Ukraine renews military aid request
Amid a new Russian offensive on various fronts in Ukraine, Athens is examining a list of old and newer requests from Kyiv for military aid from the reserves of the Hellenic Armed Forces.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/foreign-policy/1239518/ukraine-renews-military-aid-request
Greek and Polish leaders urge EU for common air defense shield
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Polish counterpart Donald Tusk have called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to spearhead the creation of a European air defense shield financed by the European Union.
PM Mitsotakis promises new measures to support families after the elections
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday announced that the government is planning a series of measures to support families after the European elections, as well as action to lower the high cost of housing. The prime minister was speaking during an interview with journalist Nikos Hatzinikolaou at the “Demographic 2024 – A National Priority” Summit held in the Acropolis Museum.
Police announce takedown of criminal gang importing cocaine into Europe
The Attica Security police on Thursday announced the takedown of an international criminal gang importing large quantities of cocaine from Latin America for illegal distribution in Europe. Police said the drugs were transported by sea, concealed in containers, and sold in European countries, including Greece, for extremely high illegal profits.
ATHEX: Main index ends up with narrow gains
Despite the drop of the blue chip index, the banks index, mid-caps, turnover and the majority of stocks on the Greek stock market on Thursday, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue managed to remain in positive territory by the closing, ending the short streak of the previous two days. That small rise is attributed mainly to energy stocks.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1239527/athex-main-index-ends-up-with-narrow-gains
KATHIMERINI: Ukraine requests Greece to provide Patriot and S-300 missiles
TA NEA: Greeks are a polarized people: Pessimistic and enraged
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Palestine: Europe in bewilderment, Greek government walled in
AVGI: The PM to be questioned in parliament for vile profiteering phenomena
RIZOSPASTIS: The government, the EU and political parties are preparing the “lasting Memoranda” of the next day
KONTRA NEWS: The estimation for vote abstention up to 55% is shaking the system
DIMOKRATIA: Karystianou sends letter to PM Mitsotakis: “Yοu cover-up, you harbor criminal activity and you are hiding”
NAFTEMPORIKI: Tenders for packages of state-owned real estate assets
EU TOP JOBS UPDATE — DRAGHI IN THE FRAME: French President Emmanuel Macron wants to find a job in Brussels for former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi after next month’s election, my Paris colleague Nicolas Camut reports.
What job? That’s unclear for now. According to Macron loyalist and MEP Pascal Canfin, a politician of Draghi’s stature (he is perhaps best known for his calming performance as Mr “Whatever It Takes” at the European Central Bank during the eurozone debt crisis), the role would have to be something big. Like the president of the European Commission or Council, or a big economic portfolio in the Commission.But Draghi’s competition is stiff. There are already names firmly attached to the first two of those jobs — incumbent Ursula von der Leyen for the Commission and António Costa, Portugal’s former prime minister, for the Council. Draghi’s name has always been in the mix, but he’s not terribly active in any political movement, so several of those who are active in the top jobs jostling want to rule him out.
Will history repeat? All of which means Macron would have to spring Draghi on leaders like a rabbit out of his hat at the first European Council gathering after the EU election … And that’s never been done! Oh wait. It has, actually. By Macron himself, in 2019, when he nixed EPP Spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber’s bid to become Commission president and championed von der Leyen for the top job instead.
MORE FROM THE 2024 ELECTION TRAIL
FAR RIGHT NOWHERE, FAR RIGHT EVERYWHERE: The organizers of Thursday’s Eurovision debate in the European Parliament (not the singing version, unfortunately) didn’t invite a representative of any far-right group to their big event, claiming they didn’t meet the technical criteria for admission. But that didn’t stop the far right from being ubiquitous on and off the debate stage, after the Identity and Democracy party voted to give Alternative for Germany (AfD) the boot.
Let’s start with the debate. With only five candidates on stage, there was plenty of speaking time (yawn) for everyone. The candidates mainly used it to needle the EPP’s lead candidate, von der Leyen, and the liberals’ Sandro Gozi, about whether they plan to cooperate with far-right groups in Parliament after the election in June.
Schmit sizzles: Socialist lead candidate Nicolas Schmit, who was punchier than he has been in previous debates, came out swinging. “Please bring clarity,” he urged von der Leyen (who is, let’s not forget, his boss). “I wonder what pro-EU means for you. I heard [Italian Prime Minister Giorgia] Meloni making a speech at a Madrid conference and I cannot believe she shares the same idea of Europe as you have.” (Afterward, Schmit inexplicably tweeted the letter “M” — which to be fair is an important letter in his last name.)
Go ahead, make my day: In response, von der Leyen stuck by her commitment to work with Meloni, as well as specific lawmakers from her group, even if it means crossing a red line for the Socialists. (ICYMI: The Socialists have said they won’t cooperate with far-right parties, although they haven’t gone so far as to say it would stop them backing von der Leyen for a second term.) The Commission president said: “Even if that’s a red line, we have to build a majority in the European Parliament to bring Europe forward. You come with an offer. This offer is for those who want to bring Europe forward.”
Grilling Gozi: The Renew candidate was also in the hot seat, but bobbed and weaved around the question of excluding from the group the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), after it entered a coalition in the Netherlands with Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party. “Our president of the group [Valérie Hayer] says we will discuss this in the group,” Gozi said, adding that he thinks it’s a “major mistake” for VVD to go into government with Wilders.
AFD DRAMA OVERSHADOWS DEBATE: The far right might have been denied entry to the debate, but it didn’t stay quiet. Outside, members of Alliance for the Union of Romanians, a right-wing populist group, were protesting in yellow jerseys. And Identity and Democracy — the pan-European faction that includes Marine Le Pen’s National Rally — were getting ready to overshadow the whole production by expelling the AfD.
In a nutshell: Other members of the ID group decided it was no longer expedient to share political real estate with the AfD, and voted to kick the party out during a meeting of the group’s bureau on Thursday. It came after a series of scandals including allegations of AfD members spying for China, taking payments from Russia and top candidate for the EU election Maximilian Krah telling an Italian newspaper that one shouldn’t “generalize” about the criminality of Nazi SS troops. This last quip was where Le Pen apparently drew the line — not the spying allegations. “Any revisionist comment is a complete non-starter for us,” said Thibaut François, a National Rally lawmaker in France.
Not convinced: Terry Reintke, lead candidate of the Greens, didn’t buy the argument that Le Pen turned against Krah’s party out of principle. “It’s a tactical maneuver by people like Marine Le Pen,” she told POLITICO’s Louise Guillot after the debate. “I see it as a cheap maneuver to get rid of a toxic candidate like Maximilian Krah in a difficult electoral situation.”
Just one bad egg! In a statement signed by AfD members Christine Anderson and Gunnar Beck, the party said it was “paying the price for Maximilian Krah’s uncontrolled statements, which damage the AfD in Germany and isolate it in the EU. It is the task of the new AfD delegation … to rebuild the trust of its European partners that has been destroyed by Maximilian Krah.”
Surely, the guy’s been canned, right? Nope. Despite getting AfD kicked out of its group, Krah remains the top name on his party’s election list in Germany — it’s too late to remove him from the ballot.
WHAT NOW FOR THE FAR RIGHT? With their German cousins out of the way, France’s National Rally has big plans to acquire more seats in Parliament. Its members will meet on June 10, the day after the EU election, to discuss a possible expansion.
Open for business: The National Rally’s Thibaut François said ID’s aim was to be able to form blocking minorities, which require 135 votes. Asked whether the faction would accept Fidesz, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s party (which was pushed out of the EPP), he said: “We will have a very open approach. It will be on the table after June 9 … Having a large number of French lawmakers creates a power of attraction for the group.”
Fidesz fiddles: So far, Fidesz has shown more enthusiasm about joining Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) than ID. But some factions within ECR — Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, Poland’s Law and Justice — may have trouble cohabitating with the pro-Russian Fidesz. With Alternative for Germany now out of the ID group, it may start to look more attractive to Fidesz.
View from on high: Pretending the far right doesn’t exist doesn’t make it disappear. Take a look at this map.
NOW READ THIS: POLITICO’s Matthew Karnitschnig has a gripping deep dive on why intelligence officials suspect Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek colluded with Austria’s far-right, pro-Russia Freedom Party on the Kremlin’s behalf.
PARLIAMENT DATA BREACH
EP BRASS IN THE CROSSFIRE: The committee that represents European Parliament assistants has demanded an explanation for how the institution lost ID cards, birth certificates and medical records in a massive data breach, Antoaneta Roussi and Eddy Wax report.
Recap: Parliament notified up to 9,000 staffers earlier this month that it had suffered a data breach of its online recruitment application, called PEOPLE, which contained ID card details, birth certificates, diplomas, employment history, medical records, rights to entitlements, insurance and proof of work dating back 10 years.
In an email seen by Playbook, the Accredited Parliamentary Assistants Committee, which represents around 2,000 assistants inside the institution, said on Thursday it had asked Parliament President Roberta Metsola and top civil servants to provide more information about what steps management was taking to mitigate the data protection and cybersecurity risks arising from the breach.
Information vacuum: POLITICO spoke to three assistants who were affected. They were dismayed by what they described as a lack of communication and inaction by the institution. “People are extremely upset, while from the other side, there are just two emails from a faceless DG,” said Stefan De Koning, parliamentary assistant to Dutch liberal member Sophie in ’t Veld. “No instructions, apologies, indications of any kind.”
Oops: On Wednesday, Parliament sent thousands of emails to victims with specific details of what personal data leaked. In four emails seen by POLITICO, identity cards or passports, criminal records, education certificates and the civil status of individuals had been compromised.
DEFENSE
TUSK AND MITSOTAKIS CALL FOR AIR DEFENSE SHIELD: The leaders of Poland and Greece urged the EU to build a European air defense shield, to be developed by local defense companies and financed at the EU level — and Ursula von der Leyen backed them.
“The current fragmented landscape is simply not up to today’s needs and requirements,” Donald Tusk and Kyriakos Mitsotakis argued in a letter addressed to the Commission chief dated Thursday, obtained by POLITICO. “Europe will be safe as long as the skies over it are safe.”
In agreement: At Thursday’s election debate, von der Leyen voiced support for the leaders’ call for a European air defense system. “We have to have a common air defense shield for all of Europe, like it was proposed by Mitsotakis and Tusk,” von der Leyen said.
Why they want it: According to Tusk and Mitsotakis, developing a major defense project at EU level would “send a clear signal that Europe is united and determined to act in self-defense, to protect itself, and that the EU is a global power whose economic strength is reinforced by military might,” the letter said. “That it is a strong force to be reckoned with.”
Lessons from Ukraine and Israel: “The geopolitical and technological developments in Europe’s periphery and beyond, the wars on our continent and in the world, teach us lessons that we can no longer ignore,” the Polish and Greek leaders said. “We must develop a highly capable air defence system which will act as a credible deterrent” and as a “shield for our citizens and military forces, in case deterrence fails.”
ALIGNED: As Playbook reported on Thursday, the latest Eurobarometer poll shows that European voters broadly favor more defense cooperation and spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And their political leaders tend to agree: POLITICO obtained a draft of the EU’s Strategic Agenda which says there’s “an overwhelming consensus on the aim to take greater responsibility for our security and defense” among the EU27.
The document, which is being finalized and is expected to be presented to EU leaders next month, envisages “an internal market for defense products and services, enhancing production capacity and fostering joint procurement.”
UKRAINE — $50B DEAL IN SIGHT: The U.S. and the EU are overcoming their differences and edging closer to an agreement to secure a massive loan for Ukraine, using Russian assets frozen in the West as collateral, my colleagues Gregorio Sorgi, Michael Stratford and Giorgio Leali report. With G7 finance ministers meeting in Italy, officials told POLITICO the U.S. is hopeful of winning over skeptical Europeans to agree a funding arrangement that, while far short of what the Americans hoped, would still be a significant financial boost to Kyiv.
IN OTHER NEWS
CLASHING SUMMITS: Russia is planning to host a meeting of BRICS countries at around the same time as a Swiss-arranged peace conference for Ukraine, two senior EU diplomats told my colleague Stuart Lau. The meeting in Moscow will take place on the level of foreign ministers, which, if confirmed, means China won’t be dispatching top envoy Wang Yi to the Swiss meeting, the diplomats said.
Beijing earlier told EU diplomats that they won’t be inclined to send a high-level representation to the Swiss event if Russia is not invited. Aside from Russia and China, the other members of the alliance are Brazil, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Egypt and Ethiopia.
GEORGIA BLOWBACK: The U.S. is introducing visa restrictions against travelers from Georgia and reviewing bilateral cooperation with the country in response to its controversial “foreign agents” law. The announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken came after a bipartisan push in Congress moved to sanction Georgian politicians responsible for passing the Russia-style law, as revealed by POLITICO’s Gabriel Gavin.
More proof tensions are running high in Tbilisi: Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi engaged in an extraordinary public spat on Thursday. Gabriel has the details.
EU ELECTION 101: On our latest EU Confidential podcast, host Sarah Wheaton and a panel of POLITICO election experts delve into the nitty-gritty of voting and what happens next. Sarah is joined by politics reporter Eddy Wax, chief EU correspondent Barbara Moens and cybersecurity editor Laurens Cerulus.
WHAT EUROPE’S MAYORS CARE ABOUT: The latest Eurocities Pulse Mayors Survey — conducted in the months leading up to June’s European Parliament election and shared exclusively with POLITICO’s Living Cities — suggests local leaders from across the continent are most worried about the changing climate and the ongoing housing crisis.
Higher temps, fewer homes: Participants in the poll of 92 mayors in 28 European countries said most of their constituents were demanding more decarbonization measures, but over a third admitted to fearing citizen backlash over green measures. The number of mayors concerned about the lack of affordable housing doubled over the past year, and roughly half of all respondents want the EU budget to have cash set aside to build more homes. Read it here.
AND NOW SINCE IT’S FRIDAY … Test how closely you’ve been following the EU election campaign with POLITICO’s weekly news quiz… and in his humor column Paul Dallison ponders what happens if you’re too far right for the far right.