In the last few days, I’ve been thinking about a study by German scientists that I read a few years ago. They discovered that when you have an itch on the left side of your body, you feel relief when you hold up a mirror and scratch your right side. And vice versa.
I don’t know if this is considered serious medical research by the scientific community, but it absolutely applies to what we see in our political landscape. Each party tries to overcome its own itches by “scratching” the wounds of others.
But before we look at domestic affairs, let’s take a breather from New York. The meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan, short (about 20 minutes), only contained news… Fidan’s blue tie. We expected nothing more. These four-fours are formal and their sole purpose is to keep the channels of communication open with the Turkish president, who has not missed the opportunity to request recognition of the pseudo-state. It is true that we have heard him say worse things at the UN.
Not from Kamala and (probably) Donald
The truth is that Tayyip was not so eager to see the Greek prime minister. Bilateral issues first pass through foreign ministers and diplomats and are then discussed at the highest level.
Who was he “negotiating” to see? The two candidates for the US presidency. The information wants Kamala Harris to close the door on him with summary proceedings, while so far the bargains have not taken hold even with Donald Trump’s former “friend”.
Carpets, gifts and magic carpets
His wife, Emine Erdogan, fared much better at the “House of Turkey” (and the shadow economy) in New York. There he invited the other leaders’ wives. Among them was Mareva Grabovski, who admired Turkish dowries, wedding dresses, carpets, sashes, blankets, kilims, kentidia.
Ankara has been obsessed with cultural diplomacy lately. It puts the “nation’s brand” on carpets, on magic carpets, while others leave gifts in trunks.
Let us return to Greece and the ND, where everyone is convinced that there is no intra-party opposition. We read all sorts of nice things about “faction principles and values”, about a party that “stands with the people” and other printed material. Not to convince, but because that is what the paper demands. Paraphrasing Mark Twain, with his unbeatable line on politics and the pianist, we would say that “deep down, they cannot hold their party side in high esteem”.
“We are all PASOK”
Again in PASOK, the 6 candidates – all noble and cool even in the stabs of camaraderie and bichts – had an agony to convince who is the most “green”. Anna Diamantopoulou, always calm, seemed to be the one who most needed to say “fire Mitsotakis”, while she did not hesitate to “tell” Haris Doukas about “renaming SYRIZA in 2015”, to remind him that he was PASOK’s section leader when she was away. Many seemed to have raised the bar for Doukas (based on his debate against Bakoyannis), but since they commented on “inappropriate language”, perhaps the debates will end up taking him to… the mayor’s office.
Nikos Androulakis, as would be expected of the current president, was the one who received the most pressure from all the others (and he even preached about his attitude towards the wiretapping, being forced to remind that not only were they watching him, but even the Minister of Foreign Affairs). Pavlos Geroulanos was serious and measured. The activist Nadia Giannakopoulou and Michalis Katrinis read.
Who won? The answer could be either, since we cannot say that anyone clearly showed a more leader-like and prime ministerial profile than the others. On the other hand, all together they gave the impression of… normal people with education and good manners and a normal party – definitely gaining points against the SYRIZA alalum.
Raccoons that eat… POS
But, moving on to the economy, we inform you that anyone who was expecting a new extension for the complete transition to the new regime of interconnection of cash registers with POS, should forget about it.
“There is no reason for an extension… Business owners tell us that raccoons have eaten their POS and cash register systems,” they said characteristically of AADE in “N”. The truth is that extensions have been granted repeatedly and the forgetful have been sent to hell. So, from September 30th, when the deadline expires, the checks and fines will begin. Those who left it to the last minute should hurry up.
And “yes” to the Arabs
On a business level, a decision of particular importance for the sale process of Nova and United Group is considered to be the green light given yesterday by the European Commission for the acquisition of PPF Telecom Group BV (PPF) by Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (e&).
The EU, although it sets certain conditions, accepts the entry of Arab companies into European telecommunications.
It should be remembered that in the sale process of Nova and United Group, in addition to two funds (Searchlight Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus), two Arab companies are participating, namely the Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and e& from the United Arab Emirates.
It is a given that if United shareholders reach an agreement with either of them – e& or STC – the European Commission will be obliged to approve the acquisition and, in theory, since it gave the green light in the PPF case, the chances of doing the same in the United case have increased.
The main issue being examined by the EU is whether e&, based in the United Arab Emirates and controlled by the state-owned Emirates Investment Authority (EIA), received subsidies that led to actual or potential negative effects on competition during the process of acquiring PPF. Telecommunications.