Chevron, with whom it already cooperates in other areas.
The question is when conditions will mature for such a deal. The most logical scenario is that before any move, the interested parties will await the results of the drilling in the neighboring “block2” in the NW Ionian by the ExxonMobil - Energean - Helleniq Energy consortium. The drillship will drill in February and there will be a picture of the result in April 2027.
If this is positive, the deal for the “Ionian” is considered certain.
There is of course also a second scenario, according to which, because some have priced in positive results in “block 2”, they are moving already now in the direction of an agreement for the “Ionian”…
MEZZ: A second round of pressure on Mezz shares has been caused by the government’s legislative intervention in favor of borrowers under the Katseli law, following the relevant decision of the Supreme Court on the issue.
The four shares came under pressure after the Supreme Court’s decision in early June, with Sunrise Mezz losing a cumulative 8%, Phoenix Vega Mezz falling 6%, Galaxy Mezz recording a drop of more than 24% and Cairo Mezz recording marginal losses, though coming from a decline of more than 50% since the beginning of the year.
Following the legislative intervention on June 23 as well, the shares are in a new sideways-downward movement, further compressing their valuations.
In particular, Galaxy Mezz is seeing a new round of cumulative losses of 15%, closing on Friday at 0.2695 euros with losses of 2.5%.
Sunrise Mezz is down a cumulative 18% since 23/6 (a drop of 8.3% to 0.137 euros on Friday), Cairo Mezz is recording marginal losses (a drop of 3.4% on Friday) while Phoenix Vega Mezz is losing 14% approximately (with a drop of almost 5% on Friday to 0.0498 euros).
The million-dollar question now is where the turning point for the sector’s shares is located and when buyers will emerge…