OPEKEPE: 1,036 taxpayers suspected of having received subsidies illegaly; assets of applicants to be seized
The first results of the preliminary examination conducted by the Economic Crime Prosecution Service of the Organized Crime Directorate of the Hellenic Police over the OPEKEPE case were announced by the Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, on Tuesday.
Former defense minister denies assisting Cretan mafia ringleader
Former defense minister Panos Kammenos, in an interview with Skai, denied claims that he had assisted the alleged leader of a Cretan criminal organization in efforts to promote an archimandrite to the Metropolis of Kydonia. “I neither spoke with the archimandrite, nor did I help him, nor did I ever pick up the phone again,” Kammenos said. He did, however, acknowledge that the individual, an acquaintance from his years in New Democracy, had asked him to intervene during a phone call. That call was recorded by police as part of surveillance into the network’s activities.
Prime Minister and political leaders to address 89th TIF
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will inaugurate the 89th Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on Saturday, September 6. The president of PASOK and leader of the main opposition will visit the 89th TIF on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 and 14.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/929506/Prime-Minister-and-political-leaders-to-address-89th-TIF
Eurostat: Greek inflation eased to 3.1% in August
Greece’s inflation reduced considerably its gap with the eurozone average in August, per the flash estimate that Eurostat issued on Tuesday. Data showed that the European Union-harmonized consumer price index in Greece pointed to a 3.1% annual growth last month, down from 3.7% in July, while the eurozone average rate edged up from 2% to 2.1%.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1279648/eurostat-greek-inflation-eased-to-3-1-in-august
ATHEX: Bourse just holds on to 2,000 points
This time banks were unable to stop the stock price slide at Athinon Avenue, and on Tuesday the benchmark of the market only narrowly maintained the 2,000-point level. Considerable financial and political worries in the eurozone, with significant drops on major bourses, affected Greek stocks too. The credit sector, on the other hand, is boosted by talk of a possible merger move toward the creation of a national champion.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1279737/athex-bourse-just-holds-on-to-2000-points
KATHIMERINI: OPEKEPE scandal: the Cretan families and the 1-million-euro “farmer”
TA NEA: Meat prices take off
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Show by Citizen Protection Minister Chrysohoidis and “omerta” by Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Mylonakis
RIZOSPASTIS: Solidarity and common fight with the migrants who are victims of the imperialistic barbarism
KONTRA NEWS: The Cretan mafia had strong ties to politicians
DIMOKRATIA: Those attempting to cover-up the Tempe fatal rail-crash case are drowning in lies and xylene
NAFTEMPORIKI: Small-time businesses in dead-end
DRIVING THE DAY: THE OTHER BIG DEAL
MERCOSUR’S HERE (AND THIS TIME, THEY REALLY MEAN IT): Sometimes journalists like to say a deal is historic when they just want to make it sound important. This one feels like it justifies the label more than most. For one thing, negotiations between the EU and the Mercosur group of Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) began way back in history — at the end of the last century, in fact.
More than 25 years later, after numerous stops and false re-starts, the European Commission will adopt the final terms of the pact today and send it off to EU capitals to be approved. The EU-Mexico agreement is also getting an update.
How’s that going? For decades, France has been the most vocal opponent of the proposed arrangements, fearing a flood of cheap beef and poultry would harm its politically powerful farming industry. President Emmanuel Macron has been fighting to stop the deal, expressing concerns in public as recently as this summer.
Unlucky Macron: Sadly for the French leader, he’s had no more luck winning support from other EU countries to block the pact (despite sympathy from Poland and Italy) than he has finding a stable government that can pass fiscal reforms at home.
SCOOP: As part of today’s announcements, Macron will be offered some comfort in the form of an internal European workaround aimed at providing more protection for EU farmers, POLITICO’s Camille Gijs and Hans von der Burchard report. The safeguards will not form part of the legally binding agreement text — so the South Americans can just ignore them — but they will serve as EU commitments, according to two senior Mercosur diplomats.
What’s it all worth? The deal aims to slash South American tariffs on EU-made cars, machines and industrial products, while allowing the four Mercosur countries in return to sell more agricultural goods into Europe.
4 billion reasons: When she shook hands on the plan last December, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it would “save EU companies €4 billion worth of export duties per year while expanding our markets and opening new opportunities for growth and jobs on both sides.” Some 60,000 EU companies are already exporting to Mercosur, she added.
DON’T CELEBRATE YET — MEPs GET A SAY TOO: The European People’s Party, von der Leyen’s political family, was quick on Tuesday to issue official statements calling for the swift ratification of the Mercosur deal in the EU Parliament, Max Griera reports.
But the pact is highly divisive and many MEPs are expected to vote according to nationality, rather than political group. In a letter seen by POLITICO, many Polish and French EPP MEPs have come out against the deal, alongside lawmakers from the Greens, Renew, Patriots, ECR and ESN.
“Non-transparent”: The letter, drafted by Polish center-right MEP Marta Wcisło (of Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform), rejects the current version of the agreement, arguing that the EU-Mercosur agreement “has been negotiated in a non-transparent manner and without proper consultations with Member States, agricultural organizations, and the farmers who safeguard our continent’s food security every day.”
What to watch: Once the College of Commissioners signs off on the plans, trade supremo Maroš Šefčovič and diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas will hold a joint press conference on the proposals, livestreamed here.
Now read this: Beyond trade frictions, France’s ongoing problems of political paralysis and budget headaches are so big that not even Macron’s resignation as president is likely to get the country off the hook, writes Clea Caulcutt.
BRAT(ISLAVA) SUMMER
BRUSSELS HAS A SLOVAKIA PROBLEM: Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister, hopped over to China to join President Xi Jinping’s shindig commemorating victory in World War II (more on that below). After arriving in Beijing, he met Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Xi’s old mate, and told him Slovakia was “extremely interested in standardization of relations” with Moscow, ASAP, Reuters reported.
Gaslighting: Fico also thanked Putin for the safe and secure gas supplies Slovakia receives from Russia. Reminder: Brussels is pushing to end EU imports of Russian fossil fuels by the end of 2027 (but Hungary and Slovakia hate the plan).
That’s not the line: When asked if he was representing the EU in his discussions with Putin, foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper told reporters at the Commission’s regular daily briefing simply: “No.”
More trouble in-the-making: Slovakia’s European commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, has found himself in some tricky spots in recent months, as the Brussels official tasked with trying to strike a trade deal with Trump. It’s fair to say the fruits of his labors haven’t gone down well, though von der Leyen got much of the public blame for the Turnberry accord (more of that here). Šefčovič hails from Fico’s party, but he has largely escaped the toxicity with which his national leader is often treated by the Brussels establishment.
There are signs this may be changing. On Monday, Šefčovič intervened to block a Commission plan to hit Google with penalties over its search advertising practices, amid ongoing trade threats from Trump.
Wimping out: The allegation, first reported by MLex, is that Šefčovič pushed Brussels into chickening out of following though with its rules amid fears Trump would impose higher tariffs in retaliation. That made for some awkward questions about Commission rifts at the midday press briefing. POLITICO’s Francesca Micheletti and Jacob Parry have the story.
Mr. Fixit no more? Šefčovič earned the nickname of Mr. Fixit around town because he was the guy von der Leyen turned to when she needed a reliable operator to deal with a tricky issue, from Brexit relations with the U.K., to climate action. Might she think twice next time?
Tariff appeal: Trump, meanwhile, said he will likely appeal to the Supreme Court on Wednesday to overturn an Aug. 29 ruling that found his tariffs were illegal.
UKRAINE WAR
JUST THREE BUDS HANGING OUT IN BEIJING: Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin continued their love-in in China, now with added Kim Jong Un. The trio walked shoulder to shoulder to a viewing platform to watch Xi’s Victory Day parade in the early hours of this morning — the first time they’ve been pictured together in public. The BBC reports this is the first time the North Korean dictator has attended an international gathering of world leaders.
China “not afraid of violence”: The parade began with an 80-gun artillery salute to mark 80 years since the end of the war. Xi delivered a brief speech calling for the eradication of the roots of war — before adding: “The Chinese people are a people that are not afraid of violence and are self-reliant and strong.” Full write-up here.
Warm greetings to the conspirators: “May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration,” Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social as the celebrations began in Beijing. He added: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”
HE’S NOT MAD, HE’S JUST DISAPPOINTED: Earlier, Trump had voiced his disapproval of Putin’s failure to follow up on talk of a peace plan with Ukraine. Speaking on the Scott Jennings radio show on Tuesday, Trump said he was “very disappointed in President Putin.”
“Thousands of people are dying. They’re not Americans that are dying, but they’re Russians and they’re Ukrainians, and there’s thousands and it’s a war that makes no sense,” Trump said.
Will he actually do anything? A distinctly tired-sounding Trump gave his own vague promise of “doing something to help people live.” Don’t forget, back in July he threatened to impose “very severe” tariffs against Russia if Putin didn’t get on with agreeing a truce.
PEACEKEEPING LATEST: Over in Europe, Ursula von der Leyen will attend Thursday’s hybrid meeting of the France and U.K.-led “coalition of the willing” group of countries that will help secure Ukraine after a peace deal. (She’s already in hot water with Berlin over her decision to tout Europe’s “pretty precise” plans for deploying troops to Ukraine.) Ahead of Thursday’s head of state/government meeting, defense ministers will today gather for a videoconference, Berlin Playbook’s Rixa Fürsen reports.
Don’t hold your breath: Decisions on security guarantees for post-war Ukraine will be made in “weeks, not days,” Romania’s Defense Minister Ionuț Moșteanu told Kathryn Carlson in an interview.
Ukraine’s EU hopes: At a meeting of ministers in Copenhagen, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said there would be no going back on Ukraine’s path to EU membership. Putin himself has also publicly claimed he has no problem with the EU taking Ukraine as a new member, as long as NATO doesn’t do the same.
Speaking of security: Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, will give a speech at the European Union Institute of Security Studies. Watch it here.
EXPLOSIVE SANCTIONS: A string of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries in recent days have brought the country’s most important industry to the brink of crisis, POLITICO’s Gabriel Gavin reports. Experts are warning of domestic shortages and a hefty economic blow as a result.
That’s gotta hurt: The most recent wave of blasts hit facilities across southern Russia over the weekend, and have forced Moscow to extend a ban on petrol exports to meet domestic demand as queues form at gas stations in provincial cities. “You have lines for petrol in Russia … because the Ukrainians with their deep strikes were able to disrupt the oil deliveries,” said the EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarína Mathernová. “This kind of pressure works, and we just need to keep at it and not get sidetracked.” Read more here.
IN OTHER NEWS
RULE OF LAW: Commissioner Michael McGrath will unveil the EU budget program for justice, among other things, at a press conference in Brussels. He’s pitching it as a way to make sure “people and businesses can trust that their rights are protected, wherever they are in the EU.” That’s not just about protecting democratic values, but also providing businesses and investors with a predictable legal environment to drive growth, he said.
EU VIEWS: The latest Eurobarometer survey finds 68 percent of respondents thought the role of the EU to protect European citizens from global crises should become “more important.” A large majority also expected more projects would need to be funded by “the EU as a whole” rather than member countries alone. Budget geeks will be interested to learn that 73 percent were “totally” or “somewhat” in favor of the EU gaining “new types of revenue sources.”
FRENCH FAIL: There was no “miracle” in talks between French PM François Bayrou and the far-right National Rally, which means his government is still heading for defeat in a confidence vote on Monday. Clea Caulcutt has the story.
Right on cue: In the FT, French Finance Minister Eric Lombard says the government would be forced to compromise on plans to cut the deficit if Bayrou goes, before laying out some of his own ideas to get the budget passed. Translation: He’s running.
SPANISH FLOP: The much-anticipated meeting of Catalan President Salvador Illa and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont in Brussels seems to have disappointed both sides, Aitor Hernández-Morales reports. The summit was widely seen as an attempt to revive relations between Spain’s governing Socialists and Puigdemont’s Junts party. But it seems not to have improved the dynamics, meaning PM Pedro Sánchez remains unlikely to have Junts’ support to pass his budget.
FOOTBALL CALL: European football chief Aleksander Čeferin told POLITICO’s Ali Walker he believes players and teams shouldn’t face competition bans over conflicts waged by national leaders. Interview write-up here, and here’s the full transcript.
TRUMP SPEAKS: The U.S. president held his first press conference in a week, and dismissed rumors about his health as “crazy.” He announced the U.S. military had “shot out” a Venezuelan boat, killing 11 “terrorists” as part of action against drug trafficking and other crimes.