PM accepts the resignations of Voridis and three deputy ministers
The prime minister has accepted the resignation of Migration and Asylum Minister Makis Voridis as well as those of three deputy ministers and a ministry secretary general, the prime minister’s press office announced on Friday. Voridis, Deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Chatzivasileiou, Deputy Rural Development and Food Minister Dionysis Stamenitis and Deputy Digital Governance Minister Christos Boukoros have resigned because they are named in the case regarding OPEKEPE, the Greek agency handling European subsidies, which was sent to Parliament.
New members of cabinet to be sworn in on Monday at 10:00; cabinet meeting to follow at noon
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will attend, on Monday, June 30, at 10:00, the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed members of the government, before the President of the Republic Constantine Tassoulas, at the Presidential Mansion. At 12:00, the prime minister will chair a cabinet meeting, at the Maximos Palace.
PM Mitsotakis: ‘We made significant efforts to cleanse OPEKEPE but we failed
The developments surrounding OPEKEPE, the Greek authority for the payment of EU aid to farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy, dominated the weekly review posted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday. “Let me start by making it clear that you won’t hear me attempt any ‘trade offs’ with the past, along the lines that ‘others did the same’ in order to justify inertia in the present and for the future. I know that you put your trust in us to change those things that are badly done and not perpetuate them. However hard the battle with the deep state may be. As it turns out, the chronic weaknesses of OPEKEPE enabled clientelist behaviour expressed as favours. Unfortunately, including by our own party. Significant efforts for a clean up were made but, let us be honest: we failed”.
PASOK criticizes Mitsotakis over his OPEKEPE statement
The PASOK party issued a statement criticizing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ Sunday remarks regarding the OPEKEPE scandal, accusing him of attempting to deflect responsibility. PASOK accused Mitsotakis of portraying himself as a “fair and reformist leader” while, in reality, officials from his New Democracy party are involved in corruption that is depleting public resources.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1273841/pasok-criticizes-mitsotakis-over-his-opekepe-statement
ATHEX upgrade might do more harm than good
Greece has a lot to lose and little to nothing to gain from the upgrade of the local stock market, JP Morgan insists.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1273754/athex-upgrade-might-do-more-harm-than-good
ATHEX: Gov’t crisis sends index into the red
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,877.03 points, shedding 0.31% from Thursday’s 1,882.83 points. On a weekly basis it advanced 4.16%.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1273700/athex-govt-crisis-sends-index-into-the-red
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: OPEKEPE scandal: ‘Cracks’ in the government after the ‘slaughter‘
TO VIMA: Government resignations: scandals and smithereens
REAL NEWS: Hard poker game with Libya
PROTO THEMA: “Evros recipe” against migrant flows from Libya
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: OPEKEPE scandal: Mitsotakis admits that “We failed”
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: OPEKEPE scandal – Ignorant and failed government: New provocative narrative by MItsotakis
KONTRA NEWS: Giorgos Mylonakis of the PM’s office knew all about the scandal of OPEKEPE
DIMOKRATIA: OPEKEPE scandal: The PM was toasting to all of us suckers, acting as if he knew nothing
NAFTEMPORIKI: Tax collection: Double ‘noose’ due to low revenue from direct taxation
PUTIN LAUNCHES BIGGEST RAID OF WAR: After EU leaders failed to pass an 18th package of sanctions last week, Russia hit Ukraine with its biggest aerial assault since launching its full-scale invasion three years ago. The attack was so vast that neighboring Poland went into full alert, scrambling jets. Veronika Melkozerova reports from Ukraine.
Not quite yet: Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told my colleagues in The Hague that Donald Trump wasn’t backing a sanctions bill in Congress so as to leave more time for negotiations with Moscow.
Silver lining: EU ambassadors agreed Sunday on the rollover of sanctions against Russia, avoiding a messy workaround and the possible unfreezing of Moscow’s frozen assets. In the end, Hungary didn’t oppose the move.
GREETINGS and welcome to Brussels Playbook. This is Nick Vinocur and I advise ample protection (sunscreen and wide-brimmed hats) as we tour the news today. It’ll be a scorcher: 33°C in Brussels. Gabriel Gavin is in the Playbook driver’s seat for Tuesday … when the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium forecasts a high of 36°C. Stay cool!
DRIVING THE DAY: RIBERA RESISTS
RIBERA REJECTS “COMPROMISE” OVER EU DIGITAL RULES: EU competition chief Teresa Ribera, in an interview published today, pushes back against suggestions Europe’s digital rulebook will be watered down to secure a trade deal with the U.S.
No pasarán: “We will not compromise … around sovereignty and around regulation on how to work in our own market,” Ribera told The Capitol Forum, per excerpts seen by POLITICO.
The “S” word: The firm tone goes against reports, including in POLITICO, that Europe is ready to be flexible on the Digital Markets Act to clinch a trade deal with Washington by a July 9 deadline. “The teams in DGCOMP talk with their counterparts in the United States. It is good to talk about technology. We don’t talk about sovereignty,” said Ribera.
Consulting? As for reports about a Commission committee formed to consult with the Americans about how to implement the DMA, Ribera said: “Not to the extent I know and I would say this is not part of any discussion.”
Why it matters: These so-called non-tariff trade barriers are major irritants for the United States at the center of EU-U.S. trade talks. They are also a test of Europe’s mettle. As one senior EU official put it last week: “What price are we willing to pay for a deal?”
Need for speed: For some countries, namely Germany, it might be necessary to accept some pain to put a cap on economic uncertainty that officials say costs companies millions. France is in less of a hurry.
Mañana: Now we know that Spain’s Socialist commissioner — who is in charge of DMA implementation — is in no rush to compromise.
She may have backing from an unusual source: Pro-Trump groups including the Bull Moose Project, the Internet Accountability Project, the Conservative Partnership Institute, the Article III Project and the American Principles Project. They’ve written a letter to POTUS, seen by Playbook, asking him not to oppose the DMA, which earns their praise.
Step back: Ribera does not represent Spain’s government. But she is the most senior Socialist in a European Commission dominated by German conservatives and the center-right European People’s Party.
A week of Spain: Her comments offer a subtle rebuke to those who may be willing to sacrifice EU rules at the altar of trade with the U.S. And they cap a week in which Spanish officials have given NATO a headache by not agreeing to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense, with Yolanda Díaz, the country’s labor minister, even sending a video message to a “counter-NATO” summit in The Hague.
Read on for more comments from Díaz criticizing the European Commission over its lack of action over Hungary’s (unsuccessful) bid to ban Pride.
In a nutshell: Ribera isn’t openly rebelling against the Commission’s German conservative boss, Ursula von der Leyen, but she is making her voice heard. Europe’s outnumbered Socialists are using what leverage they have to influence the agenda. Expect more of this as long as Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez remains in power.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING — OTTAWA FOLDS: Canada announced it would rescind a planned digital services tax in order to get trade talks back on track with the U.S. The move came after Trump on Friday said he’d ended trade talks with the country over the tax and would soon announce new tariffs.
HELLO ASIA: Could Brussels look east to find trade partners who want to play by the rules? Jakob Weizman, Graham Lanktree and Doug Busvine take a closer look.
PRIDE OF BUDAPEST
HISTORIC CROWD: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s plan to ban Budapest Pride backfired over the weekend, with the event turning into the biggest LGBTQ+ parade in the country’s history and one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades, Max Griera writes in to report.
Some 200,000 people turned up, according to organizers, marching in a long column which extended over 3 kilometers in the riverside of Buda and over there Erzsébet Bridge on the Danube river, all the way to the town hall.
Easy does it: The march was peaceful with minimum incidents. Despite initial worries far-right counter-protests could lead to violent clashes, police cooperated with Pride organizers to keep the parade safe and remove some pro-government activists who tried to stop it.
A star is born: The battered left-wing opposition has a new hero in Green Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who defied Orbán by organizing Pride despite the ban and has become a beacon for progressive policies ahead of a national election next year.
What he said: “The biggest problem in the country that has arisen in recent months is the supporters of the government parties,” Karácsony told Pride attendees. “Our job is to show them with the power of love that there is life outside the system. There is life, beautiful, free, happier. And then you will see that the lies of this seductive and repetitive system are all false.”
Orbán’s reaction: The government’s international communications chief Zoltán Kovács accused the Hungarian opposition of “staging” the parade at “Brussels’ command,” and of trying “to force woke culture onto us.” He said: “Their real goal is to dismantle everything Hungary has built over the past 15 years — especially the measures that support families and protect children.”
PRESSURE ON VDL: Activists, civil society organizations and EU politicians called on the Commission president to challenge the Pride ban at the Court of Justice, with protesters holding banners saying “Ursula stop protecting Orbán! Protect democracy!”
EP stars out in Budapest: “The Commission also has to legally act to show that Hungarians have the same fundamental rights as all other EU citizens,” Greens Co-Chair Terry Reintke said during a press conference attended by the chairs of the Socialist, liberal, Green and Left groups in the European Parliament.
Bad Berlaymont: Spain’s government led the charge, sending the largest senior delegation to the protests, with Labor Minister Díaz and Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun flying in. In exclusive interviews with POLITICO, they lambasted the Commission as “complicit” with Orbán, and urged von der Leyen to be “much stronger” in defending EU law.
We are “analyzing”: A day before the event, Commission equality chief Hadja Lahbib defended her institution. “We are analyzing the [Hungarian] law … you know we have to be strategic sometimes,” Lahbib told reporters. “You have to choose your moments and we don’t want to interfere, neither on national affairs and competencies, nor during a procedure which is sensitive.”
SLOVAKIA’S LAST STAND ON SANCTIONS
DIGGING IN: Diplomats will do their best to try to finalize an 18th package of sanctions against Russia in coming days after Slovakia blocked the deal during a Coreper meeting on Friday. But don’t expect white smoke today, an EU diplomat told Playbook.
What’s going on: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is refusing to sign the sanctions package, which requires unanimous agreement of the 27 EU countries, in a bid to obtain concessions to the EU’s REPowerEU plan to exit Russian gas.
Special treatment: In a message circulated to all EU countries on Friday, seen by Playbook, Slovakia said it won’t approve the deal in its current form, but that officials hope that after a meeting between von der Leyen and Fico at the European Council last week, the Commission will be receptive to Slovakia’s concerns. The note goes on to say Slovakia is expecting a “high-level” visit from the European Commission on July 3 to iron out details.
Who’s going? Unclear. A Commission spokesperson had no immediate comment. Previous meetings have been at “technical level” — mid-tier officials.
Look closer: An EU diplomat told our colleagues over at Morning Energy and Climate that Slovakia wants three concessions on REPowerEU: assurances companies won’t be sued for breaking contracts with Russian firms; replacement of lost transit fees; and that a plan won’t be endorsed with Slovakia’s full support, Gabriel Gavin writes in to report.
Also: It’s not just Slovakia, but also Hungary which are holding up the package, per another EU diplomat.
Takeaway: The package is unlikely to be passed during the Polish presidency and will have to be finalized by the Danes, who take the baton on Tuesday.
Patience now: The diplomat who spoke to Playbook said they still saw a deal coming together “rather soon.”
EU WAITING ROOM
MONTENEGRO TAKES STEP TOWARD EU: On Friday, Brussels provisionally closed a negotiating chapter in Montenegro’s bid to join the bloc after the country aligned its legislation on public procurement with EU law. Montenegro has now provisionally closed seven of 33 chapters, Yurii Stasiuk writes in to report.
Hungarian blessing: Closing each negotiation chapter, a prerequisite for membership, requires unanimous approval from all 27 EU countries. And unlike with Ukraine, the EU’s disruptor-in-chief, Hungary, actively supports Montenegro’s bid.
Almost there: After Russia’s full-scale invasion revived the EU’s appetite for enlargement, Montenegro resumed progress in accession talks in 2024, closing chapters for the first time since 2017. It is now the most advanced candidate country, and EU officials hope it can join by 2028.
IN OTHER NEWS
OFFSETS ARE COMING FOR EU: From 2036, the EU will be able to outsource part of its climate efforts to poorer countries by buying carbon credits, according to a draft proposal for the bloc’s 2040 emissions-reduction target obtained by POLITICO’s Zia Weise. A Commission official said the EU executive still plans to present the long-awaited proposal on Wednesday, despite French and Polish calls for delay.
A softer target: The Commission is sticking to its 90 percent emissions-slashing target for 2040, though under its draft proposal the EU can meet up to 3 percentage points by purchasing credits. But the Commission’s draft plan doesn’t give governments much else in terms of leeway, which may not convince skeptics, Zia reports.
HOW MERCRON KILLED EUROPE’S ETHICAL SUPPLY CHAIN LAW: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron joined forces this month to hobble new EU rules aimed at boosting supply chain transparency. The POLITICO team takes you behind the scenes.
BUCHAREST IN FOR A WORLD OF HURT: Romania faces having to cut 20 percent of civil service jobs while ramping up VAT and increasing excise duties as it seeks to slash EU’s highest deficit. Carmen Paun reports that the country’s new government is in for a rough ride.