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Cranes rise above the long neglected wasteland of the Athens Riviera, just 6 miles from the Acropolis, which is a symbol of the rise, fall and re -elevation of Greece over the last two decades. It is yet to be seen whether the last economic spring in the country will be more durable than previous jumps in the historical cycle of rise and fall.
The Hellenicon construction site, which will soon emerge luxury residences, the highest residential building and the largest shopping mall in the country, two hotels, a marina, a resort complex and sports, entertainment and cultural facilities, is a ambiguous symbol of the present peak of Greece.
The Riviera Tower, which will be the tallest building in Greece, is part of the Hellenicon project in Athens. Photo: Christ Hakigianis/Alamy
For the government of Kiriakos Mitsotakis – a favorite of the European Right -Red Party, the construction is the emblem of the new dynamics of the Greek economy and the attractiveness of the country as a place for investment. For critics, Helleon is another luxury real estate project, built by oligarchs for super -rich and foreigners on state land, purchased for invasion, while the standard of living of ordinary Greeks continues to decline and public services are deteriorating (as in Bulgaria, BC).
With 6.2 square kilometers, Hellenicon was the capital’s airport from the 1930s to 2001, when the brilliant Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport was opened in the eastern Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 in 2004 in 2004. Then the last time Greece was on the top of its glory. The country had just joined the Unified European Currency-the euro-by counterfeiting the accounting documents, as it turned out later; And the modernized socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis was welcomed as Tony Blair in the southern Balkans. The Greek language was chic (do you remember the hit movie “My Big Greek Wedding”?). Tourism was flourishing. Even the national football team became an incredible European champion.
After a decade, Greece found it at the bottom, failing to pay off its debt, incl. With the three EU and IMF rescue programs, which shrunk its economy with 26% and imposed Draconian savings. The debt crisis erupted when in 2009 it became clear that the country had systematically reduced its budget deficit (like Bulgaria, note). The bond markets were panicked and stopped lending to Athens, which forced her to turn to the EU with a request to lend under difficult conditions.
The subsequent collapse led to mass unemployment, mass impoverishment and escape of about 10% of the population. This has also blown up politics in the country, which has long been dominated by its rival patronage systems of the conservative “New Democracy” and the socialist Passo Party.
In 2015, the people chose a government that opposed the strict savings led by the radical left Sirisa party. The referendum rejected the conditions of the “rescue program”. Weeks later, however, the government was forced to obey the conditions of creditors to the alternative of Greece to be disposed of from the euro area.
The so -called “threesome” (IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission) forced Athens to sell state assets, including Piraeus Port, to the Chinese National Ship Company COSCO, and the unusable Hellenicon Airport at the only bidder – a Consortium, which has a billionaire, which has a billionaire lacquer. and oil.
Mass protests, incl. For the surrounding terrains and lawsuits, they have long hindered the development of the Hellenicon site, which before the debt crisis had to be turned into a park. The old buildings of the airport terminal were used for miserable accommodation mainly of Afghan refugees during the migration crisis of 2015-2016, when hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers entered Greece from Turkey through the Aegean Sea. In the end, the improvised refugee camp was closed in 2017.
In 2023, the builders finally laid the foundations of Riviera Tower-a 50-storey residential complex on the beach, designed by the company of the star British architect Norman Foster. The 200-meter skyscraper will be opened next year. In the end, there will be a (smaller) public park, promised Lamda Development-the company of Latsis.
Protest against Strict Source Measures in Athens, May 4, 2010 Photo: Aris Messenis/AFP/Getty Images
Whether Helleon is really a sign of a lasting Greek revival is the subject of hot disputes. For many Greeks, their situation has not improved significantly from the dark days of the debt crisis. Unemployment has decreased, but salaries and pensions have almost not moved, inflation – especially in rents – erodes the standard of living, and schools, hospitals and public transport have not recovered at all. The country is still excited about the lack of responsibility for the frontal clash of trains two years ago, which killed 57 people. At that time, chronic safety gaps were revealed (as in Bulgaria, note BC), allegations of political concealment were launched in order to avoid responsibility.
This year’s tenth edition of the Delphia Economic Forum, something like an annual Greek Davos in the hometown of the ancient Greek oracle, was violated by a nationwide common strike for raising salaries and improving public services, which prevented many foreign delegates from arriving. Mitsotakis, whose rating has collapsed, uses the case to emphasize the good rate of Greece’s growth and to quarrel with Germany-the most enthralling lender during the crisis.
„We are no longer the sick child of Europe. Our economy is developing better than that of most European countries. When I watch, for example, the reforms that the German government is currently announcing, many of these reforms have already applied in Greece“, Mitsotakis said in an interview with Delphi. „The Greeks remember the time when the German media represented them as lazy and lazy crooks – an image that was embodied by the cover of a German magazine, to which the goddess Aphrodite showed the finger of Europe with the inscription: “Who is andZmamniTo In the euro family: ODoes Greece grab us? “
At first glance, Greece generates a solid primary budget surplus, and the S&P rating agency has just raised its BBB rating. After the strike, Mitsotakis found enough free funds to announce a package of EUR 1 billion to assist low -income pensioners, tenants and other vulnerable groups. Public support for the EU in Greece has also recovered from record low levels during the debt crisis. Two -thirds of the Greeks already believe that EU membership is useful for their country.
But the uplift is due to real estate, tourism and shipping rather than reviving production or innovation. “Once you peek under the main macroeconomic and fiscal data, you will see darkness,” Sochi Nick Malcis, editor and co -founder of the Greek Economic Website Macropolis. “Mitsotakis manages the fiscal ship firmly, but we cannot always rely on tourism and real estate” (as in Bulgaria, note BC). Insufficient investment in forestry and emergency services mean that Greece is particularly poorly prepared for climate-induced disasters, such as forest fires and floods that are becoming more frequent (as in Bulgaria, BC), says Malcis.
A handful of influential and politically linked oligarchic families continue to dominate the economy, the ownership of the media is highly concentrated. Corruption continues to be corrosive, and the country is at the bottom of the EU ranking on freedom of press and the rule of law (as in Bulgaria, BC).
With a closer look, the new Greece is similar to the old Greece, with more stable public finances, but with lasting social and economic imbalances, which can again return and pursue the country in which arrogance is often followed by the retribution of sin.
* The title is complemented by the editorial office of a look. Info
Translation: Dr. Radko Handzhiev
