Ex-OPEKEPE chief had warned PM’s office over ineligible subsidy payments, leaked email shows
A previously undisclosed email sent to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) by Evangelos Simandrakos, former head of Greece’s farm subsidy agency OPEKEPE, has added new dimensions to the ongoing EU agricultural aid scandal, according to sources familiar with the matter. According to the documents, the Maximos Mansion – the prime minister’s office – was informed of the exclusions involving the so-called “red” AFMs, those flagged as ineligible by OPEKEPE, and approved the decision to block payments to them.
Androulakis: PM Mitsotakis fully responsible for OPEKEPE scandal
PASOK – Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis said that “ PM Mitsotakis is absolutely responsible for this new big OPEKEPE scandal that is affecting our country”.
KYSEA to approve key defense procurement programs
The Government Council on Foreign and Defense Affairs (KYSEA) will convene on Wednesday to address developments in the Middle East and approve four major defense procurement programs set to enter the implementation phase.
Plan to relax building rules in villages
The government plans to allow landowners living in small municipalities (below 2,000 population) greater latitude in building houses, in an attempt to bypass restrictions imposed by a Council of State ruling.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/environment/1274052/plan-to-relax-building-rules-in-villages
Euronext submits offer for full takeover of Athens Stock Exchange
Euronext, Europe’s largest stock exchange group, has submitted a takeover offer to Athex Group for the acquisition of the Athens Stock Exchange. The company confirmed that discussions are underway for the potential purchase of up to 100% of the exchange.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1274008/euronext-eyes-full-takeover-of-athens-stock-exchange
ATHEX: Banks take index to new 15-year high
The start of the year’s second half saw Greek stocks recover over the course of the day on Tuesday and lead the benchmark to a new 15-year high, as the market’s owner (HELEX) considers a purchase proposal by Euronext, which controls seven other major bourses across Europe, including Paris, Milan and Amsterdam. Banks led the way once again, with the daily turnover rising above 250 million euros.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1274032/athex-banks-take-index-to-new-15-year-high
KATHIMERINI: The terms for constructions in small settlements
TA NEA: OPEKEPE scandal: how it was set up
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: When former Agriculture Minister Livanos incriminated Voridis
RIZOSPASTIS: The youth’s anti-imperialistic appointment begins today in Allisos of Achaia
KONTRA NEWS: The government back down and fields became plots where you can build
DIMOKRATIA: More government scandals: Scam regarding state contracts as well
NAFTEMPORIKI: Euronext level for ATHEX
DRIVING THE DAY: SIMMERING RAGE ON CLIMATE TARGETS
THANK YOU, CLIMATE CHANGE: As much of Europe melts under a heat dome this week, EU officials will today set out their plan for how quickly they think the bloc should cut greenhouse gas emissions on the way to net zero by 2050.
Happening today: The EU’s 27 commissioners will meet to decide on a key milestone on the road to net zero: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040. Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice president, is expected to announce the outcome of the talks immediately afterward.
This 2040 target is a big staging post and is highly political, because governments fear a backlash from voters who don’t want to pay for policies that reduce emissions, such as insulating homes, buying electric cars and installing heat pumps.
Slow down, it’s way too hot to rush: French President Emmanuel Macron raised the prospect of delaying the proposal last week, arguing it should be subject to a proper democratic debate among EU countries.
But there’s another target for the progress the EU aims to make on cutting emissions — 2035. This goal is a legally binding requirement for the EU to settle on by September, so it can be fixed in time for a U.N. climate conference in Brazil later in the year. Macron says the focus right now should be on this, not the 2040 plan.
So what? The EU’s climate team in Brussels wants to fix the 2040 target now to keep the pace of cutting emissions more ambitious. Delaying an agreement on the 2040 goal, as Macron has suggested, could allow countries like Poland (and maybe France) to push for a weaker target for 2035. That’s because, without a 2040 goal agreed, whatever is decided for 2035 would no longer need to serve as a staging post on the way to 2040, but instead merely as a way-marker en route to net zero by 2050.
Enter the Danes: Marie Bjerre, Denmark’s European affairs minister, told Playbook’s Gabriel Gavin that climate ambition goes “hand in hand” with competitiveness. “Green technologies is what we’re going to need in the future and if we do not keep high ambition on the climate, we risk losing out in the future on competitiveness and the economy,” Bjerre said. “We want an ambitious 2040 target — at least 90 percent.”
What to expect: At a meeting on Monday, around half of the 27 European commissioners’ chiefs of staff kicked off about the proposed 2040 plan, POLITICO’s Karl Mathiesen, Zia Weise and Louise Guillot reportin this excellent primer. “Apparently, we expect a heated discussion on the choice of timing for this law,” one official said.
TRUMP’S TRADE WAR
MR. FIXIT GOES TO AMERICA: If the European Commission were to undergo a science fiction metamorphosis, distilling its institutional essence into the body of one official with technocratic superpowers, it would surely take flesh as the bespectacled stealth weapon that is Maroš Šefčovič.
Trade Commissioner Šefčovič usually operates out of the media glare, and often below the radar entirely, with a minimum of fuss (though he’s not averse to servings of political fudge, where necessary). He has earned a reputation as Ursula von der Leyen’s “Mr. Fixit,” tackling problems as intractable as U.K. relations and climate policy.
After boring the Brits into a Brexit deal, he’s now leading the EU’s mission to wrestle one out of Donald Trump amid the American president’s trade war with the rest of the world.
This time, his jet won’t fly below the radar as Šefčovič heads from Turkey to Washington for talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, starting in earnest on Thursday. The task is urgent, as to borrow a phrase from the Brexit years, “the clock is ticking” toward Trump’s July 9 deadline for a deal, before he slaps tariffs of as much as 50 percent onto imports from the EU.
Not “the tunnel”: Remember how Brexit negotiations would enter “the tunnel” and nobody would hear or see any negotiators to extract leaks from during the closing stages of talks? This process with the U.S. isn’t like that. Officials and diplomats have been briefing their heads off in the last week or so about what is and is not on the table.
WHAT EUROPE WANTS: After scorning the U.K.’s acceptance of a bare bones framework deal and a baseline tariff of 10 percent, the EU had more or less resigned itself to hoping for a version of what Trump gave his Brexit friends when leaders met for last week’s European Council summit. As Antonia Zimmermann, Koen Verhelst and Hans von der Burchard report, the EU has accepted the premise of a baseline 10 percent tariff in most cases. Read more in their wrap on the state of play in the negotiations.
But there’s still a push to obtain exemptions in key sectors, including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, alcohol and commercial aircraft. And, of course, EU countries will always want to lower that 10 percent baseline tariff, if they can.
Immediate relief: The EU’s key demand will be that the Americans give an “up front” commitment to tariff relief to take effect as soon as the expected outline deal is agreed by the July 9 deadline, even if negotiations continue on the details after that.
No deal: Unless this crucial condition of instant tariff relief is met, a number of EU countries have told the Commission they will not sign off on any agreement, my colleagues report. Germany is pushing for a quick (and maybe dirty) deal by the deadline at almost any price, while the French are reluctant to rush things if better terms can be agreed later. So there’s still plenty to disagree about among the members of the EU side, whatever Šefčovič brings back from Washington.
If things get really bad, von der Leyen let the world know that she is keen on joining a rival Asian trade bloc to rewrite global rules in the Trump era.
No revenge: Free traders in the EU want the bloc’s 27 countries to keep their eyes on the prize of an agreement that eases the barriers to business. According to Swedish EU Affairs Minister Jessica Rosencrantz: “We should not be driven by revenge but by a mindset of what is really good for European and Swedish businesses and consumers.” That means a deal that delivers lower tariffs, she told Playbook.
Shooting back: Rosencrantz said Sweden is “not hesitant when it comes to using countermeasures against the U.S.” if necessary. But they must be targeted and “proportionate,” she added. “How do we not shoot ourselves in the foot but how do we make sure that we strike the best possible deal?”
HANDS OFF OUR TECH RULEBOOK: Europe’s Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen told Playbook in pretty punchy terms that there was one sector Šefčovič would not be authorized to negotiate on with the U.S.: the EU’s rules on content moderation, digital competition and AI.
The Trump administration and U.S. tech executives have pushed back strongly against the EU’s tech rules in recent months, arguing that the Digital Services Act would allow for censoring Americans and that the Digital Markets Act unfairly targets U.S. companies, my colleague Pieter Haeck reports.
What she said: The DSA, DMA and AI Act are “very important rules for us to make sure that we have trustworthy technologies,” Virkkunen said. “So, this is not part of trade negotiations from our side.” The rules are not up for negotiation as they are “based on our European values,” Virkkunen added. Read Pieter’s full interview.
BUDGET FIGHTS
MFF-ING HELL: Ursula von der Leyen’s mailbox is jammed with angry messages on her planned overhaul of the EU’s next seven-year budget. Poland’s conservative government and the left-leaning Socialists and Democrats were united in criticizing the Commission’s plan to merge dozens of programs into a single national cash pot, in their position papers on the budget, seen by Gregorio Sorgi and Max Griera. Von der Leyen is set to present the budget proposal on July 16.
The CAP front: Critics fear that the merger is really a smokescreen to cut agricultural subsidies and funds to poorer regions. That’s a no-go for Poland, which warned in its paper that the funding allocated to the two programs “should not be less than it is” under the current budget. Ireland strongly opposed cuts to the Common Agricultural Program (CAP) in a paper of its own, although it was more positive on other potential reforms.
Socialist rebels: Socialists, who are increasingly at odds with von der Leyen, are also in for a budget fight. They “strongly oppose” von der Leyen’s cash-for-reforms model and pooling EU funds into national pockets, according to a letter sent to the Commission president on Tuesday.
IN OTHER NEWS
QUANTUM STRATEGY COMING TODAY: The Commission will release a quantum strategy today, in which it’s set to warn that promising homegrown tech risks being snatched up to make money abroad as the bloc continues to lag in turning research into “real-market opportunities,” according to a draft seen by Pieter Haeck.
BAYROU STRUGGLES ON: French PM François Bayrou survived a no-confidence vote last night after lawmakers from the far-right National Rally decided not to join an effort to bring him down. But of the eight no-confidence votes filed against Bayrou’s government, Tuesday’s drew the most support — and left his government’s survival in the hands of Marine Le Pen. Victor Goury-Laffont has the story.
Now read this: Emmanuel Macron has a succession problem, writes Mujtaba Rahman.
MELONI BREAKS JAIL: Italy’s prison system is full to bursting, but that hasn’t stopped Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government from reforming the law to throw more offenders into jail. A surge in suicides behind bars has now provoked Italian President Sergio Mattarella to call for the crisis to be addressed. Elena Giordano has more.
SCHENGEN SCHAFTED: Warsaw’s patience with Germany sending migrants back to Poland “is becoming exhausted,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said as he announced the imposition of checks on his country’s borders with Germany and Lithuania from July 7. As temporary border controls proliferate, what’s the point of Schengen? Read POLITICO’s analysis here.
STAR-MERZ ALLIANCE: The U.K. and Germany are preparing to sign a wide-ranging treaty that includes a mutual assistance clause in the case of a threat to either nation, according to a report by POLITICO’s reporters in Berlin and London. Teams working for British PM Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are close to completing the text, which is expected to be signed on July 17.
LAGARDE’S DOLLAR LASHING: European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde told a conference in the Portuguese tourist town of Sintra that the world was seeking alternatives to the U.S. dollar. The subtext was clear: Donald Trump is doing his best to alienate friends and wreck the greenback with pointless trade wars, so why don’t you rules-based-international-order enthusiasts bask in the warm glow of our common currency instead? Read Carlo Martuscelli’s write-up of the panel for Central Banker and Financial Services Pros here.
GAZA CEASEFIRE: Israel agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social last night. He did not detail what the conditions are, but said he hopes Hamas takes the deal. More from the BBC here as the world waits for the Hamas response.