Androulakis: ‘The prime minister is accountable for the OPEKEPE scandal’
The latest revelations about OPEKEPE, the Greek payments authority for EU agricultural aid, point to a “scandal with the signature of New Democracy and [Prime Minister] Kyriakos Mitsotakis in person,” main opposition leader Nikos Androulakis, the head of the PASOK-KINAL party, said in Parliament on Thursday. He noted that this was a “moral, political, financial and institutional scandal” that had deeply shaken the trust of the Greek people and shattered all sense of transparency in the state.
Gerapetritis to visit Benghazi and Tripoli, amid tensions over migration, Turkey-Libya deal
Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will visit Benghazi on Sunday, where he is scheduled to meet with the head of the Libyan National Army and de facto ruler of eastern Libya, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The recent push toward ratification of the Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum by the eastern Libya-based House of Representatives, an agreement Haftar had previously opposed, has created tensions.
Ankara renews sea zone tensions
Turkey has intensified its diplomatic and strategic pressure on Greece and Cyprus over disputed maritime rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, effectively stalling high-level talks between the two NATO allies and reshaping regional power dynamics.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/foreign-policy/1274271/ankara-renews-sea-zone-tensions
Fire in Rafina under control
The fire that broke out at noon on Thursday in low vegetation in Rafina is now in remission. According to the Fire Brigade, strong forces remain on alert to respond to any possible reignitions.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/916359/Fire-in-Rafina-under-control
ATHEX: Stocks keep climbing ever higher
Athinon Avenue continues to go from one record high to another this week, as its benchmark rose to its highest point since April 2010 on Thursday. The 2,000-point mark is not a distant dream anymore, but a target within reach for the main index. A number of blue chips contributed to the day’s growth, including banks and the market’s biggest stock, Coca-Cola HBC.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1274277/athex-stocks-keep-climbing-ever-higher
KATHIMERINI: The suitors for Greek and Libyan “exploration sea fields” are the same
TA NEA: Greece under “guardianship” yet again
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The Financial Crime Unit is being punished for revealing the OPEKEPE scandal
RIZOSPASTIS: immediate response: Take back the new abomination-bill targeting workers’ rights
KONTRA NEWS: Attica is burning; the state is absent
DIMOKRATIA: The PM was the first to show the way on how to collect illegal subsidies
NAFTEMPORIKI: Illegal farm subsidies: the path of fines and returns
DRIVING THE DAY: BEIJING BLUES
STUMBLING ALONG THE ASIA PIVOT: It’s shaping up to be a cruel summer for EU negotiators, who can’t seem to catch a break with either of Europe’s two biggest trade partners.
0 for 2: Not only did Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have to acknowledge late Thursday that the bloc isn’t likely to ink a comprehensive trade deal before Washington’s “Liberation Day” deadline (more on that in a bit), but the potential for common ground between Brussels and Beijing also seems to be crumbling.
Slashing the summit: With Chinese Trade Minister Wang Yi in Europe this week, Bloomberg reports that Beijing wants to cancel the second half of a two-day summit with EU leaders in China planned for late July. And it’s not hard to see why, given the tensions on display in Wang’s meetings.
Report — China can’t afford Russian loss in Ukraine: That’s what Wang told EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas when he met her in Brussels on Wednesday, according to the South China Morning Post, with the rationale that Russia’s defeat would allow the U.S. to turn its entire focus to China. Brussels has been fuming over Beijing’s refusal to cut off Russia, especially when it comes to sales of items that can be turned into weapons. (Wang repeated China’s denial that it’s supporting Russia financially or militarily — the war would already be over if it had intervened, he argued, per the SCMP.)
Berlin clash: At a joint press conference with Wang late Thursday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul griped about China’s export restrictions on rare earths.
Cognac under attack: Wang will meet with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot in Paris today in last-chance negotiations before Beijing slaps extra duties on European brandy on Saturday. (That’s in response to the EU’s probe of electric car subsidies in China.) More for Pro subscribers in Morning Trade.
SPEAKING OF RUSSIA: Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin last night for the sixth time this year, with the American president saying they’d “talked about the war with Ukraine and I’m not happy about that.” (Trump spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron after his Putin call, per our Playbook Paris colleagues, and is expected to talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today.) Asked whether we were closer to peace after the Putin call, Trump admitted: “No, I didn’t make any progress.”
Underscoring that … after the call, Russia unleashed a barrage of drones at Kyiv, injuring at least 14 people, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
TRADING BLOWS
VDL MANAGES U.S. TRADE DEAL EXPECTATIONS: Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, who just got back to Brussels from Washington, will brief EU ambassadors on the state of play today in Coreper. But his boss, von der Leyen, already shared the gist of where we’re at on Thursday during a visit to Aarhus, Denmark: a detailed agreement is “impossible” before Trump’s July 8 deadline.
Grief cycle stage — acceptance, but still bargaining: Brussels would instead aim to seal an “agreement in principle” with Washington,” von der Leyen said, noting “that is also what the U.K. did.” That means, however, baseline tariffs of 10 percent would still likely apply. Read more from Nick Vinocur.
It could be even worse: Prior to Thursday’s meeting with Šefčovič, Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Fox Business Network that any countries with no deal by July 8 could come back up to the “Liberation Day” levels.
EU’ve got mail? Trump said Washington will “probably” start sending out letters informing countries of their tariff rates today.
NOW READ THIS: Bloomberg reports that Mercedes and LVMH, along with other major European firms, are pushing to weaken the EU’s efforts to hit back hard at Trump’s tariffs.
PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: SOCIALIST BOSS STEFAN LÖFVEN
SOCIALISTS’ “RED LINE” GETS CLOSER: As she engages more with the far right, Ursula von der Leyen is approaching a point that’s intolerable for her center-left allies, said Stefan Löfven, leader of the Party of European Socialists. “I am not going to tell now what that precise red line is,” Löfven said in an interview with Jacopo Barigazzi. “But I know we are getting close to it and then we will have to act.”
Background: The centrist, pro-Europe coalition von der Leyen has relied on to pass legislation seems close to breaking point over her center-right European People’s Party’s moves to water down the EU’s green plans — efforts widely welcomed by the far right.
It’s serious: For Löfven, a former Swedish prime minister, “this is serious.” He continued, “We had a political agreement” among the Socialists, the liberals and the EPP.
Keeping the threats vague: The interview took place shortly before confirmation that the Commission president would face a vote of no confidence next week in the European Parliament plenary, and Löfven stopped short of threatening that Socialists would pull their support. (That could only push the EPP closer to the far right.) He did note, however, that the political content of the deal with the EPP and the liberals to support the current Commission “is important” and “if the Commission acts in a way that is against our agreement, then that support is jeopardized.”
Where it all started: As Löfven sees it, von der Leyen is under pressure from her party, especially after the last EPP congress in April. “We can see that they intensified working with the far right,” he said. “They are now cooperating more with those who are anti-Europe, anti-EU.”
SOCIALIST SOUL SEARCH: Yet voters around Europe are increasingly casting their ballots for the far right. The Socialists find themselves once again facing an existential crisis, especially after the bad results in Portugal. Nonetheless, Löfven argued that citizens are fed up with political polarization and still have priorities in the Socialists’ wheelhouse — think schools, jobs and health care.
October turnaround: Löfven is eying PES’s mid-October congress to launch a turnaround. Purely coincidentally, it’s slated to be held in Amsterdam just days before the Dutch election.
Same leadership: Despite the Socialists’ flagging performance, Löfven said he’ll seek a second term at the top of the European umbrella party — “not least because of the difficult times we’re in.” He’ll also keep in place the current secretary-general, Giacomo Filibeck. (That’s in contrast to the EPP which, despite its successes, saw major infighting, with chief Manfred Weber ultimately ousting his sec-gen.)
AND THE HITS KEEP ON COMING: European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho told the FT that the Commission risks eroding trust by pushing through its simplification drive without sufficient consultation. “The way these decisions are being perceived … is that competitiveness is, in a way, coming at the cost of these legislative procedures and pre-established laws,” Anjinho said.
BUDGET BRAWL
GETTING IT FROM ALL SIDES — FITTO AND VDL CLASH OVER NEW BUDGET: Von der Leyen’s problems don’t only come from her left. Commission EVP Raffaele Fitto — chosen by Italy’s Giorgia Meloni — is leading a rearguard fight inside the Berlaymont to protect regions from von der Leyen’s attempts at budget reform. Tensions are escalating ahead of the Commission’s presentation of its budget proposal on July 16.
Main event: The most brutal fight is shaping up to be over cohesion policy, a funding pot currently worth €400 billion aimed at narrowing the gap between Europe’s poorer and richer areas.
In Fitto we trust: The cheerleaders of cohesion are counting on Fitto ― who’s famed for his reserved public demeanor and strong political instincts ― to water down von der Leyen’s mooted reforms. Gregorio Sorgi has this must-read article.
MOLDOVA SUMMIT
EU’S CAMPAIGN-SWING THROUGH CHIȘINĂU: Today, top Brussels officials are traveling to Chișinău for the first Moldova-EU summit — a symbolic milestone in the country’s accession process.
The timing is no coincidence, an EU official said earlier this week, noting the summit was deliberately scheduled ahead of Moldova’s parliamentary election in September, Yurii Stasiuk writes in to report.
Brussels’ thumb on the pro-EU scale: President Maia Sandu’s pro-European party faces rising Euroskeptic and pro-Russian challengers. The EU wants the summit to send a clear message of the bloc’s commitment to Moldova ahead of the high-stakes contest. “Russia is investing unprecedented resources to interfere in the parliamentary elections,” Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos told POLITICO.
CONSCIOUS DECOUPLING? But Chișinău is unlikely to get the big carrot it wants by Election Day — the opening of the first EU accession cluster — despite meeting all conditions. That’s because Moldova and Ukraine were “coupled” in their EU bids, with Brussels informally agreeing to advance both countries in parallel, and Hungary is blocking Kyiv’s talks.
Amid speculation about possibly “decoupling” the bids to let Moldova progress, Denmark’s Minister of European Affairs, Marie Bjerre, said Thursday that the goal remains to open detailed accession talks with both countries. “I think it’s too soon to speculate [about] any alternatives,” said Bjerre, whose capital took over the rotating Council of the EU presidency this week.
That leaves Chișinău stuck. Moldova’s deputy prime minister and European integration chief Cristina Gherasimov told Gabriel Gavin that any delay would cost the EU “credibility with countries that share the same values and strive for strengthening rather than weakening democracy.” More here from Gabriel and Nick Vinocur.
IN OTHER NEWS
EUROGROUP JOB RACE: Spain’s Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo, who on Friday entered the race to head the Eurogroup, is calling for a major shake-up of a body he says hasbecome all talk and no action. “The Eurogroup should be more about decisions,” Cuerpo, a Socialist, said in an interview with POLITICO’s Gregorio Sorgi, where he outlined his proposal for sweeping changes to the body.
CALL TO ABOLISH THE BRUSSELS REGION: Several Flemish associations have proposed scrapping the Brussels region as a political unit and putting the capital under federal supervision, VRT NWS reports. They argue that the region — which recently marked a year without a government — “deserves better than political stagnation, institutional fragmentation and mounting debts.”
GRIM: Extreme-right groups in Germany are increasingly targeting LGBTQ+ people as part of a systematic effort to gain popularity and win new recruits, Nette Nöstlinger reports.
Now read this: The German oil refinery town of Schwedt faces a difficult conundrum: restart Russian imports or face mass layoffs. Victor Jack, Johanna Sahlberg and Ben Lefebvre have this dispatch.
LISTEN UP — BOILING IN BRUSSELS: If last year was “brat summer,” this year it’s all about Björn. On this week’s edition of the EU Confidential podcast, Nick Vinocur previews his profile of top von der Leyen aide Björn Seibert. Plus POLITICO’s Louise Guillot on the 2040 emissions targets, Max Griera on Budapest Pride and Aitor Hernández-Morales on the politics of housing. Listen and subscribe to EU Confidential.
FRIDAY FUNNY: This week confirmed Europeans are actually quite funny, writes Mari Eccles in the Declassified humor column.