Greece

While France freezes, Greece is at 27ºC in the middle of January

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While Spain was preparing to live the coldest Twelfth Night in 40 years and Western Europe collapsed in the face of a cold and snow stormthere are parts of Europe and the Mediterranean basin that They are practically in summer. And no, it is not a figure of speech: during last nightthere were people on the Greek island of Crete sleeping with air conditioning. What has happened? “35 degrees in Algeria, 20 in Russia, tropical nights in Greece, records throughout the central and eastern Mediterranean from Algeria to Turkey (with the only exception of Italy)”, said M. Herrerameteorologist specialized in extreme events. But what is striking is not the description, what is striking is what it means. Because the map that heads this article is not one of absolute temperatures, but of anomalies. And that can obviously distort the matter a bit. However, the absolutes (with data from the Greek National Observatory in Athens in hand) are amazing: we are talking about 27.5 degrees last night in Falasarma and 25.3 in Neapolis. At night. That is, we are talking about temperatures similar to those of August. Or worse because, indeed, we are in January (as the rest of Europe is suffering) The warmest night in Europe while part of the continent remains isolated under snow? It seems so. And not only because of the specific data (it is possible that the record for the warmest night in Greece will not be surpassed: Falasarna suffered one night at 28.3 in 2021), but because but because the heat is as widespread as snow in the West. We have seen night temperatures of 16 °C in Sevastopol (Crimea) and 13 in Tuapse (Russia). Furthermore, if everything continues as expected, there will be nights at 20°C in the Russian Caucasus and above 25°C in Turkmenistan and the Caspian coast. A real madness that, If Herrera is rightwill go down in the climatic annals of the continent. The image of a Europe divided in two is tremendous. But the question is why. And the answer is simple: an extremely wavy ‘jet stream’. We already know that the jet ripples, but rarely can you see an ‘S’ of this size. While in the west the atmospheric circulation introduces arctic air; In the east, a gigantic ridge favors south-southwest winds. The wavy structure of the jet is pumping polar air into France and Saharan air into Greece. Then local effects exaggerate the anomaly. In Spain, for example, thermal inversions place us at -14 degrees, while in Crete the subsidence causes extremely hot and dry air. Image | Tropical TidBits In Xataka | Neither another Filomena nor a miscalculation: the “apocalypse” of snow and cold that awaited us for Reyes is going to be much less so

Cheese and oil have skyrocketed so much in Türkiye that travel agencies have a star destination: a Lidl in Greece

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The cost of living has skyrocketed. Except the cocaine marketa multitude of basic products have risen in price when salaries have not grown at the same level. In Spain we have a year-on-year inflation of around 3%. In Türkiye, on the same date, it is 33%, and that is leading thousands of Turks to travel to Greece every week, and not for pleasure. But to Lidl for make the purchase. Supermarket migration. In the mid-2010s, the Greek economy was a drama. The purchasing power is collapsed and the country’s debt crisis forced many households to squeeze every euro. Neighboring countries that also used the euro were no consolation, so they looked east: to Türkiye. Within the economic context, the lira was cheap and the euro strong, so many Greeks, especially from the islands, went to Turkish bazaars and supermarkets to buy clothes, utensils and food. The ferries they were bursting. It is estimated that the cost per visit was about 120 euros and, since filling the shopping cart in Turkey was considerably cheaper, the Greeks bought large shipments of cheese, oil, meat and sausages. One of the “supermarket corridors” was Lesbos-Ayvalik, and in the middle of the decade spoke up to 100,000 visits annually. Now, the tables have turned. The tragedy of the lyre. More than two decades of controversial policiesamong other factors, have led to the collapse of the lira. The cost of imports has multiplied and the inflation rate does not reach 80% of a few years agobut it has stagnated at that more than 30% that is suffocating the population. It is something that is disproportionately affecting food, including basic necessities. Now it is the Turks who have enormous problems when buying fresh productsmeats, cheese and oil. The situation does not seem to be changing in the short term due to massive debt, default rates (with the penalty that entails) and that price increase in subsistence products. It is the “typical”: products that increase a lot and stagnant salaries, the perfect combination to ruin the purchasing power of families. To Lidl in the neighboring country. What is happening? That this dynamic of cross-border purchases has been completely reversed. If a decade ago it was the Greeks who crossed the border, now it is the Turks who, with a euro that is not so buoyant, but enough to make it worth it compared to the prices in their local markets, flock to Greece to make that weekly purchase. In a report by Bloomberg There are concrete figures that compare a Lidl in Alexandroupolis (about 40 kilometers from the Turkish border) and a Turkish Carrefour. For example, minced meat costs 9.36 euros per kilo in Greece, compared to 12.10 in Türkiye. Greek sausages cost half as much as Turkish ones, Gouda cheese costs a third and oil makes one of the biggest differences: 10 euros per liter in Greece compared to 20 in Turkey. Social networks. Social networks are a loudspeaker – let them tell it to the influencers from Australian mines-, and those who visit Greek cities to make purchases share their experience through networks such as TikTok. The word spreads and more citizens are encouraged to take the leap. For Alejandrópolis, it represents an injection of money for both food businesses and restaurants. Bloomberg details how, after a day of shopping, Turks have a drink in Greek restaurants while sharing the experience. and it esteem that there are 3,000 Turks who are making this weekly trip. travel agencies. Because if we have to define this it is as a need, yes, but also with that word: experience. Because although it may be something private for a family to do, travel agencies are organizing tours to Greek cities, with groups of supermarket tourists who do not want to visit the city, but rather the Lidl on duty. For about 50 euros, buses loads of Turkish shoppers leave on Friday afternoons and arrive in Greek cities on Saturday morning and spend three and a half hours in the supermarkets. Then they spend some free time around the citythey can go to eat and, in the afternoon, on the way home with a full cart. The biggest annoyance? Apart from having to go to another country to buy because in yours the cost of living is very expensive, of course, it is the line at border control. How long will this last? Türkiye trust to halve inflation by 2026, but it will still remain extremely high. We will see how long this situation lasts, which, from January to September of this year, has carried to the fact that 6% of the Turks who visited Greece did so only with the aim of filling the car. Images | Zoshua Colah, Aldin Nasrun In Xataka | Private labels are having an unexpected effect on the food industry: the biggest price drop since 2014

Since 2024, Greece has had a six-day work week. Now, it is planned to establish a 13-hour day

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Economic recovery became a top priority for the conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. His strategy to try to improve Greece’s low productivity was apparently simple: work more days. However, extending the working day to six working days it doesn’t seem enough and now the Greek executive proposes increasing the daily work day to 13 hours. Unions and worker associations have not been slow to respond to the measure by calling for protests and a general strike. The working day in Greece. In 2024, Greece approved new labor regulations that allowed for six day work week for certain industries that operate 24 hours a day, increasing the weekly working hours from 40 to 48 hours. This measure already generated social and political unrest in its day due to the impact on the lives of Greek workers. The Eurostat Q2 2025 data reveal that 20.9% of Greek workers between 20 and 64 years old work more than 45 hours a week, compared to 9.7% in Spain or 11.4% in Italy. According to 2023 data recorded by Eurostat, Greece would have the longest average working day in the EU, with 39.8 hours per week, followed by Bulgaria with 39 hours and Poland with 38.9 hours. With 36.4 hours per week, Spain is just above the European Union average of 36 hours. 13 hours with limitations. After allowing the establishment of the six-day work weeks For certain sectors, the labor controversy in Greece has reignited with a Government proposal to allow working hours of up to 13 hours a day in certain cases. The expansion seeks to improve flexibility and reduce bureaucracy, but just as it says GuardianGreek workers denounce that this measure represents a historic setback and an increase in burnout and work stressreaching unsustainable levels. “You can’t push people like that; at some point there will be an explosion,” Makis Kontogiorgos, a trade unionist at a major technology company, told the British newspaper. The law stipulates that this extension can be applied only 37 days per year per worker, which is equivalent to a maximum of three days per month. In addition, extended hours are voluntary for the employee and overtime will be paid an additional 40% over the standard rate. The regulations maintain other established limits, such as a mandatory rest of 11 hours between days and a maximum average of 48 hours of work per week in a period of four months. A “voluntary” measure. According to has manifested to the Greek press Niki Kerameos, Minister of Labor and Social Security of the current Greek government, “this is an exceptional provision. The employee you have the right to refusewithout being threatened with dismissal or unfavorable treatment. However, union forces see this “voluntariness” of the measure as an open door to coercion by companies, retaliating against those employees who choose not to extend their working hours. “That is not possible without consequences, since the employee has minimal bargaining power,” assured to D.W. Theodoros Koutroukis, Professor of Labor Relations at the Democritus University of Thrace. Much ado about nothing. The union response to the measure has not been long in coming, with the call for various demonstrations in the main cities of the country and a general strikedenouncing that “this law will not improve anything”, assured to France24 Panagiotis Gakas, member of the construction workers union. In one interview with a local mediathe minister highlighted that only 0.1% of businesses used the provision of the emergency shift allowed with the six-day work week, which shows a low adoption of this measure despite the imedia impact it had before being approved in 2024, equating it with the commotion caused by the specific increase of 13 hours. The key to avoiding abuse. In the previous labor reform of the Mitsotakis government, the implementation of a digital card for labor control and overtime was approved. A very similar system to which has been raised from the Ministry of Labor in Spain and which is in the public consultation phase before its approval. As stated According to the Greek Minister of Labor, this measure has the function of recording real working time and has made it possible to detect overtime that was not previously declared: “In 2025, 1.8 million more overtime hours were declared than in 2024, just in the first eight months.” This will help ensure that the number of overtime hours does not exceed legal limits and that workers are compensated fairly. Minister Kerameus defends that this regulation protects employees by guaranteeing adequate compensation and avoiding abuses by employers, accompanied by safeguards such as guaranteed days off and protection against unjustified dismissals, presenting itself as a key tool to enforce the law. In Xataka | The working day is no longer enough: interruptions are forcing us to work during free time Image | Unsplash (dole777, Thomas Kinto)

Neither Spain, nor Portugal, nor Greece. The country where you work less in Europe has a surprising protagonist: Germany

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In May, and through Eurostat dataa reality was found that sometimes confuses a story: the myth that says that the Germans work more than the Spaniards It was not held With the figures in the hand. The key, like We comment thenI was in the quality of the labor market: a good part of the German workers work less hours a week in part -time jobs, but they did it for more years than the Spanish workers. And now the OECD has arrived to put Germany In its place. Labor identity crisis. Germany, traditionally associated with discipline and productivity, faces a paradox today: According to the OECDis the developed country where Less hours work per year, just 1,331 against The 1,898 of Greece or the 1,716 of Portugal. The situation involves a symbolic blow to a country that just a decade ago imposed austerity policies to the countries of the South, stigmatizing them as little workers. The fall in the workload is combined with a economic deterioration Palpable: unemployment has overcome three million people For the first time in a decade, the economy has contracted for two consecutive years and GDP is already less than in 2019, while Spain and Greece grow at rhythms over 2%. The debate on work. We have gone counting. The reduction of hours worked has become on central theme In German politics. Chancellor Friedrich Merz warns that with four -day work weeks and an excess of emphasis on the “vital balance” will not sustain the prosperity of the country. The data They are striking: German workers enjoy holidays longer than the legal minimum, numerous festivities and an average of 19 medical casualties a year, in front of 16 before the pandemic, a change that experts attribute more to culture than to health. Scandals like that of a teacher in Baja since 2009 charging full salary They have reinforced the perception that labor laxity is unsustainable. The roots of the phenomenon. They counted In the Washington Post that specialists argue that it is not a laziness, but rather of structural barriers. Almost half of German women work part -time, figure that exceeds 65% In the case of mothers, which translates into one of the greatest full -time equivalent employment gaps of the entire EU. Historical factors also weigh: in Western Germany, working mothers were stigmatized Like “Cuervo Mothers”while in the east, under the socialist model, full -time employment was promoted with nurseries from an early age. Today cultural differences persist and a child care system with short schedules that prevents many families from holding full -time jobs. Proposals and resistances. The experts They coincide in which to expand the nurseries and extend their schedules would be decisive, but the technical solutions collide with the policy. Changing the tax declaration to individual system could add the equivalent to half a million jobs full time, but is perceived as “anti-family” and is difficult to approve. For their part, entrepreneurs They claim Less bureaucracy and more immigrationwhile some researchers advocate simple reforms that release hidden work hours. However, government responses have been considered shy and insufficient, and the feeling of postponement persists. The four -day elephant. Paradoxically, while political leaders ask for more work, there are more and more companies that rehearse with shorter jobs. In 2024, 45 companies tested the four -day With equal salaries and reduced hours, with Positive results: Greater productivity per hour and more satisfied employees. Most of these firms plan to keep the model, consolidating the trend in favor of free time. Thus, Germany moves Between two poles: a productive system that suffers stagnation and presses to extend days, and a society that values ​​life more and more outside of work, drawing a clash of visions that puts into play not only the economy, but the identity of the country. Image | International Tr In Xataka | The myth says that Germans work more than the Spaniards. The data tell a different thing In Xataka | Some researchers have analyzed the working day in Spain: the same thing that 40 years ago is worked, but in worse jobs

A Saudi prince wanted to spend his vacation sailing through Greece. There were so many who had to rent luxury cruise

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Nor the more opulent superyates They seem to be enough when it comes to the holidays of the Saudi royal family. Muqrin Bin Abdulazizancient heir prince of Saudi Arabia and brother of the current monarch Salman Bin Abdulaziz, has given what to talk after arriving with an entourage formed by more than 100 people to Greece to enjoy their summer vacations. Although the Saudi prince has his own superyte valued at more than 150 million dollars, the SOLANDGEthe boat does not have enough space to accommodate all the entourage that accompanied him, but that was not going to ruin his vacation. It was time to rent something bigger. Something like a floating luxury hotel with a crew of 250 people at your service. Spectacular deployment to receive the prince According to detailed Luxury launchesthe heir express of Saudi Arabia arrived in Greece earlier this week at the edge of the Boeing 747 that it uses as a private jet. But the prince did not travel alone. A delegation of almost 100 people was traveling next to him. According to the Greek media They captured The arrival of the Saudi Prince, at the time his plane landed, a convoy of luxury vehicles was waiting for him at the foot of the track ready to transfer his “intimate circle” to the coast of the Aegean. There the imposing luxury supereyate of more than 190 meters in length and 24 meters of manga owned by the hotel chain Ritz Carlton: he Evrima. This impressive luxury supery is part of the “floating hotels” fleet that the Hotel chain is expanding. The Evrima was the first luxury supereyate built by the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain that, as a curiosity, came out in 2022 of The viguese shipyards. Considered a five -star floating hotel, this boat was designed thinking about combining the privacy of a private yacht with the refinement and luxury of one of the hotels that the chain has distributed all over the world. The Evrima is much more than a yacht: with a weight of 25,000 tons and 190 meters in length, this sophisticated ship has 149 suites, all with private terraces and minimalist design finishes. Although the Evrima has capacity for 298 guests, Muqrin Bin Abdulaziz has reserved it in its entirety, so during his journey through the Greek waters “only” he will be accompanied by his large entourage. To serve the prince and his more than one hundred companions, the yach luxury nautical industry. According to Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection data, this proportion allows every detail to be carefully planned to guarantee a five-star experience in the high seas. A retirement in Greek waters The route chosen by Prince Muqrin has been the peaceful coast of the island of Corfú, in Greece, where the Evrima is currently navigating as the epicenter of his private vacations. The superyate has five gourmet restaurants, six exclusive rooms, a fully equipped gym, spa with full service and an infinite pool located in the stern. In addition, it has aquatic sports platform, private terraces to sunbathe and balineas beds distributed throughout the roof. Unlike other more active royalty members in social networks or in public appearances, Muqrin Bin Abdulaziz prefers to maintain a low profile, although the necessary deployments to mobilize their entourage make it unadverted to be complicated. For several days, the yacht will navigate under the Mediterranean sun without a single other host on board, with all the services focused solely on the prince and its guests. For someone who would like Emulate the holidays by Muqrin Bin Abdulaziz (accompanied by other cruise members, of course), a cruise on board the Evrime It would cost Between 6,900 and 11,300 euros per person, making different itineraries for different Greek islands. Thanks to this spectacular maritime operation, 2025 leaves us the image of a real Saudi court sailing through Greece, attended by more than 246 crew. Another example of the power and undeniably luxurious power of the Saudi Royal Family. In Xataka | A single millionaire spent on his luxury vacation in Mallorca the equivalent of 10,000 tourists: the Emir de Catar Image | Ritz Carlton

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