Athens, Cairo affirm strategic alignment
Greece and Egypt reaffirmed their close alignment on regional issues during the first High-Level Cooperation Council held in Athens on Wednesday, marking the second meeting between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in just four months.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/foreign-policy/1269015/athens-cairo-affirm-strategic-alignment
Androulakis criticises government’s stance on Türkiye during Parliament debate
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis criticised the government’s approach to Türkiye during his intervention in Parliament, where a bill by the Ministry of National Defence is under discussion. He accused the government of pursuing a policy of appeasement toward Türkiye, arguing that the country has no place in the emerging European security architecture. He added that Türkiye’s defence policy cannot be strengthened in a vacuum but must be aligned with principles and values.
Israel seen stepping back from GSI
Israel appears to be backing away from a major energy project that was once seen as a symbol of Mediterranean cooperation, focusing instead on a smaller-scale power connection with Cyprus alone. During a recent visit to Israel by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Israeli officials made no mention of the Greece-Cyprus-Israel (GSI) electricity interconnection project. That omission came as a surprise to many, as the GSI plan had been a high-profile trilateral effort aimed at connecting the region to Europe’s power grid and boosting energy security.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/energy/1269059/israel-seen-stepping-back-from-gsi
Charges filed against Thessaloniki far-right group members
Authorities filed charges against 29 members of the far-right group Ethnikistiki Neolaia Thessalonikis (ENETH), also known as Defend Salonica, including 15 minors, police in Thessaloniki announced on Wednesday.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1269068/charges-filed-against-thessaloniki-far-right-group-members
ATHEX: Rebound on bourse led by banks
Despite the dividend OPAP distributed on Wednesday (dropping 4%), the benchmark of the Greek stock market recovered and added more than 10 points, with one stock after another stocks posting all-time highs. Interest from buyers spread to mid- and small-caps, as investors try to find more opportunities in the lower levels of the local market. Banks led the rebound, in the week of their Q1 result announcements.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1269058/athex-rebound-on-bourse-led-by-banks
KATHIMERINI: Behold which universities ignored their obligation to draft security plans
TA NEA: No more “closed” professions in Greece
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Workers face extremely flexible working conditions
RIZOSPASTIS: Public hospitals: unbearable situation as healthcare becomes a commodity
KONTRA NEWS: Heavy political cost due to ministers’ idiocy
DIMOKRATIA: Feud between the State and the Church of Crete: Unholy alliance at the demand of the Germans
NAFTEMPORIKI: EFKA social security fund assigns “zombie-debts” to private companies
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING. It’s 80 years since World War II officially ended in Europe.
SCOOP — WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: Donald Trump announced he’d be holding a “Big News Conference” at 4 p.m. Brussels time “concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY.” Spoiler alert: Our Stateside colleagues report the deal in question is with the Brits.
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING. It’s 80 years since World War II officially ended in Europe.
At 3 p.m. in London on May 8, 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill confirmed to the world that Hitler dead and a defeated Germany had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing,” Churchill said. “But let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead.”
History repeating: Churchill was referring to the fact Japan still needed to be defeated, but his comments could equally apply to the eight decades that followed, during which European officials and diplomats worked, mostly successfully, to put conflict behind them.
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Then, Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine … and found an unlikely assistant in an American president promising peace for his time. Putin brought war of conquest back to Europe, and Trump showed Western resolve isn’t what it used to be. Still, Russia has promised a three-day ceasefire starting today, so that’s all fine then.
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING. This is Tim Ross,POLITICO’s chief political correspondent, trying not to freak out about parallels with the past, or the newly boiling conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, or Israel’s latest plan for Gaza, or the fact that respected analysts reckon catastrophic, world-changing wars come around once every … 80 years. Sarah Wheaton will see out the week in the Playbook hot-seat.
DRIVING THE DAY: PEACE AND WAR
STAND BY SCHUMAN: As well as marking 80 years since the end of World War II, EU leaders this week celebrate 75 years since Robert Schuman proposed a European Coal and Steel Community, on May 9, 1950. It was the birth of the infant “European Project,” which grew into the sometimes unruly teenager that is today’s 27-member European Union.
For Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the two anniversaries provide a joint lesson for the Age of Trump: Europeans must join forces so they can stand up for themselves (without relying on anyone else).
Call to arms: “Victory Day is followed by Europe Day — reminding us that peace and European integration go hand in hand, for 80 years now,” von der Leyen said in exclusive comments to Playbook. “We, Europeans, have built something extraordinary: a Union founded on peace, democracy, and solidarity and viewed around the globe as an anchor of stability.”
“Our Union was born as a peace project, and it remains one today,” she added. “Because we love peace, we Europeans must, 80 years after the end of the war, put ourselves in a position to stand up for our own freedom, security, and democracy on our continent.”
The Costa peace: European Council President António Costa will reinforce the message of self-sufficiency in a speech in Florence today. “This war is not only a geopolitical crisis. It is a test of Europe’s identity,” he will say, according to an excerpt seen by Playbook. Peace, Costa will suggest, is something Europe must be able to deliver “more autonomously.”
“What kind of Europe do we want to be?” Costa will say. “One that passively enjoys the benefits of past peace, or one that assumes the responsibility of peace-building amid real threats?” The answer depends on whom you ask.
Count us in: After struggling to get confirmed as chancellor in an embarrassing blunder nobody else had ever managed to achieve, new German leader Friedrich Merz sped to Paris and then Warsaw to show off his commitment to European alliances, especially on defense. The truth is, both Merz and Emmanuel Macron are compromised by weakness at home.
Saving Ukraine: Von der Leyen isn’t on Trump’s speed dial but she aims to stick by the EU’s promises to Ukraine even if America won’t. She set out three ways to strengthen Ukraine’s hand in peace talks on Wednesday: Reinforce Kyiv’s defenses, stop buying Russian gas, and “accelerate Ukraine’s path towards membership of our Union” to provide “the strongest security guarantee.”
Viktor’s veto: There’s currently one big problem with speeding up Ukraine’s accession: Viktor Orbán. Hungary’s prime minister released a social media video slamming von der Leyen’s speech, over a soundtrack of dramatic music, lightning flashes, images of ominous clouds and a smiling Commission president raising a villainous glass of Champagne.
Reality check: Orbán isn’t the only leader critical of the EU’s support for Ukraine. If Romania elects the far-right favorite George Simion as president on May 18, another Kyiv-skeptic will be sitting around the summit table, alongside Slovakia’s Robert Fico.
VANCE CHANGE OF TUNE: But in slightly happier news for Kyiv, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that Russia is “asking for too much” to end its war with Ukraine. Write-up here.
MONEY TALKS: Ukraine is considering shifting away from the U.S. dollar as its reference currency and possibly linking the hryvnia more closely to the euro, Reuters reports.
DISTURBING PUTIN’S PEACE
TRUCE OR DARE? The Kremlin has promised a three-day ceasefire starting today and covering the May 9 “Victory Day” when Russia marks its own historic triumph over the Nazis. Putin welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow in time for Friday’s annual military parade — an unwelcome spectacle of anti-Western firepower and allyship.
Spoiler: Putin has talked up a ceasefire before, only to immediately break it.
Kyiv’s welcome: Ukraine sent a welcome message to Putin’s guests by attacking Moscow with drones for the third successive day on Wednesday, disrupting air traffic at four airports, POLITICO’s Tommaso Lecca and Veronika Melkozerova report.
WHO’S GOING TO PUTIN’S PARADE? Europe’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned European leaders to stay away from Putin’s party on May 9, but that hasn’t dissuaded Slovakia’s Fico, or Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić (seen here getting off a plane in Moscow, despite doubts that he’d make it), Playbook’s Nick Vinocur writes in to say.
Moscow friendship group: They aren’t the only Europeans going. A contingent of MEPs from Fico’s Smer party is expected to appear, the Moscow-friendly PM said.
What about Fidias? The YouTube influencer Cypriot MEP says he isn’t pro-Russia or pro-Ukraine. But earlier this week, Fidias Panayiotou announced he would be in Moscow “in coming days.” Playbook asked if he would be attending the parade — but is yet to receive a reply.
Far-left contingent: Then there are the German left-wingers — Michael von der Schulenburg and Ruth Firmenich, both in Sahra Wagenknecht’s far-left BSW party, are expected to join the festivities in Moscow. Others may well appear — do drop Playbook a line if you see them.
Who’s funding them? Valérie Hayer, chair of the centrist Renew group, denounced plans to attend the Moscow parade as “blatant attacks on our common values” and urged Parliament President Roberta Metsola to investigate whether the MEPs’ trips had been funded in any way by the European Parliament.
ESTONIA’S WARNING: Jonatan Vseviov, secretary-general of Estonia’s foreign ministry, warned that “participating in that symbolic event in Moscow sends a very geopolitical message that will be seen in the context of what’s happening today in Ukraine.”
Not just a commemoration: “In this light we obviously advise countries not to attend lest they be seen as at least partially supporting — or being ignorant of — the fact of Russian aggression” against Ukraine, he told Nick.
The other victory parade: Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, will be among some two dozen EU foreign ministers to attend Ukraine’s counter-event, taking place in Lviv. EU ministers are expected to unveil fresh financial contributions to Ukraine, per two diplomatic sources, as well as a “powerful signal” of support for a tribunal devoted to prosecuting Russian war crimes, Vseviov said.
A PIPE AND A POPE
CHIMNEY WATCH: The moment has arrived when 1.4 billion Catholics and many more intrigued onlookers, including media from around the world, train their attention on a stovepipe chimney poking out the roof of the Sistine Chapel. That’s how the world will find out when the 133 cardinals sequestered inside have elected a new pope, which could even — commentators tentatively predict — come later today.
Holy smoke: After voting, ballot papers are collected and burnt in an oven inside the chapel. Alongside them, in a second stove, chemicals are placed to color the smoke that emerges from the chimney. Black (or mucky gray) smoke indicates that there is no agreement. White smoke will be the signal that the cardinals have finalized their choice of pontiff.
Bugs and booths: As my POLITICO colleague Ben Munster reports from Vatican City, the official start to the secretive ritual did not disappoint. On Wednesday afternoon, all the cardinals filed into the Sistine Chapel, which has been fitted with polling booths and swept for bugs.
Fly on the wall: After each cardinal gave his name and swore an oath of secrecy in Latin under the watchful gaze of Michelangelo’s frescoes, Archbishop Diego Ravelli declared the immortal phrase: “Extra omnes” — all out. All but the voting cardinals left the chapel, and the doors heaved shut with a shuddering slam.
Are we nearly there yet? How and when the next pope will be elected is anyone’s guess, though there’s plenty of speculation that a result will come this afternoon. The first round of voting last night took a lot longer than Vatican watchers had expected. Around 30,000 people packed into St. Peter’s Square, waiting as night fell until the black smoke billowed out of that modest chimney.
What next? Each day from now on will see as many as four rounds of voting as cardinals seek the two-thirds majority required.
Who’s winning? Insiders told Wednesday’s Playbook that pre-conclave lobbying saw momentum grow for a “continuity” candidate who would continue Francis’ policies of tolerance toward LGBTQ+ people and give more latitude to clerics in the global south. But really, it’s impossible to say what will go down in that ancient chapel.
Cardinals count: My colleague Hanne Cokelaere has this by-the-numbers analysis of the cardinals electing the new pope.
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IN OTHER NEWS
TAKING ON TRUMP: The European Commission is expected to publish in the late morning today a fresh list of U.S. goods worth nearly €100 billion that it will hit with tariffs should negotiations not yield concrete results, POLITICO’s Camille Gijs reports.
BREXIT’S BACK: Just as Paris played bad cop during the negotiations over the U.K.’s divorce from the EU between 2016 and 2020, France is putting in a repeat performance now the Brits want to get closer again, with a crucial London summit less than two weeks away. Clea Caulcutt and colleagues have the details.
ROMANIA ELECTION LATEST: Far-right frontrunner for the presidency George Simion claimed a conspiracy involving some companies was crashing Romania’s currency after he won the first round of the election on Sunday, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun reports. His rival, Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan, replied: “Not everything that happens in the world or in Romania is the result of a conspiracy.” They face off in a TV debate on Euronews Romania tonight.
FORGOTTEN HEROES: My POLITICO colleague Emilio Casalicchio has a feature out this morning about how the U.K. lost respect for its veterans. In America, former service personnel enjoy far better aftercare, Emilio reports.