Mitsotakis reiterates support for Serbia and Albania’s EU accession
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated Greece’s support for Serbia and Albania’s EU accession during his arrival at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
Androulakis: Greek taxpayers should not pay New Democracy fine over email leaks
The “scandal of the emails” of overseas registered voters who became recipients of New Democracy-related campaign material and cost the public half a million euros should not be shouldered by the Greek people, PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) leader Nikos Androulakis said on Wednesday.
Brussels sounds alarm over five areas of the Greek economy
The European Commission has placed Greece in the same group of countries as Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, but that is not good news. It is the group of nine eurozone countries in which the Commission’s “Alert Mechanism” identified macroeconomic imbalances. In-depth assessments will follow on whether these imbalances have worsened or are being corrected.
Eurostat: Food inflation in Greece approaching zero in November
Greece registered the second lowest inflation rate in foods among 27 EU member states in November, clearly indicating that pressure on household budgets due to supermarket costs has receded radically.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/871634/Eurostat-Food-inflation-in-Greece-approaching-zero-in-November
ATHEX: Banks rise 1%, putting index in recovery mode
Banks stocks took it upon themselves Wednesday to get the Athens bourse to rebound after two days of profit taking by investors. In a rather narrow session, with little movement for the main index despite the rather high turnover, the closing auctions gave the final push that made rising stocks edge out the decliners. Investors predictably waited for last night’s statements by the Fed in the US.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1256713/athex-banks-rise-1-putting-index-in-recovery-mode
KATHIMERINI: Alarming report regarding Greek universities
TA NEA: Turkey-Libya Pact Nr. 2 via Syria
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The plan regarding “eternal” university students
RIZOSPASTIS: Stop here! It’s either their profits or our lives! Simple folks are being tortured by groups’ profiteering
KONTRA NEWS: Multinational companies are tearing simple folks apart
DIMOKRATIA: 8 multinationals were merely “slapped on the hand” with low fines for profiteering violations
NAFTEMPORIKI: 10.000 losers due to the annulment of the new constructions regulation
SCOOP — EU STAFFER FACING TRIAL IN BELARUS: Belarusian authorities have been holding Mikalai Khilo, a local staffer in an EU delegation in Minsk, since April, Jacopo Barigazzi and Sarah Wheaton report. Khilo may have been accused of insulting Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, and is facing a lengthy jail sentence. “We urge the Belarusian authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally,” Anitta Hipper, European Commission spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, told POLITICO. Read the exclusive story here.
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING. This is Eddy Wax.
DRIVING THE DAY: ZELENSKYY WANTS GUARANTEES
EUROPE HUDDLES WITH ZELENSKYY, AS TRUMP LOOMS: EU countries’ leaders — well, most of them — are making a beeline for the Europa building now for a one-day summit where they will talk about doing more to help Ukraine. But, as ever in Brussels, it’s the pre-meeting that counts. Last night, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met NATO chief Mark Rutte to discuss the most sensitive and existential questions about what could happen next.
Security guarantees for Ukraine: “Our talks focused on strengthening air defense for Ukraine and ensuring the reliability of the peace we are collectively working to achieve,” Zelenskyy said last night, standing alongside Rutte, who hosted the meeting at his gated residence in a street dubbed Billionaires’ Square. They were later joined by other European and NATO member leaders such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa.
Porcupine strategy: Rutte and the EU want Ukraine bristling with strength both militarily and financially, so that when peace talks with Russia eventually do take place Kyiv is in the strongest position possible. “Bolstering Ukraine right now is not only a moral imperative. It is also a strategic imperative,” said von der Leyen in Strasbourg Wednesday.
Why pre-meet? The leaders wanted a safe space to war-game future scenarios for Ukraine, without discussing them publicly or even at the European Council. Today’s discussion will likely focus not on controversial ideas such as sending European peacekeepers to Ukraine — but on needs that have become run-of-the-mill at these summits, such as how to support Kyiv’s energy infrastructure and economy, and deliver more air defense systems and weapons.
Hush hush: Diplomats say Europe’s leaders prefer not to discuss hypothetical future security guarantees for Ukraine in public, in case doing so undermines Kyiv’s case for more weapons now. (Why should financially stretched European capitals dig deep to send more arms to Kyiv, if talk is already turning to a cease-fire, the thinking could go.)
Close, but no cigar: Rutte told reporters that Europeans should focus on how they can help Ukraine withstand Russia’s onslaught now, because security guarantees need to be discussed between Russia and Ukraine, my colleague Jacopo Barigazzi reports. “If we discuss it among ourselves, we make it so easy for the Russians, listening to us in their reclining chairs, smoking a nice cigar while watching all this TV footage, and I don’t think it’s helpful,” said Rutte.
One thing at a time! German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also criticized journalists talking about security guarantees in Brussels on Wednesday, saying: “We must always proceed in the right order, and the right order is that Ukraine must first define for itself … what its goals are with regard to a peace that is not a dictated peace.” The EU’s new top diplomat Kaja Kallas delivers a similar message in this FT interview.
From NATO to EUCO: “Tomorrow we will share all our messages with all the EU leaders,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference last night. He’ll join today’s European Council summit.
Another reason for the cautious pre-meet: It provides a strategic moment to hammer out unified messaging ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Things are all the more uncertain as Europe’s leaders — and the rest of us — still don’t fully understand how Trump will approach bringing an end to Russia’s war.
Mantra for Trump: All Europeans — speaking both on the record and off — are repeating that it’s up to Ukraine to start the peace talks and that any deal to end the war can only be struck on Kyiv’s terms. “There’s only one show in town and that’s the wishes of President Zelenskyy,” said one senior EU diplomat. Are you listening, Trump?
Battlefield: But Zelenskyy, who said he hopes the war can end in 2025, conceded his country lacks the military strength to win back the 18 percent of Ukrainian territory that Russia currently occupies, Veronika Melkozerova reports. He struck a defiant tone though, and suggested Ukraine could regain its land at the negotiating table.
FRENCH TWIST: As previewed in Wednesday’s Playbook, Emmanuel Macron will notably be absent today, skipping the summit to visit the French overseas territory of Mayotte, which is reeling from a catastrophic cyclone. Given Macron put the notion of having European peacekeepers in Ukraine on the table, Kyiv will feel his absence. Macron can’t exactly count on Scholz, who will represent him at the EUCO, to make the point for him so forcefully.
French readings: An Elysée Palace official told my colleague Clea Caulcutt that Macron had briefed Scholz this week on the messages he wanted him to raise on France’s behalf. The official also insisted it’s no big deal Macron won’t make it to today’s EUCO, because the conclusions are pretty much wrapped up anyway (more on that below).
WHAT ELSE WOULD BE WORRYING KYIV: Poland will keep a review of crucial EU trade terms for Ukraine on the down-low until after its presidential election in May, three EU diplomats told my colleagues Camille Gijs and Bartosz Brzeziński — which could deliver a heavy blow to Kyiv’s economy. POLITICO Trade and Agri and Food Pros can check out the scoop here.
NOW READ THIS: Stagnation, flagging competitiveness, Trump — the EU is facing an existential challenge, reports Matthew Karnitschnig this morning. “Once synonymous with cutting-edge automotive technology, Europe today doesn’t have a single entry among the 15 bestselling electric vehicles,” he writes. “As former Italian Prime Minister and central banker Mario Draghi noted in his recent report on Europe’s flagging competitiveness, only four of the world’s top 50 tech companies are European.”
REST OF EUCO
METSOLA TO RAISE VENEZUELA: Parliament President Roberta Metsola told journalists she would push EU leaders to recognize Edmundo González as the legitimate president-elect of Venezuela at today’s summit. (González won the Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought this week.)
Key date: Following Venezuela’s rigged election in July, EU countries need to “align with our position,” Metsola said, to be prepared ahead of Jan. 10, when Nicolás Maduro plans to be sworn in — and when González wants to return from exile to claim the presidency.
Background listening: Listen to this episode of the This American Life podcast to learn how hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans created the only verifiable public record of votes in their presidential election.
WHAT ELSE IS ON THE EUCO AGENDA: Leaders will discuss: The EU’s place in the world (TLDR: no one really likes us anymore) … the Georgian government’s democratic backsliding (more on that below) … the EU’s hardening stance on migration … and how the EU should approach the new HTS government in Syria, which it has been in touch with for years via humanitarian channels (more on that in this analysis by Jamie Dettmer). Follow all the action with our live blog, and see a leaked copy of the conclusions here (h/t Mathieu Pollet).
FIRST TEST FOR COSTA-VDL DUO
PRESIDENTIAL VIBE CHECK: European Council President António Costa chairs his first EUCO today. Bar some tiny fissures, his nascent relationship with the other most powerful EU president seems to be going OK — it’s quite literally been a walk in the park. But VDL’s disastrous relationship with Costa’s predecessor Charles Michel is still very much top of mind — so Barbara Moens and Jacopo Barigazzi took the temperature among senior EU diplomats on the dynamic duo at the top of the Brussels food chain. Here’s what they found …
Dual views on VDL: Some diplomats want EU leaders to rein in what they perceive as constant power-grabbing by the Commission boss; others argue von der Leyen is showing decisiveness at a time when France and Germany lack stable leadership.
Is she freelancing? Von der Leyen traveled to Ankara this week to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — without inviting Costa along for the ride. She also jetted off to South America to sign the Mercosur trade agreement, drawing French ire.
Costa-saving measures: Meanwhile Costa, with his reputation as a wily dealmaker, plans to shake up the way the European Council functioned under Michel. He’s been hanging out with leaders one-to-one — his emphasis on quality time is apparent in the retreat in Belgium he’s organizing in February. Costa wants leaders to waste less time arguing over the content of public documents — so that more time can be spent on meaningful debate.
What that looks like in practice: In a rare move, EU ambassadors signed off on the today’s European Council conclusions, undercutting any sense of drama. Another case in point is that today’s tendentious discussion among leaders on the EU’s place in the world won’t be followed up by a written document. Read Barbara and Jacopo’s full story here.
GEORGIA
TIME TO ACT: Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili delivered a speech in the European Parliament on Wednesday that was met by a standing ovation, my colleague Dato Parulava writes in to report. But she didn’t come to Strasbourg for applause. “You must use your leverage and act,” Zourabichvili told lawmakers, urging the EU to exert pressure on Georgian authorities and support calls for new elections.
Tbilisi stands at a precipice. Will the Georgian government walk the path that leads to EU membership, or return to Russia’s orbit? Thousands of Georgians have hit the streets, facing off against riot police, as they seek to hold the government to account. But while “Georgians have been fighting day and night, Europe has been slow to wake up and slow to react,” Zourabichvili said. Georgia remains “Europe’s foothold in the region, one that Russia is trying to take over,” she added.
Talking the talk, but not walking the walk: The EUCO conclusions devote three paragraphs to Georgia, noting that “all acts of violence” against protesters, opposition politicians and journalists “must be investigated and those responsible held accountable.” But so far, only the Baltics have imposed sanctions on Georgian officials, while the EU as a whole has failed to do so due to Hungary’s and Slovakia’s stone-walling.
Last pro-EU official: The pro-Western Zourabichvili is slated to leave office on Dec. 29 and pass the baton to Mikheil Kavelashvili, a government loyalist the ruling party elected as Georgia’s new president. But Zourabichvili doesn’t recognize Kavelashvili as her legitimate successor given the country’s disputed parliamentary election.
INSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
REST UP WHILE YOU CAN, VDL TELLS STAFF: “You all deserve some time to relax and recover,” Ursula von der Leyen told Commission staffers in a video Christmas message seen by Playbook. “I will try to do the same,” added the famously hard-working German.
“The year ahead will be intense,” von der Leyen said cheerily. “But, for now, enjoy the time with your loved ones.”
EXPERIMENT TO MAKE PARLIAMENT MORE “LIVELY”: A reform-minded cohort of MEPs called The Young Europeans is pushing for experimentation to raise the caliber of debates in the hemicycle. Among the ideas sent in a letter to Parliament President Metsola this week were: increasing the use of oral as opposed to written amendments, holding debates earlier in the legislative process, encouraging MEPs to interact, and making attendance compulsory in some cases. “Our debates need to be representative, engaging and lively,” wrote some 45 MEPs from different political groups, including Damian Boeselager, Sven Simon and Stine Bosse.
LATE TO THE PARTY: Two lawmakers from the Spanish far-right “The Party Is Over” party (SALF), Diego Solier and Nora Junco, have joined the ECR group, raising the Parliament’s fourth-largest faction to a total of 80 MEPs. SALF figurehead and MEP Alvise Pérez remains excluded, for now, due to ongoing police investigations into illegal party financing, according to an ECR official.
IN OTHER NEWS
WESTERN BALKANS SUMMIT WRAP: EU leaders told Western Balkans countries vying to join the club to stop getting into petty disputes among themselves, and told EU countries to stop blocking progress. (Think Kosovo and Serbia; Kosovo and several EU countries that don’t recognize it; Croatia and Montenegro; Bulgaria and North Macedonia; or the Baltic states with Serbia.)
Get over it: Speaking last night, German Chancellor Scholz warned: “It cannot be the case that because one country does not get on so well with its neighbor, the process of each of these two countries with the European Union, for example, is then impaired. This also applies to the relationship between individual member states and the accession countries.” He called for countries to “overcome the pettiness.” Meanwhile Council President Costa said: “Bilateral disputes and neighborhood dilemmas still need to be addressed,” adding: “Bilateralization is not a fair way to deal with accession.”
HAPPENING TODAY — CALL PUTIN: The Russian president hosts his annual choreographed press conference and phone-in today, kicking off at 10 a.m. Brussels time. The event, dubbed “The year’s results with Vladimir Putin,” will feature pre-screened questions from journalists and members of the public. The Kremlin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told state-run media: “Naturally, citizens are most concerned and interested in the special military operation and everything related to it,” using Moscow’s favored euphemism for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
ALSO TODAY — VERDICTS IN PELICOT CASE: Five French judges are expected to deliver their verdicts today in the mass rape case that shocked the world and turned the victim into a feminist icon. Dominique Pelicot, 72, is facing up to 20 years in prison after admitting to repeatedly drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle, and inviting strangers into their bedroom to have sex with her while she was unconscious. Fifty other defendants, most of whom deny the charges against them, are facing sentences of between four and 18 years. The Guardian has more.
ECB DRAMA: The European Central Bank’s long-standing problem with favoritism has flared up again, amid allegations of rigged hiring processes. Carlo Boffa and Johanna Treeck have the story.
HOUSE ARREST FOR SARKOZY: France’s Supreme Court found Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption, with the former president set to serve a one-year prison sentence under house arrest, reports Victor Goury-Laffont.
POWER PODCAST: Power Play host Anne McElvoy talks to POLITICO’s Global Editor-in-Chief John Harris and POLITICO Europe Editor-at-Large Nicholas Vinocur about the prospects for 2025 on both sides of the Atlantic as Donald Trump returns to the White House. Listen here.