PM seeking to plug leaks in Greek north
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will set up camp in northern Greece on Thursday to begin a series of tours over two days aiming to limit leakage to parties to the right of ruling New Democracy and which in the June 2023 elections received a total of around 20% of the vote between them.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1238848/pm-seeking-to-plug-leaks-in-greek-north
FM Gerapetritis: Greece will ratify Prespa Agreement when North Macedonia fully complies with its int’l commitments
Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis, speaking with journalists on Wednesday, said that the Greek government “reacted very fast and with the right reflexes,” after the new president of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, referred to her country as “Macedonia” – instead of the constitutional name “North Macedonia” – during her swearing-in ceremony in the parliament, departing from the official text of the oath.
BoG governor calls for progress on harmonizing national systems of bank deposit guarantees
The harmonization of national systems for the guarantee of bank deposits must move forward, Bank of Greece (BoG) Governor Yannis Stournaras told the conference “Banking Resolution at Ten: Experiences and Open Issues” on Wednesday.
EU Commission sees Greece’s growth rate at 2.2% in 2024 and 2.3% in 2025
Greece’s growth rate will reach 2.2% in 2024 and 2.3% in 2025, the European Commission said on Wednesday in its spring forecasts. Inflation (harmonised) is estimated to fall to 2.1% next year while debt will further decline, it added.
ATHEX: Bourse hits yet another 13-year high
A multitude of blue chips cooperated on Wednesday at the Greek stock market to send the benchmark to highs unseen in more than 13 years. Led by National Bank of Greece, the banks index was the protagonist of a session that brought Athinon Avenue back onto the path toward the 1,500-point level that is now within striking distance for the main index.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1238855/athex-bourse-hits-yet-another-13-year-high
KATHIMERINI: Mitsotakis enters the electoral “minefield” of the North
TA NEA: School will be available online
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The government secretly sent 250 containers with arms to Ukraine
AVGI: SYRIZA submits bill proposal for the ratification of the Memoranda of Cooperation linked to the Prespa Agreement
RIZOSPASTIS: Message of hope by the youth against a rotten system
KONTRA NEWS: Miracle at the Council of State regarding the hearing of the race track case
DIMOKRATIA: Deep Throat revelations regarding the Prespa Agreements
NAFTEMPORIKI: ECB to implement triple reduction of interest rates this year
FICO SHOOTING
LATEST FROM SLOVAKIA: Prime Minister Robert Fico is expected to survive Wednesday’s attempted assassination, his deputy said. “The operation went well, and I guess in the end he will survive,” Tomáš Taraba told the BBC. “He’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment.” Earlier, Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák said the PM was “fighting for his life.”
What we know about the suspect: The alleged shooter was identified locally as a 71-year-old published poet. Media published a leaked video of the suspect in which he said: “I don’t agree with the politics of this government,” citing crackdowns on media and the judiciary. Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said: “The first information we have is that this was a politically motivated act.”
“On the verge of civil war”: The shooting left politicians in Slovakia — and across Europe — in shock. Many issued warnings about the hatred and political violence driven in part by social media algorithms that thrive on and fuel polarization.“We are on the verge of civil war. The assassination attempt on the prime minister is evidence of this,” Eštok said.
“I want to appeal to the public, to journalists and to all politicians to stop spreading hatred,” Eštok said, “whether about the opposition or ruling coalition.”
What comes next: Before Wednesday’s assassination attempt, Fico and his allies had been clashing with independent media and threatening to label NGOs with external funding as “foreign agents” under a Moscow-style law. Those efforts are now expected to intensify.
Foreshadowing a media crackdown: On Wednesday, Kaliňák, the defense minister, said: “What’s been going on these past weeks and months is incomprehensible, and it’s our job to stop it.” That’s being read as an ominous warning to the journalists and members of the public who have been protesting Fico’s reforms over the past few months.
Not so unprecedented: Slovakia’s President-elect Peter Pellegrini condemned the attack on Fico as “an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy,” adding: “If we express different political opinions with guns in the squares … we endanger everything we have built together in 31 years of Slovak sovereignty.”
But the truth, politicized murder cases in Slovakia are not unprecedented, as Fico’s government knows all too well. Fico had to resign from his previous mandate amid a scandal over the murder of Ján Kuciak, who was investigating government graft and alleged mafia infiltration in the government.
How did it come to this? My colleague Tom Nicholson considers how Slovakia became so divided between liberals and traditionalists, democrats and thugs, tolerance and hatred, that political differences are now being settled with extreme violence. Well worth your time.
WILDERS WATCH
THE NETHERLANDS ON VERGE OF RIGHT-WING COALITION: Geert Wilders’ PVV reached a coalition agreement with Mark Rutte’s center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, the centrist New Social Contract and populist farmers’ protest party BoerBurgerBeweging in the early hours of this morning. Their agreement, titled “Hope, courage and pride,” was officially handed over to Martin Bosma, the speaker of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, NOS reports.
Happening this morning: Party leaders will explain the agreement in the House this morning, though a debate is not due until next Wednesday.
The next big question — who will be PM? Wilders won’t become prime minister himself. He has proposed a candidate (whose identity hasn’t been revealed), but the negotiations on that front appear to be ongoing. Read more on the negotiations here.
What it means: Wilders’ success took many by surprise, but it is indicative of a broader trend: The taboo of voting for populist, anti-immigration parties is fading. My colleagues Hanne Cokelaere and Eva Hartog examine how Wilders turned all corners of Dutch society into far-right voters.
Fallout in the European Parliament: As Playbook scooped last week, the leaders of Renew, S&D, Greens and the Left signed a declaration vowing not to enter coalitions with the far right “at any level.” Rutte’s PVV is a member of Renew, as MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld pointed out. With a coalition deal about to be struck, is it worth asking whether that declaration was worth the paper it was written on?
GEORGIA
EU STEPS UP:It may have taken almost 24 hours, but the EU finally condemned the Georgian parliament for passing its controversial Russian-style “foreign agent” law on Tuesday. “The intimidation, threats and physical assaults on civil society representatives, political leaders and journalists, as well as their families is unacceptable,” said a statement by the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell.
“A shitshow”: On Wednesday, we reported Hungary’s EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi (who is close to Viktor Orbán) opposed the wording of a draft statement. So many were surprised to see he appeared to have joined Borrell in criticizing the law, which is similar to one that Budapest has attempted to introduce domestically. But then Várhelyi’s name was removed moments after the statement was issued.
A Commission spokesperson insisted there wasn’t a split between the bloc’s leadership. “What an absolute shitshow,” said an EU diplomat.
“We might lose Georgia”: While the U.S. has threatened to impose sanctions on governing Georgian Dream politicians if the law is enacted, Brussels has avoided similar threats. “I think we are slowly getting to a point where Georgians feel let down by the EU,” said Elene Kintsurashvili, a program assistant at the German Marshall Fund. “It’s great to have statements, but it’s time to act now — otherwise we might lose Georgia.”
BALTICS STEP UP: After Hungary torpedoed a joint EU position, Baltic politicians stepped up and filled the vacuum left by Brussels. Foreign ministers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were in Tbilisi on Wednesday for talks with Georgian Dream and local civil society groups — which at least showed the thousands of protesting Georgians that someone in Europe was hearing them.
Divisions on show: “With every attempt in Europe to find a common position, be it on Ukraine, Gaza or Georgia, we find less and less coherence,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis lamented. “There is a downslide in the European ability to present a political position. But am I worried or surprised? Not really — this is the way Europe operates now.” Gabriel Gavin and I have the full story here.
HUNGARY VS. BRUSSELS, ROUND 1,452
ORBÁN’S THINK TANK TO SUE BRUSSELS MAYOR: MCC Brussels, the Hungarian think tank behind April’s NatCon conference, says it’s launching an unprecedented lawsuit against Emir Kir, the mayor of the Brussels commune of Saint-Josse, on free speech grounds, my colleague Sarah Wheaton writes in to report.
Reminder: Kir, a Francophone Socialist, tried to shut down NatCon before a Belgian court allowed the far-right gabfest featuring Nigel Farage, Viktor Orbán and other conservative luminaries to continue.
Defending ‘free speech’: MCC is working with Yohann Rimokh, a French lawyer licensed in Belgium who has also represented Renaud Camus, the originator of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, against hate speech charges.
“Freedom of speech is one of the embodiments and complete manifestations of Christianity, that is to say of Europe,” said Rimokh at an MCC event in Brussels Wednesday night. “Free speech is a European idea; defending free speech is defending Europe.”
Unspecified damages: Rimokh said the move to sue Kir for damages is unprecedented in Belgium — so it’s too early to say exactly what MCC will ask for. First, he said, they’ll need to win a definitive judgment in the preliminary ruling that overturned the NatCon ban, a process that could take months. A Kir spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.
IN OTHER NEWS
GAZA LATEST — CRITICISM OF NETANYAHU MOUNTS: Pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set out a coherent post-war vision for Gaza is growing, with his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issuing a public challenge on Wednesday to rule out Israeli governance of the territory.
Split emerging: “I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a decision and declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza Strip, that Israel will not establish military governance in the Gaza Strip and that a governing alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip will be advanced immediately,” Gallant said in televised remarks. CNN has a write-up here.
EU urges Israel to end its Rafah offensive: Josep Borrell issued a statement on Wednesday urging Israel to end its military operation in the south of Gaza “immediately,” amid growing concerns about the humanitarian crisis. “This operation is further disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and is leading to more internal displacement, exposure to famine and human suffering,” Borrell said.
MEANWHILE IN BEIJING: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin arrived in China early this morning for a two-day summit with Xi Jinping that the Kremlin hopes will shore up Chinese support for its wartime economy.
BRETON AND HABECK TALK SPACE: Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton is in Berlin today for discussions with Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck. Berlin’s opposition to the development of the IRIS² satellite constellation program, Europe’s answer to Elon Musk’s Starlink network, is sure to come up. More here.
PLAN TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY: Former EU leaders, Nobel laureates and pro-democracy institutions are calling on the next Commission to do more to defend democracy in an increasingly authoritarian world, according to an open letter published today. They want it to more robustly defend the rule of law in the EU, to ensure that new technologies safeguard human rights and to put democracy at the heart of security, migration, energy and trade policies. Write-up here.
TODAY’S TOP LISTEN: Former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen tells Anne McElvoy on this week’s Power Play podcast that the alliance should open its doors to Ukraine. “There will be difficult issues to solve. We know that,” he said. “But let me stress, we will invite the whole of Ukraine to join NATO to start accession talks.” Listen here.
TRUMP-BIDEN TO FACE OFF IN DEBATES: U.S. President Joe Biden will debate his Republican rival Donald Trump on June 27 and Sept. 10.