PM Mitsotakis: Reconstruction & development of Central and Northern Evros key gov’t priority
The plan to develop the rest of Evros besides Alexandroupolis reflects the region’s potential, its role as the simultaneous border of Greece and the European Union, and the strategic trade position in trade and in the reconstruction of Ukraine once the war is over, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in Orestiada on Thursday.
Kasselakis announces his renewed candidacy for SYRIZA’s leadership
Stefanos Kasselakis announced he was running anew for the leadership of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance in a video posted on social media on Thursday.
Ex-PM Samaras to snub ND anniversary celebration, Karamanlis yet to decide
Former prime minister Antonis Samaras will not attend New Democracy’s 50th-anniversary celebration on Friday. Kostas Karamanlis, also an ex-premier, is expected to announce his decision by noon. The event will take place at the ruling party’s historic headquarters on Rigillis Street.
SYRIZA drops to fifth place, new poll shows
A recent MRB poll shows main opposition SYRIZA dropping to fifth place ahead of the upcoming leadership election at PASOK, which is firmly in second place.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1250053/syriza-drops-in-fifth-place-new-poll-shows
ATHEX: Hope for rise in index after heavy selling
The state has completed the sale of a 10% stake in National Bank, and the Greek stock market can now revert to its normal mode after a streak of loss-making sessions, with the historic lender seeing its stock price end up level with the stake’s transaction price of 7.55 euros on Thursday. Overall the benchmark at Athinon Avenue closed near the day’s low after another selling spree.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1250060/athex-hope-for-rise-in-index-after-heavy-selling
KATHIMERINI: Double game by Ankara
TA NEA: Germany: “Fortify Greece”
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Ministers hand out “gifts” to companies AVAX and LAMDA
RIZOSPASTIS: Multifaceted rallies with the strike of November 20 being the peak on the national level
KONTRA NEWS: Society is provoked with hikes in water bills
DIMOKRATIA: Rents have become a nightmare
NAFTEMPORIKI: VAT will be collected automatically
DRIVING THE DAY (TO THE EDGE OF A TRADE WAR)
FINAL CALL: A year after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pressed the button to investigate overcapacity and state subsidies for made-in-China electric vehicles, EU trade diplomats are widely expected to formally greenlight duties on Chinese EVs in a crunch vote this morning. Brace for a (potential) trade war.
Late-night drama: Germany made its vote clear last night when Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided Berlin would cast a “no” ballot instead of abstaining, overruling his coalition partners in the Green Party who want a tougher approach to China.
The message is clear: The chancellor’s office is concerned about Beijing retaliating, and Scholz doesn’t mind bucking the EU trend — even if that means invoking his exceptional power to overrule fellow coalition partners. More on that from Hans von der Burchard and Koen Verhelst.
Scholz upset quite a few Germans: “If the EU buckles and does nothing to counter Beijing’s aggressive policy of overcapacity, we would be handing over the most important shield that the EU has acquired for this kind of thing,” a German diplomat told Hans. An economy ministry official said “there is no need for naivety toward China.” Reinhard Bütikofer, a senior fellow at the CEPA think tank and a former Green MEP who used to run the China file in the European Parliament, called Scholz’s decision “fatal” and “despicable.”
Madrid urges Brussels to negotiate: In a letter to EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis, Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo asked the bloc to “keep the negotiations open and exhaust all avenues for a compromise solution” with China — though he didn’t reveal how Spain would vote, as per Reuters.
Likely green light: EU diplomats and officials say they don’t expect enough countries to vote no to block the Commission’s proposal, meaning the duties should go through.
EU-China watershed: The result is going to set the course for the EU’s relationship with China for the next five years, with the bloc bracing for Beijing’s response. China’s “measures are ready for tomorrow. We’ll face all kinds of retaliations, let’s be clear about it,” a senior EU diplomat told my colleague Camille Gijs on Thursday.
Beijing has sent mixed signals in recent days, oscillating between threats to launch probes into EU products and appearing satisfied with Brussels’ plan to keep exploring options like a minimum price for China’s EVs even after today’s tariff vote. Speaking on a panel earlier in the week, German Ambassador to the EU Michael Clauß said the decision about what happens next will be made by one man — Chinese President Xi Jinping — while Beijing’s economic headwinds and uncertainty over the U.S. election result would complicate the calculus.
TIMELY WIN FOR VDL: If the vote goes through, it will be a crucial first step for von der Leyen to shape what she says will be a tough “foreign economic policy” in her second mandate. “The vote surely does not mark the end of Sino-European rising trade tensions,” said François Chimits, a senior economist at the MERICS think tank. “On the contrary, it could very well go down as the first line of a chapter of much more confrontational trade relations. The ball is in Beijing’s court to decide how much so.”
Damage control? The German foreign ministry told Hans that the minister, Annalena Baerbock, “would like to accept her Chinese colleague’s invitation to visit China again.” The German and Chinese ministries “are currently coordinating dates for this,” they added. Berlin seems to be betting on the fact that Beijing wouldn’t — or couldn’t — retaliate hard.
NOW READ THIS — MACRON AND SCHOLZ SPLIT ON HOW TO SAVE EUROPE: Germany and France have wildly different takes on what Europe must do to protect itself from global threats, diverging on everything from the duties on Chinese EVs to joint EU borrowing and trade talks with South American countries. Clea Caulcutt and Giorgio Leali report on the split.
SCALE OF THE PROBLEM: Carlo Martuscelli and Hanne Cokelaere have rounded up the seven ways the U.S. is beating Europe. Spoiler alert: Americans are richer and more productive (both when it comes to U.S. workers producing more per hour than Europeans do, and when it comes to having children).
COMMISSIONERS ON THE RICH LIST
JURI’S OUT: The European Parliament’s legal affairs committee JURI isn’t happy with how it gets to scrutinize possible conflicts of interest for the commissioners-designate. MEPs on the committee had a mere three days ahead of a crunch meeting on Thursday to screen hundreds of pages of declarations provided by the incoming commissioners — in a process so opaque there’s little room for real scrutiny.
Don’t worry, we did it for you! While technically the declarations aren’t made public, as Playbook flagged Thursday, the Parliament is a leaky place — and we managed to get our hands on all of them. So without further ado …
On the rich list: Greek Commissioner-designate Apostolos Tzitzikostas’ declaration was eye-catching, detailing his partial or total ownership of 16 apartments, 655,463 square meters of land, six stores and also several garages and storage spaces all around Greece. He also declared owning more than €200,000 of shares in various businesses, from dairy products to photovoltaic energy.
On the other end of the scale … Current Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis filed an almost bare form. “For already 10 years I have been serving as a member of the European Commission, correspondingly there are not many past activities left to declare,” he told POLITICO, adding that he’s made no investments. Elisa Braun, Max Griera and Paul Dallison have the full story.
Where the committee landed: Twenty-three of the incoming commissioners will face extra conflict of interest questions, while three have been given the all-clear: Poland’s Piotr Serafin, Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi and the Netherlands’ Wopke Hoekstra. More here.
RUSSIAN INFLUENCE
KREMLIN’S PLAN TO WRECK MOLDOVA’S EU PROSPECTS: Moldovans will vote on whether they want to join the EU in a referendum later this month — and Moscow is stepping up efforts to get them to a “no,” officials warn.
Cash for clout: “Moldova is facing a phenomenon of voter bribery, combined with hybrid warfare and disinformation, the likes of which our country has never seen before,” the country’s chief of police, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, told my colleague Gabriel Gavin. According to investigators, $15 million of Russian funds have been funneled into the accounts of more than 130,000 ordinary citizens as part of an apparent attempt to bribe them to vote against EU membership.
Coming soon to a polling station near you: Moldova is calling on Brussels to help support its path to joining the bloc after the EU opened accession talks with Chișinău this summer. “We are learning important lessons as we defend our democracy in this electoral cycle,” one official said, “lessons the EU can also benefit from as they will likely face similar, but more refined, tactics in the future.”
Call to action: Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan, who was this week reelected chair of the Parliament’s delegation for relations with Moldova, said the allegations would be discussed in a planned “plenary debate and a resolution next week in the Parliament, on Moldova’s capacity to tackle Russian interference in elections.” He added that EU countries should closely monitor attempts to influence the vote, and sanction “any entities seeking to illegally influence” it.
MEANWHILE, IN GEORGIA … The government signed a Kremlin-inspired anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law Thursday. The legislation, introduced by the governing Georgian Dream party, bans same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples and depictions of LGBTQ+ people in media, among other measures. Seb Starcevic has the details.
SLOVAKIA WANTS TO REBUILD RUSSIA TIES: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico vowed to restore relations with Moscow if the war in Ukraine ends during his term. “If the war ends during the [2023-2027] mandate of this government, I’ll do everything possible for the renewal of economic and standard relations with Russia,” he said. Ketrin Jochecová has more.
RUSSIA’S WAR
DEEP STRIKES? RUTTE SAYS GO FOR IT: NATO’s new Secretary-General Mark Rutte took office on Tuesday — and was in Kyiv by Thursday. His aim: To pile pressure on hesitant Western countries that refuse to allow Ukraine to use advanced weapons to strike military targets deep inside Russia. Standing alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rutte said: “Ukraine obviously has the right to defend itself, and international law here is on the side of Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s right to self-defense “does not end at the border,” Rutte said. “Russia is pursuing this illegal war, and that means that targeting Russian fighter jets and missiles before they can be used against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure can help save lives.”
Where the West stands on cross-border strikes: Joe Biden’s U.S. administration is still balking at allowing Kyiv to use Western weapons to strike deep into Russian territory over fears that could provoke President Vladimir Putin to escalate. But Rutte, along with the U.K. and others, is pushing the White House to lift that restriction when Biden chairs a special summit with Ukraine-supporting leaders on Oct. 12. Write-up here.
DEATH TOLL: At least 177 Ukrainian prisoners have died in Russian captivity since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion and thousands of others are at great risk, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. Eva Hartog has the details.
NOW READ THIS: Armin Papperger is Europe’s real defense commissioner, write Joshua Posaner and Jacopo Barigazzi in this profile of the powerful CEO of Rheinmetall, the biggest maker of ammunition on the Continent.
MIDDLE EAST
LEBANON LATEST: Israel unleashed further airstrikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon late Thursday night, with explosions reported just outside Beirut’s international airport. The New York Times, citing Israeli officials, said Israel had targeted an underground bunker where senior Hezbollah officials were meeting, including Hashem Safieddine, a cousin and possible successor to Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in a similar attack last week.
Nasrallah’s assassination has emboldened Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, writes Jamie Dettmer.
Unity bid: When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, it exploited sectarian divisions. This time around, many Lebanese are desperate to preserve national solidarity, report Jamie and Laura Kayali.
BIDEN ON IRAN: Asked whether he would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil facilities, Biden on Thursday said: “We’re discussing that.” (The price of oil jumped in reaction.) But Biden also said he was confident there wouldn’t be a full-scale war, insisting: “I think we can avoid it.”
IN OTHER NEWS
VDL’S HUNGARIAN HANGOUT: Viktor Orbán’s arch-rival Péter Magyar met with Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to discuss the funds frozen by the EU to persuade Hungary to enact judicial reforms. “We agreed that EU funds are rightfully due to the Hungarian people and would provide enormous support to Hungarian SMEs, the health care system, the transportation and energy sectors, and education as well,” Magyar said on Facebook. “The ball is in the Orbán government’s court; as soon as they accept the anti-corruption measures and acknowledge that the money will no longer go to oligarchs in the future, the Commission will start transferring the [money].”
NOW HEAR THIS: The EU Confidential podcast explores the rise of far-right forces in Europe. Host Sarah Wheaton and professor Theresa Kuhn from the University of Amsterdam discuss the factors driving voter support for Austria’s FPÖ in the latest election. Plus, Jamie Dettmer reports from Tel Aviv, and yours truly scored the final exit interview with NATO’s former Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Listen and subscribe here.
AND SINCE IT’S FRIDAY … read Paul Dallison’s latest Declassified humor column on the art of political merchandise and why the European Union, alas, is rubbish at it.