PM Mitsotakis at UN: Turkish-Libyan memorandum illegal and arbitrary, geography cannot be rewritten
International law could not be applied selectively and rules governing the seas could not be rewritten to serve the ambitions of individual states, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed, speaking at a high-level debate of the Greek Presidency of the UN Security Council titled “Maintenance of international peace and security: Emerging technologies and maritime security.” Referring to the so-called Turkish-Libyan memorandum on the delimitation of maritime zones, he described it as a flagrant violation of fundamental principles of the International Law of the Sea, adding that it was illegal, arbitrary, and directly contradicted geography itself. Mitsotakis recalled that Greece and Libya were natural maritime neighbours with opposite coasts and had the right, under international law, to delimit their maritime zones through agreement. By contrast, he pointed out that Turkiye and Libya did not have opposite or adjacent coasts, yet had attempted to establish an artificial maritime border between them, calling the move absurd and noting that there was no precedent for such a diagonal delimitation. The prime minister stressed that geography could not be rewritten and that sovereign rights could not be erased by drawing arbitrary lines on a map.
Turkish envoy highlights progress in ties with Greece, urges continued dialogue
Turkish Ambassador to Greece Cagatay Erciyes on Thursday highlighted positive developments in Greek-Turkish relations and called for continued dialogue and closer bilateral cooperation at a reception marking the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic. The event was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou, along with lawmakers, diplomats, military officials and journalists. Erciyes acknowledged the progress made in relations between Athens and Ankara in recent years, describing the December 2023 Athens Declaration as a common framework for sustaining rapprochement and further expanding cooperation. He pointed to growing ties in trade, investment, tourism and culture, as well as cooperation on irregular migration and organized crime.
Horiatiko’ bakery chain owner remanded in custody
The owner of the Horiatiko bakery chain was remanded in custody on Thursday, following a brief hearing before the investigating magistrate handling a case involving an alleged criminal organisation and large-scale tax evasion. The businessman, identified in the case file as the alleged leader of the large criminal organisation, spent approximately 40 minutes in the magistrate’s office. He denied almost all the serious charges against him, acknowledging only tax-related offences.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/1035040/Choriatiko-bakery-chain-owner-remanded-in-custody-
Deadly Plaka explosion linked to gas pipe sabotage for copper theft – Three arrest warrants issued
An intensive investigation by the Hellenic Fire Service’s Arson Crimes Investigation Directorate has established the suspected cause of last month’s deadly explosion in the Plaka district of Athens. According to the Fire Service, three arrest warrants have been issued on Thursday, for two Greek nationals and an Albanian national following a 34-day investigation conducted under the supervision of prosecutors. Investigators believe the three suspects sabotaged natural gas pipes in an attempt to steal copper piping, allegedly triggering the explosion.
ATHEX: Momentum goes on at Athinon Avenue
The Euronext Athens (ATHEX) general index closed Thursday at 2,623.03 points, adding 0.66% to Tuesday’s 2,605.71 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.86% to end at 6,718.01 points.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1319704/athex-momentum-goes-on-at-athinon-avenue
KATHIMERINI: Six dead for a copper pipe
TA NEA: Real estate assets: guidelines for renovations and subsidies
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Mockery regarding social benefits and pensions
RIZOSPASTIS: Dockworkers in 21 countries and 5 continents: We will not work for war!
KONTRA NEWS: Health Minister Georgiadis is handing out a forest area!
DIMOKRATIA: Knives out regarding the fixed basketball games
NAFTEMPORIKI: Labor Ministry blocks AI use
DRIVING THE DAY
MONTREAL DISPATCH: At today’s EU–Canada summit, Brussels and Ottawa are expected to announce a deal to make it easier for businesses to trade online — the first concrete result of their push to bring their economies closer.
“This was one of the most intense negotiations,” EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič told Playbook’s Zoya Sheftalovich on the sidelines of the summit in Montreal yesterday, describing the talks that began this spring to make trade easier for businesses.
Keeping in step: The digital deal is part of a broader effort to align trade policies. Canada is concerned it could be excluded from the EU’s “Made in Europe” preference for public procurement, while Ottawa is developing its own Buy Canadian procurement framework. The EU is working with Canada to ensure neither scheme harms the other, Šefčovič said.
The wider push goes beyond trade: Officials have been exploring cooperation on critical minerals, education, skilled workers and Arctic security — while trying to avoid stoking the ire of Washington and Beijing.
The name game: The summit is meant to mark a closer partnership, but the label for that relationship has become a sticking point. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen restated her proposal to make Canada the EU’s first “associate member” again yesterday, which an EU official said she is expected to repeat today. But Germany is pushing back against the term, which it says is wrong for a country that isn’t seeking EU membership.
Berlin previously floated an “associate membership” of the EU for Ukraine, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected that as a “half-measure.”
Berlin has instead opted to use the phrase “Alliance for the Future” to describe the EU–Canada relationship. But associate membership and the proposed Alliance for the Future are separate ideas, a senior EU official said. Associate membership would be a bilateral arrangement bringing Canada closer to EU “policies, programs and governance,” where the alliance would be a broader “common space for economic prosperity” with trusted partners including Japan, South Korea and Australia.
What’s in a name? “This new alliance is not a marketing exercise. The name doesn’t matter,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said yesterday when asked about the disagreements over the term.
Next up: With areas of deeper cooperation expected to be laid out in more detail today, the full College of Commissioners and the Canadian government are due to meet in six months to do take stock of their progress, ahead of the next EU-Canada summit in Brussels.
Heated rivalry: The diplomacy is in full swing, with von der Leyen taking a walking meeting with her right-hand man Björn Seibert, chief diplomatic adviser Simon Mordue and other aides yesterday before tucking into a St-Viateur bagel — picking a side in Montreal’s long-running rivalry with Fairmount. She was also given a Canadiens jersey bearing the name of Slovak forward Juraj Slafkovský. Watch the bagel diplomacy on Instagram.
BIG AND BREAKING
NOVEMBER SUPER SUMMIT: EU leaders are aiming to agree on the new president of the European Central Bank by the end of the year, an EU official told Gregorio Sorgi. Discussions on Christine Lagarde’s successor are set to kick off at a special summit on Nov. 26-27, which will also deal with Ukraine financing and the EU’s next long-term budget.
All in play: Spaniard Pablo Hernández de Cos and Dutchman Klaas Knot, whose governments sit on opposite sides of the budget debate, are widely seen as the frontrunners. But the ECB race might be entangled in broader budget horse-trading.
FROM MONTREAL TO ATLANTA: Kaja Kallas is heading from Canada to the U.S. for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, where she’ll push for freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, oppose shipping tolls and warn against Russia weaponizing food, her team told Playbook.
WHO’S AFRAID OF WHOM? Halloween is almost here, and so is a new edition of Brussels’ favorite horror show: from political nightmares to bureaucratic bogeymen, here’s who’s keeping the wildlife of the EU’s capital awake at night.
CRYPTO HEIST: Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced that a security breach has had a $6.3 billion impact on the business, in what could amount to the biggest crypto heist in history, Reuters reports. Binance says it has worked to freeze the affected assets.
SOUNDING THE DEATH KNELL
DON’T BURY US: European coffin makers fear they will be left lifeless, becoming the next casualty of Europe’s industrial decline as cheap Chinese imports threaten one of the continent’s oldest sectors.
Knocking on DG TRADE’s door: Coffin manufacturers are forming a coalition and have met Commission officials, including those from its trade department last week, the initiative’s organizers told Playbook. The move comes after MEPs raised the alarm with Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič last year, who invited the industry to file a complaint.
“The EU takes robust action to protect its industries from unfairly traded imports,” a Commission spokesperson told POLITICO. But about the discussions with coffin makers, mum’s the word — talks over potential trade defense complaints are confidential, the EU executive says.
A grave situation: Cheap imports have helped bury a quarter of Europe’s coffin makers over the past five years, with their ranks shrinking from 120 to 90 companies, according to Folco Ciulli, a consultant preparing the trade complaint. Smaller firms couldn’t compete, he said, while survivors have picked up only half of their lost production.
But cheap imports alone don’t prove dumping. Selling a product in Europe below its normal value, usually its price on the Chinese market, is where the definition could be triggered. The manufacturers must also show that the imports are harming European producers. The coalition, which has yet to choose a name, is still gathering evidence — a process that could take another six months.
The mystery of the missing coffins: Mathematician Emiliano Inguscio, hired by the industry to organize the data, said he found an unexplained gap in expected supply and demand for coffins in Italy last year, with around 30,000 fewer coffins being supplied to the market than anticipated. And demand is predictable, he explained, as it’s closely tied to … mortality.
Assemble your own Likkista: The discrepancy could be because some Chinese coffins evade proper identification by customs, the manufacturers say. Their suspicion is that some coffins arrive flat-packed, IKEA-style, and declared as wooden components, or that some are imported as packaging for other goods.
From EVs to RIP: The case shows how Europe’s trade tensions with China are spreading beyond cars, steel and chemicals. In January, Brussels slapped duties of 56% to 60% on Chinese candles. Between candles and coffins, the EU is one trade dispute away from regulating the your entire funeral.
 |
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said the European Union should use its Anti-Coercion Instrument against the U.S. over Washington’s push to raise EU drug prices … But what is the ACI? Sometimes called the “trade bazooka,” it allows Brussels to impose or increase customs duties, restrict exports or imports through quotas or licenses and impose restrictions on trade in services. It can also curb access to public procurement, foreign direct investment, intellectual property rights and access to the bloc’s financial markets. But it’s never been used.
BRUSSELS IS CHILL ON SPANISH POLL
NO BUDGET PAIN IN SPAIN: The outcome of the Spanish election next month is unlikely to undermine the EU’s plan to conclude negotiations on its next seven-year budget by the end of December, five EU diplomats and officials told Gregorio Sorgi.
Tranquilo: “The Spanish elections will not affect the approval of the Multiannual Financial Framework,” an official from the center-right opposition Partido Popular, which is leading in the polls, told Playbook’s Madrid colleagues. “The PP is following the negotiations closely and remains in contact with its fellow [European People’s Party] members across Europe to understand what lies ahead for the MFF.”
Meanwhile, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez has signaled to fellow leaders that he will handle the budget negotiations until the end of the year, regardless of the election result, the officials told us. António Costa is aiming to strike a deal during a summit that starts on Dec. 17 — days before the new Spanish parliament convenes for its first session on Dec. 23.
Even if Sánchez loses the election, there’s nothing stopping him from approving the budget in December as caretaker leader. Sweden and Latvia are currently represented in the European Council by interim prime ministers.
Sánchez and PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo are at odds on most subjects, but they share similar priorities on the EU budget. “The budget should prioritize the Common Agricultural Policy, cohesion funds and adapting to today’s challenges,” the PP official added, broadly echoing the current government’s position.
Nada cambia: “After all the political dispute, things will settle and the Spanish interests in agriculture and cohesion are not going to change,” said an EU diplomat with knowledge of the discussions.
7 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
SPAIN’S RAILWAYS UNRAVEL: Once a European success story, Spain’s rail network is now in trouble. Here’s how it all went wrong.
WINTER IS COMING (ALONG WITH THE BILLS): Energy prices have hit four-year highs, and EU ministers are running out of answers. But there’s one thing they can rule out: Telling voters to use less electricity.
EVEN SPIES FORGET WHERE THEY PUT THEIR USB STICKS: Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ can’t account for thousands of storage devices potentially containing sensitive information.
POTASH SANCTION BUSTERS: The Trump administration is pressing Lithuania to open a central Baltic Sea port to potash exports from Belarus, despite European sanctions.
DON’T MENTION SLAVERY: U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham will have an unofficial goal when he meets members of Britain’s former empire next week: Avoid a fight about slavery reparations.
SEARCH PARTY: Google’s parent company Alphabet has suffered its worst-ever day on the U.S. stock market, falling more than 12 percent and losing around half a trillion dollars in value, the BBC reports.
HIGH STEAKS: In this week’s Declassified column, Paul Dallison looks at how meat has been weaponized by politicians.