DEF X – PM Mitsotakis: Greece is a strong EU and NATO member state, a strategic partner of the US
Greece is a strong member state of the European Union and of NATO, and it is a country that has strategic relations with the United States it wants to deepen, and a country that can now jointly formulate European policies, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during his conversation with journalist and author Robert D. Kaplan at the Delphi Economic Forum X on Thursday.
Course of Freedom narrows gap with New Democracy to single digits, poll shows
A new opinion poll by MRB for Open TV shows Zoe Konstantopoulou’s anti-establishment Course of Freedom (Plefsi Eleftherias) party gaining ground on the ruling New Democracy, narrowing the gap to 6.9%.
Military upgrade to the tune of €28 bln
Defense Minister Nikos Dendias presented a comprehensive 12-year defense modernization program to Parliament on Thursday, aimed at enhancing Greece’s military capabilities from 2025 to 2036.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1266704/military-upgrade-to-the-tune-of-e28-bln
BoG slashes growth forecast
The impact of a trade war will be negative for all sides, damaging economic activity and growth, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras warned in a speech at the bank’s general meeting of shareholders.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1266594/bog-slashes-growth-forecast
Household costs grow, but inflation slows down
March inflation eased slightly to 2.4% from 2.5% in February, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), though several household costs soared by over 10% on an annual basis.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1266706/household-costs-grow-but-inflation-slows-down
ATHEX: More ups and downs on bourse
The dramatic ups and downs on bourses global continued on Thursday, with a major rebound more than just offsetting Wednesday’s losses at Athinon Avenue, though nothing guarantees there will not be another major slump on Friday or Monday, as the international markets seem to be hanging on the whims of a single person. This time it was mid-caps that outperformed in the day’s “relief rally,” though the benchmark was unable to hold on to the 1,600-point level it briefly recaptured mid-session.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1266705/athex-more-ups-and-downs-on-bourse
KATHIMERINI: Poker game between Athens and Ankara regarding the power cable to link Greece with Cyprus
TA NEA: The dance of trillions
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Health Minister Georgiadis to privatize even the DNA of new born babies
RIZOSPASTIS: Their shield against global insecurity includes: Taxes, anti-worker measures and war economy
KONTRA NEWS: Greece sails full speed astern regarding the power cable in Kassos
DIMOKRATIA: National mistake regarding the power cable
NAFTEMPORIKI: Safety filter for direct foreign investments
DRIVING THE DAY: OPEN (MARKET) RELATIONSHIPS
EU-CHINA RELATIONS: IT’S COMPLICATED. “If you’re gonna fight a global trade war, you need some allies,” the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics chief Josh Lipsky told yours truly on this week’s episode of the EU Confidential podcast. China has no allies in that war, he said, and Trump will be looking to pick some up over the next three months.
So whose side does the EU take? With Trump increasing the effective tariff on Beijing to 145 percent, the EU is on guard for a flood of cheap Chinese goods to hit the EU market. Brussels “will not tolerate” that, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the FT. She added that Chinese premier Li Qiang pledged to her in a call this week that “this risk does not exist because they would stimulate the consumption in China.”
Softening on Beijing? The EU has already taken some pretty harsh steps against China, slapping major tariffs on its subsidized electric car industry. But they could be heading toward a truce: German daily Handelsblatt reports that Brussels and Beijing are negotiating a compromise that could set a minimum price for Chinese EVs, rather than a tariff, and spur manufacturing of Chinese brands in Europe. Even if nothing comes of it, the idea that the talks are even occurring is a concession to Beijing.
… or going harder? While Berlin once viewed Beijing as a “triptych of partnership, competitor and systemic rivalry,” the incoming German coalition government is hardening its stance, former MEP Reinhard Bütikofer noted at a briefing by the Center for European Policy Analysis. While there’s still the possibility for partnership, Bütikofer said, the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition agreement indicates “the rivalry has come to the fore.”
Xi EU this summer: Von der Leyen and European Council chief António Costa are planning to travel to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in late July, the South China Morning Post reports, citing five people familiar with the plans.
SANCHEZ MEETS XI: In the meantime, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met Xi in the early hours of this morning, in a visit planned before Trump’s trade escalations. On Thursday, China defended Sánchez after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that aligning with Beijing would be “like cutting your own throat.” Rather, argued Chinese foreign affairs spokesman Lin Jian, it’s the U.S. that would grab other countries “by the throat” with its tariffs. More from El País.
ASIA PIVOT: Ursula von der Leyen spent Thursday working the phones, launching new trade talks with the United Arab Emirates, talking up CETA with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and celebrating the first anniversary of the EU’s deal with New Zealand on a call with Kiwi PM Christopher Luxon.
Eying more Pacific pals: In her calls with the latter two, von der Leyen said she wanted to boost relations with the members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. That’s the trade deal that emerged from the ashes after Trump bailed during his first term on a similar pact negotiated by Barack Obama.
Quality club: “So many countries around the world” want to work with the EU “to balance the system and to have free trade really competing on quality and not around tariffs,” von der Leyen told the FT during the chummy interview, adding that Trump’s moves also prompted talks with Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia.
TAKING STOCK
SO, YEAH, THINGS ARE STILL PRETTY BAD: Trump is learning, along with the rest of us, that it’s a lot easier to start a trade war than to end one.
Mad markets: Wall Street is seeing right through the Trump 2.0 spin, reads this CNN analysis about the Dow’s 1,000-point plunge.
Highest since 1904: Even with the 90-day pause, the U.S.’s effective tariff rate — calculated as the tariff revenue divided by the total imports — now stands at 25.3 percent, the highest since 1904, according to analysis by Yale’s Budget Lab.
THE ART OF WAR IN WARSAW: EU finance ministers will game out their response to a potential trade war with the U.S. during their informal gathering in Warsaw. Appropriately, they’ll be meeting at the Polish Army Museum, Giovanna Faggionato and Gregorio Sorgi report.
The Polish government, which is hosting the meeting under its rotating Council presidency, is keen to keep heads cool and avoid a war of words with the U.S. “We should be like Buddha: calm, focused and have a strategic response,” an EU diplomat said. (Playbook quibble: That sounds a bit more like Sun Tzu, but OK.)
On the agenda: Today it’s all about tariffs, with a discussion on their potential effects on the global and national economies as well as the financial sector. Defense will take center stage on Saturday, when finance ministers will have their say on Bruegel’s report on a new rearmament fund.
Also present: British Chancellor Rachel Reeves will join the gathering to make the case for the U.K.’s participation.
WAIT, HOW DID WE EVEN GET HERE? POLITICO’s team walks you through it.
WAIT, WILL I BE ABLE TO BUY A CHEAPER iPHONE? Trade editor Doug Busvine and the Atlantic Council’s Josh Lipsky discuss that and other fallout from Trump’s announcements on EU Confidential. You can listen to it here on any type of phone.
HR DEPT.
“FIASCO” OVER MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST FOR EUROCRATS: The Commission is fielding calls to annul recent exams for current staff seeking promotions, amid complaints about incoherent questions and sloppy formatting. “Yet another fiasco cannot go unanswered,” the U4U staff union said in an email to Commission HR boss Stephen Quest. “The Commission must resolve these malfunctions without further delay,” reads the email, viewed by Playbook, “for the sake of its reputation, but also out of respect for the candidates.” That’s some 3,000 people, according to the union.
What happened: Multiple-choice tests for early-career administrator posts held between March 17-19 had a raft of problems, according to a complaint submitted to the Commission’s Selection Board. Some of the most striking:
— Question subjects disproportionately focused on competitiveness and digital policy in the March 18 test, and employment and social policies the following day, favoring people already working in those fields.
— Ten out of 50 questions in some exams drew on the Draghi competitiveness report, which isn’t officially EU policy.
— Some questions had the option to choose “all of the above” or “none of the above,” but the system randomly placed answer choices, so those replies didn’t always appear as the last choice.
— One item asked about the global distribution of patents among the EU, U.S. and China, yet it didn’t specify the year.
— A question included the phrase “please find the links below,” prompting suspicions that the text had been copied and pasted from an online source.
“These shortcomings raise deep concerns about the management of these competitions,” said TAO-The Independents, another EU staff union, in a communication to members.
COMMISSION’S REPLY: The Selection Board has received the complaints and requests from some participants for some questions to be “neutralised,” said Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari in an email, and will decide “in the coming days.”
Was the test written by robots? “A wide variety of inputs, including some controlled use of AI, were used to nourish the overall pool of questions from which the tests subsequently drew,” Ujvari said. Yet it was flesh and blood “human beings,” he added, who did the “finalisation and selection of all questions.”
Tech growing pains: The Commission is in a “transition phase” with a new IT tool it started using this year, Ujvari said.
MEANWHILE, IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT … National Rally president and ardent anti-corruption campaigner Jordan Bardella wants to hire his chief of staff for party affairs, François Paradol, to work part-time as his local assistant for his MEP work. The Parliament has rejected the application twice, saying it would be nearly impossible for Paradol to separate party work from parliamentary duties, my colleagues Max Griera and Victor Goury-Laffont report.
Do I really need to say it? “Recent trials before French national jurisdictions showcased the risks related to the use of funds allocated by the European Parliament in cases where parliamentary assistants are also fulfilling a side activity for a political party,” Parliament Secretary-General Alessandro Chiocchetti said in a letter to Bardella explaining the rejections.
Reminder: National Rally figurehead Marine Le Pen and 23 others were found guilty last month of misappropriating European Parliament funds to pay people who were nominally MEPs’ assistants but worked mostly on party affairs.
GERMAN GOVERNMENT
RUMOR MILL IN OVERDRIVE: Our Berlin colleagues have taken the temperature and put together this guide to who is likely to lead some of the key ministries in Germany’s incoming government. Playbook has some highlights (with the disclaimer that nothing is confirmed until it’s confirmed) …
The foreign ministry … is set to be held by the CDU. Veteran lawmaker Johann Wadephul is considered the front-runner, though the CDU’s former leader Armin Laschet is also a contender. Jens Spahn, a deputy parliamentary group leader with close ties to the U.S. Republicans, would be an unconventional pick.
Defense ministry: The SPD’s Boris Pistorius is widely expected to keep his portfolio.
Finance ministry: Lars Klingbeil, currently the SPD co-leader, is the favorite, though interim incumbent Jörg Kukies has a shot of securing the job for real. Full rundown here.
UKRAINE LATEST
HAPPENING TODAY: Representatives of about 50 nations will attend the latest meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, chaired by U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will join virtually, despite earlier talk that he would skip it entirely.
The Ramstein group will discuss providing Ukraine with enhanced support in electromagnetic warfare, including tools to protect GPS, radar and satellite systems and disrupt Russian signals, my colleagues on Berlin Playbook report.
COALITION OF THE WAITING: On Thursday, Ukraine’s allies, the so-called coalition of the willing, held talks on how to create a security mission to police any peace agreement with Russia. The problem: That peace agreement has been stymied by Moscow’s refusal to stop fighting.
Nonetheless, military planning will continue to move forward in the coming weeks as countries start laying out potential contributions. More from Antoaneta Roussi and Laura Kayali.
Troops on the ground (for 5 years): Britain is considering deploying troops to Ukraine for five years as part of its coalition of the willing efforts, the Telegraph reports. The main aim of the deployment would be to rebuild and train Ukraine’s armed forces to deter another attack, while dissuading Putin from invading again in the short term.
IN OTHER NEWS
MIGRATION DOWN: Illegal crossings into the EU dropped by more than 30 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2024, according to border agency Frontex. The decrease comes amid an EU crackdown on migration, with Brussels planning harsher measures such as a plan to streamline deportations, tougher penalties for rejected migrants who refuse to leave and the creation of so-called return hubs in countries outside the EU to house people awaiting deportation. Frontex told Nektaria Stamouli the decline had occurred across all major migratory routes into the EU. Read Nektaria’s story here.
FROM CAPITOL HILL TO PLACE LUX: When a group of eight U.S. lawmakers visit the European Parliament today, President Roberta Metsola will have three main messages, her team tells Playbook: “relations between Parliament and Congress are solid, that the 90 days is a window of opportunity for dialogue and that we need trade wins and not trade wars.”
Welcome committee: Despite concerns that no one would be left in Brussels to meet the delegation from the U.S. House Democracy Partnership, nine MEPs will be around to join Metsola, representing the European People’s Party, the Socialists & Democrats, Renew, Greens and The Left. Among them: Nicolae Ştefănuță, the Parliament VP responsible for human rights and democracy support.