Audit exposes major weaknesses in former OPEKEPE subsidy controls
The Court of Audit has identified serious weaknesses in the former OPEKEPE farm subsidy agency’s internal controls, payment procedures and eligibility checks, according to its audit of a special fund used to make subsidy payments for the 2023 financial year. The report found deficiencies in the agency’s information systems, payment calculations and mechanisms for verifying beneficiaries, raising concerns over the management of around €3.4 billion in EU-funded agricultural support.
Risk Assessment Committee convenes ahead of heatwave
The Risk Assessment Committee met on Sunday in the presence of Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Evangelos Tournas, due to the high temperatures expected from Monday until Wednesday.
According to the Committee’s scientists, convened by general secretary for Civil Protection Nikos Papaefstathiou, high temperatures are expected to prevail across much of the country from Monday, 20 July 2026, with the heatwave lasting until Wednesday. The highest maximum temperatures will be recorded on Monday and Tuesday, when the temperature will reach or locally exceed 40 ° C in several mainland areas.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/1010065/Risk-Assessment-Committee-convenes-ahead-of-heatwave-
Dourou elected SYRIZA’s parliamentary group leader
Rena Dourou has been elected leader of the leftist SYRIZA’s parliamentary group, following a vote on Saturday where she was the only candidate. The only other hopeful, Pavlos Polakis, withdrew before the election. The party has seen its strength dwindle since losing the last general election in June 2023, as disappointment over the results, the subsequent fragmentation of SYRIZA and the creation of a new party by its former leader Alexis Tsipras left it with eight lawmakers, from 47. SYRIZA’s other former president, Sokratis Famellos did not take part in the vote, although he still remains in the parliamentary group.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1309980/dourou-elected-syrizas-parliamentary-group-leader
Bank of Greece: Greek economic growth expected at 1.9% in 2026
Economic activity continued to expand in the first quarter of 2026 (2.0% year-on-year; 0.2% quarter-on-quarter), outperforming the euro area (0.5% year-on-year; 0.0% quarter-on-quarter), despite elevated uncertainty in the international economic environment, according to the Bank of Greece’s “Note on the Greek Economy”.
ATHEX: Second week of decline for bourse
Although not quite on a steep downhill course, the Greek stock market maintained on Friday its move south, with a relatively accelerated pace, completing five sessions of decline for its main benchmark in as many days. Technology sector concerns internationally feed market unrest, with Athinon Avenue heeding investors’ mood and suffering a second consecutive week of losses. It is possible the January-June bank results toward the end of the month will help it recover to an extent.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1309957/athex-second-week-of-decline-for-bourse
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: Tax-free piggy-bank
TO VIMA: Cries and whispers regarding the next government
REAL NEWS: Marfin bank homicides: The “signs” behind the masks
PROTO THEMA: Where were the 35 billion of the RRF allocated
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: Constructions outside city planning: Can I build? No one knows…
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: RRF: Crime and punishment
KONTRA NEWS: The gates of hell opened in the Middle East and Ukraine
DIMOKRATIA: Insult towards those who fell for Cyprus
NAFTEMPORIKI: Package of 5 billion in handouts and alleviations until 2030
DRIVING THE DAY
SUMMER DASH TO FINALIZE EU SANCTIONS PACKAGE: The European Commission is scrambling to save a key part of the bloc’s 21st package of sanctions against Russia, according to four EU diplomats. This comes after Greece argued that a proposed ban on transport of Russian liquified natural gas would be devastating for its shipping industry.
Look closer: The EU executive is working on an analysis of the ban’s economic impact to share with a Tuesday gathering of Anticis — diplomats who help to prepare Coreper meetings. That will feed into Wednesday’s gathering of EU ambassadors, seen as make-or-break for the sanctions package, the diplomats said.
The aim: To demonstrate that the ban would be more economically damaging to Russia than it would be to Greece — and not easily circumvented by energy transporters switching flags to avoid the EU measure.
Critical issue: Athens’ objections could derail a key part of the EU’s 21st package, which was designed to pack a punch in the hope of ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. But as a last resort, the EU could offer Greece a derogation, per two of the diplomats. The European Commission declined to comment.
Close to the bone: “We’re trying to find a way out of this, but what this [issue with Greece] shows is that we’re starting to collide with some key economic interests,” said one of the diplomats, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss the confidential sanctions process.
View from Athens: Nektaria Stamouli reports that Greece is looking for the Commission to prove that the LNG transport ban would have a significantly higher cost for Russia than it would for Greece, and that it wouldn’t pave the way for third-country rivals to replace Greek shipping companies, according to a senior Greek official.
The counter: Other countries have already endured the consequences of cutting economic ties with Russia — notably Germany, which relied on Russia for more than half of its gas imports before 2022.
Other issues cleared: Austria won’t further oppose the package, after receiving a proposal from the European Commission about Raiffeisen Bank. The matter will be discussed in coming months, according to two of the diplomats, who also said a proposal to freeze a price cap on Russian oil is likely to be included in the package.
The bottom line: Greece’s objections have been widely heard by other EU capitals. But given the economic price others have already paid as a result of Russian sanctions, a derogation for Athens would “send the wrong signal,” said a second EU diplomat.
BIG AND BREAKING
FIGHTING ESCALATES: The US and Iran have engaged in a series of tit-for-tat attacks, with the American military conducting a wave of strikes on the Islamic Republic after the deaths of service personnel, Bloomberg reports. Another American was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday, according to a military social media post.
FREE SPEECH PUSH AT UNITED NATIONS: The Trump administration will use the upcoming U.N. General Assembly to push a global “freedom of expression” declaration that European lawmakers say is a thinly veiled attack on EU tech regulation.
POLGAR NOMINATED AS PRESIDENT: Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said Sunday he would ask Judit Polgár, regarded as the greatest female chess player of all time, to become the country’s new president, Reuters reports. This follows President Tamás Sulyok signing a constitutional amendment on Saturday that will effectively remove himself from office.
GREEN RULES TORPEDO PARLIAMENT’S BUDGET DEAL: A European Parliament deal on the EU’s new €410 billion industrial fund collapsed after the center-right European People’s Party insisted on scrapping green rules, three officials with knowledge of the negotiations told Morning Financial Services.
AI IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
THE SOLUTION FOR CHATGPT IS … CHATGPT: The European Parliament could start rolling out an internal AI platform providing access to Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic and Mistral models as early as September, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The platform now being tested, dubbed “EPGenAI Hub” and now in testing, gives users a choice: secure, ring-fenced AI models for handling sensitive information that include Meta’s Llama, OpenAI’s GPT-OSS and Mistral Small; or externally hosted models, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet. That’s according to a beta version of the platform, as explained by POLITICO’s Max Griera.
Tech sovereignty trashed: The rollout of mostly U.S.-made AI models sits uneasily with the Parliament’s push to reduce its reliance on American tech. In recent months, the legislature replaced Google with French search engine Qwant and disabled AI features on MEPs’ tablets over cybersecurity and data-privacy concerns.
Legislative quality concerns: As the administration readies a widespread AI tool, the top leadership in the Parliament paradoxically is worried about the quality of amendments and parliamentary work.
AI lawmaking: POLITICO revealed in June that 2,100 staffers in the Parliament use AI daily (that’s 20 percent of the workforce, including lawmakers). Top MEPs are concerned by the higher number of amendments filed, amid suspicions they’re being drafted with AI. There’s also been an uptick in speeches and parliamentary questions to the Commission.
Guidelines mess: Parliamentary staff already have AI-use guidelines, obtained by POLITICO. These require staff to label AI-generated work with an “AI-assisted” disclaimer and prohibits officials from feeding sensitive information into public generative AI models. MEPs, however, aren’t covered by the guidelines and aren’t required to disclose when amendments or other parliamentary work are AI generated.
“The EP administration cannot impose any obligations on MEPs, but we can decide ourselves to draft guidelines or rules if wished, similar to the transparency obligations we agreed in recent years,” said Irish liberal MEP and development committee Chair Barry Andrews. The lawmaker has drafted his own AI use guidelines for his office, explaining that within his team, the “reflex of younger staff is to use AI for more tasks.”
THE CONCEPTUAL CLASH OVER AI SAFETY: Meanwhile, all discussions about the regulation of artificial intelligence name-check the need for safety. But what does AI safety mean? It depends on who you speak to.
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
The future of right-wing think tank MCC Brussels is in doubt after its parent organization in Hungary was ordered to close. MCC Brussels was also suspended from the EU’s transparency register. But what is the register? It’s a database of people and groups that carry out activities that could influence EU policy and the decision-making process. It’s aimed at providing transparency about who’s engaging in these tasks. Being on the list means you must make regular financial disclosures and abide by a code of conduct. Being de-listed can mean no longer being eligible to sit on expert groups convened by the Commission to discuss key files or in committee hearings held by the Parliament.
MERZ MULLS RESHUFFLE
SURROGACY SCANDAL FALLOUT: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is considering a reshuffle of his government, he told public TV on Sunday, after the resignation of his party whip Jens Spahn. The resignation “could be an opportunity to reconsider the composition of the government,” said Merz.
How it happened: Spahn, an influential CDU parliamentary group leader, was forced to step down on Saturday, after his announcement that he and his husband had welcomed a child through a surrogate mother attracted sharp criticism. The practice is illegal in Germany and has been repeatedly rejected by Merz’s Christian Democratic Union and Spahn, Hans von der Burchard reports from Berlin.
6 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
FOOTBALL’S IMPACT ON SEPARATISTS: The prominent role of players from Spain’s separatist strongholds has seen football eclipse politics as Catalonia and the Basque Country’s best bet to project their identities.
CAN MAGA LEARN TO LOVE FOOTBALL? A pastime of the immigrant communities and college-educated suburbs that make up Blue America is about to finally catch on in the red parts of the country, a former U.S. football star argues.
WORLD CUP FINAL’S IMPERIAL FLAVOR: Many people from countries once colonized by Spain have watched their national teams face off against players representing their former imperial overlords in the 2026 World Cup.
PUSH TO STABILIZE: Frugal states are taking heart from a statement after a meeting of French and German ministers, in which Berlin and Paris said the next long-term EU budget must “stabilize contributions” from capitals, per two EU diplomats from net payer countries.
WHY GREEKS HATE NOLAN’S ODYSSEY: The land of Homer is up in arms about American director Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of the Odyssey, which lacks Greek actors — despite being partly funded by Greek subsidies.
WASHINGTON PLAYBOOK NEWS: Starting today, Adam Wren, Dasha Burns and Will Steakin take over as co-authors of Playbook in Washington, with an official relaunch set for Aug. 31. Megan Messerly will join Playbook as a contributor to the Washington newsletter and podcast. Read the full story.
BRUSSELS CORNER
WEATHER: High of 22C.
BELGIUM’S BDAY: Tomorrow is Belgian National Day, with free entertainment across Brussels for big and little humans alike.
Quick history lesson: The day marks 195 years since Leopold I took the constitutional oath and became the first King of the Belgians, establishing the country’s monarchy a year after independence.
Come take a look: Lots of institutions will open their doors to the public — from places of worship including the Great Synagogue and the Protestant Church of Brussels, to the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate and public bodies such as the Belgian Court of Audit.
At 4 p.m., the military and civil parade will begin on Place des Palais. Playbook got a sneak peek at the midnight rehearsals for the celebrations, which featured hundreds of soldiers and military band members in full regalia marching in unison through the streets around Parc Royale.
If that’s not your vibe: There’ll also be a mega sports day in Parc de Bruxelles, complete with free performances and face painting. Later, you can head down to Parc du Cinquantenaire at 9 p.m. to catch acts such as Natalia, Hamza and Netsky — plus a drone and firework show.
Or check out the Resto National 2026 at Place du Jeu de Balle from 5 p.m., where hundreds will tuck into mussels and fries while being serenaded by a brass band — and possibly an accordion quintet.
TOP OF THE PLAYBOOKS
Berlin: Jens Spahn’s resignation offers Chancellor Friedrich Merz a chance to add fresh blood to his government. And Thorsten Frei’s name keeps coming up.
London: Andy Burnham’s bloodless coup will finally be complete today as he becomes prime minister. And then the hard work begins.
Paris: A behind-closed-doors gathering of non-politician left wingers slated for September appears to be part of former PM Bernard Cazeneuve’s orbit.
Washington: Maine Democrats’ bumpy ride to pick a Senate candidate may be getting smoother, with Troy Jackson now the frontrunner in the race to replace Susan Collins.