ATHENS: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras headed to the Greek island of Ithaca on Tuesday in a gesture laden with classical symbolism as the country emerges from nine years of crisis and international financial bailouts.
The island was home to Odysseus, who found his way home from the Trojan war after a 10-year voyage lost at sea, recounted in Homer’s epic poem.
Tsipras is due to give a state address from the island, a day after Greece ended its third bailout deal with international creditors who have bankrolled the country in return for tough reforms and austerity monitored by their inspectors since 2010.
“We are not saying that all problems have been solved because we exited the bailout, we will not celebrate,” deputy economy minister Alexis Haritsis told state tv ERT. “But it is a significant day and it is a success to manage to get out of a tough surveillance.”
Former Prime Minister George Papandreou, who applied for the first bailout from Greece’s euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund in April 2010, also drew on the Odyssey analogy at the time.
“We are on a difficult path, a new odyssey for Greece and for the Greek nation,” Papandreou said at the time. “But we know the way to Ithaca, and we have charted the waters in our quest.”
Austerity and political turmoil followed, shrinking the economy by a quarter, pushing a third of the population into poverty and forcing the migration of thousands abroad.
Another two bailouts followed in 2012 and 2015. In all, the €288 billion ($330 billion) Greece has borrowed is the largest bailout in history, saddling the country with debt the equivalent of 180 percent of its annual economic output.
In the coming years, Greece will have to maintain primary budget surpluses — excluding debt repayments — and further cuts in pensions may be made in 2019.
One newspaper also referred to the long voyage of Odysseus. “Even after Ithaca we will still be rowing,” the daily Ethnos said on its front page.
Greek Prime Minister heads to Odysseus’ home at end of bailout journey
Greek Prime Minister heads to Odysseus’ home at end of bailout journey
Zelensky blasts EU's lack of political will against Putin
- Ukrainian president says he reached agreement with Trump around post-war US security guarantees for his country
- In a fiery speech, he slammed his main political backers in Europe over their 'inaction'
DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in a fiery address criticizing some of Kyiv’s top allies at the World Economic Forum.
The speech to the Davos elite came minutes after Zelensky had met with US President Donald Trump, a conversation he said had brought agreement about what post-war US security guarantees for Ukraine would look like.
Zelensky did not say what they included, only that they were “done” and were ready to be signed by the leaders and ratified by the Ukrainian parliament and US Congress.
But in a marked departure from his usual warm rhetoric toward the European Union, Kyiv’s main political and financial backers, Zelensky slammed what he cast as inaction.
“What’s missing: time or political will?” he said at one point, referencing delays over the establishment of a European war crimes tribunal on the Russian invasion.
He also said Europe, without mentioning any single country, was failing to agree on how to address global problems.
“There are endless internal arguments and things left unsaid that stop Europe from uniting and speaking honestly enough to find real solutions,” Zelensky told the forum.
“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he added.
Fresh talks
“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” said Zelensky.
“But he will not change. President Trump loves who he is, and he says he loves Europe, but he will not listen to this kind of Europe,” he said.
Trump had hailed a “good” meeting with Zelensky in the Swiss ski resort, hours before his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due in Moscow for talks with Putin.
“This war has to end,” Trump told reporters including AFP when asked what message he was sending to the Russian leader.
Zelensky said the question of territory was the one outstanding issue in the talks to find an end to the war.
“It’s all about the eastern part of our country. It’s all about the land. This is the issue which we (have) not solved yet.”
He also said the United Arab Emirates would host “trilateral” talks on the Ukraine war Friday and Saturday with Ukrainian, US and Russian negotiators.
“It will be the first trilateral meeting in the Emirates,” said Zelensky, without elaborating on the format of the talks.
“Russians have to be ready for compromises,” he added.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal — but Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow.
