FM Gerapetritis: North Macedonia’s leaders’ decision not to use the country’s constitutional name domestically violates the Prespa Agreement
The decision by the new state and political leadership of North Macedonia “not to use in domestic public statements the country’s constitutional name” systematically and persistently is a “flagrant violation of the Prespa Agreement, which foresees the uniform use of the name ‘North Macedonia’ both domestically and abroad,” Greek Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis said in Luxembourg on Monday.
Turkish FM: Cyprus, Greece should ‘stay away’ from Middle East matters
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has suggested that Cyprus put itself in the way of becoming a target of Hezbollah, after the Lebanon-based militant group threatened the EU member-state that it would become “part of this war too,” if it allowed Israel to use its bases and airports.
PM Mitsotakis outlines government goals after cabinet reshuffle
After noting that the message of the European elections has been received, Mitsotakis mentioned the permanent reduction of VAT on taxis and coffee delivery, while he promised more labor inspections.
CENTCOM confirms Houthi strike on Greek-owned freighter; ship continued on route
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed on Monday that the Greek-owned freighter, ‘Transworld Navigator’, was hit by a Huthi drone off Yemen, as first mentioned by the spokesman for the rebels on Sunday.
ATHEX: Bourse ends week with small gains
Despite the disappointment from MSCI’s failure to include Athinon Avenue in its “watch list” for upgrading to “developed markets,” and despite the drop of the banks index, the benchmark of the Greek bourse ended Friday with small gains, adding to the weekly rise it has managed ahead of the long weekend. The June triple witching sent turnover soaring to its highest level of the last three weeks.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1242176/athex-bourse-ends-week-with-small-gains
TA NEA: New Democracy: Whispers… PASOK: Outcry… SYRIZA: Accusations
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: SYRIZA leader Kasseakis against everyone, including Tsipras
KONTRA NEWS: The “Macron syndrome” hits Mitsotakis
DIMOKRATIA: SYRIZA’s shady dealings exposed
NAFTEMPORIKI: The hazards of pre-filled tax declaration forms
HOWDY. Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Brussels Playbook.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: Julian Assange walked out of Belmarsh prison in the U.K. after his lawyers and the U.S. government struck a deal that will allow the WikiLeaks founder to return home to Australia. He’ll plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to disseminate classified information. Full details here.
DRIVING THE DAY: MEGA OR MEH?
HUNGARY SENDS MIXED SIGNALS ON ITS PRESIDENCY: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is on a tour of Europe’s most powerful capitals, setting the stage for his country’s bid to “Make Europe Great Again” during Budapest’s turn at the head of the Council of the EU.
Trump-inspired rhetoric: “The style and language of politics on the European Continent are becoming increasingly gray,” he told Berliner Morgenpost in an interview, when asked about the MEGA slogan. “We need people who shake up the system, loners coming from outside.”
Tell that to your team in Brussels: However, Budapest’s emissaries to Brussels are keeping their language gray, insisting theirs will be a totally normal presidency; a Moderate European Hungary (MEH), if you will. The contrast was glaring at POLITICO’s ApéroPro event at the Hungarian perm rep on Monday, where Ambassador Bálint Ódor kept things … diplomatic … in his interview with my colleague Barbara Moens. “We will act as an honest broker, we will sincerely cooperate with the institutions,” he stressed.
MEGA VS. MEH: While the substance is generally the same — Hungary wants to prioritize competitiveness, migration and accession for the Western Balkans — the rhetoric can be either MEGA, as we see in Orbán’s recent public statements, or just kinda MEH.
On Trump and the MEGA slogan
MEH: “I don’t think that Donald Trump has ever wanted to make Europe great again.” — Ódor
MEGA: “I am 100 percent convinced by Donald Trump — no, 101 percent.” — Orbán
War in Ukraine
MEH: “We will closely follow the developments in the war in Ukraine. And then we will put on the agenda relevant issues which need to be discussed.” — Ódor
MEGA: “I am not interested in the interests of Ukraine or Russia, I want above all that the war will end and that there is a cease-fire.” — Orbán
Weapons spending
MEH: Hungary aims to ink a general approach to an EU defense industry spending proposal that would pump €1.5 billion into the European weapons industry. Hungary bought (mostly) European when it modernized its military eight years ago, and now “there’s an expectation to do more, to have more capacities in the defense sector in the European Union.” — Ódor
MEGA: “NATO will have a military mission in Ukraine, but Hungary will not participate with money, weapons or troops … Hungary will remain an island of peace.” — Orbán
Migration
MEH: “What we, the European Union, should do is to look at each and every element of the EU external toolbox, and then try to deal with all those elements together in a holistic way.” — Ódor
MEGA: “The migrants stood for things that I had identified as a threat to Hungarians.” — Orbán
Top jobs
MEH: “As the incoming presidency, of course, we would like to do everything in order to contribute to the smooth transitioning between the two cycles.” — Ódor
MEGA: “We cannot accept that in Europe a majority and an opposition are created and that a coalition will divide the top jobs … As Hungary, we cannot accept it.” — Orbán
PLAYBOOK THOUGHT BUBBLE: Can Orbán simultaneously dish out red meat to his fans at home and abroad while his presidency team in Brussels accommodates the cosmopolitans of the EU capital? On Monday night, they certainly tried: The buffet included both a delicious, tender goulash and a vegetarian kale casserole, a sort of stuffed cabbage-meets-veggie lasagna that we’re told was not exactly authentic Magyar soul food.
POLITICAL FAMILY TIES
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS — ORBÁN & MELONI: Add this duo to Playbook’s list of EU lovers’ quarrels. Orbán and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni strolled through the Italian capital that’s eponymous with romance — but they came out reiterating they’re not going to enter into an official relationship.
No Fidesz in ECR: The two have so much in common, Meloni told Italian media, like taking a hard line on migration and tackling the “demographic challenge” (that’s code for making more babies). Nonetheless, Orbán reiterated that cooperation on the European right would have to happen outside of an official group, as long as Romanian party AUR is in Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists.
DOOR STILL OPEN, SAYS AUR: Orbán called AUR “anti-Hungarian,” and the nationalist party has vilified the Hungarian minority in Romania. But according to a top new MEP in AUR, which now has six seats in the European Parliament and joined the ECR last week, Orbán is still welcome in the group. “We’ve always advocated for a big group,” Claudiu Târziu told Playbook’s Nick Vinocur, adding that the problem was a lack of communication with Fidesz. “It got to this deadlock situation. There has to be dialogue at the highest level,” said Târziu. “I believe there is an open door.”
Ixnay on VDL: European socialists may be worried about Ursula von der Leyen making a deal with the ECR to support her second term as Commission president, but Târziu was clear about where his party stands: “We will definitely not support her. Her policies have had a negative impact on Romania,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know “anybody” who backs von der Leyen within the ECR.
HAYER TO LEAD RENEW AGAIN, AS ALDE FORFEITS: Emmanuel Macron’s top MEP Valérie Hayer will be reelected president of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament today, likely by acclamation, after the only other candidate pulled out of the race late Monday, Playbook’s Eddy Wax writes in to report. The challenge from João Cotrim de Figueiredo, a new MEP from Portugal, lasted less than a day.
French maintain control: ALDE, the right-wing faction of the Renew parliamentary group, talked a big game in the lead-up to the vote, threatening to capitalize on the brutal electoral losses for Renew’s French camp, which dropped from 23 seats to 13. In a statement, Cotrim de Figueiredo said his withdrawal the night before today’s 4 p.m. vote came after “several delegations” pulled their support at the last minute. He said he would seek a vice chair position in a separate vote on Wednesday.
VOLT GOES GREEN, as expected, denying a few extra seats to Renew.
GARCÍA TO LEAD SOCIALISTS AGAIN: Spanish MEP Iratxe García is also on track to keep her mantel as the president of the Socialists & Democrats group, with no challenger ahead of today’s election.
The vote for S&D vice presidents on Wednesday will be a bit more competitive, with 11 MEPs vying for nine spots, Eddy reports: Christophe Clergeau, Alex Agius Saliba, Mohammed Chahim, Yannis Maniatis, Gabriele Bischoff, Biljana Borzan, Heléne Fritzon, Klára Dobrev, Camilla Laureti, Ana Catarina Mendes and Kathleen Van Brempt. MEP Eero Heinäluoma is running to serve as the group’s treasurer.
NOW READ THIS: Nektaria Stamouli speaks with Fredi Beleri, the ethnic Greek mayor-elect of the Albanian town of Himarë, who celebrated his election as a Greek MEP for the ruling New Democracy party in an Albanian prison. He’s due in court today to appeal his conviction.
UKRAINE
EU KICKS OFF ACCESSION TALKS WITH UKRAINE AND MOLDOVA BEFORE BUDAPEST TAKES CHARGE: The EU will today formally launch accession talks with Kyiv and Chișinău, just days before Hungary takes over the rotating Council presidency.
The date is not a coincidence. The other 26 EU countries had been pushing the outgoing Belgian presidency to take the formal step before the summer, given Budapest’s skepticism toward letting Ukraine and Moldova enter the bloc. At the same time, Western capitals preferred to hold the meeting after the European Parliament election, given perceived Ukraine fatigue in some countries.
No done deal yet: The opening of negotiations was a key step to keep up morale in Ukraine during its war and in Moldova ahead of that country’s November election. But it is only an incremental step in a years-long journey toward eventual membership — giving Budapest plenty of other opportunities to block the process.
END RUN ON FROZEN ASSETS: EU countries on Monday approved a first tranche of up to €1.4 billion in military aid for Ukraine coming from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. The Council’s legal service argued that Budapest cannot stop these payments because it abstained in the vote earlier this year creating the fund involved. More on how the EU is sidestepping Hungary on Ukraine from Jacopo Barigazzi.
LOOK WHO’S COMING TO EUCO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to appear at the EU leaders’ meeting on Thursday, Veronika Melkozerova and Barbara Moens report. The EU is reportedly set to sign a security pact with Ukraine at the summit.
Maybe they can commiserate: As the EU leaders continue their haggling over top jobs, Zelenskyy is dealing with yet another military personnel shake-up.
TODAY IN COURT: The European Court of Human Rights will this morning deliver its ruling at a public hearing in the case of Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea). The case relates to Kyiv’s allegations that Moscow has violated the European Convention on Human Rights in Crimea since February 2014 and persecuted Ukrainians for their political stance. More info here.
OTHER TOP JOBS RACES
INTERPOL VOTE TESTS BRITISH INFLUENCE: Members of Interpol’s executive committee will choose the next chief of the global police organization by secret ballot this evening. The most ardent campaigner: Stephen Kavanagh, a No. 2 at Interpol, who is using the U.K.’s diplomatic firepower to court the support of executive committee members Argentina, Belgium, China, Egypt, India, Namibia, Nigeria, Spain, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.
Weirdly enough in a post-Brexit world, Kavanagh is seen as the European candidate, as no EU country has put up a rival, Elisa Braun reports. His strongest opponent is Brazilian Valdecy Urquiza, backed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who could make a case that the 101-year-old organization has spent too much time under the control of Americans and Europeans.
BRICS bloc? China has expressed implicit support for the Brazilian nominee, El País reports, while the two other candidates, Mubita Nawa of Zambia and Faisal Shahkar of Pakistan, entered the race late and without any visible campaign.
REYNDERS FACES VOTE AT COUNCIL OF EUROPE: After crisscrossing Europe for almost three months, EU justice chief Didier Reynders will learn if his second bid to lead the Council of Europe was successful today. Members of the Strasbourg-based human rights organization’s Parliamentary Assembly are set to cast secret paper ballots this morning, with a second round this afternoon if no candidate wins an absolute majority.
Reynders’ competition: The Belgian liberal EU commissioner is facing off against former Swiss President Alain Berset and Indrek Saar, Estonia’s former culture minister.
Timing: The outcome of the job race will be announced at 1 p.m. if there’s a winner after the first round of voting, or 7:30 p.m. if it goes to a second round.
OTHER NEWS
DO WE EVEN NEED TO POINT OUT THE IRONY? The European Commission is fining a company €15.9 million after an employee deleted WhatsApp messages during an antitrust investigation.
TROUBLE AT THE EIB: The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Werner Hoyer, the former president of the European Investment Bank, as well as another individual over suspected “corruption and abuse of influence, as well as the misappropriation of EU funds.” Hoyer through his lawyer confirmed he was one of the subjects of the probe, and denied any wrongdoing. Bjarke Smith-Meyer and Elisa Braun have more.
FRANCE’S POLITICAL TURMOIL: What will happen to France after the two-round snap parliamentary election? POLITICO’s Clea Caulcutt and Victor Goury-Laffont conducted a thought experiment.
WASHINGTON’S MESSAGE TO HEZBOLLAH: U.S. officials trying to prevent a bigger Middle East war are telling Hezbollah it shouldn’t assume Washington can stop Israel from attacking. It’s designed to get the Lebanese-based Shiite militia to deescalate the brewing crisis along the Israeli-Lebanese border, my Stateside colleagues report.