Athens denies report US envoy threatened to topple government
The government on Monday denied a report that the US ambassador to Greece allegedly suggested Washington could bring down Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative government if it felt so disposed, having supposedly done the same in Romania. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said that “there was never an issue of the Greek government being threatened.” “And to be serious, something of the sort would never have been acceptable,” he added. The Wall Street Journal alleged that, at a March dinner attended by Greek and American officials, Kimberly Guilfoyle told Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou the United States had been involved in the fall of Romania’s center-right government. “We can do that to any country we want. We can do that here,” she was reported as having said. The WSJ quoted a person who had attended the dinner and others who were subsequently told about the alleged incident.
Ruling party faces internal strain
A public warning from former minister Dora Bakoyannis has exposed simmering tensions inside the ruling New Democracy party, with insiders describing an atmosphere of “everyone against everyone.” While Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was in the United States, Bakoyannis said she saw ministers with arrogance who should “get off their high horse,” a phrase she attributed to her father. She named no one. Speculation focused on Adonis Georgiadis, Makis Voridis and government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, who had clashed publicly with Bakoyannis over unemployment remarks.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1316465/ruling-party-faces-internal-strain
European Commission notes considerable progress in Greece’s handling of CAP funds
Greece has achieved considerable progress in applying the Action Plan to improve management of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds, the European Commission said on Monday, adding however that “there is still work that needs to be done.”
Greek Bond Yields Jump in a Week, With 10-Year at 4.46%
Greece’s government-bond market came under renewed pressure over the past week, as a global selloff in sovereign debt pushed yields sharply higher and prices lower across most maturities. The yield on Greece’s benchmark 10-year bond rose to 4.455% on Sept. 28 from 4.205% on Sept. 21, an increase of 25 basis points, according to data from the country’s Public Debt Management Agency. Its price fell to 91.616 from 93.473 over the same period.
ATHEX: Banks climb to a fresh 11-year high
The Euronext Athens (ATHEX) general index closed Monday at 2,707.83 points, adding 1.57% to Friday’s 2,665.93 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 1.73% to end at 6,954.52 points, though mid-caps contracted 0.04%.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1316582/athex-banks-climb-to-a-fresh-11-year-high
KATHIMERINI: The hydra of Mykonos
TA NEA: Counter-terrorism Unit: Security gap due to the Predator spyware
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Brussels: “Do not heat your homes, do not travel”
RIZOSPASTIS: The “socialism or barbarism” dilemma is contemporary and concerns the battle between our lives and their profits
KONTRA NEWS: Blow for Karistianou due to “quantum biofeedback”
DIMOKRATIA: Omertà regarding Guilfoyle’s threats
NAFTEMPORIKI: Price hikes reignited
DRIVING THE DAY
EUROPE’S WINTER ENERGY SCRAMBLE: EU energy czar Dan Jørgensen is leading urgent talks in Ireland today on how the bloc can secure its energy supply and ward off a winter crisis, three diplomats and officials told Playbook.
The EU is pushing to diversify energy sources as Donald Trump threatens to cut off diesel exports to Europe, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East drive up prices and Russian hybrid attacks unsettle suppliers. Ministers from the U.K., Ukraine and Norway are among those attending talks on possible energy partnerships, Ben Munster reports from Dublin.
The bloc’s battle with high energy prices has been raging for months, but the alarm level ratcheted up over the weekend as Jørgensen sent a letter to EU capitals urging them to consider energy savings similar to measures put in place after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
EU gas stores are running low, while NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has urged alliance members to increase oil-refining capacity amid escalating Russian hybrid threats.
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Widening the net: The bloc is also seeking closer energy ties with neighboring non-EU countries that could help offset a U.S. diesel cutoff. That includes members of the Energy Community, a group of countries aspiring to join the EU and working to integrate their energy markets with the bloc — if falteringly.
Help from friends: “The solution for European energy security does not begin and end at the EU borders, it includes both neighbors and candidates like Moldova — the highest-performing Contracting Party of the Energy Community,” Moldovan Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu told Ben.
Trump doubles down: The EU’s Oil Coordination Group also meets today to assess what a U.S. ban on diesel exports could mean for Europe. Reminder: After the White House denied reports it was preparing a 90-day ban, Trump said Sunday he was still considering one “very seriously.” Oil companies and industry groups are opposed, warning it could disrupt supplies and push prices higher.
Politics at the pump: Brussels sees a potential Trump move to ban diesel exports as driven by domestic politics ahead of November’s midterms, a Commission official said.
The bottom line: Brussels is scrambling to stop this winter turning into another energy nightmare. Trump’s diesel threat, low gas stocks, wars and Russian hybrid attacks are stacking the odds against it.
BIG AND BREAKING
CAVING ON CARS: The European Commission ignored its own advice to maintain a bloc-wide combustion engine ban and instead bowed to automakers and powerful national capitals to weaken the rules, according to an internal briefing document obtained by POLITICO. Jordyn Dahl has the full story.
AIR BASE PLOT: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News overnight that a “foreign actor” was clearly behind the suspected terror incident near a British air base on the weekend and that “there’s a lot more news that will come out on this.”
U.K. authorities earlier released on bail the five young men arrested Sunday but they’re continuing to investigate the alleged plot, including whether it was state-backed, Sky News reports.
DEPORTATION DRIVE: Greece is spearheading a group of five EU countries pushing to send migrants who have been denied the right to stay in the EU to countries such as Rwanda from as early as next year, Nektaria Stamouli reports.
DIG DEEP: Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos will open a gathering of the Ukraine Donor Platform in Brussels today with an appeal to EU partners to provide more funding. “We need to shoulder the financing challenge ahead together,” she told Playbook. “The European Union will be doing its part. But we need sufficiently ambitious commitments from everyone.”
PULLED BACK TO EUROPE: A new POLITICO Poll shows that most British voters want their government to build a closer relationship with the EU — and even Nigel Farage’s supporters agree. But Andy Burnham’s Cabinet is far from united on the subject at Labour’s annual party conference, Jon Stone reports from Liverpool.
LIGHTS OUT FOR EPSO?
THE EU WEIGHS AXING EPSO: The European Commission is considering big changes to its civil service exam board amid a budget squeeze and criticism that the body is no longer fit for purpose — including possibly scrapping it, two EU officials told Playbook.
EPSO, created in 2002, is the gateway for EU civil servants, designed to pick the best and brightest from thousands of applicants. But it’s under growing scrutiny amid high-profile failures and the fact that the EU has fewer jobs to offer due to pressure on its long-term budget.
One scenario is simply to “get rid of EPSO,” said an EU official who’s involved in the thinking about reforms, granted anonymity to speak about the plans. The last open hiring round — which drew a record 174,922 applicants — proved “completely unmanageable,” the official said, adding that “the cost of administering this sort of mass exam is out of proportion to what we get out of it.”
The current model is “reaching its limits,” a second EU official said, lamenting that hiring currently takes between two and three years. “You will see quite far-reaching ideas on how the system could be changed.” A spokesperson for the European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plans follow a string of high-profile failures, including one last year that forced nearly 10,000 aspiring EU civil servants to retake an exam after a technical blunder voided their results.
In EPSO’s defense: Cristiano Sebastiani, who represents the Renouveau et Démocratie EU staff union, said the exam board isn’t delivering on its aim to boost hiring from underrepresented geographies and among younger applicants — but it should evolve, rather than be abandoned. “There is a role where it provides expertise to different services for their recruitment. But abolishing it entirely would be the wrong message to EU citizens.”
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
EU countries last week reached a deal on using €6.6 billion in EU cash to aid Ukraine. That money will come from the European Peace Facility — but what is that? It’s a fund that’s not part of the EU budget and allows member countries to be partly reimbursed for military equipment they provide to Ukraine. The fund’s initial focus was to provide funding for military operations in mainly African countries, but that was before Russia invaded Ukraine.
RIGHT TO STAY
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? The European Commission’s plan to help people stay in rural areas is taking shape — yet it’s unlikely to bring fresh funding where it is wanted as governments fight over regional spending in the EU’s next long-term budget, Zoya Sheftalovich reports.
The budget must give regions the capacity to build their own futures, said Kata Tüttő, president of the Committee of the Regions. “We cannot talk about people’s freedom to stay while designing an EU budget that risks concentrating both decisions and investment in fewer hands and fewer places.”
The plan: Expected in early 2027, the “Right to Stay” strategy will target gaps in jobs, housing and essential services that push people out of rural areas — but it’s not expected to come with its own dedicated cash pot. Commission Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto will host residents and regional representatives at the Berlaymont today to discuss obstacles to local prosperity.
Meanwhile … EU governments are haggling over the bloc’s next budget, with Germany leading a faction pushing to cut hundreds of billions from the total amount while southern and eastern countries are trying to protect EU support for farmers and poorer regions.
6 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
THE MÉLENCHON PLAN: French far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is betting that first-time voters will warm to his blunt style and radical social agenda and propel him into a runoff against Marine Le Pen.
Meanwhile, on the far right: National Rally President Jordan Bardella has “categorically denied” accusations by French investigative outlet Mediapart that he shared antisemitic remarks in private conversations as a teenage activist, Victor Goury-Laffont reports.
STANDING UP FOR THE ICC: European lawmakers are urging the Commission to block companies and banks from complying with U.S. sanctions against the International Criminal Court, Giovanna Faggionato writes.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD WOMEN: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is under mounting pressure to deliver housing reform after the eviction of a wheelchair-bound pensioner sparked intense protests. Maricarmen Abascal’s lawyer said she will be allowed to return to her home in Madrid, the BBC reports.
UKRAINE REGAINS GROUND: Ukraine’s army pushed back Russian forces in a key part of the eastern front and captured more than 250 prisoners, Veronika Melkozerova reports from Kyiv.
But but but … Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X last night that Russia is mobilizing more forces, with North Korea preparing to send another 10,000 troops.