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This is our weekly roundup from Greece.
This week's edition is coming to you on a Monday, a little later than usual, as our team was attending the iMEdD International Journalism Forum over the weekend.
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Below is the news from Greece.
At Syntagma, Panos Routsi enters the third week of his hunger strike, after prosecutors only half-fulfilled his demand to exhume his son’s body following the Tempi disaster.
His fight has ignited waves of solidarity across the country, and, at the same time, unleashed a vicious propaganda campaign aimed at discrediting him.
Meanwhile, in the skies above, air traffic controllers are warning of a looming crisis, the so-called “Tempi of the air,” as chronic understaffing, old tech-systems, and unsafe traffic loads put passengers at risk.
A nation still mourning its losses is now forced to ask: how many more warnings will be ignored?
Half-fulfilling hunger striker’s demand
On Sunday evening, Athenians of all ages poured into Syntagma Square to show their support for Panos Routsi, now on the 14th day of a hunger strike.
Routsi, 48, the father of Deni Routsi, who lost his life in the deadly Tempi rail disaster, is demanding the exhumation of his son’s body. This week, authorities partially granted the request (Opens in a new window), approving it for identification but not for the toxicology tests he had insisted on.
The exhumation order remains an interesting development as “government officials, including the Justice minister and high-ranking judicial authorities, have been claiming that Panos Rutsi either 'did not submit a request' or that 'requests were submitted to non-competent authorities' or 'exhumation was not possible' or that such a request was unacceptable,” Keep Talking Greece noted (Opens in a new window).
On Thursday, a petition was signed (Opens in a new window) by dozens of victims’ relatives seeking additional exhumations and tougher charges against Hellenic Train officials.
Routsi’s fellow hunger striker, Dimitris Economopoulos, was rushed to the hospital this week after he collapsed (Opens in a new window) on his 11th day without food, standing in solidarity with Routsi. Mr. Economopoulos, a retired bank employee with no personal connection to the Tempi accident, decided to halt (Opens in a new window) the strike after this incident.
On Tuesday, 60-year-old Anastasia Tsalamida, a resident of Patras city, also began a hunger strike (Opens in a new window) on Syntagma Square in solidarity with Mr. Routsi.
As the crowd swelled on Sunday evening, families of the victims of Tempi joined Mr Routsi on stage, delivering emotional speeches. Despite weakening physically, Routsi vowed to continue. “My strength is leaving me, but the courage given to me by all of you is what carries me forward. The love I have received since the first day I came here with just a suitcase has been immense. I will not stop. I will go to the end.”
The demonstration in Athens was mirrored in cities across Greece - Thessaloniki, Volos, Larissa, Patras, Chania, Heraklion, Alexandroupolis. Demonstrations were also planned in Limassol (Cyprus), Reykjavik (Iceland), and New York, outside the Greek Consulate.
Propaganda machine full on
Each day, hundreds of people visit Rutsi at Syntagma Square to express solidarity (Opens in a new window) with his cause.
“I will stay here until the end,” he told Greek media. “I thank the people who support me. They give me strength. I see that people can no longer tolerate the lies. They want a democracy without cover-ups.”
Long queues form as citizens sign books of support in his name. Diverse groups of people pass from Syntagma to express their support, from taxi drivers (Opens in a new window) to runners (Opens in a new window)participating on Sunday in the Race for the Cure [of breast cancer]. He has received visits (Opens in a new window) from politicians, unionists, journalists, and students.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Floridis accused (Opens in a new window) political forces of exploiting Mr. Routsis’s hunger strike for their own gain. “Politically ruthless are those who hide behind the hunger strike,” he said, adding: “Those who do not want the trial to begin are the ones plotting conspiracies to profit politically.”
Τhe propaganda machine has shifted into gear, launching indecent attacks against Panos Routsi. Anonymous trolls on social media spread vile rumors (Opens in a new window) that he secretly feasts on souvlaki at night, while pro-government TV host Aris Portosalte went so far as to warn that Syntagma Square must not turn into a “tent-camp mess.” “This space must not be allowed to become a ‘tsantirokatastasi,’” he declared (Opens in a new window), insisting that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier “does not belong to any citizen, nor to the grieving and the suffering.”
The response was swift and dignified: Routsi’s colleagues issued a public statement (Opens in a new window) of solidarity, closing with a pointed reminder — that any attempt by the machinery of power to sever the symbolism of the Unknown Soldier’s monument from Routsis’ sacred struggle is an affront to Greece’s democratic traditions, its sacrifices for human rights and freedom, and, ultimately, to the Unknown Soldier himself. A monument, they stressed, is a place of memory, not of forgetting.
According (Opens in a new window) to MEGA TV channel, the physician monitoring Mr Routsi noted that he has lost more weight than expected and that his condition is being further strained by remaining actively on his feet and interacting with supporters rather than resting.
A new ‘Tempi’ waiting to happen? This time in the air.
If you’re flying through Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” these days, patience is a must. Since Thursday, September 25, delays on both domestic and international flights (Opens in a new window) have exceeded 90 minutes, leaving travelers stranded at gates and terminals.
Passengers would have only felt relief, however, if they knew that these delays were taking place for their very own safety. Because behind the headlines lies a stark warning from the country’s air traffic controllers (ATCs): Greece’s air navigation system is stretched to the breaking point.
In a strongly worded announcement (Opens in a new window), ATCs stressed their sense of duty to the public: “Every day, we handle as many flights as possible with the utmost safety, despite working under extreme understaffing and with outdated equipment.” For years, they say, they have sacrificed rest days to keep the system afloat during peak tourist seasons, quietly absorbing the strain to prevent a collapse.
But this summer, the cracks became impossible to ignore. Controllers were pressured to handle 36 arrivals an hour at Athens airport, when the internationally recognized safety limit is just 28. They insist they are not deliberately slowing down traffic, as some media reports have suggested. Instead, they say they are now sticking firmly to safety limits, refusing to take risks that could endanger passengers.
Their frustration is aimed squarely at the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Despite written commitments as far back as May 2024 to upgrade radar systems, voice communications, and navigation infrastructure, critical contracts remain unsigned. A recent radar failure on August 19, 2025 — caused by the lack of a spare part that had been flagged for replacement a year earlier — left Greece internationally embarrassed and, more importantly, raised alarms about what might happen next.
Controllers also criticise the Ministry’s new draft law, unveiled in September, for ignoring both their own proposals and those of the European Commission. They argue it leaves Greece vulnerable to EU sanctions, since the legislation falls short of European aviation safety standards.
Far from being obstructionist, ATCs note that Eurocontrol ranks them among the five most productive controllers in Europe, despite working with fewer staff and older systems than virtually any other country on the continent. “The only reason the system hasn’t collapsed is the effort of the controllers themselves,” their statement declares.
Pilots flying in and out of Athens confirmed (Opens in a new window) the problem in interviews with VIMA International Edition: One said that “the moment you enter Greek airspace, you notice the poor quality of frequencies.” Another described delays as “an everyday reality from April to September.” Others pointed out that approach instructions in Athens are less automated and more manual compared to other European airports, leaving controllers under pressure and forcing them to rely on outdated methods because they lack modern tools.
What did the Infrastructure and Transport minister Christos Dimas say? He referred (Opens in a new window) to the high wages of the air traffic controllers. “An air traffic controller with significant experience can earn more than €120,000 annually.” He added that the government’s goal is to improve the situation.
For passengers, the impact is measured in long waits and missed connections. For the country, the stakes are far higher. If the warnings of air traffic controllers are ignored, what is today an inconvenience could become a tragedy tomorrow.
This is exactly how it happened with the Tempi train disaster. For quite a few years, railway employees had been issuing warnings on the almost complete lack of automated safety systems in the railway - they had even sent a court settlement on the issue.
The government ignored them. Then, Tempi happened.
Read
Phone spyware scandal in Greece moves to court as critics claim cover-up (Opens in a new window)
Concerns Over Rule of Law in Greece Raised at European Parliament (Opens in a new window)
Rouvikonas unfurl ‘Genocide’ banner outside US consulate in Thessaloniki (Opens in a new window)
General strike to paralyze Greece on October 1 (Opens in a new window)
Cancelled Mitsotakis–Erdogan Meeting Raises Questions (Opens in a new window)
Housing costs get too heavy (Opens in a new window)
Energy Poverty in Greece Among Highest in EU (Opens in a new window)
How Greece’s neglected power grid fuels wildfire destruction (Opens in a new window)
Greek subsidy scandal creates havoc for farmers (Opens in a new window)
Europa Nostra Warns Monemvasia Cable Car Threatens UNESCO Bid (Opens in a new window)
Nisyros Joins UNESCO’s Global Geoparks Network (Opens in a new window)
Neighborhood bakeries in Greece “on the verge of extinction" (Opens in a new window)
Tragedy on Greek Ferry: 20-year-old sailor crushed to death by sliding door (Opens in a new window)
Two supermarket chains fined with over 2.2 million euros (Opens in a new window)
Scientific Study: Santorini ‘Seismic Swarm’ Caused by Volcanic Activity (Opens in a new window)
An American Philosopher in the Aegean: Socrates Café Comes Home (Opens in a new window)
Greece’s Primary Surplus at €8,499 billion, Jan-Aug 2025 (Opens in a new window)
The Classic Grecian Street Food: Souvlak (Opens in a new window)i
That’s all for this week; please forward this email to anyone you think might find it interesting and ask them to join our international community!
The AL team
Date
September 29, 2025
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