PM Mitsotakis: Government’s aim remains the exposure and prosecution of illegal activity
The government has committed to pursue law enforcement everywhere and to clash with deeply rooted notions of impunity, in a daily battle everywhere, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday, during an event celebrating the two-year anniversary of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (DAOE) at the Athens Concert Hall – Megaron. Referring to the founding of DAOE, also commonly known as “the Greek FBI”, Mitsotakis reviewed its successes and said they left a very strong impression on society, as they affected citizens’ daily life by removing a threat. The prime minister also referred to several recent criminal events, including the tragic explosion in the Plaka district, the case of fixed basketball games, the tax evasion of Pizza Fan and “Choriatiko”, and the tragic case of a so-called nonprofit that collected funds in the name of seriously ill children. “The message is that Greece is changing in terms of heavy criminality, with DAOE in the lead,” he said, adding that the state had collected over € 2 billion in 2025 alone and would possibly exceed this in the current year (2026). “It is a great national success, especially of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime,” he underlined.
PASOK-KINAL leader Androulakis calls on PM to attend parliament on Wednesday
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis must attend Parliament on Wednesday and explain Article 23, main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change (PASOK-KINAL) leader Nikos Androulakis said on Tuesday, in a video posted on social media. The specific article was withdrawn from the finance ministry’s bill on private debt. “Article 23 was yet another little gift from New Democracy to the funds. Under this legislative provision, funds would have been able to seize borrowers’ assets without even judicial oversight. For example, if someone owed € 100,000 and failed to pay their instalment for four months because they had suddenly become unemployed, the fund could have proceeded with a seizure without a court ruling,” Androulakis said in the video.
Pierrakakis announces burden easing for debtors, higher fines for servicers
Draft legislation on private debt will include a fixed interest rate for some debtors and much higher fines for loan servicers, the government said Tuesday. Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said that one tweak to the bill currently being debated in Parliament would provide for a fixed 3% rate for people who settle their debts through an out-of-court mechanism and after the end of the first three-year period. He added that the Bank of Greece would be given powers to impose maximum fines of €5 million on loan servicers, up from the current €500,000 ceiling. “We intend to lighten the burden of debtors and render stricter the consequences for servicers,” he said.
Prices slashed for nearly 1,000 products
A total of 994 product lines are having their prices slashed by an average of 7.1% in November and December as part of the second phase of Greece’s National Price Reduction Initiative. According to figures released by the Independent Authority for Market Control on Tuesday, 628 of the participating products are branded items, with an average price reduction of 6.7%, while 307 are own-label products, with an average reduction of 8%. The list also includes 59 meat products, for which the average price reduction stands at 7.3%. The list remains open to further participants and is expected to expand as discussions continue with suppliers and supermarket chains over the inclusion of additional products. Under the initiative, retailers may apply further promotional discounts on top of the reduced standard price, increasing the overall savings available to consumers. Participation by businesses is voluntary, with each company independently deciding which products to include and the level of price reductions to offer.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1320145/prices-slashed-for-nearly-1000-products
ATHEX: Credit sector led rebound on stock market
The Euronext Athens (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,616.12 points, adding 0.53% to Monday’s 2,602.41 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.58% to end at 6,697.64 points.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1320165/athex-credit-sector-led-rebound-on-stock-market
KATHIMERINI: Landmark ballots in the USA
TA NEA: Freelancers: no extra tax
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Citizens evicted – Servicers are handed a lifejacket
RIZOSPASTIS: EU publishes a handbook for war and propaganda
KONTRA NEWS: Foreign Minister Gerapetritis is leading us to a heated incident with Turkey
DIMOKRATIA: Mitsotakis in despair
NAFTEMPORIKI: Back and forth regarding food prices
DRIVING THE DAY
BRUSSELS GETS TO SET THE TABLE: After months of demanding a role in Ukraine talks, this afternoon Brussels hosts officials from Kyiv, NATO, the U.S. and the E3 powers — France, Germany and the U.K. — to discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction and prepare for next week’s peace talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi, three EU officials and diplomats told Nick Vinocur.
The meeting itself represents a win for the EU, which has long pushed for a presence in the negotiations — despite internal clashes about who should lead such discussions. “Europe must [have] and wants to play a role in this process,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday after meeting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin.
Now the EU not only has a seat — it’s providing the table for others to sit around. “Brussels is the right place to discuss Ukraine’s security guarantees and reconstruction,” said David McAllister, chair of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
The German conservative lawmaker, pointing out that the EU and its members are Ukraine’s “largest providers of economic, financial, humanitarian and military support,” argued that the meeting should deliver “concrete proposals” on how to shore up Ukraine’s economy in the longer term.
“It’s a very good initiative,” echoed Thijs Reuten, spokesperson on Ukraine for the center-left Socialists and Democrats group in the Parliament.
Guest list: For the European side, Bjoern Seibert, chief of staff to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will represent the Commission, while Anna-Maria Boura — fresh from holding the pen on an EU-Canada joint declaration — will represent the European Council, according to two EU officials granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations. Neither the U.S. nor Ukraine has named its negotiators.
The huddle in Brussels hints at more positive dynamics between Washington and Brussels after weeks of Donald Trump appearing to side with Vladimir Putin by signing a deal to purchase Russian diesel and blasting Zelenskyy.
But the good vibes only go so far. The EU has rejected an idea floated by American negotiators, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, to restart European purchases of Russian gas via a pipeline through Ukraine. And Europeans are still fuming about U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff calling Putin a “humanitarian” — especially in the wake of strikes on an aid hub in southern Ukraine Monday that killed 31 people.
Resetting the clocks: “It’s about what Europe wants,” said the S&D’s Reuten. “It cannot be the case that we start a negotiation process based on the maximalist demands of one side and disregard the legitimate demands of the other. There needs to be a balance.”
BIG AND BREAKING
EXCLUSIVE — ENLARGEMENT REPORT CARD: EU hopefuls get their grades today as Brussels unveils its annual enlargement package. And there’s bad news for Ukraine: Its membership bid is set to be effectively decoupled from that of Moldova, which is moving faster. Top marks, meanwhile, for Montenegro, which could sign an accession treaty as early as June 2027.
SLIMMING THE 2027 LEGISLATIVE AGENDA: The European Commission will today announce which initiatives it plans to drop next year as it prioritizes competitiveness, deregulation and economic security. My colleagues lay out the key initiatives in the Work Programme here.
Tech tax survives? While a stalled proposal for a tax on large tech companies made the “kill list” in a copy of the plan seen yesterday, Tax Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra is pushing to keep it off — and there is a good chance he’ll succeed, two Commission officials told Gregorio Sorgi. That’ll be good news for France, which is pushing Brussels to introduce the levy to generate fresh revenue in the EU’s next long-term budget.
PARLIAMENT HAS ENTERED THE CHAT: Want the latest on the political battles unfolding in the European Parliament? Join our new WhatsApp channel for intel and insights straight from reporter Max Griera’s notebook.
FUNDING UKRAINE
UNPACKING CANADA’S UKRAINE PLEDGE: When Mark Carney said Canada would contribute €500 million to Ukraine at the conclusion of the EU-Canada summit, EU officials wondered what he was talking about.
The Canadian PM presented it as his country’s “initial participation” in the EU’s Ukraine €90 billion support loan. But that cash has nothing to do with the €90 billion — and is instead money to help close Ukraine’s projected budget shortfall in 2027, a senior EU official told Zoya Sheftalovich. “We aren’t talking about the same money,” the official said.
Reminder: The EU last year agreed a €90 billion loan for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027, intended to cover about two-thirds of its funding needs. Other countries, including Canada and the U.K., were expected to provide the remaining third — although much of that money has yet to materialize. To join that loan, Ottawa first needs to agree financing terms with the EU, which it has yet to do (though Carney said it intends to).
Two pots: Ukraine has since said it needs an additional €70 billion in 2027, on top of the money that’s coming from the support loan, and the EU wants partners outside the bloc to contribute. The €500 million is a welcome start, but Brussels wants more from Canada, as well as from allies including Japan, the U.K. and Norway, per a Commission official granted anonymity to discuss negotiations around the funding.
Ottawa’s pledge of €500 million is “a concrete demonstration of our close cooperation and shared commitment to supporting Ukraine,” a Commission spokesperson told Playbook. “It also underscores the importance of international burden-sharing in addressing Ukraine’s substantial financing needs.”
Tight timeline: The Commission is preparing a proposal on Ukraine financing ahead of a Nov. 26 summit at which the EU’s long-term budget and Kyiv’s needs will be discussed, the senior EU official said, adding that Brussels wants clarity over its partners’ contributions ahead of that.
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
The Eurogroup, the informal forum of eurozone finance ministers, said the deadline for nominations to replace Christine Lagarde as European Central Bank president is Nov. 6 … but who makes the final choice? Eurozone finance ministers will discuss the candidates at a meeting three days after that deadline and make a recommendation. But the ultimate decision will be taken by the European Council’s eurozone members. The leaders’ choice will be put to the ECB Governing Council and the European Parliament, which will give their opinions but can’t block the candidate from getting the job.
THE ROW OVER MOVING NORTH
SAFETY FEARS OR STIGMA? The head of an NGO dealing with homelessness has said Commission staff don’t want to relocate to the area near Gare du Nord because they might “encounter vulnerable homeless people on their way to and from work,” Mari Eccles reports.
Freek Spinnewijn, director at FEANTSA, wrote on LinkedIn that a recent intervention by a union representing EU staffers resisting the move north equated “street homelessness with disease, violence, and crime.”
The context: Cristiano Sebastiani, of the Renouveau et Démocratie EU staff union, wrote to Commission chiefs in September saying there was “serious concern” among EU agency staffers about the relocation. “The health, safety and security of staff must … remain a primary responsibility of the institution and be placed at the heart of any decision concerning their place of work,” he argued.
Among those leaving the EU Quarter are the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) and the European Research Executive Agency, as well as some Commission lower management and admin staff.
“What I find unhelpful,” Spinnewijn told Playbook, “is the way vulnerable homeless people are implicitly pictured as a nuisance, a danger or a source of disease.” He added that the area already hosts the most offices in Brussels after the European Quarter. “Referring to the staff working there as second-class employees is a bit much, no?”
But, but, but … Sebastiani told Mari: “Had our communication been intended in any way to express a wish to avoid contact with homeless people, it would plainly have been reprehensible and unacceptable. That was not the case.” Employees he represents are “expatriate staff who work very late into the evening,” he said, pointing out that the entrance door of a building occupied by an EU agency “had previously been struck by a bullet.”
4 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
SPAIN’S TRANSPORT MINISTER QUITS: Óscar Puente, a close ally of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, resigned last night just over a week after the rail disaster that has shocked the country and overshadowed this month’s snap election.
SUPERMARKET CHAIN THAW MASSACRE: Two major cyberattacks on supermarkets in a matter of weeks have exposed the vulnerability of the EU’s critical infrastructure — and cyber experts say it may be part of Russia’s ongoing hybrid warfare against Europe.
BALKANS CALL FOR BACKUP: Montenegro and Albania are calling on NATO to send experts to fight Russian disinformation as Moscow ramps up social media campaigns targeting the two countries.
AI GETS ITS OWN EU SUMMIT: European Council President António Costa has sent invitations for the EU’s first leaders’ summit dedicated to artificial intelligence, set for next week. On the guest list: Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to talk competitiveness and AI sovereignty, and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton to discuss risks to society, security and democracy.
BRUSSELS CORNER
WEATHER: Sunny intervals. High 9C.
JOB MOVE: Bart Szewczyk, formerly an attorney at Covington, is starting a new job as deputy head of policy planning in the Office of the Secretary-General of NATO.
SPOTTED: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on the 92 tram, heading in the direction of Schaerbeek.
JOURNALISTS TAKE CENTER STAGE: If reading the news isn’t enough, tonight you can watch journalists perform it live. Live Magazine takes over BOZAR at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., with journalists, photographers and filmmakers telling never-before-published stories through words, images and music. No recordings, no replays — miss it and it’s gone.
SOMETHING TO DO AFTER WORK: WIELS in Forest opens its doors, as it does on the first Wednesday of every month, for its Free Nocturne. There’s no charge for entry, though guided tours are €5. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
TUNNEL VISION: Night owls and late commuters, beware: The Leonard Tunnel on Brussels’ R0 ring road will close in the direction of Waterloo from 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. Thursday for technical tests.
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