News archive of May 2023

The value of transactions made with plastic money in Greece last year came to 54 billion euros, an amount representing 38.5% of total consumer spending, which reached €130 billion in the same period.

Supermarket sales grew 9.1% in the first four months of 2023 but volumes fell by 3.5% in the same period, a report by NielsenIQ said on Tuesday.

The report said that foods/beverages (8.9%) and packaged foods (9.3%) led the sales growth in the January-April period.

The installation of an e-ticketing and access control system at the Acropolis archaeological site, designed to manage high traffic during peak times, can serve as a valuable model for other popular sites facing similar demand.

The latest in a series of monthly pensioner rallies led by Pavel Rupar, a former MP for the opposition Democrats (SDS), saw some of the protesters insult and threaten journalists at the headquarters of the Slovenian public broadcaster.

The head of Greece's Anti-Money Laundering Authority ordered on Wednesday the freezing of all assets of human rights activist Panayote Dimitras, following an investigation into his activities.

According to the authority's investigation, the funding he received, mainly from the EU, to support human rights causes was used for other purposes than those claimed.

The leader of the leftist SYRIZA party, Alexis Tsipras, along with the party's senior officials, are busy analyzing the reasons behind their landslide defeat in the legislative elections held on May 21. This process of introspection is expected to continue even after the second ballot on June 25.

The biggest lawmaker group in the European Parliament on Wednesday walked out of negotiations on a landmark EU law to protect nature, dealing another blow to the contested proposal.

Amid international concern about the manufacturing index (PMI) in China, which points to a notable slowdown, stock markets in Europe showed their concern on Wednesday with prices sliding in their majority.

Spain takes over the helm of the rotating European Union Council Presidency on June 1. As a member of the EU since 1986, this is Spain's fifth EU Presidency.

A prosecutor in the trial of 11 members of the self-proclaimed group Guardians of the Constitution accused of abducting a high school principal in December 2021 in northern Greece because he applied Covid safety regulations has recommended a guilty verdict.