Parliament votes against probes into ex-ministers after opposition walks out
The Greek Parliament early Thursday rejected all proposals to launch preliminary investigations into former agriculture ministers Makis Voridis and Lefteris Avgenakis over the OPEKEPE subsidy agency scandal. None of the four motions submitted met the 151-vote threshold required to proceed.
Greece among 18 EU states to apply for inclusion in SAFE defense-related loans worth 127 bln euros
Greece is among 18 EU member states to apply for inclusion of the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument, according to a statement by the European Commission on Wednesday. SAFE is a key EU instrument to strengthen resilience and security, supporting investments in areas such as defence, dual-use infrastructure, cyber capabilities, and strategic supply chains. It was presented by the European Commission in March.
PM Mitsotakis: Figures show 25-year high in new jobs
“There is no greater social injustice than unemployment and the inequalities it creates. That is why I welcomed with great satisfaction the data from the latest ERGANI system report, which records a 25-year high in new job positions,” emphasised Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a social media post on Wednesday.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/922778/PM-Mitsotakis-Figures-show-25-year-high-in-new-jobs
First foreign universities to be approved
Authorities are set to announce next week the first foreign universities approved to set up branches in Athens and offer undergraduate studies.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1276710/first-foreign-universities-to-be-approved
ATHEX: Marginal rise for bourse benchmark
Stocks on Athinon Avenue had a mixed day on Wednesday, switching from positive to negative and back several times before the benchmark settled for marginal gains having offset earlier losses. While the main index showed some tight movement, the day’s turnover was fairly satisfactory, with investors’ eyes fixed on banks’ results for the second quarter of the year after Piraeus kicked off the publication season late on Wednesday.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1276814/athex-marginal-rise-for-bourse-benchmark
KATHIMERINI: Mail vote acts as “lifejacket” regarding the OPEKEPE case
TA NEA: Incredible stories with fake paintings and Nazis
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Black day for democracy
RIZOSPASTIS: Associations of Athens University students – The bill regarding the ousting of university students and suppression is rejected
KONTRA NEWS: Vile attack by Justice Minister Floridis against the opposition
DIMOKRATIA: PASOK’s debt amount to 500 million euros
NAFTEMPORIKI: The “riddle” of inflationary pressures
DRIVING THE DAY: MOOD SHIFTS ON ISRAEL
RIBERA BREAKS RANKS OVER GAZA DEADLOCK: International outrage continues to mount over the killing and starvation of Palestinians in the Gaza strip. In Europe, frustration is bubbling even among the EU’s typically cautious College of Commissioners, with Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera issuing a rare rebuke of her colleagues and boss, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in an interview with Spanish radio network Cadena Ser.
“For months, practically every week,” Ribera said, she’s urged von der Leyen to adopt a stronger position against Israel, POLITICO’s Aitor Hernández-Morales reports. Ribera said divisions in the Commission mirrored those among European leaders, who failed on Tuesday to agree on a proposal to cut Israel off from the EU’s Horizon research-sharing program, thanks in part to Berlin’s reticence.
Strong words: Comparing the suffering of civilians in Gaza to that of Jews imprisoned by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, Ribera criticized the EU for idly standing by while “one of the worst humanitarian scandals” in history unfolds. “We are in a race against time, with people dying of hunger.”
MERZ HOLDS THE LINE: Berlin remains the key bottleneck here, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz coming under increasing pressure from coalition allies, as POLITICO reports.
What’s the hold up? On Monday, Merz said he’d await the outcome of a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank by his Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. After Wadephul’s trip, which begins around noon today per Berlin Playbook, the government will reassess its position on suspending Israel’s Horizon participation. Wadephul is due to see his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar; a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rumored but not confirmed.
Playbook interview: Wadephul spoke with Berlin Playbook’s Gordon Repinski on Wednesday about what he hopes to achieve.
“The main goal is definitely the ceasefire,” Wadephul said. He called for more humanitarian aid, saying “the number of victims in the Gaza Strip is too high. We need relief for the people there.”
Berlin also wants Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages. “There are still 50 people missing. About 20 of them are probably still alive. We want to get them free — that’s our top priority,” Wadephul said.
On the West Bank: Germany has “a clear opinion” on Israel’s talk of annexing the West Bank, and Wadephul said he plans to make it clear to Netanyahu’s government. “We support the two-state solution, are bound by international law, and do not approve of illegal settlements in the West Bank. We have always said that.”
What will happen once Wadephul is back: As Berlin Playbook reports, it all depends on Wadephul’s assessment of the situation. There’s a security council meeting on Monday, which could see Berlin shift its view on penalizing Israel — but that’s far from a given.
BACK HOME, MERZ IS FACING SCRUTINY. The coalition’s Social Democrats (SPD), along with parts of the opposition, have begun to question Germany’s unwavering defense of Israel. “Pressure on Germany might come more from internal parties than from other EU countries,” one diplomatic source told POLITICO. “Even the CDU can no longer justify or cover up Israel’s actions.” Italy, officially aligned with Germany, is also reconsidering its stance.
Dutch pivot: The Netherlands, traditionally an unequivocal backer of Israel, is also — at least rhetorically — signaling a shift. A spokesperson for the Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp told POLITICO’s Elena Giordano that due to “the lack of progress” on the agreements between the EU and Israel on humanitarian aid for Gaza, the Netherlands had decided to advocate for the suspension of the trade chapter of the EU-Israel association agreement .
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: But for people on the ground, the EU’s inability to agree on what amounts to a largely symbolic measure underscores its toothlessness. “The mere fact that the EU can’t even agree on the smallest step possible … is a joke,” Bushra Khalidi , the policy lead for Oxfam in the Palestinian territories, told Playbook.
Small targets: “It’s crazy that’s where we are in conversation where we’re telling you there’s 800,000 children on the brink of starvation and what you come up with is potential Horizon sanctions, 140 trucks and airdrops,” Khalidi said. Gaza requires the full reconstruction of its hospitals, along with fuel, food and medicine in far greater quantities than small humanitarian convoys can provide, she added.
Elephant in the room: Khalidi said it would be more useful if the EU, Israel’s largest trading partner, ceased trade with the country and stopped selling it defense equipment. “EU member states, not the EU as a whole, are some of the biggest weapons manufacturers who make weapons for Israel,” said Khalidi. “These are the companies creating the conditions — it’s beyond me that these are options not even at the table yet.”
ECHOING THE SENTIMENT: EU staffers have written to Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative Kaja Kallas urging “immediate and decisive action to press Israel to let massive humanitarian aid into Gaza.” The letter, which one organizer said had been signed by around 850 staffers, called for measures including targeted sanctions and for the EEAS to suspend diplomatic relations with Israel.
BANKING ON FAILURE
PUSHBACK AGAINST COMPETITIVENESS AGENDA: Milanese banking giant UniCredit’s bid for crosstown rival Banco BPM collapsed after the Italian government imposed stringent conditions. The saga raises questions about the feasibility of the EU’s push for bloc-wide banking consolidation.
Intractable: Despite the Commission’s calls for consolidation to make Europe more competitive with the U.S., countries are increasingly ignoring its diktats when it comes to politically sensitive banking mergers and acquisitions. That highlights an inherent contradiction in Brussels’ vision, as I write in this retrospective on the bitter Italian banking saga.
Family drama: An Italian official blamed the EU, arguing Rome was forced to pursue its national priorities because Brussels fails to mitigate the risks to countries of cross-border monopolies. Economist and senior Bruegel fellow Nicolas Véron scoffed at that idea. “This sounds like whataboutism,” he said. “What we’re talking about in terms of Italian action is a breach of single market commitments. What we’re talking about with the EU is the EU couldn’t push forward things they should’ve been able to push forward.”
Teutonic test: A more important test of EU countries’ willingness to bring about the long-neglected banking union, he said, is UniCredit’s separate bid for Germany’s prized Commerzbank, which has provoked an equally hostile reaction from Berlin. If UniCredit withdraws its bid for Commerzbank, “it would be a setback for the banking union,” he said.
Silver lying: As it stands, Europe’s economy is weathering the geopolitical storm somewhat better than expected, but the multi-pronged assault on its economic model is invariably harmful, as much as it also provides a powerful incentive to adapt. Even Europe’s much-maligned trade deal with the U.S., Véron said, had to be viewed from the perspective of the need to keep Washington onside on Ukraine.
In terms of the broader outlook, the EU actually saw a brief bump in growth in the second quarter — though with the caveat that the 15 percent tariffs set to be imposed on large swathes of European exports could quickly put paid to that, as Carlo Martuscelli reports.
Also read … POLITICO’s piece todayon how the fate of the EU’s digital rulebook — one of the few places where the bloc at least appeared to have emerged unscathed from the Trump negotiations — is at risk again.
Gas muzzlers: Another increasingly important pillar of the transatlantic trade relationship — the eastern region’s addiction to U.S. liquified natural gas — could also be in question, amid fears Washington will try to wean EU countries back onto Russian gas to secure a peace deal, per this barnstormer by Karl Mathiesen, Zack Colman, Gabriel Gavin, Ben Lefebvre and Hanne Cokelaere.
DEFENDING EUROPE
DEMAND THROUGH THE ROOF: The take-up for the EU’s loans-for-arms scheme might actually exceed the €150 billion initially set aside by the European Commission.
Doing the math: Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said countries expressed an interest in “at least €127 billion in potential defense procurements” before Tuesday’s soft deadline. That’s likely a conservative estimate, because in their request to the Commission, countries set out a minimum and maximum amount they will formally ask to borrow before a Nov. 30 deadline.
What we know so far (per public statements and reporting by my newsroom colleagues): Poland asked for €45 billion — the most of any individual country … Italy went for a maximum of €15 billion for the next five years … Lithuania for €5 billion to €8.7 billion … Greece said it wants €1.2 billion … Belgium asked for €7 billion to €11 billion … Spain wants €1 billion to implement eight programs … while France’s ask is believed to be slightly below €20 billion. Read more here.
Victim of its own success: If countries request their upper limits in November, demand may exceed the Commission’s €150 billion ceiling. What happens then? The original SAFE proposal mentioned tapping into the European Stability Mechanism — a eurozone bailout fund that is currently lying unused — but that’s hard because the ESM wasn’t designed for defense-related issues.
The default option … is the Commission taking up more debt to cater for the extra demand. That would be good news for the bloc’s budget department, which is keen to keep issuing joint debt.
SUN-BAKED SHENANIGANS
HOLY NOTHING TO SEE HERE: At an extraordinary press conference on Wednesday, a former auditor of the Vatican claimed he could corroborate allegations that the Holy See made use of highly sophisticated tools suspected to have been used for money laundering.
“Unfair” dismissal: Ex-Deloitte auditor Libero Milone was appointed by the late Pope Francis in 2015 to fix the Vatican’s finances after years of scandal and neglect, but the 76-year-old says he was compelled to resign in 2017 after the city state’s internal police accused him of being a spy. Milone claims he was pushed out because he’d identified financial wrongdoing and is now demanding to speak to Pope Leo directly after a Vatican court last week, for the second time, dismissed an unfair dismissal appeal.
Bomb under the table: Milone is now intimating that he’s sitting on potentially explosive evidence that could damage the Vatican’s reputation just as it’s recovering some credibility among the faithful, on whom it depends for donations.
Quiet part slightly louder: In a press conference on Wednesday, attended by Playbook, Milone said he could back up reports by Catholic outlet The Pillar that APSA, the entity in charge of the Holy See’s property portfolio and payroll services, could retroactively edit the IBAN addresses on international SWIFT transactions, permitting Vatican officials to obscure where money was going. Such a tool would be “a skeleton key for money laundering,” The Pillar’s Ed Condon claimed in an earlier blog post.
How and why such a tool would be needed is unclear. Milone on Wednesday said he had documentary evidence pointing to the use of such a tool, which he did not share. “I have a piece of paper which says that they can change the transactions — they can change the name — at any time,” he said in response to a question by Playbook. He added that he sought to flag the issue to Pope Francis but that nothing came of it. Holy See spokesperson Matteo Bruni did not respond to Playbook’s request for comment.
APRÈS LE DELUGE … PAS MOI: A Spanish court found Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez not liable for the floods in Valencia last year that killed 228 people, Aitor reports.