Tripoli evasive on maritime boundaries
Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis visited Libya’s capital without achieving substantial progress on maritime boundary delimitation, the key issue affecting relations between Athens and Tripoli’s government.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/foreign-policy/1275415/tripoli-evasive-on-maritime-boundaries
PASOK-KINAL calls for special committee against former agriculture ministers in OPEKEPE case
PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) tabled a request in Parliament on Tuesday for a special parliamentary committee to conduct a preliminary criminal investigation and investigate any culpability of two former agriculture ministers in the OPEKEPE case.
Plevris: The decongestion of Crete is being completed
Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris referred to the decongestion of Crete and the return of migrants in an interview with the public broadcaster ERT on Tuesday.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/919016/Plevris-The-decongestion-of-Crete-is-being-completed
Primary surplus of 4.667 billion euros in H1 2025
A primary surplus of 4.667 billion euros, on a modified cash basis for the period January – June 2025, was recorded in the budget execution, compared to a target of 2.235 billion euros and a primary surplus of 2.905 billion euros for the same period in 2024.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/918974/Primary-surplus-of-4667-billion-euros-in-H1-2025
ATHEX: Bourse rebounds in style
On Tuesday the Greek stock market recovered all of its losses recorded on Monday, and then some, as buying interest returned with an expansion from the blue chips to small-caps too, as the increase in turnover attests to. There is a growing belief that Washington will not impose the tariffs it has threatened to slap on European products, and that is casting such worries aside for the time being. Greek market talk about new business moves has created scenarios that serve to keep investors’ interest high at midsummer.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1275397/athex-bourse-rebounds-in-style
KATHIMERINI: Attica’s water reserves are emtpying
TA NEA: OPEKEPE scandal: The tricks of the PM’s office and 5 questions
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Pensioners will pay for a mistake made by the single social security fund EFKA
RIZOSPASTIS: Farmers: We will not pay the “bill” of governments and the EU
KONTRA NEWS: Former New Democracy ministers Voridis and Avgenakis to face felony prosecution for the formation of a criminal organization
DIMOKRATIA: 4 new US military bases in Greece
NAFTEMPORIKI: Triple bonus of investment liquidity
DRIVING THE DAY: THE NEXT EU BUDGET
THE €1.2T QUESTION: This afternoon, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will unveil her plan for the EU’s next seven-year budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Commissioners and officials have been putting in 15-hour days for much of the past week as they try to nail down the details.
The killer question (besides why they had to call it that) is whether the overall total will rise significantly from the current budget of €1.2 trillion. On Tuesday, only von der Leyen, her Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin, and maybe one or two of their closest aides knew for sure where all the final numbers would likely end up.
But a document seen by POLITICO finance ace Gregorio Sorgi and colleagueslast night showed the talks between top bods were closing in on a headline figure of €1.717 trillion for the seven-year period from 2028-2034.
Purists on the EU budget scene will prefer the percentages, which the draft document proposed at 1.23 percent of EU gross national income (GNI), up from about 1.1 percent now, according to Gregorio.
Fight’s on: If the running battles inside the Berlaymont building result in these numbers being confirmed later today, it would represent a big chunk of cash and a clear increase, albeit not one that will necessarily change the EU’s role in the world. Von der Leyen’s commissioners are expected to meet this morning to give their final approval to the package, after another long night of haggling over how much each of them will get for their brief.
Essay crisis: According to some accounts of the 11th-hour talks between von der Leyen, her commissioners and their teams, there wasn’t much pizza on offer on Tuesday night, though plenty of cans of Coke Zero were drained as participants tried to stay sharp.
Why it all matters: The MFF is, among other things, a binding, undeniable expression of what the EU thinks it exists to do. In a club of 27 countries, a lot of talking gets done, promises are made and then routinely ignored. But this budget — as it is finalized in the next two years — is the process whereby EU governments are forced to put their money where their mouths are.
What’s covered? All the EU’s core spending, from subsidies to farmers to cash for roads and railways, and aid for developing countries. A new competitiveness fund was in line to get some €522 billion, while €190 billion would go to “global Europe.” A dedicated off-budget pot for supporting Ukraine could amount to €88 billion, under the draft plans.
What’s not: Von der Leyen warned her team earlier on Tuesday that there would need to be cuts across the board to reassign money to the EU’s priorities over the next decade, like defense and innovation.
The draft document earmarked €946 billion for Europe’s social model and quality of life, which might well ultimately include regional policy and agriculture funds. If that’s all confirmed, it would suggest potentially big cuts to farm subsidies as well as for support for poorer areas.
THIS TIME, IT WILL BE DIFFERENT AND BETTER: That’s the message the Commission will come with today, promising an ambitious and dynamic budget including major reforms to its structure, and even … new EU taxes. POLITICO’s Gabriel Gavin saw a leak of the draft Commission statement on the MFF, which cast the plan as a critical moment of reform to cope with the multiple systemic challenges facing Europe.
Brussels is expected to promise a more nimble budget that will allow the EU to react fast to crises (think pandemic, war), and a competitiveness boost to help secure supply chains, support innovation and develop clean technology, per the statement Gabriel saw.
TAX KLAXON: Von der Leyen is also set to propose new revenue-raising measures for the Commission itself. In Brussels jargon, these “new own resources” will look and feel like taxes, targeting electric waste, tobacco products and companies with a turnover of more than €50 million. The Commission will try to sell this as a way to ease pressure on national government budgets, which is where most of the EU’s funding otherwise comes from.
Don’t expect thanks. National governments are certainly feeling the squeeze at home and the prospect of being asked for more will be met without smiles in many capitals, especially in places like Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, which are net contributors to the EU budget. But the idea of new EU-wide charges on companies or fines for new types of waste, dreamed up in Brussels, may be even less likely to fly. “We don’t see a need for new own resources and definitely not European taxes,” Sweden’s EU Affairs Minister Jessica Rosencrantz told Playbook.
What to watch: The timings may change, but the plan at the time of writing is for von der Leyen to present her budget alongside Serafin in the Commission press room at 5 p.m. Watch here. Before that, Serafin is due at Parliament’s budget committee at 12:30 p.m.
EU ambassadors will get their own technical briefing today, giving countries their first chance to react. With two more years of fighting, haggling and spinning before the final budget is sealed, it won’t be the last.
BACKING UKRAINE, TRUMP-STYLE
KAJA KALLAS RESPONDS TO TRUMP OVER NATO WEAPONS: Europe’s top diplomat is pleased with U.S. President Donald Trump’s apparent conversion on Ukraine, but she doesn’t want Washington to take too much credit, Playbook’s Nick Vinocur reports.
“It’s European support”: Speaking after a gathering of foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, the Estonian politician was asked about Trump’s announcement that he will allow EU governments to purchase weapons from the U.S. for Ukraine. “If we pay for these weapons, it’s our support, it’s European support,” she said.
Your problem, too: At a time when Vladimir Putin is escalating his attacks on Ukraine, she also urged Trump to keep backing Kyiv with American treasure — something he’s so far declined to do. “We would like to see the U.S. to share the burden.”
Chemical weapons alarm: In the same conference, Kallas also voiced alarm about Russia’s increasing use of chemical weapons against Ukraine, saying this was proof that Moscow had no intention of ending its war. “It shows that Russia wants to cause as much pain and suffering so that Ukraine would surrender. And, you know, it’s really … unbearable,” she said.
NO DICE ON 18th SANCTIONS PACKAGE: Kallas also expressed her disappointment that the EU has yet to pass its 18th package of sanctions against Russia, despite high hopes the measures would be approved at the Foreign Affairs Council on Tuesday.
Fico’s spanner in the works: The package would bring in new restrictions on Russian-linked energy firms and a new floating oil price cap. But Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, reneged on what officials had expected would be a mutually beneficial agreement, moving yet again to block the plan.
Leaked correspondence: Fico published a letter he received from the European Commission in which Brussels offered to establish a “Diversification Task Force” to help Slovakia wean itself off Russian gas, which would be phased out by 2028. It also offered to introduce new monitoring and options in case of price spikes, as well as to help speed up state aid schemes designed to bring down bills.
He wants more, more, more: The Slovak leader said the plans had been presented to his coalition partners after months of negotiation. “Their response was that the guarantees offered by the European Commission to Slovakia are insufficient, and were even described as NOTHING.”
MEANWHILE, PUTIN SNIFFS AT TRUMP’S THREAT: Kremlin sources told Reuters that Russia would keep fighting in Ukraine regardless of Trump setting Putin a 50-day deadline to make peace or face sanctions from America.No game-changer there, then. Trump himself repeated that the war had to end. “Got to stop the killing,” he told reporters Tuesday.
Biting: America’s planned new Russia sanctions will be “very biting” and “very bad for the countries involved,” he said. Seb Starcevic has a write-up.
Now read this: How Europe found a workaround to get Trump to help Ukraine.
TRUMP’S TRADE WARS
TARIFFIC: As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warns that American tariffs are likely here to stay, EU officials are finessing their retaliation plans, if negotiations with D.C. fail to reach a deal by the new deadline of Aug. 1. Meanwhile, Trump touted a “terrific” new deal with Indonesia.
TRUMP LOVES BRITAIN, THOUGH MAYBE NOT THE EU: In an unscheduled phone call on Tuesday to a BBC reporter, the U.S. president revealed he’d warmed up to the idea of NATO’s collective defense clause. He said he believed the Brits would fight alongside America “if we had a war,” though he was “not sure that a lot of the other countries would.”
He added that “the U.K. is very special” and suggested this was why he’d made a trade deal with London but not so far with Brussels.
This won’t help: Trump told reporters late Tuesday the U.S. was working on “five or six” trade deals ahead of his Aug. 1 deadline. But he added: “I’m not sure I really want to do them … we’ll probably have two or three.” Then, he name-checked India and South Korea as likely candidates for trade deals, but, um, not the EU.
“The letters are a deal”: “I have to tell you, for the most part, I’m very happy with the letters,” Trump said. “You know, the letters are a deal. I can’t explain it any better. The letters are a deal.”
Reminder: In a letter last weekend, Trump informed von der Leyen he’d apply 30 percent tariffs on EU products sent to the U.S. from Aug. 1.
MERCOSUR WIN FOR THE FARMERS: Meanwhile, the EU is preparing “safeguards” to protect the agriculture sector in a bid to win France’s support for the trade deal with Mercosur, the FT reports this morning.
IN OTHER NEWS
AMAZON NOT WELCOME IN THE EP: The European Parliament is considering revoking lobbying access for every interest group tied to Amazon, an internal note seen by my colleague Mathieu Pollet shows. It would be an escalation of a standoff over working conditions in Amazon’s warehouses. Details here.
FRENCH BUDGET REBELS: PM François Bayrou is facing a miserable ultimatum from far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who vowed to bring down his government unless he abandons savage budget cuts. His plan included scrapping two major public holidays as part of a €44 billion squeeze. Emmanuel Macron risks losing yet another prime minister in the fall as France increasingly looks ungovernable. POLITICO’s Paris team has the full story here.
BARNIER PLOTS COMEBACK: Meanwhile, France’s shortest-serving prime minister (and EU Brexit supremo) Michel Barnier is standing for election as an MP in a special vote to be held in Paris, Clea Caulcutt reports.
GERMANY GOES LARGE: Brussels has approved Berlin’s radical spending plan under which Friedrich Merz’s government will pile cash into defense and infrastructure in the next two years, before paring back investment later. Chris Lunday and Hans von der Burchard in Berlin have the details.
ANTI-MIGRANT RIOTS IN SPAIN: Clashes between far-right groups, migrants and the police hit a small town in southern Spain, after a local man in his 60s was attacked. Moroccan community leaders have called for calm. Reuters has the details.
ON THE JOB HUNT: U.N. agencies, many headquartered in Geneva, have announced thousands of layoffs in recent months, following Trump’s decision to slash international development funding. Now Geneva is holding job-hunting clinics to support those suddenly thrust into the Swiss labor market. Antoaneta Roussi has the story.