The pandemic as a catalyst for major changes. Giorgos Kyrtsos was the first to warn, through his public interventions, that the Covid-19 pandemic would last longer and have greater consequences than most experts and public figures anticipated.
He considered that we are dealing with an extremely complex challenge that would follow the tradition of past pandemics and evolve into a historical event. Utilizing his academic knowledge, professional experience, journalistic and political judgment, and his good international connections, Giorgos Kyrtsos attempts in this book the first comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of the pandemic.
He explains how it affects the global balance of power and what upheavals it may bring about, in the context of China, the USA, and the European Union, as well as in strategically significant regions. He presents in detail the impacts on the state and prospects of the European Union. The pandemic has added to other ongoing Euro crises and highlighted the huge gaps in European integration.
He places particular emphasis on the economic and social cost of Covid-19 for Greece, avoiding embellishments and alarmism. He also points out its effects on energy issues, migration, and relations with Turkey. He analyzes the pandemic as a catalyst for major changes, from the organization of work to the shaping of public opinion and the digital leap into the future.
The 122 conclusions drawn by the author in the last chapter of the book reflect the dynamic, complex, and unpredictable nature of the pandemic, which resembles a modern LABYRINTH. Giorgos Kyrtsos has been a Member of the European Parliament (ND – EPP) since 2014. He studied industrial management at MIT, obtained his Master's degree in European Studies at LSE, and received a PhD in International Relations from the same university.
He served as editor-in-chief of the Economic Tachydromos, a key collaborator of A. Voudouris, founder of the Eleftheros Typos, director of Kyriakatiki Press from 1988 to 2002, and general manager and publisher of the Eleftheros Typos group from 1997 to 2002. From 2004 to 2013, he published the daily free distributed newspaper City Press, and until 2014, when he entered politics, the weekend Free Sunday. He is the author of five books.
