PM Mitsotakis meeting EU Commissioner Ilianova
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet at Maximos Mansion with visiting European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ilianova, at 12:00 on Monday.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/856733/PM-Mitsotakis-meeting-EU-Commissioner-Ilianova
Pyatt: Natural gas Vertical Corridor puts Greece in a leading position
The Vertical Corridor puts Greece in a leading position, and Europe in a leading position more broadly, US Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) in an interview posted Sunday.
S&P retains Greek outlook as ‘positive’
US credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) reaffirmed Greece’s investment-grade rating of BBB- with a “Positive” outlook on Friday night.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1251423/sp-retains-greek-outlook-as-positive
Registered unemployed declined to 776,326 in September 2024, DYPA announces
The number of registered unemployed declined to 776,326 individuals in September 2024, falling by 60,387 individuals or 7.2% relative to September 2023, and 67,216 individuals or 8% relative to August 2024, the Public Employment Service (DYPA) announced on Friday.
ATHEX: Local stocks consolidate recent gains
On Friday, the fourth consecutive day of growth on the Greek bourse took the benchmark of Athinon Avenue almost 2% higher than the previous week’s close, while the bank’s index earned more than 2.5% within a week. Optimists say this slow rise of stocks bodes well for the coming weeks as it consolidates the ground earned with increasing turnover too, while pessimists argue that buyers have run out of steam and sellers are waiting to cash in on stocks’ recent gains.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1251355/athex-local-stocks-consolidate-recent-gains
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: Countdown for 333,741 students who have exceeded the deadline to complete their studies
TO VIMA: Secrets and lies about the Aegean Sea
REAL NEWS: 1,000 doctors targeted by auditors
PROTO THEMA: “Patch scenery” with 10 different groupings in the parliament
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: Cadastre: 40-day deadline for undeclared assets
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Tsipras’ political program for the next day
KONTRA NEWS: The PM’s office is getting ready to change the electoral law and call snap elections
DIMOKRATIA: Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Christos Staikouras is taking the piss
NAFTEMPORIKI: Businesses in the hunt of cheap funding
DRIVING THE DAY: MOLDOVA VOTES
ON A KNIFE EDGE: Moldova’s EU aspirations hang in the balance, amid an incredibly tight vote count that was still in progress as we hit send on this morning’s newsletter. While hopes had initially been high that Moldovan voters would strongly back a plan for EU membership by 2030, the result as of 6:57 a.m. Brussels time was 49.91 in favor and 50.09 against, with 98.15 percent of votes counted. Gabriel Gavin has all the latest here.
Putin’s fingerprints: In a defiant speech just after midnight (at a time when the No camp was ahead), pro-Western President Maia Sandu blamed the result on “criminal groups, working together with foreign forces.” Officials told POLITICO in recent weeks they had detected an unprecedented campaign of vote-buying and propaganda designed to keep the former Soviet Republic out of the EU.
Presidential ballot: Moldovans also voted in a presidential election on Sunday, with 41.77 percent backing Sandu while the pro-Kremlin Alexandr Stoianoglo came in second on 26.42 percent. Having apparently failed to secure an outright majority, Sandu now faces Stoianoglo in a second round — an embarrassing prospect for the incumbent, who had been expected to win by a large margin.
Georgia on our mind: The crisis comes just a week before voters head to the polls in Georgia, a fellow former Soviet Republic granted EU candidate status, amid warnings the incumbent government seeks to distance itself from Brussels and forge closer ties with Russia. “Georgia is watching Moldova and if the West fails in Chișinău, Tbilisi is next,” said Ivana Stradner, a research fellow at Washington’s Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
RUSSIA’S WAR
TREADING CAREFULLY ON NORTH KOREAN TROOPS: Kyiv’s Western allies are tip-toeing around reports that North Korea is sending thousands of its soldiers to help Russia wage war against Ukraine. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and NATO chief Mark Rutte both declined to confirm Pyongyang’s direct participation in the war.
No comment: Defense ministers from G7 countries also avoided comment during a weekend gathering in Naples. That’s despite Ukraine and South Korea saying that Pyongyang has already sent as many as 12,000 troops to Russia to train for war against Ukraine.
Hypothetically speaking:Several Western officials said that, if confirmed, it would mark a major escalation. Austin said North Korea’s participation would be “very serious,” while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël-Barrot said during a trip to Ukraine that it would “push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage.”
Going global: Speaking to my colleague Stuart Lau, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said the reports show that NATO needs to reach out to its Indo-Pacific partners. “Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are playing together, and China is day by day more involved in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
EUROPEAN BOOTS ON THE GROUND? That’s not enough for Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who told Playbook that the reports should revive talk of European boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Shoutout to Macron: “If information about Russia’s killing squads being equipped with North Korean ammunition and military personnel is confirmed, we have to get back to ‘boots on the ground’ and other ideas proposed by [French President] Emmanuel Macron,” he said in written comments. (He tweeted similar.)
Tough talk: “Regretfully, we are lagging again, being reactive, but I believe in our joint capacity to make all the necessary proactive steps to turn President Macron’s ideas into action,” Landsbergis added.
ICYMI: In February, Macron floated the idea of deploying French troops to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz quickly shut that idea down, saying there would be “no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states.”
But that was then. Now European countries face the prospect of a heavily armed power joining Russia on the front lines. Should they show further self restraint — or match Russia’s energy? Tough question. No wonder they’re having trouble “verifying the intel.”
Quad hits snooze: Meeting over the weekend, the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom made no mention of the North Korean troops. They remained split on the question of Ukraine’s accession to NATO — though Le Monde reported that the U.S. could open the door, depending on what happens during next month’s presidential election (membership would not be granted until after the war, however).
Volodymyr who? When they met in Brussels last week, EU leaders spent most of their time discussing migration and hardly any on Ukraine.
That said, the idea of European troops in Ukraine isn’t taboo for everyone. Speaking to Playbook before the North Korea reports, Kenneth Weinstein, former U.S. ambassador to Japan under then-President Donald Trump, said European countries should prepare to send to troops to Ukraine after the war to “show they have skin in the game.”
Show your cards: “It’s critical for European governments to make serious guarantees for Ukraine’s security,” said Weinstein, now Japan chair at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank based in D.C. “If there is going to be a DMZ [demilitarized zone] between Ukraine and Russia, my suggestion would be to have it manned by EU troops — not NATO troops, and not U.S. troops. That sends a clear signal” and shows that Europeans “have a willingness to take serious risks to protect Ukraine.” (Weinstein said he supports Trump’s reelection but does not speak for his campaign.)
Peacekeepers: A conservative EU lawmaker who was granted anonymity to discuss the matter, concurred that after the war, the question of “European peacekeepers in Ukraine will come up.”
Looking away: For now, EU leaders seem to be fully absorbed by their fervor over migration. Over the weekend, Scholz once again warned about escalation in Ukraine — from the Western side. Poland, which is quickly becoming Eastern Europe’s top military power, wasn’t invited to the Quad gathering.
But things change quickly. Scholz faces an election of his own in the coming year, and the rival who is expected to succeed him, Friedrich Merz, is more hawkish on Ukraine. Depending on who is the next U.S. president, Europe could end up shouldering much more of the burden for Ukraine, alone.
MAKING PUTIN PAY
NEW YEAR, NEW SANCTIONS: Work is restarting on a new package of Russia sanctions, after progress ground to a halt under Hungary’s rotating Council presidency, amid high hopes that Poland will push the issue up the agenda when it takes over next year.
Orbán’s game: The draft package would be the 15th the EU would impose on Moscow since the start of its full-scale war on Ukraine, and four diplomats with knowledge of the talks confirmed that energy is the No. 1 item in the crosshairs. More and more Russian gas has been flowing into the bloc despite pledges to end reliance on the Kremlin, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refusing to consider squeezing supplies.
Buda-pissed off: “A harsh winter is coming in Ukraine, but so too is the end of a disastrous Hungarian presidency,” said one senior EU diplomat, granted anonymity to speak freely on the sensitive talks. “We hope all questions that became hostages of Hungary’s unconstructive blocking will be solved with a necessary sense of urgency.”
Kyiv is watching: “We have high hopes for the Polish presidency of the Council,” Ukraine’s Sanctions Commissioner Vladyslav Vlasiuk told POLITICO. My colleagues Gabriel Gavin, Koen Verhelst and Zia Weise have the story here.
MEANWHILE, PUTIN’S PALS KEEP FILLING HIS COFFERS: Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said he thanked Putin on Sunday for helping Belgrade secure more natural gas for the winter, in their first phone call for nearly two and a half years … Putin on Sunday said trade between Russia and the UAE had tripled in the past three years.
Spoils of war: The Wall Street Journal has this interesting read on how Putin has turned Mariupol’s steel mills over to his ally, Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.
EU PREPS FOR TRUMP
PLANNING FOR DONALD: Senior diplomats and officials from European capitals have learned their lesson from Trump’s first term in the White House and are ready to respond, and fast, in the event he returns and decides to embark on another trade war, Jakob Hanke Vela reports.
Fast and furious: “We will hit back fast and we will hit back hard,” one senior European diplomat said about the EU’s contingency plans.
Confident: A second senior diplomat from another EU country confirmed members of the bloc were coordinating their strategy, with the European Commission in the lead. “Brussels has a list that is ready, and they are pretty confident that they can win this trade war,” said the diplomat.
“Trump task force”: The European Union has created a rapid-reaction force to prepare for the fallout from the U.S. election. Set up at the core of Ursula von der Leyen’s EU executive, in the secretariat-general, the group is officially prepping for either a Democratic or Republican victory. But EU officials refer to it colloquially as the “Trump task force.” Read Jakob’s full piece here.
NEW COMMISSION
DIARY CLASH: The European Parliament’s influential energy and industry committee is fuming over the decision to schedule hearings for two of the incoming Commission’s big beasts simultaneously, forcing MEPs to pick which they’ll attend, Gabriel Gavin writes in to report.
Be there or be square: Lawmakers will get to question the new competition and climate chief, Spain’s Teresa Ribera, from 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 12 — the same time as they’re scheduled to grill Henna Virkkunen, who will take up a hefty brief on tech sovereignty and security.
Hearing troubles: In a letter to Parliament President Roberta Metsola, obtained by POLITICO, the chairs and co-chairs of the ITRE committee said the move ignored the fact they were responsible for organizing both hearings and would deny the two top officials “a fair opportunity to present themselves and their opinions on an equal basis to all Committees that will evaluate them.”
IN OTHER NEWS
EUROPE’S NEXT SECURITY HEADACHE: The EU’s lag on cutting-edge technology is becoming one of its biggest security headaches, according to Wolfgang Ischinger, the godfather of the Munich Security Conference. “We’re definitely not in good shape,” Ischinger warned in an interview with my colleague Laurens Cerulus.
Stoltenberg tidbit: Ischinger detailed how he managed to get former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to agree to take on the MSC chairmanship: by (literally) knocking on his door.
MACRON’S MID-EAST FLIP FLOPS: As French President Emmanuel Macron prepares to host an international conference on the crisis in Lebanon, his zig-zag approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is causing some to question his effectiveness as a regional mediator. In the words of one French diplomat, “Often it felt like the president said the last thing that was said to him.” Clea Caulcutt has the story.
MELONI’S ALBANIA MIGRATION DEAL HITS TURBULENCE: On Sunday, the first group of migrants were returned to Italy from newly opened asylum processing centers in Albania following a court ruling, reports Giedre Peseckyte. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to convene a Cabinet meeting today, after the immigration unit of the Rome Court ruled on Friday that asylum-seekers sent by Italy to Albania can’t be detained.
Now read this: My colleague Jan Cienski has this morning’s must-read on how Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk is playing with “electoral rocket fuel” as he hopes tough new migration measures will boost his party’s prospects ahead of next year’s presidential election.