Theodorikakos: Summer price ‘freeze’ and agreements for price cuts from September
Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos on Monday announced the end of the profit margin cap as of Tuesday, a commitment by industry and supermarkets to keep prices unchanged during the summer period, and the implementation from early September of a national agreement for substantial price reductions on basic consumer goods, following a meeting held at the Maximos Mansion under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Ex-PM Samaras urges Athens to leverage Israel’s Armenian genocide recognition
Former prime minister Antonis Samaras has called on the Greek government to diplomatically utilize Sunday’s decision by Israel to unanimously recognize the massacres of Armenians during World War I as genocide, pressing for corresponding recognition of the genocide of Greeks by the Ottoman Empire. The politician, who is widely expected to announce the formation of a new political party imminently, also said he believes the way is now opening for the official recognition by Israel of the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus, Thrace, and Asia Minor.
TIF speech to be crafted as election appeal
Pundits agree that, by the time Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis makes the trip north to deliver the keynote address at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on September 5, he will have made up his mind on the timing of the next national election. Speculation about the timing of the election – whether it will take place in autumn 2026 or early 2027 – is rife. The TIF keynote speech is awaited as an announcement of the direction of government economic policy for the coming year. Even more so, though, what both the media and the public are looking forward to is the size of the handouts to be announced, either in direct state aid or tax cuts. Talk about the size of the so-called “package” already looms large and will increasingly dominate public discussion in the runup to the speech.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1307995/tif-speech-to-be-crafted-as-election-appeal
Fuel customers see €400 mln evaporate every year
Fuel market delinquency may be receding, but consumers are still paying around €400 million a year for fuel they don’t use. That is what the industry’s association (SEEPE) calculates the annual fraud amount at the pump; it is a phenomenon that is dominant in Athens and Thessaloniki, but has also spread throughout the territory. Almost one in four gas stations in Athens and Thessaloniki delivers deficient quantities to consumers with the well-known now technologically advanced method of the “tampered pump.”
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/energy/1308150/fuel-customers-see-e400-mln-evaporate-every-year
ATHEX: Summer mood and summer transactions
Unfazed by the war activity in the Gulf over the weekend – and boosted by the renewed chance for peace – traders at the Greek stock market put an end to last week’s four-session losing streak on Monday and gave the benchmark some of the ground lost – albeit on a reduced turnover – one day before the end of the second quarter of the year. This serves to remind us that the summer is here and activity in the bourse will gradually decline week after week.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1308135/athex-summer-mood-and-summer-transactions
KATHIMERINI: Fuel stations are stealing 400 million euro from us through tampered pumps
TA NEA: 4-day labor in Greece as well
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The “allies” of the heatwave: Price hikes and lack of green are fatal
RIZOSPASTIS: Government, industrialists and super market owners are the culprits of price hikes: They are now mocking the people and selling hope
KONTRA NEWS: Pre-election freeze of product prices
DIMOKRATIA: Massive extrajudicial notice against Bank of Greece Governor Stournaras [regarding Funds‘ uncontrolled actions]
NAFTEMPORIKI: Promise for price reductions
DRIVING THE DAY
POWER TRIO IN TURKEY: The EU’s chief diplomat and two other commissioners are in Turkey today to lay the groundwork for next week’s critical NATO summit in Ankara.
High Representative Kaja Kallas, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner will meet with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and potentially President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to two EU officials briefed on the trip.
What it’s about: Brussels is looking to bolster ties with a major NATO ally by exploring how to remove trade barriers, promote economic integration and move toward closer strategic alignment amid wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, according to the officials.
Also in focus: Plans to develop the so-called Middle Corridor — a trade route that runs from Asia to Europe bypassing Russia.
It’s a balancing act: Ankara’s bid to join the EU has been on ice for years, while Erdoğan’s government faces criticism from human rights groups over the treatment of political figures like Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been in prison since March 2025 on corruption charges that he denies.
The EU got a reminder of how tricky the relationship can be in April, when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told an event in Germany that the bloc should avoid falling under “Russian, Turkish or Chinese influence,” appearing to cast Ankara as a geopolitical rival. The comment prompted a swift clarification from a spokesperson.
EU lawmakers want the commissioners to push the rule of law with their hosts. “My advice is: don’t play into the hands of Erdoğan,” said Nacho Sánchez Amor, a Spanish Socialists and Democrats lawmaker on the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. “We are entitled to request things of Türkiye.”
Vladimir Prebilič, a Slovenian Greens MEP, said: “I would expect either the high representative or the commissioner on enlargement to raise the question of the imprisoned mayor as well as the other ones who have been detained.”
But NATO is the focus. With wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East — and Europe determined to avoid any blowups during the July 7-8 summit in Ankara — the talks today are likely to center on how to strengthen ties rather than making demands.
“Closer EU-Turkey cooperation serves us all,” Kos told Playbook in written comments. “Together with Turkey we want to move in the direction of more stability and more certainty in the wider region.”
For Kallas, it’s about seeking “the way forward on Iran, Syria, Gaza, and Russia’s war against Ukraine,” per comments from a member of her team. She sees Turkey as “an essential partner on defense, migration, trade and regional stability.”
The bottom line: Europe’s relationship with Turkey isn’t straightforward, but for now the bloc is emphasizing its immediate practical needs.
BIG AND BREAKING
REVAMPING THE EU ‘S FOREIGN POLICY: The second instalment of POLITICO’s series on the European External Action Service looks at how Paris and Berlin are thinking about overhauling the EU’s diplomatic branch.
THE COST OF A PRESIDENCY: Ireland is set to spend more than three times as much as Cyprus and Denmark on its presidency of the Council of the EU, with the estimated cost of chairing the bloc’s policy agenda between July 1 and Dec. 31 nearing €300 million.
BOOST FOR ARMENIA: Ursula von der Leyen will use a visit on Thursday to unveil a package of autonomous trade measures for Armenia, giving the country Ukraine-style preferential access to the EU market and helping shore up its economy against Russian threats, three officials told Camille Gijs and Gabriel Gavin.
LE PEN’S PENSION PROMISES: Allies of National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella are pushing to soften Marine Le Pen’s promised pension reforms ahead of France’s presidential election next year.
MIDDLE EAST LATEST: The U.S. and Iran both say they’re sending representatives to Qatar this week but were giving conflicting signals last night about when any peace negotiations will resume, the Associated Press reports. Donald Trump said both sides will meet today in Doha, but Tehran hasn’t confirmed.
EU’S AC RECKONING
BRUSSELS PLAYS IT COOL: Europe’s freak heat wave last week may have been responsible for 1,300 excess deaths and reignited the continent’s simmering debate over air-conditioning — but the EU is so far refusing to take a side.
“Whether we have a position on air conditioning, pro or contra, not really,” European Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told reporters on Monday, adding it wasn’t for the EU executive to be “micromanaging” or “telling citizens what they must or must not do.”
Climate first: Chief Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho acknowledged AC is important for work and rest but argued the hot spell “reminds us of the importance of our climate policy” and “the energy transition.” Itkonen hinted that the issue of air-conditioning could yet become a “political” priority, in which case “obviously we will be taking steps as our member states signal.”
Europe has extremely low uptake of AC, with only about a fifth of households air-conditioned compared to roughly 90 percent of American homes, largely because of aging housing stock, installation hurdles and a long-standing cultural aversion. But as the climate warms, that resistance is steadily melting away.
Exhibit A: That shift was on full display last week when the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters shut off air conditioning on its first seven floors (more senior officials work on floors eight and above, with President von der Leyen on the 13th). POLITICO’s story, featuring furious reactions from sweltering staff on the lower levels, quickly went viral and spawned a flood of memes like this one.
For the record: Asked why only the first seven floors appeared to lose cooling, the Commission told POLITICO the system “was progressively switched off on Friday, floor by floor, for technical reasons. The entire building was without cooling by the end of the day.” It remained “offline as part of the normal restart process” before being switched back on by Sunday evening.
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
The European Investment Bank on Monday approved a loan of up to €3 billion for Airbus … but what is the EIB and where does the money come from? Based in Luxembourg, the EIB is the lending arm of the EU and is jointly owned by all the member countries. It borrows money on the capital markets — which connect investors with companies and governments that need funding — and lends it to projects that need a lot of cash (the EIB deals with projects that need upwards of €25 million). None of the money that it lends comes from the EU’s budget.
EPSO ELIMINATOR
EURO-BUBBLE KNOCKOUT PHASE: The World Cup isn’t the only competition entering the knockout stage. The first EU hiring competition for generalists rather than specialists in seven years is approaching that stage too, with the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) adding an extra hurdle that could dramatically narrow the field.
Two-legged affair: Instead of sitting the entire exam in one go, candidates for well-paid grade AD5 roles (with salaries of around €6,000 to €7,000 a month) will now be tested on two occasions, according to an update due in today’s EU Official Journal, Playbook has learned.
The first cut is the deepest: To make it to Phase 2, candidates will need to get at least 10/20 in a verbal reasoning test and a combined score of at least 10/20 in numerical and abstract reasoning tests. In other words, miss the cut and it’s game over.
Think like an EU official: Those reasoning tests — verbal, numerical and abstract — are expected to take place in October or November 2026. Candidates will all take the same tests, but not all on the same day.
Prove you know Brussels: Those who advance will move on to the second phase, the EU knowledge test, the digital skills test and the essay on EU matters. Dates have yet to be announced but it will be in 2027.
EU’s golden ticket: Around 170,000 hopefuls have entered the competition, and fewer than 1,500 roles could be available.
No extra time: Candidates will receive their exam invitation several weeks in advance with the exact date, time and practical arrangements. No rescheduling will be allowed. EPSO will today publish a video explainer on the revised testing procedure, with a LinkedIn webinar on July 6.
DASHBOARD
TURKEY’S FORGOTTEN EU MEMBERSHIP BID: Turkey’s bid to join the European Union is more than 25 years old. The country received candidate status in 1999, but accession talks, launched in 2005, have been frozen since 2018. Today, polling in some of the EU’s largest countries — Germany, France and Spain — shows many citizens don’t think Turkey should ever join.
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5 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
OUTCRY OVER VW LAYOFFS: German political leaders are vowing to prevent Volkswagen’s bombshell plan to slash 100,000 jobs from becoming a reality.
DIALOGUE DEAL WITH CHINA: The European Union and China have agreed to set up a new high-level consultation mechanism to manage growing commercial tensions and address the bloc’s widening trade deficit with Beijing.
PLASTICS IN YOUR BLOOD? More than 100 people, invited by Green lawmakers, will undergo blood tests for “forever chemicals” (PFAS) at Brussels’ Chirec-Léopold medical centre today. It’s an attempt to raise awareness as the European Chemicals Agency prepares to deliver a long-awaited scientific opinion on an EU-wide PFAS ban later this year.
MILITARY SHAKE-UP: Britain is learning from Ukraine’s war against Russia as it prepares for the biggest change to its armed forces in decades.
MANHUNT IN MONACO: Ukrainian tycoon Vadym Iermolaiev and his partner were among three people injured in a blast at a residential building in Monaco that authorities said was deliberate. Police are searching for a man who fled across the border into France, the AP reports.