PM Mitsotakis: Europe must be prepared in the event that it comes under attack
Events now taking place thousands of kilometers away are now having a direct impact on Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed in his regular review of the previous week, posted online every Sunday. From geopolitical tensions and energy uncertainty to the changes in the economy, labor and the operation of the state, he stressed that all these were all connected and created a new environment of challenges but also opportunities. “We need a clear and actionable roadmap in case European territory comes under attack,” Mitsotakis stressed, while also referring to the Greek Patriot missile battery stationed in Saudi Arabia since 2021 to protect critical infrastructure, as part of their bilateral strategic cooperation. “Greece continues to act responsibly, reinforcing stability and security in the region,” he added.
Over 2,000 Greeks repatriated from Gulf, including military staff from Iraq
The Foreign Ministry has coordinated the repatriation of more than 2,000 Greek citizens from the Persian Gulf region amid the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said Friday. He said the operation has so far combined land transportation from Israeli cities to Egypt and from Kuwait, Bahrein and Qatar to Saudi Arabia, as well as chartered planes from Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and military transport planes.
PASOK leader Androulakis addresses open letter to all targeted by Predator spyware
Main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis on Sunday addressed an open letter to all public officials, who were “targets of phone tapping and Predator”, urging them to back a “revelation of the whole truth about the unhealthy system of phone-tappings so that all those responsible are held to account, no matter how highly placed, before Greek justice in accordance with the law.”
Trial over deadly 2023 Tempe rail disaster begins Monday
The trial into the events leading up to the 2023 Tempe rail disaster in central Greece is set to begin Monday in Larissa, at a specially arranged hall in the Conference Center of the University of Thessaly’s Gaiopolis complex. The tragedy occurred on the night of February 28, 2023, when a passenger train traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki collided head-on with a freight train in the Tempe area. The crash killed 57 people, most aged between 15 and 25, and left hundreds injured, including at least 32 seriously. A total of 36 defendants are expected to stand trial. They include senior officials from the Greek railway company, the maintenance firm and the operator – OSE, ERGOSE and Hellenic Train, respectively – who served between 2016 and early 2023. The stationmaster on duty that night is also among the accused, along with two colleagues who were not at their posts.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1298882/trial-over-deadly-2023-tempe-rail-disaster-begins-monday
ATHEX: Late decline extends drop for the week
The index rebalancing implemented at the end of Friday’s session made turnover jump at the Greek bourse, while the negative opening in Wall Street swung gains into losses at Athinon Avenue. The new drop of the benchmark concluded a week of significant decline, the third of the war in the Middle East, with observers wondering whether next week the fort of 2,000 points will hold. Energy blue chips actually held on to their day’s growth, bucking the trend among the rest of the large-caps.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1298744/athex-late-decline-extends-drop-for-the-week
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: The terror of Hormuz and the hourglass
TO VIMA: War scenarios regarding fuel
REAL NEWS: PM Mitsotakis: “No one will face the storm alone”
PROTO THEMA: What’s in store for us after the conflict in the Middle East
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: Shocking admission by the PM: Are we in danger? Yes, we are!
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Greece is at the bottom of Europe
KONTRA NEWS: Terror in Europe due to Iran’s missiles
DIMOKRATIA: The government is terrified of the Tempi fatal rail-crash case
NAFTEMPORIKI: Shield-plan for the Greek debt
DRIVING THE DAY
HUNGARY EXCLUDED FROM SENSITIVE TALKS: Just when relations between Brussels and Budapest seemed to be at their lowest, a newspaper report stating that Hungary’s foreign minister has been giving “live” updates to his Russian counterpart during EU summits has dragged them much lower — and sparked a crisis of confidence about the bloc’s discussion formats.
What happened: Over the weekend, The Washington Post, citing a European security official, reported that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had been in close contact with Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, for years, informing him in real time of EU discussions.
Szijjártó has denied the report. And Hungary’s Europe Minister János Bóka told POLITICO: “It is fake news that is now being spread as a desperate reaction to Fidesz gaining momentum in the election campaign. But the Hungarian people won’t be deceived.”
Nevertheless, the report has prompted a chorus of “tell us something we don’t know” from EU diplomats who said that Budapest’s ties with Moscow were blatant and that trust was at rock bottom. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X that the report should “come as a surprise to nobody,” adding that he only speaks “when strictly necessary” at EU summits.
Loose lips: Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who frequently attended gatherings of top diplomats in Brussels when he was in office, told Playbook’s Gabriel Gavin that he’d been warned as early as 2024 that the Hungarians could be passing on information to Russia — and that he and his counterparts limited the information they shared when Szijjártó was present.
Knew it: “It wouldn’t be surprising if this proves true,” a European diplomat wrote in a text to Playbook. “Hungary has long been Putin’s ally within the EU and continues to sabotage European security.” Read my full story with Gabriel Gavin.
Forget the EU: Foreign snooping is a major obstacle to the bloc’s ambitions to be a place where capitals discuss security concerns. A senior official from a national government said it was precisely due to the risk of “less than loyal” EU states passing on sensitive information to third countries that “most of relevant European diplomacy was now happening in different smaller formats.”
Can we take this offline? The official rattled off several non-EU discussion formats, including the E3 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom), the E4 (the same plus Poland), the Weimar alilance (Germany, France, Poland) and the Joint Expeditionary Force (10 EU countries plus the U.K.) as places where the real talk is happening.
Classified: The WaPo report is all the more awkward because the EU does not have rock-solid rules on what constitutes secret information and what happens if it’s leaked. Some discussions are held in a so-called restricted format, which means ministers convene without aides, and some talks among ambassadors occur without phones in the room to minimize leaking. But in case of a breach, leakers aren’t breaking laws.
It may be time for that system to change, according to a senior EU diplomat. “There is an argument to be made for classification of info and documents on the EU side,” they said. “More classification isn’t a silver bullet but could serve as a deterrent against leaks and the passing of sensitive info to third parties.”
Another benefit: It would make investigations “more automatic,” added the diplomat. So far, the European Council has yet to announce any investigation into the allegations in the Post story.
POLISH ANGLE: The scandal is also exposing the stark divisions at the top of Poland’s government. Tusk and his foreign minister came out swinging against Hungary’s alleged leaks … while Tusk’s political opponent, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, is traveling to Budapest today to show support for Orbán’s reelection campaign.
FAMOUS FRIENDS: Nawrocki joins international leaders including Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu who’ve endorsed Orbán ahead of the April 12 vote. U.S. Vice President JD Vance is also reportedly due to fly to Budapest to show support for the Hungarian leader.
Trump reiterated his “complete and total” backing in a video message to the Hungarian edition of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) on Saturday, part of a double-header attracting a Who’s Who of the European right to Budapest. The carnival continues today with a Patriots for Europe “Grand Assembly” including France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Matteo Salvini.
The bottom line: Things are heating up ahead of the Hungarian election, which has huge stakes for Europe. More spring surprises may be in order before the votes are counted. At the time of writing, POLITICO’s Poll of Polls showed Orbán’s Fidesz party trailing behind the Tisza party of his rival Péter Magyar by 9 percentage points.
ELECTION WATCH
FRENCH MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: Marine Le Pen’s National Rally failed to win the big cities it was targeting in France’s local elections Sunday, but it still thinks it has grassroots momentum that would propel it to victory in next year’s presidential contest, my colleague Clea Caulcutt writes in her wrap-up of the results this morning.
In Paris: Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire is on track to become the next mayor after finishing well ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s former Culture Minister Rachida Dati. Grégoire told supporters that his victory was a clear message from Parisians: “Paris is not and will never be a far-right city.”
More coverage: My colleague Victor Goury-Laffont in Paris breaks down the winners and losers … and you can catch up on the results as they happened in our France team’s live blog.
SLOVENIAN NAILBITER: Slovenians went to the polls on Sunday in an election pitting incumbent Prime Minister Robert Golob’s liberal faction against right-wing Janez Janša’s SDS, Sebastian Starcevic writes. As of this morning, 99.45 percent of the vote had been counted, placing Golob’s party on 29 seats, with the SDS sitting on 28 in the 90-seat parliament — a result that amounts to a tie, Reuters says.
Coalition tiebreak: The result is a major blow for Golob’s Freedom Movement, which secured 41 seats in a landslide in 2022. With such a close result, the question now is which side will be able to cobble together a coalition to govern the southeast European country of 2 million.
Dirty tricks: The vote brings an end to a dramatic campaign that, in its final stretch, saw accusations of corruption, historical secret police links and interference by Israeli spy firm Black Cube. In a letter sent earlier this week and obtained exclusively by POLITICO, Golob called on the European Commission to investigate claims of foreign meddling in the election.
Brussels holds its breath: If Janša — a conservative former prime minister and admirer of Donald Trump — manages to find his way back into power, it would add another member to Viktor Orbán’s growing club of populists, along with Slovakia and Czechia.
MERZ CATCHES A BREAK: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party narrowly won an election in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Nette Nöstlinger reports. It’s a much-needed victory for the German leader, though there’ll be concern that the far-right Alternative for Germany more than doubled its vote share.
ITALIAN REFERENDUM: Forty-six percent of the Italian electorate cast a ballot yesterday in a referendum on overhauling the country’s judiciary that has been billed as a test of Giorgia Meloni’s power, Repubblica reports. Voting continues today.
DENMARK’S KINGMAKER: The composition of the next Danish government may hinge on a former prime minister with a penchant for brushing his teeth with hand soap. Jakob Weizman explains.
MIDDLE EAST
EUROPE STEPS UP ACTION: Brussels’ top diplomat Kaja Kallas spent her Sunday having calls with counterparts from Turkey, Qatar, South Korea and — yes — Iran, according to an EU diplomat who spoke to Playbook.
There’s fresh urgency to Europe’s diplomatic efforts: A ballistic missile fired at the UK-U.S. Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean set alarm bells ringing in European capitals that suddenly discovered they, too, could be in range of Tehran’s strikes. Several European governments were among 22 countries that put out a statement Saturday urging Iran to “immediately cease its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks.”
Kallas’ latest diplomatic flurry is all about “the urgent need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” per the EU diplomat. In a piece out today, your Playbook author reports that EU leaders are scrambling to find ways to support Donald Trump’s bid to reopen the strait, fearing blowback against Ukraine if the bloc fails to step up in the Middle East.
In that vein: NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Sunday he expects members of the allience to come together to support Trump’s action in the Middle East. “He’s doing this to make the whole world safe,” Rutte said.
THE LATEST: Iran warned that it will destroy vital energy and water infrastructure across the Gulf if Trump carries out his threat to target its power plants if it doesn’t unblock the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports. International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said the world is facing an energy crisis worse than the oil shocks of the 1970s.