Athens sends message of support to Cyprus after Hezbollah threats
The Greek Foreign Ministry expressed its solidarity with the “brother people” of Cyprus in the wake of threats issued by Hezbollah on Wednesday against the island nation’s government.
PM addresses high prices with European market commissioner
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the European Commissioner responsible for the operation of the single market, Thierry Bretton, in Athens on Thursday, to discuss high prices.
Attica is on alert – Extreme risk of fire on Friday
Extreme risk of fire – state of alarm (risk category 5) is predicted for Friday in the region of Attica (excluding Kythira), according to the Fire Risk Prediction Map.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/828949/Attica-is-on-alert—Extreme-risk-of-fire-on-Friday
Extra 33% tax on refineries, to support pensioners
The National Economy and Finance Ministry announced on Thursday the imposition of a temporary solidarity contribution of 33% on the excess profits of refining companies based on their results for tax year 2023.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1242016/extra-33-tax-on-refineries-to-support-pensioners
ATHEX: Helleniq Energy and Motor Oil pay the price
The government announcement of the 33% levy on the excessive earnings of refineries had a direct effect on the share prices of both Motor Oil and Helleniq Energy, impacting the rest of the market too. However, GEK Terna and its subsidiary Terna Energy benefited on the latter’s sale to Masdar, on a day of significantly increased turnover at Athinon Avenue.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1242072/athex-helleniq-energy-and-motor-oil-pay-the-price
KATHIMERINI: No parole for sentences linked to domestic violence
TA NEA: Extraordinary benefit for pensioners
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Too little, too late, Kyriakos!
AVGI: The government is promoting policies it used to mock when they were expressed by the opposition
RIZOSPASTIS: Not a single step back! LARKO must remain open and maintain all of its workforce
KONTRA NEWS: Karamanlis-Samaras form front against Mitsotakis
DIMOKRATIA: Immunity net for bankers
NAFTEMPORIKI: Super deals worth 7,2 billion in the energy market
MENAGERIE À TROIS: The far-right Slovak MEP Miroslav Radačovský, who in April released a dove in the Strasbourg hemicycle in a Moscow-flavored call for peace, keeps three pet birds in his parliamentary office in Brussels, he told Playbook.
UNWELCOME VILLAGE: The far-left faction in the European Parliament has issued safety advice to staff after “incidents” in which angry individuals got riled up about a cardboard “Free Palestine” sign on display at its stand at the so-called Welcome Village for new MEPs. “One woman would only stop when our MEP [Marc] Botenga arrived and told her to leave, she was banging on [at] my colleagues for 15 minutes,” a spokesperson said.
DONALD ON DONALDS: Polish PM Donald Tusk paid tribute to the late actor Donald Sutherland as “the best of all Donalds.”His least favorite? It’s not Donald Duck.
IRATXE RUNNING: Socialists and Democrats President Iratxe García, an MEP since 2004, will stand again as group leader, a spokesperson said. And she’ll almost certainly run unopposed. Playbook hears the Italians have backed off and the weakened German Social Democrats won’t challenge either. García is rumored also to have an eye on the Parliament presidency between 2024 and 2026.
DRIVING THE DAY
RUTTE AND MACRON’S EU PROJECT FACES RECKONING: “Unforgivable,” was how one of French President Emmanuel Macron’s most senior MEPs last month described their Dutch liberal allies’ leap into bed with Geert Wilders. Renew Europe Chair Valérie Hayer threatened to expel them — the natural conclusion of her predecessor Stéphane Séjourné telling journalists for years that Renew were the only real bulwark against the far right in the EU.
And then? Nothing. After a crushing election, Hayer fudged it, and now with Renew eclipsed by the hard-right ECR group, the pragmatists who want to keep the group’s numbers from collapsing further are winning. Renew survives, but at what cost?
Strategic ambiguity: At home, Macron has done the opposite of Mark Rutte’s VVD party and risked it all to combat the far right. But in Brussels, his MEPs sit with those who opened the door to them.
Hayer on the way down: When Playbook spotted Hayer coming out of a meeting with other group leaders and Council President Charles Michel in Parliament on Thursday, she urgently pressed a button to call an elevator and descended without answering questions from the gathering journalists. She could face a challenge for the group leadership next week, potentially terminating the French grip on Renew.
Emmanuel Macr-off: Macron’s stuttering Renew project in the European Parliament is in some ways a foreshadowing of the process accelerating in the French National Assembly: Instead of obliterating the center-left and center-right in the EP and ruling as kingmakers, as they managed for a time, Renew MEPs — deeply divided among themselves — now risk being reduced to relative serfdom, summoned by others for key votes but never indispensable.
Volt’s shock: After dropping from third- to fourth-largest group, Renew triumphantly announced the addition of a single new MEP to its grouping … only for the five MEPs it had been negotiating with from Volt to say they preferred the Greens. Volt cast aspersions on Renew’s credibility on fighting right-wing populists, pointing out that the populist Czech former PM Andrej Babiš is a Renew member. In fact, Babiš only has three MEPs fewer than Macron now.
“Renew, ça va”:At next week’s European Council summit, the liberals could nab a top job for Estonian PM Kaja Kallas, but there will also be a valedictory vibe in the air as Rutte bids farewell to EU summits after 14 years as the Dutch PM and heads north to NATO. For all his smiles, culinary metaphors and insistence that “Renew ça va,” Macron is now damaged goods, and so is the group, which will have fewer choice jobs in Parliament if it’s still in fourth place in a couple of weeks.
And it could get worse. ECR Co-Chair Nicola Procaccini told reporters: “We are talking with some other delegations.”
Renew-new? “There is so little glue holding it together,” said outgoing Renew MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld. “I hope that means there is going to be an opportunity to create a truly liberal progressive pro-European centrist group when the whole thing falls apart.”
Can kicked: Last night Euronews scooped that the liberals won’t kick out the Dutch but will send observers to the Netherlands to find out what they already know about the VVD’s coalition with Wilders. Will it be debated in Vilnius, where the liberals head for their annual council meeting today?
For-Guetta-bout it: And what about the Macron ally, Bernard Guetta, who characterized the Dutch move as unforgivable? “It’s obviously a bit of an artificial idea but it’s not a bad idea — to want to wait and reflect before getting into a big argument,” Guetta said over the phone.
We can’t all Guetta-long: “Today in all the political groups without exception, people with different visions cohabit. It’s true in the EPP, it’s true with the Social Democrats, it’s true in Renew. And it’s not more true in Renew than elsewhere. It’s the same,” Guetta said.
Playbook fun fact: Bernard is the half-brother of French DJ David Guetta.
TOP JOBS
TOP QUESTIONS, TOP ANSWERS: The week between Monday’s inconclusive top EU jobs summit and the EU leaders’ meeting next week raises a lot of questions: Will Ursula von der Leyen make it over the line? What does Giorgia Meloni want? Will eastern member countries be disappointed? Barbara Moens and Jacopo Barigazzi answer them here.
WHAT GREENS ARE THINKING WHILE EPP IGNORES THEM: “Until now, no,” was how Green veteran Philippe Lamberts answered my colleague Elisa Braün’s question about whether the EPP had shown any willingness to invite them into the coalition needed to elect the next Commission president, at an event organized by EU Changer last night. “But we’re not there yet,” he added.
Inside Manfred’s mind: Lamberts said he figured EPP chief Manfred Weber would think it strange for the new von der Leyen majority to shift to the left when Parliament shifts right. “One can understand the argument,” he said, cautioning too that the Greens’ votes — if sought — won’t come for free.
RUTTE GETS NUKES — AND PROBLEMS: When Mark Rutte moves into his office at NATO, he won’t get much of a honeymoon period, from dealing with the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House to pushing allies to pay more into the defense budget. Stuart Lau outlines Rutte’s five challenges here. Meanwhile, Miles Herszenhorn has the details of how NATO’s hopes to Trump-proof the alliance via Rutte could backfire.
OMBUDSMAN CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF: Jonas Grimheden, a Swede heading Frontex’s fundamental rights office, wants to use his experience with border management to springboard a campaign to be the EU institutions’ in-house watchdog, Sarah Wheaton emails in to report. MEPs will choose a successor to European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly in December, and Grimheden is the first to raise his hand for a race that’s likely to draw candidates from civil society and legal circles.
ENLARGEMENT
WANNABE MEMBERS JOSTLE AS HUNGARY TAKES OVER: Countries seeking EU membership are lining up for an intense set of negotiations in the final week before Hungary takes over the presidency of the EU.
Big meets: EU ministers will today pave the way for high-stakes political meetings on June 25 in Luxembourg to kick off accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova. On June 26, Montenegro will hold another intergovernmental conference (as these meetings are known in EU jargon) in Brussels to advance its accession process.
Under the radar: Low-key but firmly pro-EU, Montenegro, the smallest Western Balkans country, is making swift progress on its aim to join the club by 2028. Despite that, the Montenegro most talked about in Brussels is probably Portugal’s new prime minister Luís.
Buzz lacking: “I feel that there hasn’t been enough buzz in this town about what we feel is the biggest accomplishment in EU enlargement policy of the outgoing institutions,” Montenegro (the country) Ambassador to the EU Petar Markovic told Playbook. “I believe Budapest and the commissioner from Hungary have equally realized that as a presidency they can achieve a lot with Montenegro. They’ve been very cooperative and ready to help.”
Not everyone feels that way: Moldova’s biggest champion in the European Parliament, Romanian EPP lawmaker Siegfried Mureșan, on Thursday slammed Hungary’s Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, who has been in charge of enlargement since 2019. “I think Hungary should not continue to significantly influence the EU enlargement policy,” he said at a press conference, arguing Hungary should not get the same portfolio in the next Commission. “I hope this mistake will not be repeated by the institutions of the Union for the next five years,” Mureșan said.
BACK TO UKRAINE: The U.S. told Kyiv it can use American-supplied weapons to hit any Russian forces attacking from across the border — not just those in the region near Kharkiv, our Stateside colleagues report.
THE MEGA PRESIDENCY
US AMBASSADOR CHALLENGES ORBÁN ON LGBTQ+ RIGHTS: Nearly 1,000 guests have been invited to the residency of the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman this weekend for a picnic celebrating LGBTQ+ values, in an unmistakable message to Viktor Orbán’s conservative government: Stop being nasty to those who aren’t straight.
Budapest chill: In an interview with my colleague Stuart Lau, Pressman, a prominent gay diplomat and human rights advocate, described the situation in Budapest as “very difficult.”
He listed the problems: “This year, we have seen museum exhibits cordoned off with rope; bookstores fined for openly selling books with gay characters; museum directors fired for displaying internationally acclaimed photojournalists’ work that happened to show gay people; government media targeting gay Hungarians as pedophiles when they speak up and express a view that disagrees with their government.”
Not getting better: Without going into detail about his conversation with local officials, Pressman said: “The United States is not satisfied with the Hungarian government’s response to serious concerns expressed by the United States and our partners and allies about the deteriorating human rights situation for LGBT people in Hungary.” He said he had invited Hungarian officials to attend his picnic — will they dare show up?
HAPPENING TODAY — ORBÁN IN BERLIN: Orbán will visit German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this afternoon, to discuss his country’s EU presidency. The reception the Hungarian PM will get will be decidedly frosty, our Berlin Playbook colleagues report: there will be no military honors, and no press conference.
WILL HUNGARY SANCTION SANCTIONS? The EU approved its 14th Russian sanctions package this week — but that could be the final squeeze for a good six months, as Russia-friendly Hungary takes over the EU’s rotating presidency, Camille Gijs reports. Fresh sanctions on Putin’s ally Belarus are unfinished, and will probably be handed off to Budapest, which is likely to stall progress for the rest of 2024.
THE EU’S WTF MOMENT: This week’s EU Confidential podcast considers the MEGA weird flip in the EU’s balance of power. Reminder: Hungary’s slogan for its EU presidency is “Make Europe Great Again.” Our reporters delve into the latest on the top jobs race and the upheaval in German politics. Host Sarah Wheaton is also joined by Polityka Insight’s Andrzej Bobiński and POLITICO’s Jan Cienski for a look at the triumphant return of Donald Tusk in Poland. Listen here.
SALUTEGATE LATEST
ECR DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM SOCIALISTS: Giorgia Meloni’s most senior MEP Nicola Procaccini said he would withdraw legal action he has started against the Socialists President Iratxe García — if she says sorry. (Playbook summarized the beef — over García’s allegation Procaccini had been caught by undercover journalists doing a fascist salute — here).
In a tight spot: “There’s no picture showing me doing the so-called fascist salute because I’ve never done it in my entire life,” Procaccini told huddled journalists on the sixth floor of the Parliament’s Paul Henri-Spaak building on Thursday. The Italian said someone unknown to him “squeezed my arm” and insisted that even if it resembled a “gladiator’s salute,” in which people grab each other’s forearms, it was unintentional and he was unaware of it even being a thing.
Procaccini also said Fanpage, the Italian site that released the footage, did not accuse him of doing a fascist salute — something he condemned others for doing in the video. What Fanpage says: “The gestures, seeing the moving images, are quite evident.”
Hey, that’s no way to say hello: García saidshe “won’t stop denouncing fascist attitudes” and told Procaccini “he is trying to distract from denouncing what should be denounced, which is what appears in the documentary,” according to her spokesperson.
HUNGER GAMES FOR PARLIAMENT AIDES
READY, SET, HIRE! Assistants in the European Parliament are racing to meet a deadline today to find an MEP to hire them. Only by getting a contract sorted today can they ensure seamless administrative passage into the next mandate. The groups that took big losses, such as Renew and the Greens, are said to be particularly competitive.
Playbook job center: Since mentioning this on X, Playbook has received CVs from APAs looking for new MEPs. Alas, Playbook is not a job agency. But here are some anonymized highlights that give a flavor of the job market: “APA, 9 years of experience … looking for a Member. No harassers,” said one. “I have a hard-working, energetic profile with managing experience (budget and personnel),” said another.
Tara Hadviger, the assistant for Tiemo Wölken (Germany, S&D) who runs a committee representing assistants, told Playbook she was launching a database of 300 “affected” assistants. “This database of experienced assistants ready to be recruited for the new term will be an offer to the new incoming MEP, searching for a team.” MEPs can email here to signal their interest.