PM Mitsotakis: All indications concerning the Greek economy are good
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday expressed his optimism regarding the prospects of the Greek economy, as well as the need for political and economic stability, amid a discussion regarding the new American leadership’s intention to impose tariffs on European products, during his first regular briefing of the new President of the Hellenic Republic Constantine Tassoulas.
PASOK disciplinary committee recommends 1-year suspension for MP
PASOK’s disciplinary committee on Tuesday recommended the one-year suspension of Katerina Batzeli’s party membership, triggering fresh turmoil in the ranks of the socialist opposition. Batzeli, who attended the session and submitted a memo, argued there was no justification for her referral, arguing that her comments in a recent radio interview neither insulted nor criticized party president Nikos Adroulakis, and dismissing the move as a “misguided strategy.”
Council of State clears New Democracy in ‘email gate,’ upholds other fines
Greece’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, has annulled the €30,000 fine imposed by the Data Protection Authority (DPA) on the ruling New Democracy party while upholding fines against former MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou and two other party officials in connection with the “email gate” scandal. The court ruled in favor of New Democracy, overturning the party’s fine, but upheld the sanctions against the individual officials.
Finance ministry reports surplus of 4.493 billion euros in January-March 2025 budget execution report
The State Budget Primary Balance on a modified cash basis amounted to a surplus of 4,493 million euros, against the primary surplus target of 616 million euros and the primary surplus of 2,987 million euros performed at the same period of the previous year, according to the preliminary data available for the execution of the State Budget on a modified cash basis in January-March 2025 released by the ministry of economy and finance on Tuesday.
ATHEX: Fourth day of recovery for stocks
As calm is gradually being restored to the markets, the Greek bourse registered its fourth consecutive session of growth for its benchmark on Tuesday. It is therefore approaching the 14-year highs recorded in March, bolstered also by some optimism about a further credit rating upgrade of the country’s debt by Standard & Poor’s on Good Friday. The banking sector outperformed on the day, while industries and mid-caps lagged somewhat, just as daily turnover keeps decreasing.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1267125/athex-fourth-day-of-recovery-for-stocks
KATHIMERINI: 350,000 transfers of real estate assets remain blocked
TA NEA: 5 + 1 changes regarding inheritances
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The not-at-all accidental deaths of workers
RIZOSPASTIS: Price hikes and tax-heist for a 4,5 billion primary surplus
KONTRA NEWS: Turkish delirium for the Greek frigates
DIMOKRATIA: European Counci: Yes to Islam, no to Jesus by the Commission
NAFTEMPORIKI: The bet of collective labor agreements in the bareca and retail sectors
DRIVING THE DAY: MELONI PREPS FOR WASHINGTON
D.C.-BOUND: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to become the latest EU leader to meet with Donald Trump, as she heads to Washington seeking to persuade the American president to ease off on his trade war. (What’s the bet she’ll make an appearance at Cafe Milano, D.C.’s legendary seen-and-be-seen Italian fine-dining eatery in the swanky Georgetown area?)
Finding common ground: The Italian leader, who will hold an Oval Office meeting with the president Thursday, is an ideological bedfellow of the right-wing American president. She was the only EU leader to attend his inauguration in January and delivered a speech virtually at the most recent CPAC conference, a mainstay of the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party.
Trump whisperer: As POLITICO’s team writes in our tee-up piece ahead of the meeting, even Meloni’s wariest counterparts around the EU table are accepting the idea that she may be the most senior European leader Trump will listen to — despite alarm bells ringing in Paris.
Realpolitik: But the reality is that this week’s visit is a tricky balancing act for Meloni. Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy, comes near the bottom of the class in terms of cold hard data from a U.S. perspective. It’s a laggard on defense spending. It also has a gaping trade surplus in goods with America, with Italian exporters selling everything from food and agri products to cars and pharmaceuticals to the U.S.
All about the optics: Given the realities of the trade balance, it remains to be seen what kind of “win” Meloni can bag from her White House visit. (She spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ahead of the trip.) Tariffs of 10 percent still remain on EU imports into the United States, with Trump threatening to slap levies on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and now critical minerals.
Art of the deal: One senior Italian government official familiar with Meloni’s approach to foreign policy said she’s likely to repeat the EU’s call for zero-for-zero tariffs, a “maximalist” negotiating position that she can then barter down in exchange for something concrete from Washington, our own Ben Munster reports from Rome.
What Meloni can offer in return is another question. Rome has no power to negotiate a trade deal or slash digital regulations, though Meloni could make it easier for U.S. companies to invest in Italy, or assure Trump that Rome is prepared to take a tough stance on China.
Right on cue: The Trump administration plans to use tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. trading partners including the EU to limit their dealings with Beijing, the Wall Street Journal and Irish Times reported. Per the WSJ, “U.S. officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries, prevent Chinese firms from locating in their territories to avoid U.S. tariffs, and not absorb China’s cheap industrial goods into their economies.”
Musk watch: One question on everybody’s lips is if Meloni will find time to catch up with kindred spirit Elon Musk — amid uncertainty about the future of a potential deal between Italy and his Starlink satellite communications company.
Easter tidings: Straight after her D.C. visit, Meloni will host U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Rome — his first trip to Europe since his incendiary speech at the Munich Security Conference in February.
Reminder: Vance is a recent convert to Catholicism. But it seems that even the pope isn’t Catholic enough for the ambitious veep, given he was forced to defend his hard-core stance on migration after a rebuke from Francis.
De Gaulle of him! At least there’s one European who has managed to impress Vance. In an interview with UnHerd, the veep said Charles de Gaulle was right about European military independence. De Gaulle “loved the United States of America,” Vance said, “but [he] recognized what I certainly recognize, that it’s not in Europe’s interest, and it’s not in America’s interest, for Europe to be a permanent security vassal of the United States.” Write-up.
MEMBERS OF THE RIGHT UNITE: Here’s a reminder of the links between the Trump administration and another right-wing European leader, Viktor Orbán: The U.S. State Department announced it had removed sanctions on key Orbán aide Antal Rogán, following a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó Tuesday.
MUST READ: My Paris colleague Marion Solletty, with an assist from reporters in London, Berlin and Brussels, has a big read out this morning into the untold story of how Trump shocked Europe in a few short days in February. It’s chock-full of never-before-reported detail and really is worth your time.
BRO-FREE ZONE
ON THE INTERVIEW CIRCUIT: “We don’t have bros or oligarchs making the rules. We don’t invade our neighbors, and we don’t punish them,” Ursula von der Leyen told Die Zeit in an interview. “On the contrary, there are 12 countries on the waiting list to become members of the European Union,” she added.
“The West as we knew it no longer exists.” That’s one of the more memorable quotes in the interview from the Commission chief, who shared her thoughts on the future of the EU and the “European ideal.” Hint: The chaos in the United States (not to mention Russia) has made Europeans feel thankful for what they’ve got.
“It’s often easier to see your own strengths in somebody else’s mirror,” von der Leyen mused. “You can make money anywhere in the world. But where do you want to raise your children? Where do you want to be if your health isn’t great? When you get older?”
Stepping into the void: VDL also flew the free trade flag, noting that the Trump tariff chaos has an up side. “Everyone is asking for more trade with Europe — and it’s not just about economic ties. It is also about establishing common rules and it is about predictability,” she said, adding: “Europe can deliver that.” Write-up here.
No white smoke: Von der Leyen’s unsurprising effort to talk up Europe contrasts with the reality facing the EU’s 27 members, after Monday’s meeting in D.C. between EU trade boss Maroš Šefčovič and Trump administration officials yielded little.
What does Trump want? Brussels remains in the dark on that. “The EU is doing its part. Now, it is necessary for the U.S. to define its position,” the Commission’s trade spokesman Olof Gill said Tuesday.
Uncomfortable timing: With Trump digging down on his promise to hit pharma imports,new figures from Ireland show that exports from the country to the U.S. surged in February by a whopping 200 percent, with pharma and medical products accounting for about two-thirds of the total. The uptick could suggest that companies are racing to ship products to the U.S. before tariffs hit.
Reminder: The Trump administration opened investigations into pharmaceuticals and semiconductors Monday and into critical minerals last night — a key step that paves the way for the imposition of tariffs on those sectors.
MEANWHILE, U.S. SIDES WITH KREMLIN AGAIN: Washington told G7 allies it won’t endorse a statement condemning Russia’s deadly Sumy attack because it wants to keep peace talks with Moscow on track, Bloomberg reports.
ALL EYES ON ROMANIA
HERE WE GO AGAIN: Romanians will go to the polls to choose a new president on May 4. It comes four months after Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the first-round election in a controversial decision that piqued the interest of so-called free speech advocates in the U.S. and across the world.
Owning the right: As my colleague Hanne Cokelaere reports, with Moscow-backed ultranationalist Călin Georgescu disqualified, George Simion, leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), has vaulted into the polling lead.
Runners and riders: Simion will face an all-male field: the governing parties’ candidate Crin Antonescu (the husband of Romania’s former European Commissioner Adina Vălean, who is now an MEP); centrist independent Nicușor Dan; and leftist-turned-nationalist Victor Ponta. All of them have polled in second position in separate recent surveys.
Game-planning: Given the result will rest on the all-important second-round vote on May 18, Hanne has top analysis of the likely runoff scenarios which will dictate Romania’s political direction as the country decides its future.
TRUMPIAN INTEREST: Donald Trump Jr. is due in Bucharest on April 28, a week ahead of the election. The American president’s eldest son previously criticized the court ruling that annulled the 2024 vote as a “Soros/Marxist attempt” to rig the election.
BARNIER’S BACK
ANOTHER SHOT AT THE TOP: Getting ousted from the French prime ministership doesn’t appear to have hindered Michel Barnier’s ambitions, Victor Goury-Laffont reports from Paris. Barnier, whose government fell to a motion of no confidence after just three months, publicly opened the door Tuesday to a presidential run in 2027.
It’s complicated: Barnier, the EU’s point man during the Brexit negotiations, has kept a low profile since setting the record for the shortest-ever tenure for a prime minister during France’s Fifth Republic. Mounting a successful presidential bid after such an unceremonious end to his premiership is a long shot, Victor writes.
Reminder: The 74-year-old ran for president in 2022, but fell at the first hurdle, placing third in the primaries for his conservative Les Républicains.
Second time lucky? In a poll last week, Barnier recorded lower support than two other former prime ministers, Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal. Still, his allies reckon he’s in with a strong chance. A Les Républicains lawmaker close to Barnier noted he enjoyed a better approval rating than François Bayrou, his centrist successor, during his stint as the French head of government. “Michel isn’t ruling anything out,” the MP told POLITICO.
IN OTHER NEWS
FULL OF GAS: Any discussion of reviving energy ties with Russia is “illusory,” Belgian Energy Minister Mathieu Bihet told my colleague Victor Jack, pushing back against a growing chorus of voices in Europe calling for restarting imports from Moscow.
IN VINO VERITAS: Russian hackers sure know their audience: They’ve been targeting European diplomats by sending out fake invitations to wine-tasting events, Sam Clark reports. But rather than an evening of schmoozing and swirling, those who opened the emailed attachments got malicious software.
EASTERN EUROPEAN OFFICIALS SPREAD BIOTERRORISM THEORY: Hungary and Slovakia have floated unverified claims that recent foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks may be linked to a biological attack, Ketrin Jochecová reports. The European Commission said it is working to figure out where the virus came from.
GETTING SOCIAL: The first exchange between Commission Executive Vice President Roxana Mînzatu and European social partners takes place this afternoon in the Berlaymont, with representatives from dozens of groups slated to attend. The meeting aims to kickstart discussion about the “Quality Jobs Roadmap” — a key part of the Commission’s Competitiveness Compass unveiled earlier this year.
BULGARIA IGNORES ECHR RULING: Roma families in Sofia face homelessness as authorities demolish homes in the Zaharna Fabrika neighborhood, despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling to halt the demolitions. The authorities, citing a 2016 decision, are going ahead, deploying police and a water cannon to prevent unrest, Balkan Insight reports.
MIGRATION LATEST: France and Britain are negotiating a migrant returns agreement that would involve one person being deported from the U.K. in exchange for France sending another individual the other way, the FT reports.
FROM BEHIND BARS: Jailed Turkish politician Ekrem İmamoğlu has penned an op-ed from a cell in Silivri Prison, “where many other elected officials, academics, journalists and activists are also held,” he writes. “As the EU strives to fortify itself against growing challenges, the presence of a democratic Turkey is indispensable. A regime that silences its youth, crushes dissent and governs by fear will only deepen regional volatility. “