Greek, Turkish delegations meeting on Confidence Building Measures on Monday
Greek and Turkish delegations will hold a meeting on Confidence Building Measures at the National Defense Ministry in Athens on Monday, it was announced on Sunday.
Erdogan sees upcoming meeting with Mitsotakis as ‘important stage’
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he views his upcoming meeting on May 13 with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “an important stage” in exploring how the relationship between Greece and Turkey can be improved.
Kasselakis presents SYRIZA’s ballot paper for European Parliament with 42 candidates
The ballot paper for the upcoming European elections was presented by the leader of SYRIZA – Progressive Alliance Stefanos Kasselakis, on Friday night at the ‘Hellenic Cosmos’ Cultural Center.
PASOK’s Androulakis: Nationally important for Greece to acquire a strong main opposition
PASOK-KINAL’s strategic target is “to build our new prosperity on firm foundations, changing the productivity model, making our economy more competitive and resilient in the long run,” party leader Nikos Androulakis said in an interview published in ‘To Vima’ on Sunday.
S&P revises Greece’s outlook to ‘positive’ on debt reduction
Credit ratings agency S&P on Friday revised its outlook on Greece to “positive” from “stable,” saying the tight fiscal regime will continue to spur a reduction in the government debt ratio.
ATHEX: Recovery continues on bourse
The Greek stock market quickly shook off the effect of renewed tensions in the Middle East and reversed its early losses to head higher at the end of a very interesting week regarding the future course of Athinon Avenue. With the European elections approaching and geopolitical events coming thick and fast, traders are likely to have one eye on economic developments and the other on political ones, domestically and abroad.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1236883/athex-recovery-continues-on-bourse-2
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: Inside the arc of two wars
TO VIMA: Emergency open telephone line between Athens-Brussels-Warsaw-Rome
REAL NEWS: Terror domino in the Middle East
PROTO THEMA: Stefanos (Kasselakis) is… baptizing SYRIZA again
AVGI: SYRIZA’s euro-ballot: Progressive excellence
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: Trouble for real estate asset owners due to building outline bureaucracy
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Wiretappings scandal: Where is Justice?
KONTRA NEWS: The ruling to block the Spartans party from participating in the elections is ready
DIMOKRATIA: Culture Ministry igonored complaint about pedophile
NAFTEMPORIKI: Prerequisites and haircut for the funds of the NSRF
DRIVING THE DAY: IRAN SANCTIONS
PUNISHING TEHRAN: EU foreign ministers meeting this morning in Luxembourg are planning to slap new sanctions on Iran over its attack on Israel, according to diplomats and officials.
Working the weekend: The political director of the EU’s foreign affairs department, Enrique Mora, over the weekend informed his colleagues in EU capitals about the planned sanctions, according to diplomats.
Drones and missiles: Germany had been pushing hard for weeks for additional export restrictions of dual use goods to disrupt Iran’s production of drones and missiles. France also backed additional sanctions.
Friendship over: Some diplomats said additional sanctions would further wreck the EU’s relationship with Tehran, after ties improved during the nuclear deal negotiations. “This will certainly have an impact on our relations with Teheran, but this is where we are,” a senior diplomat told Playbook.
Today: Senior officials and diplomats said they believed there is now unanimity around the EU table and they expect ministers to back Iran sanctions by consensus today.
Protesting in Luxembourg: The National Council of Resistance of Iran will hold a rally outside the meeting venue at Place de l’Europe from 11:30 a.m., demanding the EU designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group and increase sanctions on Tehran.
SANCTIONS ON ISRAEL: Meanwhile, the U.S. may today impose sanctions on an ultra-Orthodox unit of the Israel Defense Forces following allegations of human rights abuses, the Associated Press reports.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would “fight” the move “with all my might.”
Now read this: Israel’s President Isaac Herzog warns that European leaders still “don’t get” the danger posed by Iran in the Middle East and beyond. Iran is providing thousands of drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine, and at the same time pushing ahead with its nuclear weapons program, Herzog told my colleague Paul Ronzheimer in an interview on Sunday.
UKRAINE’S PLEA TO EU: DON’T LET YOUR AIR DEFENSES LANGUISH: Back to Luxembourg, where EU foreign and defense ministers will today also be briefed by their Ukrainian counterparts, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his defense colleague Rustem Umerov, on Kyiv’s most urgent needs.
The pair wrote a letter to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, dated April 10, and seen by POLITICO, stressing once again that “our primary focus lies in bolstering Ukraine Air Defense with modern systems” and added a plea: “These systems … must not languish in depots when they could save countless lives from Russian terror.”
RUSSIA-UKRAINE
RELIEF AS AMERICAN LAWMAKERS PASS UKRAINE SUPPORT: Legislators in Washington on Saturday finally backed plans for a fresh $60.8 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine, which is now headed to the Senate. President Joe Biden’s administration had stressed that, without the assistance, Ukraine could lose the war by the end of the year.
In the nick of time: Ukrainian leaders and military officials suspect Moscow will launch an offensive this summer and say Russia’s recent barrage of Ukraine’s infrastructure has been a pre-offensive campaign, Stuart Lau and Jamie Dettmer report. With the U.S. aid, “we will have a chance for victory,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday.
GERMAN AIR DEFENSE INITIATIVE: Some leaders seized on the U.S. vote to call on Europe not to get complacent. The German government says it’s already in talks with countries over fresh air defense pledges for Ukraine, as Berlin mulls bolstering its own stocks of U.S.-made Patriot missile systems.
Background: Germany last week launched the Immediate Action on Air Defense (IAAD) initiative — scooped by Playbook — urging allies to find and finance more air defense systems for Kyiv. “Russia is trying to destroy Odesa, Ukraine’s economic lifeline, and [Kharkiv], its industrial and technology hub,” said a letter sent to allies by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
Who’s in: The German defense ministry said Denmark and the Netherlands are in discussions over financial support. “Several other partners have also agreed to intensively examine whether they can also supply systems or provide resources,” the ministry added. More here by Joshua Posaner.
WHO’S THE BOSS WHEN IT COMES TO DEFENSE? Gone are the days when the EU dealt mostly with competition, trade and agriculture, leaving defense to NATO. With plans for an EU defense commissioner and the European Defence Industrial Strategy, the EU is flexing its muscles. NATO doesn’t like that, with skepticism over Brussels dabbling in defense running deep. Josh and Jacopo Barigazzi have the story.
EUROPE’S WORST MEPS
RECOGNIZING THE LOW ACHIEVERS: Alas, the entire European Parliament class of 2024 isn’t graduating with honors. Will the worst MEPs please stand up (assuming they’re actually present in Parliament)? POLITICO dove into troves of voting data, legislation, speeches and posts to dig up the good, the bad and the lazy of EU lawmaking, and we’re handing out 16 unAwards — our answer to the Ig Nobels.
MIA award: A well deserved “win” by Ioannis Lagos, a far-right member who spent more than half his mandate behind bars in Greece.
Worst boss: Monica Semedo made the list of sanctioned MEPs, twice, for psychologically harassing staff.
Wildest exit: József Szájer’s parliamentary departure involved an orgy, an escape via a gutter and a bag of narcotics. Hard to beat.
Run, don’t walk: Find Parliament’s Biggest Loser, top Brand Ambassador, the Wingman, the Chatterbox and other winners in our Class of 2024 MEP unAwards.
IN OTHER NEWS
SCOOP: EU’s PLAN TO “BATTLE” CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD: The EU should refocus its strategy for spending hundreds of billions in development aid in Africa, Asia and Latin America on hard economic concerns, according to an internal document prepared by the European Commission’s DG for international partnerships, obtained by POLITICO’s Eddy Wax and Koen Verhelst.
No more Mr Nice Guy: “There is a battle of offers,” from the likes of China in developing markets, says the briefing prepared by DG INTPA officials for the next international partnerships commissioner. The EU’s 2024-2031 Global Gateway initiative should aim for a “policy mix driven by economic interest and less so by more traditional and narrow development and foreign policy approaches.” The draft also contains a warning: “Unless we invest more actively and strongly in our international partnerships, we risk being sidelined.”
EU’s PR still lagging: The EU isn’t getting credit for all its work around the world, despite being the biggest spender. “The EU trails well behind other strategic players in public opinion surveys,” groans the report.
NGO “shocked”: Rilli Lappalainen, president of development NGO CONCORD, said he was “shocked” at what “is basically a trade and investment strategy for the EU based on its geopolitical interests.” He said: “Those interests are defined by competition and the EU’s economic security. Nowhere do we see a concern for the priorities of partner countries, let alone an interest in ensuring that people’s lives are improved.”
HOW BULGARIA LOST THE EURO TRACK: Bulgaria was set to become a new eurozone member in January 2025. But now that almost certainly won’t happen because of political turmoil, persistent inflation and flagging public support thanks in part to Russian influence, Kathryn Carlson reports.