PM Mitsotakis in Denmark: Greece against Türkiye joining SAFE while casus belli, grey zone claims persist
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in response to a question on what was discussed during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after the conclusion of the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen, stressed that “as long as Türkiye continues to have the casus belli issue on the table, as long as Türkiye challenges the sovereignty of Greek islands through the grey zone theory, Greece will not agree to Türkiye joining the SAFE programme.”
Dendias backs Ruci’s exhumation request
During a speech in Parliament, Defense Minister Nikos Dendias expressed support for Panos Ruci’s request to exhume his son’s body to establish the cause of death. Ruci, on hunger strike for 18 days, is seeking the exhumation of his son Denis, a victim of the Tempe railway disaster, not only for identification but also to clarify the circumstances of his death.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1282655/dendias-backs-rucis-exhumation-request
Kovesi: European Public Prosecutor’s Office ‘here to stay;’ Article 86 must be amended
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office “is here to stay,” Laura Kovesi told a press conference on Thursday morning at Piraeus Port, where a customs office is under investigation for large-scale fraud. The EU’s chief prosecutor is in Athens checking on the progress of that and other ongoing investigations, including a massive farming subsidies scandal and a delayed railway safety infrastructure contract that is believed to have contributed to the 2023 Tempe railway disaster. Responding to questions about these probes, Kovesi said that Article 86 of the Greek Constitution – which stipulates that Parliament alone has the power to prosecute members of the government for criminal offenses committed while in office – stands in the way of the investigations, especially those concerning the agricultural payments agency OPEKEPE and Contract 717.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1282632/kovesi-european-public-prosecutors-office-here-to-stay
Unemployment rate falls to 8.1% in August, ELSTAT says
Greece’s unemployment rate fell to 8.1% in August, compared to the revised upward 9.7% in August 2024, and the revised upward 8.3% in July 2025, according to hellenic Statistical Authority ELSTAT. The unemployed amounted to 383,788 people, marking a decrease of 72,352 people compared to August 2024 (15.9%) and a decrease of 11,542 people compared to July 2025 (2.9%).
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/937579/Unemployment-rate-falls-to-81-in-August–ELSTAT-says
ATHEX: Unlikely protagonists at Athinon Ave
Greek stocks’ early gains on Thursday had all but evaporated by the closing at Athinon Avenue, with blue chips remaining in positive territory, while mid-caps declined and losing stocks marginally edged out the gainers. An interesting stock-picking pattern saw purchases of some blue chips that had received less interest recently and pressure on certain mainstays.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1282700/athex-unlikely-protagonists-at-athinon-ave
KATHIMERINI: The 4 files of EU Chief Prosecutor Kovesi
TA NEA: EU Chief Prosecutor: 5 thunderbolts
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Kovesi: The law is protecting ministers
RIZOSPASTIS: Alert! Response with new strike to the abominable anti-worker bill
KONTRA NEWS: Rupture within the government by Foreign Minister Dendias regarding the Ruci case
DIMOKRATIA: Torpedoes by Foreign Minister Dendias and European Chief Prosecutor Kovesi hit the government
NAFTEMPORIKI: Foreign investments in real estate assets plunge
DRIVING THE DAY: BILLIONAIRE BABIŠ ON THE BRINK
CZECH VOTERS WILL GO TO THE POLLS(or maybe stay at home) over the next two days, in an election with major ramifications for Brussels, European politics and Ukraine. Polling suggests they’ll oust the existing administration of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, 61, and push the 71-year-old populist agriculture tycoon Andrej Babiš back to the top of a new government.
Why it matters: Babiš, who was prime minister between 2017 and 2021, is on record as wanting to cut military aid for Ukraine and has attacked EU policy on climate change and migration. Officials and diplomats in Brussels and beyond told Playbook they’re braced for another disruptive figure in the mold of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to take a seat at the summit table and throw a wrench in the works of some of the bloc’s most significant priorities.
The election in a nutshell: Voters will cast their ballots between 2 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Saturday (with a break overnight). The outcome is likely to become clear over the course of Saturday evening.
The contest to elect 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, is decided by proportional representation and no single party is expected to win a majority. Coalition negotiations will likely take weeks, and experts expect the final shape of the new government to depend on how a bunch of smaller parties, including on the fringes of the right and left, fare.
Free radicals: For the first time since the fall of communism in 1989, extremist parties advocating for EU and NATO withdrawal could end up either directly in the government or providing support to Babiš’ ANO party, POLITICO’s Ketrin Jochecová reports in an essential election primer.
WHAT VOTERS WANT: The campaign came after a period of rocketing inflation that brought a cost-of-living squeeze for many Czechs. The question of how much to help Ukraine is one of the issues that has split the country, after Fiala’s government led EU efforts to supply ammunition to Kyiv.
Size matters: If Babiš only musters a coalition majority with 101 or 102 lawmakers, every one of the MPs will effectively be able to hold his government to ransom, at every vote in the chamber.
Czechs and balances: The president, Petr Pavel, has warned he won’t tolerate a government made up of parties that threaten Czechia’s national security. That’s being seen as a rebuke to those calling for withdrawal from the EU and NATO. The Supreme Court and the upper house of parliament, the senate, may also offer resistance card options that could affect the result and curtail the powers of any Babiš-led coalition.
HELLO, IS THAT THE KREMLIN SPEAKING? EU officials fear the next Czech government will swell the Russia-sympathizing Central European bloc of leaders, who include Slovakia’s Robert Fico as well as Orbán. Babiš insists that’s a lie and denies being pro-Russian.
Moscow meddling: The European Commission and the OSCE are on alert for evidence of foreign interference in Czechia, after suspicions Moscow meddled in elections in Germany, Poland, Romania and Moldova this year already. The OSCE has a small team of observers on the ground.
Limited cooperation: Most people who spoke to the OSCE ahead of the campaign about the risks to the election “expressed concerns about the spread of disinformation and manipulative narratives, including potential foreign interference aimed at undermining public trust in the process.” The OSCE, per its mission report, “was informed about limited co-operation with social media platforms in removing harmful content as well as insufficient legal tools to combat disinformation effectively.”
What’s going to happen? Eurasia Group’s Mujtaba Rahman reckons there’s an 85 percent probability that Babiš will win but a 15 percent chance the country will end up with a centrist government without his ANO party involved.
“Babiš continues to face corruption allegations. While the judiciary is unlikely to disqualify him or prevent him from taking office, ongoing proceedings could delay government formation and introduce a greater degree of uncertainty,” Rahman wrote in a note Thursday. “The initial market reaction will hinge on early signals around fiscal policy and EU relations. A Babiš-led coalition with extremist parties would bring more fiscal slippage than in Italy under Prime Minister Georgia Meloni but not bring the same degree of institutional decline as in Hungary under Viktor Orbán.”
Age of revolution: Petra Guasti, an academic specializing in democracy and populism at Charles University in Prague, told Playbook many voters were choosing to oust their governments. “Populist parties are very mobilized,” she said. “We know from all around Europe and the world that this is an anti-incumbent era.”
Cursed to win? “It’s definitely going to be a victory [for Babiš] but nobody can say at the moment if it’s a pyrrhic victory or not,” said Guasti. She reckoned turnout over 64 percent would make life much harder for the populists. “Whoever tells you they know how it will end is probably not right … It’s like when you throw a handful of sand in the air and you don’t know how it will fall.”
Follow POLITICO this weekend to keep on top of the results as they come in.
And now listen to this: On this week’s EU Confidential podcast, host Sarah Wheaton talks to one of Czechia’s leading political marketing scholars, Anna Shavit, who once worked with Babiš on his campaigns. She explains his “shovel theory” of leadership: in the sandbox of politics, only the kids who whack others with a shovel get ahead. Listen here.
GETTING STRICTER WITH VIKTOR
ORBÁN IS HAVING ANOTHER MOMENT. EU leaders have spent recent days preoccupied with (and failing to answer) the question of how to work around the Hungarian leader’s veto of Ukraine’s accession and his perpetual obstructionism on sanctioning Russia. He’s got an election to fight next spring and so far is waging a highly visible campaign against the EU establishment via social media.
Jousting with Tusk: In Copenhagen this week, Orbán’s Euroskeptic campaign took him into another round of clashes, on and offline, with Poland’s centrist leader Donald Tusk, a staunch backer of the Brussels machine and former European Council president.
Donald’s duck: POLITICO has a summary of Orbán’s recent sparring sessions with his EU counterparts, and unfortunately, for the Polish PM, we rated it a draw.
In brief: Orbán’s argument is that Hungary is not at war with Russia, and the EU establishment is dangerously escalating tensions and stoking the conflict in Ukraine instead of working for peace. Tusk (and almost every other EU leader) reckons Vladimir Putin is the real warmonger and must be stopped by backing Ukraine to the hilt.
Not proud: The next flashpoint is a Pride march scheduled for Saturday in the city of Pécs, which is facing a ban by Hungarian authorities. The European Commission called on Hungary to allow the Pride celebrations to go ahead “without any fear of criminal sanctions” or other penalties. The crackdown follows a similar controversy over the Budapest Pride earlier this year.
We’ve got a plan: The Commission will publish its LGBTIQ+ equality strategy next Wednesday, spokesperson Eva Hrnčířová said. “This strategy will focus on tackling violence and hate-motivated harassment — online and offline — and putting an end to conversion practices,” she told Playbook. Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib is due to present the strategy in Strasbourg.
VDL vs. MEPs
THE EPP’S BUDGET WAR GAMES: The European People’s Party (EPP) is toying with the idea of torpedoing the Commission’s budget proposal for 2028-2034. In a major confrontation, lawmakers from von der Leyen’s own party are in talks to reject one of the main planks of the Berlaymont’s budget blueprint, four officials with knowledge of proceedings told my colleagues Gregorio Sorgi, Max Griera and Hans von der Burchard.
All about the farmers: The EPP is fighting tooth-and-nail against von der Leyen’s idea to lump agricultural funds and regional payments ― which make up over half of the budget ― in a single cash pot handled by national governments. Conservative lawmakers object that this is a smokescreen to cut funding to farmers, who are core backers of the EPP.
Nuclear option: The annoyance inside the EPP is such that the group is considering going nuclear: voting to reject negotiations and ask the Commission to withdraw key elements of its proposal. That would trigger a full-blown crisis ― but we’re not there yet. “It’s not a done deal, and talks are ongoing,” a Parliament official said.
Isn’t it ironic: Von der Leyen’s own party is pushing for the nuclear option, whereas the Socialists and Democrats are more reluctant to go down this road.
Why the frugals are fretting: Rumors of a parliamentary revolt are causing annoyance among Northern European countries that back von der Leyen’s reform and are key players in the negotiations. “The challenges of the 21st century cannot be met with a budget from the mid-20th century. Until this realization sinks in, it is unclear why net contributors should pay more at all,” sniped an EU diplomat. “If core elements of this reform were now to be removed, net contributors in particular would have to significantly adjust their previously open-minded stance,” echoed another EU diplomat.
What they mean: Parliament can huff and puff; national capitals can decide to slash the budget.
Don’t forget: Von der Leyen faces her second round of no-confidence votes in less than three months in the Parliament next week. Centrist lawmakers are expected to save her but opposition is mounting. POLITICO colleagues crunch the numbers in this primer.
EUROPE’S WAR FOOTING LATEST
DRONES BUZZ MUNICH AIRPORT: Seventeen flights at Germany’s Munich Airport were canceled and 15 diverted after 10 p.m. last night as a result of drone sightings. It was the latest such incident at a European airport. The airport reopened this morning, Reuters reports.
CRACKS IN THE DRONE WALL: Meanwhile, EU leaders can’t agree on von der Leyen’s plan for a drone wall defense program, with the Baltics and Poland backing the concept while countries farther from Russia don’t even much like the name. Chris Lunday, Laura Kayali and Jacopo Barigazzi report on a blueprint for a wall that may never be built.
RUSSIAN ASSETS: The EU is still working on how to make use of frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war effort. As Thursday’s Playbook reported, Moscow appears to be planning to retaliate by nationalizing and selling off foreign-owned assets. “The Russians are talking about private assets, we are not talking about private assets, we are talking about sovereign assets,” a Commission spokesperson said. While the Russians “are talking about confiscation, seizure,” the EU “will not be touching” the underlying Russian assets, under its plan.
SANCTIONS ON THE MENU: EU countries’ ambassadors will haggle over the bloc’s 19th package of sanctions at a Coreper II meeting this morning, Camille Gijs and Koen Verhelst report. The EU’s ambassador to the United States, Jovita Neliupšienė, told POLITICO’s Competitive Europe Summit on Thursday that she understood an agreement on the package among member countries was “imminent.”
IN OTHER NEWS
CROOKED AGRICULTURE POLICY: It’s not just Greece that has a problem with CAP fraud. Farm subsidies are fueling corruption “in almost all” EU countries, the head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, Laura Codruța Kövesi, told POLITICO’s Nektaria Stamouli in an interview. Asked if there were any myths she wanted to bust, she said: “That I don’t drink coffee in the morning, but I drink the tears of corrupt people. Sometimes I drink coffee.”
LECORNU TRIES AGAIN: France’s new PM Sebastien Lecornu is still trying to stitch together some kind of government, almost a month after he was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron. Today he’s due to meet the Socialists, a key group to win over if he’s going to get a budget agreed. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Thursday to protest against the prospect of budget cuts.
MANCHESTER SYNAGOGUE ATTACK LATEST: Police confirmed two people were killed and three injured in a car and knife attack on a synagogue in Manchester on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur Thursday. Police named the suspected attacker as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British man of Syrian descent, who was shot dead at the scene. Counterterrorism police said three more suspects — two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s — are in custody in connection with the attack. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain must defeat “antisemitic hatred” and vowed to protect Jewish communities.
GAZA FLOTILLA LATEST: The European Commission said it “respect[ed] the commitment of everyone on the flotilla,” as Israeli forces intercepted boats carrying aid to Gaza and arrested activists including Greta Thunberg. Brussels officials also had a “right” to join the protest group EU Staff for Peace but should also be aware of their contractual “obligations” to remain impartial, a Commission spokesperson said.
FRIDAY FEATURE: Paul Dallison presents a brief history of geography gaffes in this week’s Declassified humor column.