Accents of Europe turns to Greece. Athens, its capital, is suffocating under the weight of contemporary forms of tourism. Like Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon or Rome, the immense metropolis of Attica is facing what is called the “gentrification” of its city center. “Gentrification” is the transformation of a popular living space into a richer, more exclusive neighborhood focused above all on the pleasure of visitors. (Rebroadcast)
The discontent against gentrification and rising real estate prices
Like other major European tourist cities, Athens is facing a phenomenon of gentrification of its city center, due to the combined effect of foreign investment, hypertourism and the inflationary trend. After a decade of economic crisis that has permanently impoverished the population, some residents are beginning to mobilize. They are protesting in particular against what they call the “touristification” of the Greek capital. In Athens, Joel Bronner.
Towards a total ban on Airbnb in Vienna
In Austriathe capital, Vienna, concentrates almost a quarter of the country’s population. Soon 2 million inhabitants, and the metropolis on the Danube continues to attract new populations… Consequence: while housing has long been of exceptional quality and prices in a Western European capital, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Viennese to find accommodation and rents are increasing drastically. In addition to this, the city attracts 7 million tourists each year… The municipality has decided that housing residents should be more important than housing tourists and has decided to restrict Airbnb rentals, already largely banned in the city center since 2018. Our correspondent on the ground, Celine Bealexplains to us the terms of this ban.
The European Eye of Franceline Beretti
It has become a nightmare in Europe: fighting against foreign agents, preventing foreign interference. We talk with trembling about Russian, Chinese and sometimes American interference in democratic processes. Sometimes, we also worry about our sovereignty and the destabilization campaigns of not always benevolent powers. What are these real threats and how do we protect ourselves from them today on the continent? This is Franceline Beretti’s European eye.
Against the proliferation of data centers in Ireland
In Irelandcountry of tech and digital giants, “data centers” constitute a new threat to the environment… These large data centers group together servers, hard drives and other routers, absolutely necessary for the operation of these companies linked to the Internet: Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft… which have chosen to set up in Dublin thanks to a more than attractive tax rate. But voices are beginning to be raised in the country against the proliferation of these very energy-intensive centers, Clemence Penardreporting.