River diversions to end Attica drought risk
Greece will move ahead in 2026 with the partial diversion of two rivers in Evrytania toward the Evinos dam through a restricted bidding process among the country’s largest construction firms, government officials announced Thursday. The 535-million-euro project, expected to finish by mid-2029, aims to secure Attica’s water supply for the next three decades.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/environment/1285318/river-diversions-to-end-attica-drought-risk
Authorities raid OPEKEPE offices in EU aid fraud investigation
Authorities have carried out a new raid at the offices of OPEKEPE, the organization responsible for agricultural subsidies. The operation, conducted by the Economic Police and the Criminal Investigations Directorate, seized the complete file of applications for 2025. Officers plan to carry out cross-checks on both current and previous years’ applications.
PM Mitsotakis to attend Archbishop’s Symeon enthronement in Sinai and Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Cairo
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will travel to Egypt, where on Friday he will attend the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Sinai, Pharan, and Raitho, and Hegoumen of the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai, Symeon. On Saturday, Mitsotakis will attend the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo.
Former president accepts Culture Minister’s proposal to head Board of Greek Festival
Former Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou accepted the invitation by Culture Minister Lina Mendoni to assume the presidency of the Board of Directors of the Greek Festival, also known as the Athens-Epidaurus Festival, the ministry said on Thursday.
ATHEX: Traders see no reason for buying
With the Trump-Xi meeting and the rate decisions by the ECB and the Fed offering no surprises, the Greek stock market heeded the international trend and yielded some ground on Thursday. Ahead of the start of the third-quarter result season for banks, the benchmark of the local bourse took a dive that left it just above the 2,000-point mark, while worries about a departure of emerging-market funds in November persist.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1285335/athex-traders-see-no-reason-for-buying
KATHIMERINI: Private entities to enter the battle against bureaucracy
TA NEA: Water shortage threatens our pocket
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Hellenic Post: Sudden death and… private investors ahead
RIZOSPASTIS: Water: Prices for simple folks skyrocket while large groups’ profits spike
KONTRA NEWS: OPEKEPE scandal: the files containing the subsidies for 2025 are under intense scrutiny
DIMOKRATIA: Presidential downhill: Former President of the Hellenic Republic will chair the BoD of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival
NAFTEMPORIKI: The battlefields of the Greek economy
DRIVING THE DAY: SPOOKY SEASON
NIGHTMARE ON SCHUMAN: With the evenings getting darker and just over seven working weeks to go until the end of the year, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her team are facing a bloodcurdlingly busy agenda before the break. But, from international trade talks to old rivalries, there’s no end of skeletons in the closet that could come out to haunt them.
Carving a Trumpkin: The EU has been locked for months in a frightening standoff with the U.S. over a trade deal with trillions of dollars at stake. But, despite signing the framework for the agreement in August, Donald Trump’s administration has been seeking to turn the screws and use the pact to get carve-outs from key regulatory measures and green policies in a battle that could blow up at any moment. All that as the U.S. Senate votes against global tariffs.
Scoop: It’s about to come to a head. Delegations are to be informed today that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been invited to Brussels on Nov. 24 to hold talks with the bloc’s trade ministers, a Danish official told Camille Gijs. The Danish presidency of the Council and the European Commission are planning a lunch dedicated to transatlantic trade ties, as rifts grow with China over its squeeze on critical minerals.
Unholy alliance? A fragile thaw between Trump and China, meanwhile, risks leaving Europe stuck in the middle — scared and alone. Beijing’s support for Russia’s war and its hostile trade practices will be harder to resolve if America backs down, a top team of reporters from our Brussels and London newsrooms reports here.
THE BEAST IS BACK: Another potential terror for von der Leyen is the looming return of Martin Selmayr, the highly effective apparatchik branded the Monster of the Berlaymont during his time at the top of the Commission. Currently serving as EU ambassador to the Vatican, he is understood to have applied for a top post working for the bloc’s diplomatic chief, Kaja Kallas, with the selection process now underway. “He’s eminently qualified,” said one diplomat. “If he doesn’t get the job, it’s down to politics.”
Dreading a new boogeyman, the Commission has hatched a plan to foist him into a job as special envoy for religious freedoms. But that’s creating problems of its own. One cleric who spoke to POLITICO’s Ben Munster said it was frustrating to see the “politicization” of the important role, which has been left vacant since the start of the new mandate. “It’s a bit upsetting that this is being used as a political fight,” they said.
MONEY, FEAR AND FRIGHT: Meanwhile, the EU’s €2 trillion budget — the MFF — has been cast into the cauldron of uncertainty after lawmakers, including those from Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s own party, warned they would not accept the restructuring of how agricultural and regional payments are handed out. First reported by Max Griera, MEPs say they want the Commission to go back to the drawing board on its proposals.
We’re not scared! “The Commission is prepared to listen to the co-legislators,”spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said in response to a question from POLITICO. “What the Commission will not do today is to speculate on the individual elements of the proposal.”
Beware the ballot box: Not everyone is happy with the pushback from MEPs. “Prioritizing cohesion funds for [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán over defense of the vulnerable flank, [and] big agriculture over European SME jobs and competitiveness, this house once again confirms it’s the only parliament to never meet a voter,” said one diplomat from a frugal northern European country.
PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW — MAGNUS BRUNNER
MIGRATION ROW: Top of the list of worries for EU leaders is growing discontent over the bloc’s borders and perceptions of a system on the brink of collapse. And, according to migration chief Magnus Brunner, the Commission isn’t happy with the current state of affairs.
Not good enough: “Only one in five people staying illegally in the EU are actually returned — that is not acceptable and undermines the credibility of our migration and asylum system,” Brunner told Playbook from the sidelines of a ministerial forum in Bosnia, from where illegal crossings into the EU have been slashed by 90 percent in the past three years thanks to a deal with Brussels.
Playing hardball: “Taking one’s own nationals back is an obligation under international law. Yet, all too often, some third countries refuse to readmit their own citizens,” said Brunner. While plans for return hubs would go some way to ensuring those who are not entitled to stay are forced to leave, he said the EU also “has several leverages at its disposal to encourage cooperation on readmission and we need to start using these in a more strategic way.”
More to come: The Commission is in the process of “putting our European house in order” with a package of tough new measures designed to reassure capitals and undercut far-right rhetoric,” said the Austrian commissioner. “With illegal border crossings down 37 percent in 2024 and a further 23 percent this year, we’re seeing clear results from stronger border management.”
If approved by Council and Parliament, new enforcement powers and recognition of decisions to reject applications would help meet public expectations, Brunner said.
PRESIDENCY WATCH
DANE REIGN ON THE WANE: They may have two months left at the helm of the bloc’s legislative agenda, but the team behind Denmark’s presidency of the Council of the EU are eying an inevitable end to the late-night ambassadors’ meetings and weekend prep sessions.
At an embassy event on Thursday evening, the focus was firmly on which files can be closed before the six-month rotating chair passes to Cyprus at the end of the year — and whether deals can be done on defense and the use of Russian assets to fund Ukraine.
Get ready: Cyprus, the EU’s third-least populous nation, will take over from Jan. 1 and has already begun a battery of meetings with the Commission and member countries on key legislation; top Council envoys were in Nicosia on Thursday for talks.
Side note: Two non-NATO countries — Cyprus and Ireland — will take charge of the EU presidency in 2026, just as the bloc is moving forward with unprecedented joint defense capabilities.
On your marks: “As we approach 60 days to taking over the presidency of the Council of the EU, Cyprus is entering the final intense stages of preparation with enthusiasm,” Cypriot Europe Minister Marilena Raouna told Playbook. “Cyprus will act as an honest broker in advancing the EU agenda, and our presidency will be results driven.”
Phone a friend: But Cyprus, which has one of the smaller diplomatic footprints in Brussels, will need support. According to two diplomats, it has drafted in secondees and asked Denmark to stay on chairing some committees to help keep things moving. Most will be on more technical Coreper I issues where experts are in short supply, but the exact plans are yet to be agreed.
AI COMES FOR COMMISSION JOBS
THE TERMINATOR: Staff at the European Commission are increasingly worried their jobs could be in the crosshairs of an AI-powered super-bureaucrat as part of the ongoing major review of the EU executive’s structure. According to an internal vacancy posting, seen by POLITICO, the team conducting the Large-Scale Review of the Commission’s structure has hired an “artificial intelligence project manager” to help deliver efficiencies across the 30,000-plus workforce.
ChatVDL: One Commission staffer granted anonymity to speak frankly about the mood in the Berlaymont said there are fears the Large-Scale Review has a “hidden agenda” that moves workers “toward greater precariousness” by cutting contracts and benefits, and squeezing teams with new regulations. But a proper rollout of AI would be a welcome addition to their roles if done properly, given “the latest transitions to new software for managing contracts and payments have proven to be a real challenge, with the institution still dealing with bugs and inefficiencies,” the staffer said.
Rise of the machines? In comments to Playbook, a spokesperson for the Commission confirmed it is using AI to wade through large data sets and “balance priorities and maintain stable staffing while under extreme workload pressures” — always with human supervision. However, they said, “cost-cutting will be possible through re-engineering tasks and transforming jobs rather than cutting or reducing them.”
Quest for success: Internal minutes from the Large-Scale Review team, shared with Playbook, show its leaders — headed by civil servant Stephen Quest — met last week with the Commission’s Central Staff Committee, which represents employees, to assuage concerns. “On several occasions, Stephen Quest confirmed that it was not the intention of the review to open the staff regulations,” the notes read.
CZECH-ING OUT THE PLACE
BABIŠ IN BRUSSELS: Andrej Babiš, the man tasked with forming the next government of the Czech Republic, held meetings in the bubble Thursday, as concerns grow the populist billionaire could become yet another thorn in the side of the bloc’s mainstream. Babiš was spotted on the streets of the EU capital, snapped by one of Playbook’s snouts outside the Tout Bon café on Place du Luxembourg, beloved of peckish parliamentary staffers.
Put it on the Pluxee: The founder of the ANO party, which won a nationwide election earlier this month, held meetings with European institutions as fellow leaders try to get him onside before he takes a seat around the table. Babiš had a friendly lunch with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, but officials confirmed to Playbook he was not received by anyone from the European Council.
Need a ride? Meanwhile, Babiš looks set to take more than Belgian chocolate back with him to Prague. Former racing driver Filip Turek, who has spent the past year as the Patriots for Europe group’s rising star in Parliament, is poised to make a return to Czech politics as his hard-right Motorists Party enters into coalition with ANO. According to two well-placed Czech sources, Babiš will propose Turek as foreign minister when he lays out his planned government next week.
Watch this space: That sets the stage for a potential showdown with Czech President Petr Pavel, who has expressed concerns over allegations Turek was behind racist online posts, saying they would disqualify him from ministerial office if genuine. Turek denies being the author of the Facebook messages and is taking legal action.
ELECTION WATCH
IT’S (NOT) TIMMY TIME: There was a time when a top job in the EU could be a platform for domestic political success. Not so for former Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans. The Dutch social democrat failed in his second attempt in two years to become the Netherlands’ prime minister, and promptly resigned.
Tough homecoming: Once a big beast in Brussels, Timmermans suffered from the perception he was an elitist “telling them what to do, and at the same time somebody who had lost complete contact with what the Netherlands had become,” according to one campaign expert. Max Griera has the definitive political obituary of the left-winger.
ABOUT THOSE ELECTIONS … Votes in the Netherlands were hit with a wave of doctored videos, prompting questions about disinformation and the future of democracy. Pieter Haeck and Eva Hartog have a deep dive into deepfakes.
Bonus track: Eva is on this week’s EU Confidential podcast to break down the results of the Dutch election.
IN OTHER NEWS
YOU CAN STICK YOUR COIN: The future of the European Central Bank’s digital euro has been cast into doubt after the lead lawmaker on the file said it should be only launched as a last resort. POLITICO’s Giovanna Faggionato scooped the long-awaited draft opinion from EPP MEP Fernando Navarrete. Tech and finance subscribers can read it here.
ORBÁN GETS A TRUMPY WAKE-UP CALL ON RUSSIAN OIL: Donald Trump’s clampdown on Russian oil is pushing Hungary to turn to Croatia for its supplies. That’s awkward, given Budapest has accused Zagreb of imposing extortionate transit fees on its exports and cast doubt on the integrity of its pipeline system. Victor Jack has the details.
TOUGH CROWD FOR MERZ: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is feeling the strain of navigating a divided coalition through choppy geopolitical waters, with new feuds opening up and the far right at his heels, Nette Nöstlinger and Chris Lunday report.
COURTROOM DRAMA: The trial of four Bulgarian men accused of conspiring to vandalize the Paris Holocaust memorial has pulled back the curtain on what appears to be a modus operandi for Vladimir Putin’s spooks, Marion Solletty writes.
FRIDAY FEATURE: Giulia Poloni writes about Giorgia Meloni and the strongman who came to dinner in this week’s Declassified humor column.