PM Mitsotakis on 51st anniversary of Cyprus invasion: Legality and the values of the 21st century demand a just solution for Cyprus
“The dark anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, this year also, again rekindles the memories of raw violence, loss and displacement. It also, however, strengthens the struggle to reunify the island as a modern, European state. Without occupation forces, and ready to act as a beacon of stability and peace in the troubled seas of the Eastern Mediterranean,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a social media post on Sunday to mark the 51st year since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Erdogan: World must accept reality of two states on Cyprus
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his unwavering support to the existence of two separate states on the island of Cyprus on the 51st anniversary of the Turkish invasion that has divided the island since.
Athens hits back at Tripoli sea claims
Greece is preparing a formal response to two recent diplomatic notes from Libya’s Tripoli-based government that challenge established maritime boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean – a move Athens sees as orchestrated by Turkey to assert influence in the region.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/foreign-policy/1275846/athens-hits-back-at-tripoli-sea-claims
Greece entering a severe and extended heatwave from Monday
Greece is expected to experience a scorching heatwave with temperatures exceeding 40C, and in some places as reaching high as 43-44C, from Monday until at least next Friday, July 25.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/920363/Greece-entering-a-severe-and-extended-heatwave-from-Monday
ATHEX: Stocks reach highs unseen since April 2010
The benchmark of the Greek bourse posted gains for the fourth week in a row with its small growth on Friday, mainly thanks to the closing auctions, resulting in yet another 183-month record high. Local stocks are now on investors’ radar for good, and even if we are in midsummer, interest is expanding in mid- and small-caps and turnover remains very satisfactory.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1275796/athex-stocks-reach-highs-unseen-since-april-2010
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: The war of maps at the UN
TO VIMA: The double game of Libya
REAL NEWS: OPEKEPE scandal: 230,000 farmers are “missing” and have not filed for subsidies this year
PROTO THEMA: The current performance of tourism and its prospects
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: In June, 175 persons died in Athens due to extreme heat
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The PM will announce handouts in September so that people turn their attention away from the OPEKEPE scandal
KONTRA NEWS: European Prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for the OPEKEPE scandal
DIMOKRATIA: The personnel recruitment tender for administrative NHS staff was tampered with
NAFTEMPORIKI: Liquidity of 4,4 bln for SMEs through 9 funding tools
DRIVING THE DAY: BELGIAN POLITICAL CHAOS
BELGIUM CELEBRATES 2ND NATIONAL DAY WITHOUT A BRUSSELS GOVERNMENT: As today’s celebrations will show, the Catholic-Protestant conflict that gave birth to the nation has never really gone away, but morphed into a bitter standoff between the French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemish. This existential fight shows no sign of abating — to the contrary.
On full display: When King Philippe takes his seat at the traditional Te Deum Mass at Brussels’ Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral, he’ll be sharing the space with Belgium’s separatist prime minister. It’ll be the first time the king has participated in this sort of ceremony with NVA party leader Bart De Wever, who said as recently as last month that he wants to return Belgium to the Netherlands.
Awkward? Absolutely. Much of what De Wever stands for can be boiled down to opposition to the king, whose moral authority ties together an otherwise fractious nation. But if you think that’s bad, consider the mess of politics in the Brussels regional government, which has been without a ruling coalition for 407 days.
Any minute now: Indeed, this was meant to be the day the parties that won the election more than a year ago finally managed to strike a deal. That’s what Georges-Louis Bouchez, head of the French-speaking liberal MR, told voters earlier this month — a “solution” was within sight and a deal would be announced by today, Belgium’s National Day.
Brazening it out: The announcement was so bold that it briefly distracted people from a scandal dogging Bouchez, who had recently appointed his partner to a plum public position. (Bouchez is often compared to Donald Trump locally thanks to his propensity for bold promises and his approach to hiring close relations.)
Do I need to say this? It also incensed King Philippe, who took the rare step of using part of his National Day speech on Sunday to admonish Brussels politicians for failing to form a government. “In Brussels in particular, it’s urgent that a new government starts its work,” he said in a televised address. (The king also used his speech to label the crisis in Gaza “a disgrace to humanity.”)
Reality check: National Day will come and go today with no sign of a Brussels government forming. According to Wouter Verschelden, who writes W16, a daily newsletter covering Belgian politics, the deal is “dead,” with party leaders not expecting to resume talks until after the summer holiday.
What happened? The collapse of a deal which may never really have been a deal in the first place.
Puzzled? Welcome to the land of Surrealism.
Gone in a day: The talks were essentially stuck on the fact the Socialist Party (PS) refuses to share power with the NVA, which insisted on being represented. So Bouchez said he would offer one of his party’s ministerial positions (there are quotas) to a person who would be compatible with the NVA. This compromise would allow PS to save face. But the NVA then insisted on sending a “sherpa” to the coalition talks, immediately raising the Socialists’ hackles.
The result? Talks are cut off, for now at least.
What’s really going on: There just isn’t a lot of enthusiasm to wrap up the talks. The Brussels regional government has a staggering €15 billion in debt, expected to hit €16 billion by year-end. The situation is so bad that Brussels wrote a letter to Ursula von der Leyen begging for EU funds to help complete the renovation of Schuman Roundabout — before De Wever intervened, telling the European Commission boss to ignore the plea.
Hot potato: As soon as a coalition deal is sealed, the ruling parties will have to face up to this financially disastrous situation, including the possibility of another credit score downgrade that could send Brussels into a tailspin. De Wever isn’t offering any sympathy — instead, he’s vowed to bring the region under IMF-style control in what would amount to a humiliation for the local parties.
So what will they do? Go on vacation. Despite the looming train-wreck of further instability and sliding deeper into debt, some members of the prospective coalition have already left town for their summer holidays, local media reports. This means Brussels will be without a government for at least a few more weeks, if not months.
DRIVING THE WEEK: EU-CHINA RELATIONS
SUMMIT LOOMS … WITH NO DELIVERABLES IN SIGHT: Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa head to China on Thursday for an EU-China summit that takes place against a backdrop of tension over Beijing’s role in the Ukraine war and persistent frustration at China’s industrial overcapacity flooding markets and undercutting European manufacturers.
Be happy it’s even happening: In a briefing last week, a senior EU official said the fact the summit was even taking place could be considered a “deliverable,” given no joint statement covering the whole EU-China relationship is expected to come out of the meeting.
Shortened agenda: Indeed, what was expected to be a two-day summit has almost certainly been shortened to just one day over a series of statements and measures from the EU side in recent months, including von der Leyen’s critical remarks at the G7 and sanctions against two Chinese banks for facilitating banned trade with Russia.
Leaked call: Then there was this story in the South China Morning Post earlier this month, reporting on the leaked contents of a call between top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The Chinese foreign minister told Kallas that Beijing does not wish to see a Russian defeat in Ukraine because it fears the U.S. would then be able to shift its entire focus to China, the paper quoted several people “familiar with the exchange” as having said.
It’s not getting better: According to Noah Barkin, a senior fellow at the Rhodium Group, “EU-China relations are likely to continue to deteriorate in the months ahead as the Commission takes a series of new steps to level the economic playing field with China.”
EU beefs up defenses: “In particular,” Barkin added in written comments to Playbook, “I expect more aggressive use of the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, which is emerging as the go-to instrument for shielding the single market against unfair competition from China.”
Stay tuned for more reporting later this week.
MFF FALLOUT
BUDGET FIGHT TURNS NATIONAL: The ink is barely dry on the Commission’s €1.8 trillion post-2027 budget proposal and the national scorekeeping has already begun. Graphics here.
API FUMES OVER HANDLING OF BUDGET RELEASE: The International Press Association (IPA), which represents foreign journalists in Brussels, hit out against the European Commission over a “lack of transparency” in the way it unveiled a revised proposal for the Multi-Annual Financial Framework, the EU’s long-term budget.
“It was absurd to present a highly complex €2 trillion, seven-year budget — radically different in structure from previous MFFs — without even providing a basic table of figures. This appears to be an attempt to instrumentalise and confuse, delivering PR content with no possibility of verification by correspondents. The press materials were also incomplete,” IPA President President Dafydd ab Iago wrote in a statement on Friday.
Four breaches: The IPA listed several breaches of its agreement with the European Commission on how information is to be shared with journalists. Among them: 1) “A lack of planning transparency,” with no agenda sent until six minutes before von der Leyen’s press conference; 2) “Delayed communication,” as a press release was only circulated after the president’s press conference, not directly after the decision; 3) A “lack of access to legislative texts,” given that none were published until late on July 16; 4) A “lack of accurate technical data,” due to the absence of a table summarizing key spending categories.
The Commission has yet to publicly respond to these complaints.
WHERE ARE THE BIODIVERSITY BUCKS? The days of a slice of the MFF being dedicated specifically to biodiversity are gone, and that’s angering civil society groups. Marianne Gros and Leonie Cater have more.
CEASEFIRE UPDATES
KYIV OFFERS NEW PEACE TALKS WITH RUSSIA: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered a new round of talks with Russia to take place in the coming week, he said in a video address posted to X on Saturday night. “The pace of negotiations must be increased,” Zelenskyy said. “Everything must be done to achieve a ceasefire.”
It takes two to tango: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ignored calls from U.S. President Donald Trump to implement a ceasefire, while Kyiv has agreed to one on the condition that Russia stop its attacks on Ukraine.
No letup in sight: In the latest Russian attack, more than 300 strike drones and 30 missiles targeted Ukrainian cities Friday night and early Saturday, including the port city of Odesa, where one person was killed and six others injured. Victor Goury-Laffont has the full story here.
NEW IRAN TALKS THIS WEEK: Iran, the U.K., France and Germany will hold nuclear talks in Istanbul this Friday, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson told state media. Reuters has the write-up.
IN OTHER NEWS
BORDER VISIT: German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak will visit the Polish-Belarus border today and discuss further protective measures at the EU’s external border. EU countries accuse Minsk of facilitating illegal crossings into the bloc to sow political discord. Our Berlin Playbook colleagues have the full details.
TRUMP TRADE WAR LATEST: U.S. officials told EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič they expect Donald Trump to demand further concessions from the bloc, including a baseline tariff on most European goods that could be 15 percent or higher, the Wall Street Journal reported last night. EU countries aren’t impressed, with a German official telling the paper: “All options are on the table,” and while there’s still time to get a deal, “If they want war, they will get war.”
Now read this: Vodka toasts with the dictator of Belarus: How diplomacy gets done in Trump 2.0.
ANOTHER HEADACHE FOR VDL: The Commission may be breaking the law by withholding funds from health NGOs without explanation, 12 MEPs warned von der Leyen in a letter obtained by POLITICO.
SLOVENIA CANCELS NATO REFERENDUM: Slovenia’s National Assembly moved to cancel planned referendums on increased defense spending and NATO membership. Latest from the Slovenia Times here, and backstory here.
TRUMP AND DAN TO BURY THE HATCHET? Donald Trump has invited Romania’s President Nicușor Dan to the U.S. and plans for the bilateral are being worked out, Dan’s adviser Cristian Diaconescu told Digi24 in an interview. Reminder: Dan beat ultranationalist George Simion to win Romania’s election in May, while the hard-right candidate cozied up to Trump’s administration.
EX-WEF BOSS SCHWAB IN HOT WATER: Preliminary findings from a probe into World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab claim he manipulated the landmark Global Competitiveness Report to serve political interests and sent lewd emails to younger employees, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday.
On the company dime: The probe also showed that his wife allegedly billed trips to the WEF despite holding no official position with the organization, per the report. In a statement responding to the story, reported by Bloomberg, Schwab reiterated that he denies all the allegations and said he would “defend my interests with all my strength.” The WEF did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
JAPAN ELECTION:Japan’s ruling conservative coalition lost its majority in the upper house of parliament, after the liberal opposition party and the far right registered significant gains in Sunday’s House of Councillors election. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba refused to step down, AP reports.