PM Mitsotakis chairs meeting on speeding up public sector hirings
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis chaired a meeting on speeding up hiring procedures in the public sector held on Tuesday afternoon at Maximos Mansion.
Some 83% of SYRIZA and PASOK voters in favour of left-wing coalition, poll finds
Some 83% of PASOK and SYRIZA voters are in favor of forming a left coalition, according to a poll by Metron Analysis, presented on Tuesday to the Alexis Tsipras Institute convention.
Elliniki Lysi deputy expelled from parliamentary group
Elliniki Lysi State Deputy Pavlos Sarakis was expelled from the party’s parliamentary group by request of party leader Kyriakos Velopoulos on Tuesday.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/828133/Elliniki-Lysi-deputy-expelled-from-parliamentary-group
Migration flows at highest since 2019
After a relative lull in recent years, migratory flows in 2024 have already increased significantly in the first months of 2024, mainly through the Evros border region in northeastern Greece, but also the Greek islands.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1241844/migration-flows-at-highest-since-2019
ATHEX: Stocks post rebound on gains abroad
Buyers have finally reacted to recent pressure by sellers at the Greek stock market, and on Tuesday the benchmark recorded a notable rebound, moving away from the 1,400-point level it had dangerously approached in previous days. The day’s rise was bolstered by the record highs on the US bourse the day before and the mild gains in other eurozone markets.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1241857/athex-stocks-post-rebound-on-gains-abroad
KATHIMERINI: Migration flows pressure Evros and the islands yet again
TA NEA: Discussions for the order of another 20 F-35 jetfighters
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: FinMin Hatzidakis wants to ‘raid’ state-owned companies
AVGI: Time for an initiative to bring together progressive forces
RIZOSPASTIS: LARKO shuts down via government amendment: Alert! This crime will not pass!
KONTRA NEWS: Civil war in Justice due to the handling of lawyer Lytras [who assaulted and beat up his wife]
DIMOKRATIA: The Greek government aligns itself with the Turks
NAFTEMPORIKI: New warning towards debtors of state and social insurance funds
DRIVING THE DAY: CHEERING THE TOP JOBS DELAY
NOT SUCH A NIGHTMARE SCENARIO: Diplomats and other power players have been blowing up my colleagues’ phones since EU27 downed their digestifs without agreeing on the top jobs package on Monday night. They’re worried European stability could be at stake if EU leaders don’t nail down a second term for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ASAP.
Morning glory: In the light of day, however, we started hearing from people who are perfectly satisfied to spend the next week or so in a haze of uncertainty.
WHO’S HAPPY ABOUT THE HOLDUP
1. Giorgia Meloni: We’ll list the most obvious one first. The EU’s hard-right “it girl” felt scorned, so she blew up the pre-baked deal hoping to return to the formal Council summit on June 27 with a bigger European Parliament alliance. This narrative still holds up, with expectations Meloni wants to secure an executive vice president post (or some other approved choice) for the ECR in the Commission.
2. The European People’s Party: At first, it seemed the EPP got too greedy and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Von der Leyen’s second term was locked up, but then her party blew it up by asking to split the paired European Council president mandates.
#noregrets: But talk to insiders, and they’re zero worried. The names for the top job posts remain the same: VDL, Metsola for (first half) Parliament president, ex-Portuguese PM António Costa for (first half) Council president and Estonian PM Kaja Kallas for top diplomat.
Little to lose, much to gain: Center-right strategists aren’t satisfied with the traditional arrangement leading to the EPP’s Metsola swapping out after 2.5 years while the Socialist Council President Costa would carry on for a second 2.5-year term, leaving the EPP with just one top institutional post in 2027 — a time when their influence across the Continent would be at its peak. (In their ideal scenario, they would then have, say, Friedrich Merz as Germany’s chancellor and Alberto Núñez Feijóo running Spain.)
No-brainer brinksmanship: If the Socialists are so worried about a delay emboldening the far right, the EPP’s thinking goes, they should go ahead and agree to their split Council president plan. In the end, this is essentially a game of chicken that’s not likely to affect the ultimate lineup, said one EPP insider. “It’s just a power game and one of the two is going to cave in time.”
3. Smaller country leaders: The institutional chiefs and top diplomats aren’t the only significant roles on the table. Now capitals have another week or more with leverage to vie for key Commission posts. Slovak President Peter Pellegrini is a case in point. His and PM Robert Fico’s Slovak government are on the left side of the spectrum, yet his tweet on Tuesday echoed Meloni’s talking points, pushing to “discuss policy priorities first and then nominations.” He then proceeded to pitch the Slovak Commission candidate, current EVP Maroš Šefčovič, for a plum portfolio.
4. Journalists: Let’s face it, what would we write about if the top jobs race was all wrapped up before the EUCO in late June? Sure, we’d all like a day off, but ultimately we have to feed the beast — and now the space for speculation stretches pretty much until Election Day in France.
5. Maylis Roßberg: The European Free Alliance’s 24-year-old Spitzenkandidat says she’s available if EU leaders are looking for an alternative to von der Leyen.
WHO’S NOT HAPPY: Kaja Kallas. The Estonian was on track to become the EU’s foreign policy chief on Monday night. But after fellow liberal Mark Rutte’s nomination to lead NATO cleared its final hurdles (more on that below), Kallas’ nomination could get caught up in the horse-trading. If Renew loses its spot as the third-largest group, people could start to question why it has so many top roles, especially if you count the likes of Christine Lagarde’s European Central Bank presidency.
WHO PROBABLY DOESN’T CARE AS MUCH AS YOU MIGHT THINK: António Costa. The ex-Portuguese prime minister is still a shoo-in for 2.5 years as Council president. EU27 leaders want someone they can trust in that job, so they’d likely keep him for a second mandate if he’s performing well, regardless of a 2024 agreement. And if Costa’s legal issues clear up, the 2026 Portuguese presidential election might entice him back to sunny Lisbon anyway.
WHO HAS BIGGER FISH TO FRY: Ursula von der Leyen. The Council was always going to be the easiest part of her quest for a second mandate. There’s still no clear path to reelection in the European Parliament. The S&D, the second-biggest group in the Parliament, reminded her of its leverage when its President Iratxe García tweeted after it met on Tuesday: “Our support is incompatible to any opening to the far right!”
MEGA NEWS
IT’S HUNGARY’S EUROPE, WE’RE JUST LIVING IN IT: Budapest says it plans to use its turn in the rotating Council presidency to “Make Europe Great Again.” Eddy Wax and Gabriel Gavin have this write-up of the press conference where Hungarian EU Affairs Minister János Bóka unveiled the slogan. We were impressed with his deadpan denial to journalists who pointed out the obvious MAGA imitation: “I don’t know if Donald Trump ever wanted to make Europe great again.”
Beyond Orbán: Tuesday’s events showed just how futile it is for Brussels to resist Budapest — and we’re not just talking about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s upcoming role as the Council’s convener-in-chief.
Orbán-lite to EPP: In a separate meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the European People’s Party — which divorced Orbán’s Fidesz party over rule-of-law issues in 2021 — accepted upstart opposition figure Péter Magyar’s Tisza party and its seven MEPs into its bloc in the European Parliament. Magyar, who has defied expectations by saying he plans to take up his seat in Brussels rather than duke it out with Orbán in Budapest, promptly exited the center-right group meeting and announced that he agrees with the Hungarian government on not sending its “troops or weapons” to Ukraine, Eddy reports.
Exception to the rule: This appeared to be in defiance of the EPP’s pro-Ukraine litmus test for non-members. An EPP spokesperson seemed to say — at least in Playbook’s reading — that they’re cool with Magyar fudging his actual position to avoid facing political consequences back home: “Everything he says in relation to Ukraine and the war, the Orbán propaganda machine uses against him. So it is very clear why he is prudent about that.”
EXCEPTION THAT PROVES THE RULE: Dirk Beljaarts, who will head economic policy in the Netherlands’ new far-right, Geert Wilders-dominated government, is giving up the Hungarian citizenship he obtained through his mother, Dutch media report.
But this doesn’t appear to be a disavowal of Hungary by Beljaarts, who was its honorary consul in the Netherlands. It could be because Wilders has heavily criticized politicians when they have a second nationality along with their Dutch one, although Beljaarts insisted it was a personal decision to hand in his Hungarian passport and not a requirement from Wilders, De Telegraaf said.
ISRAEL MEETING: Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which is exceptionally close to Budapest, has agreed to participate in an EU-Israel Association Council during the Hungarian presidency.
MAKE EUROPE GRACIOUS AGAIN? In a sign that things can still be nice and normal, Hungarian Transport Minister Nándor Csepreghy gave his Belgian counterpart Georges Gilkinet a bicycle at a Transport Council meeting on Tuesday, as they prepared to exchange the presidency baton.
NATO
RUTTE ON HOMESTRETCH: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte now needs only Romania’s support to get the top job at NATO, after Hungary and Slovakia finally decided to endorse him on Tuesday. There was a sigh of relief from many NATO allies, especially those who feared Orbán could use his holdout to please Donald Trump, effectively letting him choose the alliance’s next leader if he wins the U.S. presidential election in November, Stuart Lau and Laura Kayali report. Of course, Orbán didn’t give his green light for free.
Condition 1: Rutte made clear in a letter to Orbán that Hungary can continue to opt out from joining and financing NATO’s tasks on Ukraine, a deal reached last week between Budapest and the alliance’s outgoing Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Condition 2: Orbán previously demanded an apology from Rutte for criticisms he made about Orbán’s government. After the two men met in Brussels on Monday, it became clear that Orbán no longer insisted that Rutte say sorry. Still, the Dutchman wrote: “As discussed, I also took note that some remarks I made in 2021 as Prime Minister of the Netherlands has caused dissatisfaction in Hungary.” That’s face-saving enough for Orbán.
What next? NATO diplomats are waiting for Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to withdraw his candidacy for the alliance’s top job. Dutch public broadcaster NOS reports the withdrawal is coming “in the short term.”
Pressure: The U.S. hopes to resolve the drawn-out selection process before the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington on July 9.
GROUP HUGS
EPP GROUP VOTES ON VICE CHAIRS: Manfred Weber is expected to be reelected unopposed as the EPP group chairman today, as he enters his 10th year in the job.
Musical vice chairs: A dozen other MEPs are vying for 10 spots as vice chairs, to make up the internal bureau of the group, according to a document seen by Playbook’s Eddy Wax: François-Xavier Bellamy, Andrzej Halicki, Andrey Kovatchev, Jeroen Lenaers, Vangelis Meimarakis, Dolors Montserrat, Siegfried Mureșan, Lídia Pereira, Massimiliano Salini, Tomas Tobé, Romana Tomc and Željana Zovko.
Settling on 188: The EPP group now stands at 188 members, after it confirmed 14 MEPs will join. There were two quitters: One from Belgium’s Les Engagés defected to Renew, and Orbán-aligned György Hölvényi quit in opposition to Magyar’s delegation joining.
GREENS TO GREENLIGHT BOSSES: The Parliament’s Greens are also picking their co-presidents today, but there’s no suspense. There are two candidates for two spots: German MEP Terry Reintke will be reelected, and Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout will take the role vacated by Belgium’s Philippe Lamberts. Other group bureau roles such as VP and treasurer will be chosen next week, my colleague Louise Guillot reports.
EFA picks Riba: The European Free Alliance Group, which works with the Greens, chose MEP Diana Riba i Giner as its new president, replacing Jordi Solé.
MONEY STUFF
FRANCE — NO LONGER TOO BIG TO FINE: The Commission is today set to finally punish France, along with Italy and 10 other countries, for years of overspending.
Political warning shot: It was the governments of Emmanuel Macron and his predecessors that committed the crime, but it is the possible ascent of Marine Le Pen that is motivating the timing of the fine, my colleagues Bjarke Smith-Meyer, Gregorio Sorgi and Giorgio Leali reported in this curtain-raiser of the EU budget cops’ plans to name and shame countries racking up excessive debt.
“It’s one thing to let off a pro-EU, statesmanlike leader for the type of reckless spending that endangers the economic stability of the eurozone,” they write. “It’s quite another if it’s carried out brazenly by a nationalist firebrand who doesn’t think the rules are worth the paper they’re written on in the first place.”
Gentle end of an era: Brussels has rarely launched so-called excessive deficit procedures, but today it sends a message to a dozen countries on the naughty list: Governments must finally pay the price for years of fiscal free-for-all when spending rules were frozen and they were able to splurge the cash to keep their economies afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the next few years, they’ll have to tighten their belts to repay their debts. Fortunately, this isn’t expected to cause political mayhem or market turmoil, reports POLITICO Pro’s Morning Financial Services newsletter.
MEANWHILE, IN GERMANY: Read all about the €40 billion budget hole that could kill Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition.
OTHER NEWS
VOTE NATURE, KILL BEARS: The fight over the EU’s nature restoration law keeps getting weirder. Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tomáš Taraba told POLITICO that his crucial vote on Monday was only secured thanks to a hastily gathered legal opinion from the Commission, which said it doesn’t conflict with Slovakia’s controversial new law sanctioning the killing of bears that approach human settlements.
COME ON IN: The EU is radically rethinking its response to the trade threat from Beijing and is now considering inviting China’s electric vehicle makers inside the walls, my colleagues Jakob Hanke Vela and Jordyn Dahl report. The big idea is to use a tariff threat made last week to force Chinese carmakers to form joint ventures and share technology with their EU counterparts, according to conversations with four diplomats and two senior officials.
MIDDLE EAST ESCALATION: Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned Tuesday that a decision on a war with Hezbollah will come soon, writing on X: “In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit.” It came after the Lebanese militant group published a drone video showing military and civilian locations in several Israeli cities, including Haifa, and follows months of intensifying cross-border attacks. The military said it has “approved and validated” operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon. CNN has a write-up.
JUST A COUPLE OF LADAS: In February, Vladimir Putin gifted his fellow dictator Kim Jong Un of North Korea a Russian-made auto; this morning, he may have gotten a chance to ride in it, after arriving in Pyongyang for a two-day visit. The two did the car version of the “you hang up first, no you hang up first” dance. Just a couple of loved-up Lada bros, talkin’ life, sports and nuclear annihilation of their neighbors.