The Agora
by MacroPolis
The Agora is a podcast created by the team behind MacroPolis. It’s a political and economic analysis website based in Athens. In this podcast series, we examine political, economic and social developments in Greece. But our podcasts will also look at what’s happening in the world around us. We provide listeners with insight from our own experts and analysis from special guests. If you enjoy intelligent, lively discussion and want the bigger picture, join us for a stroll through the Agora. To get an idea of the kind of insight we provide, check out The Agora blog, which has being going strong since 2013. Our theme music is a track called Straight Line Blues and has been kindly provided by the <a href="https://inner-ear.gr/artists/burgundy-grapes/" rel="noopen
Episodes
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The Great Sea Interconnector and its high-voltage politics
In this episode of The Agora, we unpack one of a sensitive and consequential energy project in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI). It’s the subsea electricity cable designed to link the power grids of Greece and Cyprus. It’s an infrastructure project that sits at the...
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Economic gain, social strain and political pain - Greece’s road to elections
In this episode of The Agora, we unpack the latest findings from the Q2 2026 ProMacro_Scope - one of the most detailed quarterly portraits of Greek public opinion available. Produced in partnership by MacroPolis and Prorata, the publication combines exclusive polling with proprietary…
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Has Greece really recovered from the crisis?
Greece has come a long way since the dark days of 2015, but has it fully recovered? In this episode of The Agora, Nick Malkoutzis speaks with Peter Sanfey and Dimitris Sourvanos, authors of the new Hellenic Observatory paper Out of the Abyss, to unpack Greece’s decade‑long journey from crisis to...
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Party time: Greek politics in flux ahead of next elections
Greece’s political landscape is shifting at remarkable speed. Alexis Tsipras’s new party, ELAS, has upended the opposition, destabilised SYRIZA, rattled PASOK, and pushed New Democracy into full campaign mode. With voters frustrated, trust low, and new actors entering the scene, the run‑up to the...
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Brain Drain or Brain Regain? Understanding Greece’s Talent Flows
Greece says it is entering a new era of “brain regain”. Government programmes like Rebrain Greece are touring European capitals, employers are hiring, and the economy is finally growing again. But is the tide really turning? In this episode of The Agora, host Nick Malkoutzis digs into the data...
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Shockwaves from the Gulf: What the Iran war means for Greece
The war in Iran is sending economic and energy shockwaves far beyond the Middle East, and Greece is no exception. Rising oil and gas prices, renewed inflation pressures, and uncertainty in global energy markets are already shaping the country’s outlook. In this episode of The Agora, we break down...
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Kaisariani photos: Why Greece’s past is present
When a set of long‑lost photographs of the 1944 May Day executions of 200 Greeks by Nazi occupation forces suddenly surfaced on eBay in February, Greece was shaken. The images — the first ever to show the two hundred political prisoners, Communists, walking to their deaths at the Kaisariani...
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Walking a tightrope: Greece’s geopolitical balancing act
Greece is navigating one of its most complex geopolitical moments in years — from tensions stretching across Venezuela, Greenland, Iran, and Ukraine to the high‑stakes energy diplomacy of the Vertical Corridor. With pressure mounting on Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Athens is working to...
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Tax cuts and balancing acts: Greece’s 2026 budget
Greece's 2026 budget was voted through Parliament on Tuesday, just ahead of the Christmas break. It contained some gifts for Greek taxpayers as it includes the tax cuts worth 1.2 billion euros that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had announced earlier in the year. But what else of note is in…
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Main character energy: Greece vies for leading fossil fuel role
Greece is trying to secure a central role in the global energy game. In this episode of *The Agora*, we explore how a flurry of recent deals is positioning the country as a key player in the transatlantic energy landscape. From the launch of the Vertical Corridor - linking U.S. LNG to Ukraine via...
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15% Uncertainty: Greece, Europe and the tariff shockwave
Over the past year the United States has reset its trade stance through a series of executive tariff moves and a high profile EU–US framework that established a 15 percent baseline levy. In this episode we’ll trace how a headline tariff number translates into real costs for businesses in Greece…
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DETH and taxes: The only things certain in Greek politics
Greece's new political season is underway and it promises to be full of twists and turns as the ruling New Democracy party tries to perform a course correction to get on track for a decisive third straight election victory. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis got the ball rolling this month by...
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Subsidise this: Fraud scandal delivers new blow to Greek PM
Anyone hoping for a calm summer in Greece just had their hopes dashed. A political storm is engulfing Athens, with four government officials already ousted amid a deepening scandal tied to the misuse of EU agricultural funds. At the heart of the storm is OPEKEPE—the Payment and Control Agency for...
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Fet-a-ccompli: Tariffs and Greece’s big cheese
As the world mulls the impact and consequences of the tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on so-called "liberation day", Greece has a very specific concern. The focus of the tariff-related debate in Greece was very much on the fate of feta, Greece's most popular cheese and one of its...
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Greek politics feels aftershock from Tempe train crash
Two years after Greece's deadliest rail disaster, the political fallout is escalating rather than abating. The largest protests Greece has seen in decades were held on February 28 to mark the two-year anniversary of the crash, in which 57 people died when a passenger train collided with a freight...
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Greece, Europe and the new world reordering
The return of Donald Trump to the White House seems to be causing a reordering of international relations, an end to many of the certainties we had in geopolitics. This has left Europe facing a major re-think of its stance on security and defence issues. To discuss what changes are taking place…
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Greece and the Trump factor
On the latest episode of The Agora we look at what the return of Donald Trump to the White House could mean for Greece. Host Nick Malkoutzis speaks to Macropolis foreign policy analyst Alexandra Voudouri about the concerns and hopes Greek diplomats have concerning the Trump presidency and its...
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The life and legacy of Costas Simitis
Costas Simitis, who served as Greece's prime minister between 1996 and 2004, died at the age of 88 on January 5. He left behind a bountiful legacy, which included Greece's entry into the euro and a raft of infrastructure projects. His record, though, is contested by some Greeks who feel that the...
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Budgeting for the future: How robust is the Greek economy?
Greek Parliament is about to vote on the 2025 budget, so The Agora is looking at what the government's economic plan entails, while also examining the bigger picture as far as the country's economy is concerned. MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis joins us to explain why there has been so much...
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Party people: SYRIZA vs Kasselakis
SYRIZA, the leftist party that experienced a stunning rise to power from the fringes of Greek politics, has elected a new leader but will it be enough to rescue it from its slide back to the sidelines? Its former leader, nascent politician Stefanos Kasselakis, has hit back by launching his own...
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Internal combustion problems leave New Democracy spluttering
In mid-November, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis decided to expel from the ruling New Democracy party one of his predecessors, Antonis Samaras. Samaras headed the centre-right party for several years and was the leader of a coalition government between 2012 and 2015, which means his...
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Leading questions: What was the point of PASOK’s leadership vote?
Nikos Androulakis has been re-elected as leader of PASOK, the centre-left party that is hoping to establish itself as the main opposition party in Greece and, ultimately, challenge centre-right New Democracy for power. Given that Androulakis cruised to his victory, was there any point to this...
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Full of energy: How Greece (& Europe) is handling the green transition
The Agora hosts a discussion on how Europe, and Greece specifically, have been handling the green transition, addressing questions like how the pivot away from natural gas is going. The basis for our discussion is three articles written by MacroPolis features editor Georgia Nakou, and senior…
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Wake up poll: Euro elections jolt Greek politics
The European Parliament elections held in Greece on June 9 produced a few surprises, some of which could be significant for the country's political scene over the next few months and years. The ruling centre-right party, New Democracy, performed worse than opinion polls had suggested and fell…
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Overtourism over here: Greek islands feel the strain
Greece is preparing to welcome a record number of tourists again this year, but their visits will take place against a backdrop of growing concern among locals about the damage being done to the islands and their way of life by rapid development. Greek policy makers face a dilemma over how to...
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Whose property? Greece’s housing challenges
After going through a really difficult time during the country’s long economic crisis, the Greek property market is booming, but that's creating a whole new set of problems. High rental and purchase prices are pricing out much of the local population as foreign investors snap up apartments and...
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How much is Greece getting out of the RRF?
In the wake of the Covid pandemic, the European Union launched the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) - a package of around 700 billion euros to help member states recover from the economic impact and build for the future. Greece's portion of these funds is considered vital for the country's...
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Between investment grade and rule of law: Greece’s contrasting images
Phoebe and Nick are back to examine the contrasting images of Greece abroad and how they sit side by side. A few months ago, rating agencies started to restore the investment grade for Greece's sovereign debt - more than a decade after it was lost. It was a reflection of the growing confidence…
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A year on from Tempe crash, trust fades as questions mount
In February 2023, a freight train and a train carrying dozens of passengers crashed in Tempe, central Greece, killing 57 people. A year on from Greece's deadliest train accident, many questions remain unanswered and doubts are growing about whether the truth will ever come to light regarding what...
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SYRIZA embraces the chaos
Five years ago SYRIZA was in power in Greece, but it is currently languishing in third place in the opinion polls and the nascent leadership of Stefanos Kasselakis is being constantly buffeted by internal disputes. In this episode, Phoebe Fronista and Nick Malkoutzis set out how the left-wing…
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Triangulation: The shape of things to come in Greek politics
Phoebe Fronista and Nick Malkoutzis return after a prolonged absence to discuss what's behind Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's political dominance in Greece and whether things are more complex than they look. Their discussion was prompted by a piece Nick wrote recently for The Agora on...
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A decade in Greece: Looking back on the last 10 years
This episode of The Agora involves a departure from our normal format as we mark 10 years since MacroPolis was launched. During that time, so much has happened in Greece: The debt crisis, political turmoil, social upheaval, the migration crisis, diplomatic breakthroughs and impasses, and natural...
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Life on Mount Pelion after Storm Daniel
Storm Daniel hit Greece in early September, leading to almost 20 deaths and widespread destruction, as well as recriminations about whether there had been sufficient warnings and anti-flood works. The villages and communities of Mount Pelion were among the worst affected by the extreme weather....
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Understanding Erdogan's foreign policy
For our final episode of the fourth series of The Agora, we take a look at what is happening just across the Aegean from Greece, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is back for a third term and already prompting questions about whether he is shifting his foreign policy. In the wake of…
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Lost at sea: The Pylos shipwreck and its aftermath
On the night of June 14, a fishing boat called the Adriana, packed with hundreds of migrants who had paid traffickers to get them from Libya to Italy, sank in the deep waters of the Mediterranean, about 90 kilometers southwest of the town of Pylos in the Peloponnese. It was one of the worst...
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Greek elections: That's a wrap
At the second time of asking, Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been re-elected as the Greek Prime Minister and his centre-right New Democracy party has won a second term in office. The June 25 elections saw the conservatives cruise to an eight-seat majority in Parliament as the collapse of their main…
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Greek Elections: Run it back?
Greeks are voting again in national elections on June 25 after an inconclusive ballot on May 21. New Democracy is set to return to power following a big victory last month. The results have raised lots of questions for the main opposition parties, SYRIZA and PASOK, but were also notable for the...
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Greek Elections: A post-mortem and a look ahead
The national elections held on May 21 in Greece produced a landslide victory for the ruling centre-right party, which posted a winning margin of more than 20 points over its main rival, left-wing SYRIZA. As the dust settles from this resounding victory for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, The...
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Greek elections: A marathon, not a sprint
Greece is holding general elections on Sunday, May 21. The vote might lack the drama of previous elections, when the country’s fate was on the line amid a devastating economic crisis, but it could still end up being a rather complicated and tense process. The Agora returns to examine the key…
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A game of marbles: Are the Parthenon Sculptures coming home?
After decades of making little progress in securing the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, Greece appears to be edging closer to a possible deal for the repatriation of the ancient sculptures. Last December, Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea reported that Greek government...
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What's the problem with Greece's media?
Recently Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis dismissed concerns about media independence in his country and labelled the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) assessment of Greece as lying in 108th place in the organisation's annual World Press Freedom Index as "crap". In this episode, Nick...
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Greece’s surveillance scandal: Is anybody listening?
Since the summer, a surveillance scandal has been gripping Greece. It emerged that the leader of Greece’s third party, PASOK, was being spied on by the country’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) but that there had also been an attempt to install spyware on his mobile phone. Over the last few...
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Greece sets out on long road to 2023 elections
The leaders of Greece’s three main parties have set out their policies, but also the political parameters, that will define next year’s elections. So, what are the key issue at stake and what will decide the outcome of the vote, or more likely votes, that are due to take place in 2023? Co-hosts...
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How is the Ukraine war affecting Greece?
Like so many other countries, Greece is feeling the impact of the Ukraine war in many ways, whether this is through spiralling energy costs, turbulence in the global economy, a shifting geopolitical balance or the flow of refugees into the country. In this episode of The Agora, we take a closer...
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Rising sun: How will PASOK's revival affect Greek politics?
Greece’s socialist party, PASOK, was the powerhouse of Greek politics since the early 1980s. However, the debt crisis that emerged from 2009 sucked the life out of the centre-left grouping. Its share of the vote fell from 44 pct that year to roughly a tenth of that in 2015 as PASOK became a toxic...
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Losing game: Greece's weak defence against hooliganism
Following a deadly attack on a 19-year-old football fan in Thessaloniki in early February, the Greek government has announced new measures aimed at reining in hooliganism. However, we've been here before in Greece. So, will the latest measures actually make any difference or are they just a...
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Riding into the danger zone: Greece gets new jets
Greece recently received the first six state-of-the art fighter jets it has ordered from France, hoping that their arrival marks the start of an upgrade of its military capabilities, but also an improvement in its geopolitical standing. The Rafale planes - of which Greece is expecting another 18…
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The Greek economy: A macro view
The Greek economy is back in focus on this episode of The Agora as we take a peak at the 2022 budget and a closer look at broader trends and challenges. MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis provides a whistlestop tour of the budget, explaining its key elements and what obstacles the Greek...
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Earth, wind & fire – Greece, clean energy & the climate crisis
In the wake of the COP26 meeting, The Agora analyses what Greece brought to the discussion and how this tallies with the efforts being made on the ground to tackle the climate crisis. The head of policy at WWF Greece, Theodota Nantsou, evaluates the Greek authorities' actions. With the help of...
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So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen Angela Merkel
The outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel was a ubiquitous figure during the Greek crisis, often making her a target for the frustrations generated by the austerity policies she and her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), advocated. Some of that is water under the bridge now and her...
About this show
The Agora is a podcast created by the team behind MacroPolis. It’s a political and economic analysis website based in Athens.
In this podcast series, we examine political, economic and social developments in Greece. But our podcasts will also look at what’s happening in the world around us.
We provide listeners with insight from our own experts and analysis from special guests.
If you enjoy intelligent, lively discussion and want the bigger picture, join us for a stroll through the Agora.
To get an idea of the kind of insight we provide, check out The Agora blog, which has being going strong since 2013.
Our theme music is a track called Straight Line Blues and has been kindly provided by the <a href="https://inner-ear.gr/artists/burgundy-grapes/" rel="noopen
Hosted by
MacroPolis
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