Mitsotakis in last weekly review of 2025: ‘We are open to dialogue but not to the unreasonable’
In his weekly post reviewing the government’s work on Sunday, the last in the year 2025, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis focused particularly on the 2026 budget passed by Parliament and efforts to support available income, as well as measures to increase the stock of housing. Regarding the ongoing protests by farmers, the prime minister said that many of their demands had already been met or agreed to, while commenting that the government “is open to dialogue but not to the unreasonable.”
New farmer roadblocks, Christmas reprieve expected
Farmers in Greece continued their protest action and remained at strategic points of the national highways with their tractors on Sunday. Some farmers’ groups have announced they will unblock highways from Tuesday through Friday to facilitate Christmas travel, before reassessing their actions ahead of the New Year.
Poll shows potential Karystianou party outpacing Tsipras, Samaras
A political party led by Maria Karystianou, president of the association that represents families of victims of the deadly Tempe rail disaster, would attract more voter support than parties formed by former prime ministers Alexis Tsipras or Antonis Samaras, according to a new opinion poll released late on Thursday. All three figures have publicly hinted at the possible creation of new political parties, but none has formally announced plans to do so.
New tax authority unit to strike ‘awe’ in evaders
The tax administration activated last week a new squad of tax inspectors to undertake difficult tax evasion and smuggling cases. Named the Financial Transactions Control Forces – to create the acronym DEOS that means “awe” in Greek – the new joint operational unit will enlist the help of drones, digital maps and modern technological means. DEOS is already staffed by customs and tax officials, as well as by Financial Crimes Squad executives.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1290254/new-tax-unit-sounds-awesome
ATHEX: Bourse keeps growing on a busy day
Athinon Avenue maintained its rising course on Friday, with growth recorded by most indexes, while the December triple witching and the index rebalancing – albeit of minor proportions – sent the day’s turnover soaring, probably for the last time this year. The price increase was such that it reversed the weekly result from negative to positive, as the benchmark has put some clear blue water between its current level and the 2,100-point level.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1290397/athex-bourse-keeps-growing-on-a-busy-day
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: Certain tough farmers are behind the ongoing road blockades
TO VIMA: Europe’s Gordian Knot
REAL NEWS: Protective shield for Greece
PROTO THEMA: Operation: Housing
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: Presumptive income: 3 changes
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The government is promising farmers their own land
KONTRA NEWS: Karystianou enraged due to the taxman’s raid
DIMOKRATIA: Attempt to terrorize Karystianou [president of the association that represents families of victims of the deadly Tempe rail disaster]
NAFTEMPORIKI: Digitization of EFKA social security fund: Workers inside “Ariadne’s” thread
DRIVING THE DAY: FROM PLAN B TO PUTIN TALKS
MACRON TOUTS PUTIN TALKS: Fresh from a European Council summit in which he played a decisive role in ensuring “Plan B” would fly, French President Emmanuel Macron has responded positively to an offer of direct talks with Vladimir Putin — something most European leaders have eschewed for years.
Speaking to everyone: Macron’s office wrote in a statement over the weekend that it “welcomed” the idea of talks, while stressing that any such negotiations would happen “in full transparency” for Ukraine and its European allies, Eliza Gkritsi reported.
À contre-courant: While it’s unclear when Macron and Putin will talk, the French leader’s willingness to engage directly with his counterpart goes against the de facto European position that speaking to Putin is pointless or counterproductive. Macron broke off contact with the Russian leader for three years, after coming under fire for maintaining ties in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, only to start speaking to him again in July, in a two-hour call.
He’s back: Macron’s extended hand suggests he’s looking to return to the spotlight after months of European foreign-policy leadership by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Macron played a key role at a gathering of European leaders in sinking the “reparations loan” from Russia’s frozen assets, which Merz had publicly backed.
As POLITICO reported, it was Macron who tipped the balance against the reparations loan around 10 p.m. on Thursday, after leaders received a reworked legal proposal and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a strongly worded criticism of the plan.
Coming prepared: While some leaders were taken by surprise, France had been working quietly to ensure that Plan B (first reported by POLITICO) would fly, per three EU diplomats and an EU official who spoke to Playbook and Gregorio Sorgi. “You don’t bring a leader to a European Council summit without having a Plan B,” one of the diplomats said.
The quiet achiever: The French president’s aides huddled with Hungarian counterparts on Thursday to ensure that, if the reparations loan didn’t go ahead, their leader wouldn’t veto the alternative option: joint borrowing. Other countries, including Belgium, were also in touch with Hungary, per another of the diplomats.
Ecoute, Viktor: Macron spoke directly with Viktor Orbán during the summit, as the question of Hungary’s potential veto swirled, the same people said.
Results: The key moment came when Orbán spoke up to say he would not reject the use of the headroom in the EU’s budget to keep financing Ukraine. Slovakia and Czechia were prepared to follow suit, as long as they would not have to pitch in for the Ukraine loan.
Bait-and-switch: The deal that had been referred to as Europe’s unlikely Plan B was suddenly the only game in town. While some felt “played” by the move, per one diplomat, it was clear that Macron had been the key player in making Plan B happen.
Master class: “Those five [Orbán, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Slovakian leader Robert Fico and Meloni] were only able to do this because France got on board with their plan,” said an EU official. “It was a master class from Macron.”
The bottom line: Macron’s influence in the EU has been blunted by his political weakness at home, leaving Merz to fill the void. The German chancellor had touted himself as Europe’s voice both on Ukraine and in managing the transatlantic relationship. But Macron had a few tricks up his sleeve, not least because he’s now one of the most experienced EU leaders around the Council table. Expect more from the magician of the Élysée Palace.
No Miami breakthrough: White House envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that talks in Miami with his Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev and Ukrainian national security adviser Rustem Umerov had been “productive and constructive” but hadn’t yielded a clear breakthrough to ending the war.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists, including La Stampa’s Francesco Semprini, that the fairest way forward with a peace deal would be to keep the front line frozen at where it is at the moment. “It’s essential that our authorities maintain the control of that part of Donbas that they administer today,” he said. Following a visit to Italy, Zelenskyy said his meeting with Meloni had been “excellent.”
NOW READ THIS: With transatlantic relations more strained than ever and Russia testing Europe’s ability to respond to hybrid attacks, the European spotlight is on one country: the EU’s only nuclear power, France.
Running on empty: While Paris has been preparing for the role of Europe’s security leader for decades, the timing isn’t the best. France’s public coffers are empty, the political crisis caused by last year’s snap election continues to weigh on the country and some European leaders are already concerned about the far-right National Rally party winning the presidential election in 2027. Laura Kayali has this deep dive into French readiness.
Not quite empty… Macron told French troops based in Abu Dhabi that his government would proceed with plans to build a new, larger and more modern aircraft carrier to replace the Charles de Gaulle, as part of the “Porte-avions de nouvelle génération” program, Reuters reports.
PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW
PRAGMATIC TIMES — ROMANIAN PRESIDENT NICUȘOR DAN: The return of Donald Trump has changed the world and Europe’s relationship with America is not the true partnership it once was. Things can improve but both sides need to understand each other better. That’s the view of Nicușor Dan, who sat down for an interview with POLITICO’s Tim Ross after last week’s marathon European Council summit in Brussels.
No moralizing, please: One casualty, according to Dan, is the quaint notion of doing the right thing. “The world [has] changed,” Dan said in an interview from his top-floor Brussels hotel suite. “We shifted from, in some sense, a moral way of doing things to a very pragmatic and economical way of doing things.”
MAGA meddling: The new White House national security strategy suggests the U.S. will seek to bend European politics to its anti-migrant, MAGA-friendly agenda. It’s “okay” for U.S. politicians to express their opinions but it would be a problem if they tried to influence politics “undemocratically” — for example, by paying media inside European countries “like the Russians are doing.”
No peace: Dan thinks Putin doesn’t want peace and will try to drag the war out for another two or three months. “I am more pessimistic than optimistic” about a ceasefire in the short-term, he says.
Centrist Dan: The 56-year-old moderate won against the odds in May, coming from behind to defeat hard-right populist George Simion. But Simion’s party is ahead in the polls, mirroring the picture elsewhere in Europe. One reason why populist nationalists are doing so well, Dan says, is because national leaders blame the EU for all the unpopular policies that they have to impose. Dan wishes they would stop.
Messy democracy: “With my six months’ experience, I can say that it’s quite a debate,” he said. “There is not a bureaucratic master that’s arranging things. It’s a democracy. It’s a pity that the people do not feel that directly.”
What about that 16-hour EU summit? “The topics are well chosen,” Dan said. “But I think the debates are a little bit too long.”
THE CYPRUS AGENDA
CARDS ON THE TABLE: The Cypriot presidency of the Council of the EU revealed its priorities on Sunday — several days later than previously planned. The Cypriots will pursue “an autonomous union” that is “open to the world,” with an agenda that includes continuous engagement with the U.S., better relations with the U.K. and opening new trade relations with other countries, Eliza Gkritsi writes in to report.
Looking southward: The Cypriots put support for Ukraine and defense readiness at the top of their agenda, but are also keen to shift some focus to the southern neighborhood. Gaza and relations with the Gulf states are key for Nicosia.
IN OTHER NEWS
REPARATIONS LOAN STILL POSSIBLE: In an interview with Max Griera, the head of Europe’s largest conservative political group Manfred Weber said Europe would one day use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, even though leaders failed to agree to do so at last week’s summit. Stay tuned for more.
SACK MAKES BIG TECH TETCHY: My U.S. colleagues report that the country’s influential tech lobby is split over moves to block states from regulating artificial intelligence, with Trump’s top AI adviser, David Sacks, bearing the brunt of the industry’s frustrations.
DARK FLEET VESSEL PURSUIT: The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters on Sunday. If successful, this would be the second such operation over the weekend. According to a U.S. official, the tanker is a “sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”
POUND THE ALARM — MINAJ FOR TRUMP: A political event in Arizona memorializing activist Charlie Kirk featured a surprise guest appearance by rapper Nicki Minaj, who described Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance “role models” for young men, according to AP.