PM sets sights on third term, driven by economic prospects
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is setting his sights on a third term, drawing confidence from Greece’s economic prospects. “As long as the economy continues performing well, without fiscal instability, and as long as foreign rating agencies continue to defy global trends by upgrading Greece, citizens can look forward to better days ahead,” Mitsotakis said in an interview with Greek daily Proto Thema.
Opposition parties slam government’s welfare pledges
Political tensions escalated this week following new welfare pledges by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The proposals, aimed at supporting vulnerable groups, have drawn fierce criticism from opposition parties, who accuse the government of using “charity handouts” for political gain. Socialist PASOK, leftist SYRIZA, the Communist Party (KKE), and other opposition voices each presented counterproposals focused on structural reforms in housing, social inclusion, and regional development.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1267738/opposition-parties-slam-governments-welfare-pledges
Socialist PASOK eyes political reboot with party rally
The leader of socialist PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, is set to deliver a high-stakes speech Sunday at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Neo Faliro, addressing 600-700 party officials in what is described as a “political restart.”
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1267636/socialist-pasok-eyes-political-reboot-with-party-rally
FinMin in Washington: Greece plans to repay memorandum loans ten years a head of deadline
Greece is planning to pay back the first memorandum’s loans earlier than the deadline, National Economy & Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis asserted on Wednesday, speaking to national broadcaster ERT TV from Washington DC, where he is attending the World Bank Group (WBG)/International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings.
ATHEX: Strong gains take index over 1,700 pts
Washington’s swing to a more conciliatory stance toward Beijing, as well as toward the Fed, bolstered markets internationally and gave the Greek bourse a fresh push that took the benchmark at Athinon Avenue above the 1,700-point mark on Wednesday. In fact the index not only closed at a three-week high, but also at its highest point during the day’s session, while turnover also improved.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1267741/athex-strong-gains-take-index-over-1700-pts
KATHIMERINI: Businesses stealing electricity will be shut down
TA NEA: Automatic tax declarations
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: IMF: more austerity needed
RIZOSPASTIS: Take measures now against wildfires!
KONTRA NEWS: New wave of youngsters leaving the country
DIMOKRATIA: Pensioners and the uniformed are outraged
NAFTEMPORIKI: Super-surplus of new handouts in 2026 as well
DRIVING THE DAY: UK-EU TALKS
LONDON CALLING: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen nips across the Channel today to attend the “Future of Energy Security” summit. But the real interest will be in her tête-à-tête with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, expected just after 4 p.m. Brussels time.
Coalition of the willing: The meeting between the two comes ahead of a U.K.-EU summit on May 19 (which European Council President António Costa will also attend). The war in Ukraine and the massive defense and trade disruption unleashed by the Trump administration have injected the tricky post-Brexit relationship between London and Brussels with a new purpose, as Europeans band together. But all is not rosy.
So much for the reset: Keir Starmer promised a “reset” of the British-EU relationship when he arrived in No. 10 Downing St last year after the agonizing Brexit years. But while many in Brussels breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of a prime minister from the Labour Party — traditionally more pro-EU than the Conservatives — EU officials have dialed down their expectations, as Starmer poured cold water on a student mobility scheme and played hardball.
White smoke: It’s widely expected that a defense pact between the EU and Britain will be signed at the May summit. That would allow the U.K. to participate in the EU’s fledgling €150 billion loan program for defense known as SAFE, which stipulates that only countries with a security pact with the bloc are eligible.
Fishy business: But as our POLITICO team previously reported, the talks have been bogged down with other non-defense issues like access to fishing waters. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas may have expressed “surprise” earlier this month that fish could hold up a security pact, but the reality is that it’s serious business, particularly for France.
Not a done deal: The Times reported this week that Starmer is poised to sign up to a defense deal which would see Britain make “significant concessions” to the EU in terms of rights to fish in British waters. (The current arrangements on fishing rights per the Trade and Cooperation Agreement that governs post-Brexit relations are due to expire next year.) Both the U.K. and EU have insisted that nothing is decided.
State of play: Sandro Gozi, the Renew MEP who co-chairs the EU-U.K. Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, a post-Brexit forum for members of the British and European parliaments, says the mood music is good. “Certainly the tone and the attitude has become very positive; Brexit and post-Brexit were very difficult, very painful on both sides,” he told Playbook, noting a new spirit of “mutual trust,” helped in part by the new geopolitical climate.
Facts are facts: But on fish, he said, the reality is that it is part of the existing agreement and has to be dealt with. “The Parliament has been very clear, we have to identify a solution … based on current arrangements — on fisheries, before or at the latest, at the summit.”
Lost in the post: Gozi and his British counterpart, Labour MP Marsha de Cordova, have written to Costa and Starmer to make the case for parliamentarians to be present at the May 19 summit. So far there’s been no response.
Next steps: The Commission is due to brief EU ambassadors next Wednesday on the state of play. In addition to the defense and security pact, a separate statement on global issues and future arrangements is expected from the summit.
Energy watch: Among the other topics on the agenda today between VDL and Starmer are the global economy (diplomatic speak for Trump’s trade war) and energy cooperation. As Charlie Cooper reports in today’s Morning Energy U.K. newsletter, energy ties — including a potential linkage between the EU and the U.K. emissions trading schemes — will be a focus of the May 19 summit.
CRUNCHTIME FOR UKRAINE CEASEFIRE
TRUMP BLASTS ZELENSKYY: Donald Trump once again blamed Volodymyr Zelenskyy for holding up ceasefire negotiations with Russia, as he lashed out at the Ukrainian president on social media Wednesday.
Upping the ante: “We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE,” he said on Truth Social, lambasting the Ukrainian leader. As our U.S. colleagues report, Trump is ramping up pressure on Kyiv as his administration signals it is losing patience trying to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Land for peace: Trump also appeared to defend Russia’s claim to Crimea, stating that the peninsula was “lost years ago.” The intervention comes amid reports Washington has proposed officially recognizing Russia’s claim to Crimea — something Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out.
Widening gap: Trump unleashed his tirade as Ukraine’s European allies were huddling in London at a meeting that top U.S. officials skipped — the latest indication of the gaping chasm between the Americans and Europeans on how they view a possible ceasefire.
Split screen: In case the point was missed, U.S. Vice President JD Vance doubled down in comments to reporters while on a trip to India. “There’s going to have to be some territorial swaps” as part of a peace deal, he said. France, in contrast, stressed on Wednesday that any peace agreement must include respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Moscow bound: Signs that the U.S. is turning the screws on Kyiv — Vance again warned Wednesday that Washington was prepared to walk away from the process — come as Trump envoy Steve Witkoff heads to Russia later today. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio Wednesday about the U.S.-backed peace proposal presented to Ukraine and Russia.
Under pressure: As our own Veronika Melkozerova reports, Zelenskyy is feeling the heat domestically about the ceasefire and a possible minerals deal with the U.S. The Ukrainian opposition is demanding that the president comes to the country’s parliament and update lawmakers.
SCOOP — WHITE HOUSE MULLS LIFTING ENERGY SANCTIONS: In a bombshell report overnight, our Stateside colleagues reveal that the White House is debating whether to lift sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and potentially other Russian assets in Europe as part of ceasefire negotiations. The sharp reversal in U.S. policy would be a major diplomatic coup for the Kremlin. (In a joint statement issued by the White House, Rubio and Witkoff denied the discussions about easing sanctions had taken place.)
Meanwhile, back in Brussels, Zia Weise and Victor Jack report that the European Commission will suggest measures to forbid companies from signing new oil and gas contracts with Russia in an upcoming plan to end the bloc’s reliance on Moscow’s imports.
Details: The plan, expected on May 6, is part of Brussels’ broader strategy to eliminate Russian energy imports by 2027, they write. The document will float several options for legally binding proposals or trade measures, said a senior EU official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
BRUSSELS VS. BIG TECH
PULLING THE TRIGGER: The European Commission finally took action against Apple and Meta for breaching the EU’s Digital Markets Act on Wednesday, slamming the U.S. tech giants with fines of €500 million and €200 million respectively.
The details: Apple was fined for breaking the DMA’s new rules around app stores, while Meta was rebuked for its “pay or consent” advertising model, which requires that EU users pay to access ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.
Not good enough: But for many campaigners, the relatively small fines were just raps on the knuckles. Left-leaning lawmakers in the European Parliament urged the Commission not to stop there, calling on tech chief Henna Virkkunen to conclude investigations into TikTok, Meta and Elon Musk’s X under the Digital Services Act, the EU’s other flagship regulation, Pieter Haeck reports.
All in the timing: EU competition boss Teresa Ribera waved off criticism that the penalties were delayed to avoid a further escalation of U.S. tariffs, Francesca Micheletti and Jacob Parry report. “These are decisions that are not taken with passion,” but with “seriousness and evidence,” Ribera said. “It’s law enforcement.” The Commission has been under pressure to deliver the verdicts in recent weeks after missing an indicative end-March deadline.
Appealing to Trump: Unsurprisingly, Meta pushed back, claiming the EU’s fines amounted to “a multi-billion-dollar tariff ” and an attempt to “handicap” successful American firms — phraseology that could have come straight from the White House. Both companies are appealing the Commission’s decision.
Apple’s blues: The EU and Apple have long been at loggerheads. With this latest fine, the Commission has just ratcheted up the heat, writes POLITICO’s Jacob Parry. Read his full piece on how the fight over Apple has become symbolic of the clash between the U.S. and EU.
HUAWEI BLACKLISTED: The European Commission will no longer meet with lobby groups affiliated with Chinese tech firm Huawei, following an investigation into alleged corruption at the European Parliament, POLITICO’s Mathieu Pollet reports.
VATICAN NEWS
CLIMATE PROPHET: As Pope Francis leaves the stage, so too does one of the world’s most vocal climate moralists. Karl Mathiesen writes that the late pope’s clear moral position is rarely heard today from climate leaders and champions — many of whom praised Francis this week as a patron saint of their cause.
Pre-COP warning: Earlier this year ahead of November’s COP30 climate talks in Brazil, Francis sent a short note to Brazil’s bishopry exhorting them to reread the Laudato Si’ manifesto he published a decade ago arguing for nothing short of a revolution in humanity’s relationship with itself and with the natural world.
CONCLAVE LATEST: Cardinals gathering in Rome ahead of Francis’ funeral are likely to make a break with the recent past when they decide on his successor, former British Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Campbell told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast. Speaking to host Anne McElvoy, he said: “It’ll come down to will you have a continuity candidate like Pope Benedict or will you have a sort of break like Pope Francis. My instinct is perhaps they may go for a break rather than a continuity.”
IN OTHER NEWS
GULP: A new investigation has found widespread contamination in European wines with trifluoroacetic acid — a persistent byproduct of the PFAS forever chemicals. None of the wines produced in the past few years across 10 EU countries came back clean, Bartosz Brzeziński reports. In some bottles, levels were found to be 100 times higher than what is typically measured in drinking water.
VALENCIA VICTIMS AWAIT VDL: The three associations representing the victims of last year’s deadly Valencia flood have written an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen requesting a meeting with the Commission president when she travels to the region to attend the European People’s Party congress next week. The victims’ groups want to discuss the botched handling of the disaster, in which 228 locals died, and are seeking von der Leyen’s support in holding regional authorities accountable.
Awkward: Within the letter, the victims’ associations take particular aim at Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazón, a member of the EPP’s Spanish affiliate, Aitor Hernández-Morales reports. They also criticize Brussels, pointing out that in the six months since the floods took place, not a single member of the Commission has visited the site of one of the greatest catastrophes in the EU’s recent history.
Nothing on the books: Von der Leyen is unlikely to agree to any meetings that could prove embarrassing for her EPP colleagues in Spain. A Commission spokesperson confirmed she’d received the letter, but told POLITICO that no information on her engagements next week is available at this time.
POLISH MEPS COULD DELAY EDIP VOTE: Polish lawmakers with the center-right European People’s Party are pressing to delay a vote due today on the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), Jacopo Barigazzi reports. The vote is scheduled for 10 a.m. during a joint session of Parliament’s defense and industry committees; the EPP debated the issue Wednesday.
Eligibility matters: The Polish MEPs — backed by others — have beef with the criteria that says defense products financed via EDIP must contain a minimum of 70 percent EU components. The current methodology in the text “excludes most Eastern European companies,” MEP Marta Wcisło told my colleague Csongor Körömi.
FRONTEX VS. GREECE: The EU’s border agency is so frustrated with Greece’s repeated pushbacks of migrants that it’s considering calling on Brussels to bring disciplinary proceedings against Athens, a Frontex official told Nektaria Stamouli.
AUSTRIA TACKLES VIOLENCE: Austria’s council of ministers adopted a national action plan on violence against women on Wednesday, Šejla Ahmatović reports. “Violence is not a private matter, it is a structural problem and therefore also requires a structural, holistic response,” Austria’s Women’s Affairs Minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner said in a press conference.
The details: Among the measures are the introduction of ankle bracelets for high-risk offenders and new legislation to criminalize the sending of unsolicited explicit images. “What is punishable in real life must not remain unpunished in the digital space,” Family Minister Claudia Plakolm said, adding that it is necessary to “fully leverage all the opportunities provided to us by the Digital Services Act.”
TIME FOR PERMA-CHANGE: The EU needs to embrace a mindset of “permanent adaptation,” as it navigates the tricky issue of enlargement. That’s the message from a new publication out today from the European Policy Centre which calls on the EU to prioritize enlargement and internal reform in order to meet the current moment, and embrace a strategy of “perma-change.”
PRICE FOR “INSULTING” ERDOĞAN: Joakim Medin, a Swedish reporter detained in Turkey, faces a jail sentence of 12 years if convicted of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and on terrorism charges. “He is a journalist who has done journalism,” Medin’s employer said, Seb Starcevic writes.
HOW TO HELP IRANIANS: Western governments should create a “strike fund” to support a wave of industrial action across Iran that will paralyze the state and hasten the end of the regime, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the country’s former leader, told POLITICO’s Tim Ross in an interview.