PM outlines TIF agenda, pledges focus on middle class, reforms
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday outlined the main priorities of ruling New Democracy ahead of his upcoming address, in September, at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), saying the government would focus on practical solutions to citizens’ everyday concerns. “At TIF, we will be clear about our plan for Greece 2030, with immediate measures but also reforms that will deliver gradual results,” the prime minister said, adding that announcements at the fair would focus on supporting the middle class, particularly freelancers and small and medium-sized businesses.
Androulakis calls on citizens to choose a change of direction
Main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis called on citizens to choose the reliability and integrity represented by PASOK, urging them to “ turn the page” by voting against New Democracy, during an interview with Radio Thessaloniki on Monday. Androulakis emphasized: “We are not all the same. It is just that some people today, after seven years in government and having managed billions of euros, have gained control over a large part of the public sphere and steer the questions in the direction they want.”
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/1010206/Androulakis-calls-on-citizens-to-choose-a-change-of-direction
Ministry announces funding program for water supply projects
The Ministry of Environment and Energy has announced a new €65 million funding program for water supply projects aimed at addressing growing drought pressures across the country. The announcement follows the successful completion of previous funding rounds, which supported 103 water projects across 63 municipalities nationwide, with a total value of €142 million over the past 12 months. Municipalities and local water companies (DEYAs) facing water scarcity challenges have been invited to submit proposals by September 11.
Eight minority schools suspended
Turkey criticized Greece’s decision to suspend operations at eight minority primary schools in Thrace for the 2026-2027 school year, saying the move violates provisions of the Lausanne Peace Treaty. The Greek Education Ministry said the decision was based on insufficient student enrollment and was made under procedures applied when registrations fall below legal minimum thresholds. Following the suspensions, the number of minority schools in Thrace will stand at 76.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/foreign-policy/1310117/eight-minority-schools-suspended
ATHEX: Banks reverse early decline of benchmark
The new week started at the Greek bourse with a balanced session, which had banks determining the final result. They ended the losing sequence of the benchmark and offered it some minor gains, after an entire week that had shaved more than 2.6% off the main index at Athinon Avenue. Even so, observers remain reserved for the short term as they do not see a pretext for a rebound before the issue of banks’ second-quarter results, starting next week. The Euronext Athens (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,449.91 points, adding 0.11% to Friday’s 2,447.25 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.12% to end at 6,224.53 points.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1310118/athex-banks-reverse-early-decline-of-benchmark
KATHIMERINI: Consistent payers pay more for energy due to other consumers’ unpaid bills
TA NEA: OECD: new status quo for lay-offs as well
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Culture gets commercialized by the government
RIZOSPASTIS: The struggle against Greece’s involvement in the massacre must intensify
KONTRA NEWS: Tsipras commits to abolishing university entry exams
DIMOKRATIA: Mitsotakis is remorseless and dangerous
NAFTEMPORIKI: Global energy corridors are being targeted
DRIVING THE DAY
CHINA CHALLENGE: MEPs from the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee head to China today, seeking to break a deadlock over the institution’s approach to Beijing. The visit comes as the Socialists and Democrats push to soften a critical report on China, while rejecting allegations the group has buckled to pressure from Beijing, write Zoya Sheftalovich, Max Griera and Carlo Martuscelli.
Hearing the message: Adopting the draft in its current form would have “consequences,” Beijing warned the Parliament, according to a non-S&D parliamentary official. MEPs from other groups accuse the S&D of listening to Beijing and trying to water down and delay the report, which is meant to set out the Parliament’s position on the EU’s relationship with China.
The S&D denied being leaned on by Beijing, saying it was “not aware of any warning from any Chinese official” and stressing that cooperation with China “cannot come at the expense of EU values.” Beijing didn’t respond to a request for comment.
No consensus: More than eight months after Belgian Renew MEP Hilde Vautmans drafted the report, groups have failed to agree a common position, with amendments revealing the divisions.
Mind your language: The S&D wants to delete language that says China “offers few, if any, benefits to European companies and diminishes rather than contributes to Europe’s security,” and is “distorting global markets.” Instead, it wants to describe EU-China relations as “increasingly complex and challenging.” It also proposes scrapping any reference to China as a “strategic rival” — a definition Beijing loathes.
Spanish connection: The S&D’s most influential national leader, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, wants deeper engagement with Beijing and has visited China four times in four years, most recently in April. Spain has also welcomed Chinese investment.
Worth noting: During Parliament’s July plenary, S&D lawmakers inserted an amendment into a separate East Asia report reaffirming the EU’s One China policy, with critics viewing it as an attempt to be more accommodating to Beijing.
Self-censorship warning: “When Beijing warns of ‘consequences’ before a report is even adopted, the warning itself is the operation,” said Finnish EPP MEP Mika Aaltola. “The goal is that Parliament softens its own language in advance.” The lawmaker urged the committee to adopt the report “exactly as drafted.”
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Field report: All eyes are now on the eight-member Parliament delegation, whose findings are expected to feed into the final report and shape the groups’ push to reach a compromise in the fall. The MEPs will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, senior lawmakers, Chinese Communist Party officials and technology companies.
No détente: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, human rights, economic imbalances, Indo-Pacific security and critical supply chains are on the agenda. “I do not believe we are in a phase of détente. I see rather the opposite,” delegation member Engin Eroglu told Playbook ahead of the trip.
BIG AND BREAKING
MEET BRITAIN’S EUROPE MINISTER: Hamish Falconer has been appointed as the U.K.’s new minister for European relations, as part of a government reshuffle in which Nick Thomas-Symonds was fired from the role. Falconer is former Civil Service diplomat and Middle East minister. He will serve as minister for intergovernmental relations and European relations jointly in the Cabinet Office and the Foreign Office.
NEW FRONT IN IRAN WAR: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front against the U.S. in its war with Iran, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, Bloomberg says U.S. forces struck Iranian targets overnight, marking the 10th straight day of attacks.
BRUSSELS RESISTS PRESSURE ON CLIMATE LAWS: The European Commission is betting that the profit-hungry gas and oil industry will continue exporting into Europe next year, resisting companies’ warnings they will be forced to seek other markets unless climate laws are rewritten.
ENVOY ALERT: The EU will appoint its new special representative to Africa’s troubled Sahel region later this week, with Danish diplomat Birgitte Nygaard Markussen set to take the role after a contentious process, an official confirmed to Playbook.
EUROGROUP CHAIR EYES NEW FUNDS: Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis is floating a bold new way to raise money for the EU, as debate heats up over the bloc’s seven-year budget: redirecting to Brussels lucrative proceeds from national spectrum auctions.
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY: The resignation Jens Spahn has removed a prominent rival of Friedrich Merz while offering the chancellor the chance of a government reset ahead of crucial regional elections in the fall.
THE REPORT ON DRAGHI
CAN EUROPE GET COMPETITIVE? A lunch between Mario Draghi and Ursula von der Leyen is putting a spotlight squarely onto how well — or how poorly — the EU is doing to bolster its economy, just as the war in the Strait of Hormuz threatens to reignite a global energy crisis.
Keeping score: It’s been 22 months since the former ECB chief published his report calling for sweeping reforms to modernize and strengthen Europe’s economy. According to a report by French think tank Institut Montaigne, 30 percent of Draghi’s recommendations have been carried out. But there’s still a long way to go and von der Leyen’s economic record is a hot topic, politically speaking.
Right on cue: Valérie Hayer, head of the Renew Europe group, told Max Griera that progress on implementing the report was “far too little, far too slow,” adding that only one in six of Draghi’s recommendations had been implemented (that’s below the Institut Montaigne’s count and likely refers to this EPIC count). “It is high time to complete the single market by removing the barriers that still fragment our economy,” Hayer added.
Why now? Competitiveness ministers are meeting in Dublin today and the Irish EU presidency has flagged economic reforms as a priority. The EU’s economy is struggling amid the Iran war, Chinese overcapacity and an AI boom happening … elsewhere.
Step by step: The EU is making “steady progress” toward implementing the Draghi report’s recommendations, Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho told reporters Monday, emphasizing wins on trade and simplification of EU rules. She pointed to the EU’s One Europe, One Market roadmap, a work plan for all three EU institutions that flags end-2027 as the target for completing competitiveness reforms.
Post-lunch talk: Pinho said Draghi and von der Leyen had gone on to discuss “the barriers that are being actively tackled across the economy, and our ongoing work notably on innovation in AI and clean tech.”
Weaker: A look at the One Europe tracker shows gaps in progress between simplification and trade legislation (29 percent and 50 percent completed respectively) versus other areas like “integrated market,” in which 5 percent has been implemented, with 95 percent “planned” or “pending approval.”
Numbers, shmumbers: An EU official, granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly, played down the Draghi numbers game. The official pointed to a Commission proposal for a €409 billion competitiveness fund in the next MFF, as well as defense industry programs, as issues not captured in scorecards.
Elephant in the room: EU capitals are reluctant to implement many aspects of the reform. For example, EU Inc. — a proposal to harmonize corporate legal regimes across 27 countries — has been substantially watered down from its original concept due to national objections.
The bottom line: Time is running short to carry out Draghi’s vision — even incompletely. Pressure is now on the Irish presidency to rally EU capitals behind his ideas.
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
One of the EU’s most divisive policy questions is whether to issue eurobonds. But what are they? They’re shorthand for joint debt: rather than individual member countries borrowing separately, the EU would issue bonds on international markets. This would allow countries with weaker economies to borrow at lower interest rates. Less affluent European governments have pushed for eurobonds to spread the burden of national debt more evenly across the region; frugal northern members have warned they could undermine fiscal discipline.
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4 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
MIRACLE OF DUNKIRK: The once-depressed French region surrounding Dunkirk has pulled off a surprising revival, Aude van de Hove reports. Can the rest of Europe learn from its success?
NEW U.K. GOVERNMENT TAKES SHAPE: Andy Burnham set aside his friendly, folksy public image to banish from his Cabinet the closest allies of his predecessor Keir Starmer in a ruthless first act as prime minister.
JOB MOVE: European Commission foreign affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper will be stepping back from the podium and moving to a policy role in the cabinet of Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen. Noroc!
FOOTBALL BROMANCE: U.S. President Donald Trump stood shoulder to shoulder with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum during the FIFA World Cup final. But he only had eyes for Gianni Infantino.