The conference for Green Energy is closing today. After 2 interesting days, full of meetings and discussions, I think that we are able to extract some conclusions. 1. Romania has great potential This is something that you usually hear for almost every country in this world, but Romania has several objective advantages. Its wind and hydro potential are among the top ones in Europe. From the biomass point of view… the sky is the limit. Solar is weaker compared to countries like Greece, Italy and Spain, but much better if we compare it to the North, to countries like The Czech Republic, [...]

  Since early in the morning I am attending REECO’s exhibition and conference about Green Energy. This first day was dedicated to Wind Energy, a segment of very high interest in Romania. Why is that? Because Romania: • Has an excellent wind potential, one of the best in Europe. • Offers a very good package of subventions for investors. • Is one of the last countries in Europe to be developed. So now that most of the other markets are blocked, Romania is becoming very attractive. This is why hundreds of people are getting involved in developing a wind energy project, [...]

  You cannot complain. Last week you were the first to be informed of what was to happen. We had analyzed why Mr. Papandreou will resign (I wrote about the last 48 hours of him as Prime Minister) and on Friday night he announced in parliament his intention to step down as Prime Minister, once a solution is found. “Why didn’t he resign immediately?” My colleagues in the office kept on asking me: “Ok, if he announced that he will resign, why didn’t he do this immediately?” According to the Greek constitution, there is a procedure that has to be followed. [...]

  Our world has 10 – 20 “top business families”. A representative of one of them was in Romania in the first half of 2011, searching for a specific type of project in a secondary Romanian city. Due to my activity all around the country, I met with him (through a friend who arranged the meeting) and we had a long discussion. At that time he told us: “Greece is just an excuse. The real “deal” starts with Italy, then Spain and then France. At that time Germany and Europe will have to decide if they seriously want to resolve their problems or not”. The [...]

  I receive plenty of questions from you, my readers, and I try to reply to all of them. One of these questions comes from a gentleman who does not live in Romania anymore:   “Ilias,   … As an ex real estate person in Romania, it is always interesting to hear your views and opinions on the market there.   There is not too much press feedback here to fully understand what the market is doing but I suspect it is no better than when I left last year. Tell me, what is the position now with City Mall in Bucharest? I hear it failed to sell at auction several times. [...]

  Today my company, MORE Real Estate Services, is publishing the first detailed market study for the Old City of Bucharest, with a focus on the High Street Retail market. Aside from the information about the 3 commercial zones of the area, the tenants mix and many more details, the main conclusion is this: All rental prices have increased. This is also confirmed by the asking prices of the empty spaces today. Property owners have raised their expectations further. Sometimes they even ask for the same price for the ground floor, the basement and the first floor, despite the obvious difference [...]

  28th of October, 1940. Early in the morning Greeks said “NO” to Benito Mussolini’s ambassador, refusing his proposal for his troops to enter Greece and continue their route to the Middle East. The Greek… amateur army won the battles that followed, forcing Hitler to delay his invasion of Russia and send his troops to destroy Greece. The history has changed. The delay to enter Russia made him lose the war. On the 28th of October I am always ready to say “no”, “yes” is difficult for me on this day… “The royal family wants to buy [...]

  Hello to everyone. This Thursday is not a normal one, but “the day that the Greek debt crisis problem was solved”. At least this is what they tell us. The foreign press says that Greece should be happy for the solution, as the write down of Greek debt reached 50% (but in reality it is less than 20% in the total amount). I personally doubt that this solution is sustainable without modifications, as there is no discussion regarding how Greece will return to some sort of growth. (I leave aside the feeling of humiliation that every Greek feels today). So, Greeks have the benefit [...]