Athens reacts after Benghazi ratifies Turkey maritime deal
Greece will take “every appropriate action to safeguard its sovereign rights” after Libya’s parliament, based in Benghazi, ratified the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, Athens’ Foreign Ministry said. The move by Benghazi, which is practically controlled by the faction of military commander Khalifa Haftar and his sons, took Athens by surprise. It came as Athens prepares to restart the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection project. Turkey also issued a new Navtex, this time for surveys involving the EMC data cable by the vessel Kobi Ruegg off Cyprus. Greece will also issue a Navtex for the project, which will cover the greatest length of the Mediterranean. The development revives options such as extending Greek territorial waters off Crete to 12 nautical miles, as Athens currently has no real foothold in Libya, either in Tripoli or Benghazi. It also indicates the famous “open channels” line with both sides in Libya was probably blurry from the start. The memorandum did not stop Greece from signing agreements with US company Chevron south of Crete.
Androulakis: Populism, corruption and policies holding Greece back are my opponents
Populism, corruption and policies that fail to move Greece forward are his main opponents, PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) leader Nikos Androulakis said on Tuesday, in an interview with MEGA News radio. Referring to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Androulakis questioned claims that he represented the forces of reason and responsibility. “Mitsotakis, as some people say, represents the camp of reason and responsibility. But was he part of that camp? In 2010, if PASOK MPs had voted the way Mitsotakis did, the country would have returned to the drachma,” he said. Androulakis reiterated that PASOK’s political objective is “victory in the elections and political change”. “What does political change mean? It means that New Democracy, which is currently in government, must move into opposition. In other words, New Democracy must be defeated,” he said.
University students protest in central Athens over housing and education costs
A protest by university student associations is underway at Syntagma Square in central Athens as of Tuesday, with students setting up a new protest camp to demand measures to address the rising cost of studying and housing. The students are protesting against what they describe as the unbearable cost of education and accommodation, calling for immediate measures to support public higher education.
Registered unemployed dropped by 9 pct in September 2026
The total number of registered unemployed people on the register of the Public Employment Service (DYPA) stood at 655,023 in September 2026, representing a decrease of 65,016 people (9%) compared with September 2025 and a decline of 62,903 people (8.8%) compared with the previous month, August 2026.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/1032493/Registered-unemployed-dropped-by-9-pct-in-September-2026
ATHEX: Happy end via a closing auction surge
The Euronext Athens (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,610.22 points, adding 0.26% to Monday’s 2,603.34 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.30% to end at 6,677.51 points, though mid-caps contracted 0.12%.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1318784/athex-happy-end-via-a-closing-auction-surge
KATHIMERINI: Hard poker game in the Eastern Mediterranean
TA NEA: Hakan Fidan: “We want a written and not verbal notification” for the energy cable
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Preemptive intimidation so that Greece does not become France”
RIZOSPASTIS: Uprising everywhere today! From France to Greece the reason is the same
KONTRA NEWS: ELAS is ahead of PASOK by 6,7 points in polls
DIMOKRATIA: National defeat
NAFTEMPORIKI: “Austerity wallet” for 7 out of 10 Greeks
DRIVING THE DAY
EU PUSHES ALLIES FOR HELP ON UKRAINE: Brussels wants to use upcoming summits with Canada and the U.K. to squeeze more money for Kyiv out of its partners, according to five EU officials and two EU diplomats Zoya Sheftalovich and I spoke to.
The message? The EU is doing as much as it can. Now it’s your turn.
Today’s opening move: EU ambassadors are set to discuss the Canada (Oct. 29-30) and U.K. (Nov. 20) summits today, with Ukraine funding expected to form part of the discussions, the two diplomats said.
But the EU “won’t be pulling a Trump,” the diplomat said, adding the idea is to make the case “without pointing the finger” or explicitly leveraging the closer ties Brussels is currently negotiating with London and Ottawa for more funding. All of the officials and diplomats Playbook spoke to insisted the push isn’t a criticism of Canada or the U.K. — more a recognition that as Kyiv’s financial gap grows, so should the contributions from allies.
Norway and Japan are also being asked to dig deeper. Tokyo is mainly being approached through the G7 and G20, with Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis leading much of the effort. Both Ottawa and Oslo have already responded positively, according to a Commission official who was granted anonymity, like others cited here, to speak candidly about sensitive diplomatic matters.
“It is now paramount,” the Commission official said, pointing to intensifying Russian attacks and an unpredictable Washington. “Now we see every single opportunity [to raise the topic]. I don’t see why we would not put it on the table,” a second said.
The EU has been asking partners to share the bill for years. But promised billions have been slow to materialize from some countries, and Kyiv’s funding gap is getting bigger. Now the money question is finding its way into talks about what countries want from the EU.
The latest EU summit finally put a number on Ukraine’s additional funding needs for 2027 — €70 billion. “If the G7 countries put more commitments on the table, then the €70 billion figure can still come down significantly,” the second Commission official said.
Plan A before Plan B: Both Commission officials said squeezing more out of international partners is the first step before turning to politically thornier options, including another EU-backed loan or tapping frozen Russian assets.
The latter remains particularly toxic after the spectacular collapse of talks at last December’s summit. And Belgium, whose objections helped sink the idea, shows little sign of budging.
MEANWHILE, IN ST. PETERSBURG … Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will offer Vladimir Putin a three-way summit with the U.S. president and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the latest attempt to secure a ceasefire. Witkoff is heading to Russia after talks in Oslo yesterday at which the EU was represented by Ursula von der Leyen’s powerful chief of staff Bjoern Seibert.
A new twist in the Starlink saga: After top diplomats traded barbs over support for Ukraine yesterday — with Kaja Kallas accusing the U.S. of pushing Kyiv toward surrender and Marco Rubio insisting Washington hasn’t deliberately withheld assistance — Zelenskyy said Kyiv is once again receiving early warnings about Russian strikes. The Wall Street Journal then dropped a story late last night claiming American officials are blaming Elon Musk for the satellite slowdown that blindsided Ukraine last week.
Maybe it’s personal? Some European officials and diplomats think Trump’s stance on Ukraine is as much a product of personal preference as any political aim. “Trump doesn’t like Zelenskyy,” one government official told my colleagues Tim Ross and Veronika Melkozerova. “He just doesn’t like him.”
BIG AND BREAKING
TARIFF THREAT: Beijing says it’ll retaliate if the U.K. raises tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to align with the European Union, Caroline Hug reports.
WHAT RIOTS? France’s first presidential poll since the weekend’s mass unrest suggests the race has barely budged despite the political finger-pointing — Marine Le Pen remains out front, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon in a close race for second.
FEAR FACTOR: Republicans facing an uphill battle in next month’s midterms have seized on the violence in France, telling American voters they’ll face similar chaos if the Democrats regain power.
CLIMATE TARGETS: Center-right lawmakers are taking aim at the EU’s rules on methane emissions and a new carbon price on driving and heating, Ben Munster and Ben Makuch report.
THE SOCIALISTS’ DILEMMA
THE PRESIDENCY QUESTION: The Socialists and Democrats and their newly reelected leader, Iratxe García, have a big question to answer, Max Griera reports. Should they challenge the European People’s Party’s Roberta Metsola for the European Parliament presidency — which they say is theirs under a power-sharing deal — or back the incumbent in exchange for a pledge from the EPP to stop working with the far right?
Germany’s Katarina Barley, the S&D’s agreed candidate in 2024, hasn’t pushed publicly for the presidency and her silence has fueled debate over whether to give up a bid for the position in return for concessions, according to five S&D lawmakers. Barley didn’t respond to Playbook’s request for comment.
Some MEPs think challenging Metsola would be futile and the group should push for a deal instead. “Why should we kamikaze for no reason?” said one MEP, granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy. Another lawmaker said Metsola is “very firmly established” and the S&D should focus on keeping the current distribution of posts and securing political commitments. A third said maintaining the status quo could count as a victory, though reassurance on isolating the far right is crucial.
But what does the leadership think? The S&D will first ask for a public political agreement, “because policies come first,” García said after her reelection, hinting she wants that coalition pact in place before discussing the presidency with the EPP. There is an existing written agreement that commits the EPP to alternate the presidency with a center-left candidate, an S&D official said, meaning the group “will need to decide how to proceed.”
A possible trade: Barley could get the Parliament’s first vice presidency, according to a person familiar with the discussions. If the S&D drops its claim this time round, German lawmakers could seek the S&D leadership in 2029, with delegation chief René Repasi increasingly mentioned as a contender, according to one official and three lawmakers.
His influence is growing: Repasi has led smaller delegations’ push for more posts, proposing reforms to address what they see as larger delegations’ dominance, four MEPs said. He declined to comment.
ELSEWHERE IN PARLIAMENT … Czech communist MEP Kateřina Konečná, a former member of The Left, joined the Patriots for Europe on Tuesday, lifting the group to 85 MEPs and surpassing the European Conservatives and Reformists to become the third-biggest group in the Parliament.
Konečná told Max that the Patriots have the “greatest overlap” with Stačilo!, the left-wing Czech coalition for which she was the lead candidate in 2024. The ECR could catch up to the Patriots if Slovenian former EPP lawmaker Branko Grims joins its ranks.
And in the EPP: Czechia’s Danuše Nerudová and Portugal’s Sebastião Bugalho missed out as the group reelected its 10 vice chairs. Manfred Weber was reelected chair with 164 votes in favor, 11 against and 8 abstentions — slightly more opposition than in 2024, when he secured 161 votes in favor, 8 against and 2 abstentions.
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
Ambassadors will today discuss a delay to the EU’s methane regulation, but what is that and why delay it? The EU Methane Regulation entered into force in 2024, establishing requirements to measure, monitor, report, verify and reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas in the energy sector. But industry and some EU member countries say the infrastructure needed to meet a January 2027 deadline requiring fossil fuel importers to track methane emissions isn’t in place, and they want a delay. The Commission partly blames the delayed implementation on member countries.
DEFENDERS OF DEMOCRACY?
IS THE RULE OF LAW SLIPPING? EU countries are doing well when it comes to upholding democratic and judicial safeguards, but some aren’t doing quite as well as in years past. That’s according to the World Justice Project’s latest Rule of Law Index, published today and seen by Hanne Cokelaere.
At first glance … the EU’s record looks great. The index puts Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg and Germany at the very top of the global ranking and says that Poland — now at number 32 — has made major strides since 2023. (Outside the EU, Norway also ranks highly.)
But but but: Some countries have seen slight drops in their ratings. France, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria are among the countries that recorded losses since last year and several countries are on a longer-term downward trajectory. Across the EU, weaker checks on government powers were a common reason for declines. The U.K. has also slipped.
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Chin up, Budapest: For now, Hungary is at the bottom of the European ranking. No need to tell PM Péter Magyar, who came into power in May with promises to restore democratic and judicial independence.
Way to go: “Europe has some of the strongest rule of law standards in the world … But strong does not mean there is no room for improvement,” Rule of Law Commissioner Michael McGrath told Playbook, adding it’s why the Commission monitors countries and suggests changes. “Checks on power, independent courts, a strong fight against corruption and a free civil society are not obstacles to governing. They are what give citizens confidence in those who govern them.”
4 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
DEEPFAKE DEMAND: The S&D wants an EU-wide ban on harmful, non-consensual or deceptive deepfakes — and for tech platforms to stop them spreading, rather than waiting for victims to complain.
ABORTION VOTE: Poland’s parliament last night approved two bills backed by Donald Tusk’s government that would loosen the country’s strict abortion restrictions — but they could now be vetoed by conservative President Karol Nawrocki.
MARITIME STORM: Brussels has slammed the eastern Libyan parliament’s ratification of a maritime deal with Turkey, Nektaria Stamouli reports, calling it “null and void” and a violation of international law. Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa backed Greece and Cyprus, which strongly oppose the deal, in a joint statement.
CASE CLOSED: A judge in Milan has closed the last Italian strand of the Qatargate affair due to insufficient evidence of money laundering involving consultancy firm Equality. Le Soir wrote it up.