Greek and Turkish delegations meet in Athens
Delegations from Greece and Turkey were meeting in Athens on Monday as part of long-standing efforts to improve often tense relations, days after Turkey voiced objections over Greece’s plans to create marine nature reserves in the Ionian and Aegean seas.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1237028/greek-and-turkish-delegations-meet-in-athens
More than 114,000 citizens have registered to vote by post in the European elections
More than 114,200 voters have registered on the Ministry of Interior’s platform to vote by post in the European elections on June 9th. According to the Ministry of Interior’s data, the participation of Greek diaspora voters in the elections has far exceeded the number of citizens who voted from abroad in the summer parliamentary elections of 2023.
Hooligans arrested over officer killing
In the largest ever operation against fan violence in the country, Attica police proceeded with a barrage of arrests on Monday of Olympiakos club hooligans for their involvement in the fatal injury of the riot policeman Giorgos Lygeridis and in at least 14 more cases. Thirty-one-year-old Lygeridis was fatally struck by a naval flare last December outside a stadium during a volleyball match in Athens.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1237063/hooligans-arrested-over-officer-killing
‘Basket of Godparents’ available as of Monday
A Supreme Court prosecutor has ordered a probe into possible disciplinary liabilities on the part of a prosecutor in Larissa, who, in the context of the investigation of the 2023 Tempe railway collision, shelved complaints against political figures, instead of forwarding them to Parliament.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1236765/probe-into-prosecutors-handling-of-tempe-complaints
Reuters: Greek economy surges after decade of pain
The ‘Basket of Godparents’ is available as of Monday. The special ‘Easter Basket,’ which offers traditional Easter foods at lower or unchanged prices, will come into effect on April 24.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/813824/Basket-of-Godparents-available-as-of-Monday
ATHEX: Benchmark jumps by almost 2%
The Greek stock market accelerated its growth on Monday, with its benchmark posting gains of almost 2% on the back of growth from most blue chips, including the banks, and despite the rather modest daily turnover. This has taken the main index safely above the 1,400-point mark, after a daily rise unseen in almost five months.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1237064/athex-benchmark-jumps-by-almost-2
KATHIMERINI: Online scams are like a Hydra
TA NEA: Ukraine: the EU is asking Greece to provide missiles
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: “Patriotic extortions”
AVGI: The government is secretly disarming the islands
RIZOSPASTIS: Greece is sending S-300 missiles to Ukraine advancing further its involvement in the war
KONTRA NEWS: At the command of the Americans, the Greek government is handing over S-300 missiles to Zelenskyy
DIMOKRATIA: The Greek government is trying to appease Erdogan who is continuing his aggressive stance in the Aegean Sea
NAFTEMPORIKI: New records for listed companies
UKRAINE
NO TIME TO RELAX: Europe won’t take a breather in its efforts to help Kyiv after the U.S. Congress passed a long-awaited $60.8 billion Ukraine aid package, Ursula von der Leyen insisted.
Call with Joe: “Russia succeeding in Ukraine would be a historical turning point for European security and would come at a massive cost for both Europe and the United States,” the Commission president told Playbook in a statement Monday, after she spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden. In the call, Biden told von der Leyen that “sustained international support” was “vital” for Ukraine, according to a White House readout.
Historic step: The Commission chief hailed the U.S. deal, which is expected to soon be approved by the Senate and signed off by Biden, as another turning point in the war, which would rekindle Ukrainians’ spirits after months of bad news and defeats.
“The historic bipartisan decision by the United Stated Congress will have a huge psychological effect and will make a real difference on the battlefield,” von der Leyen told Playbook, adding that “the renewed support will boost the morale of the entire country.”
Rising to the challenge: Europe has also provided “unprecedented” support to Kyiv, von der Leyen argued. “This week the European Union and its Member States will already have made available to Ukraine and Ukrainians in Europe assistance worth almost 100 billion euros. And we have already agreed on tens of billion euros more to come in the next years.”
But EU won’t rest on its laurels. On the contrary, von der Leyen argued, “I told President Biden that this decision will encourage Europe to further step up its own military support for Ukraine.”
The stakes: “We will stand with Ukraine, as long as it takes, because it’s the right thing to do. And also because the alternative would endanger our own freedom.”
Backing air defense initiative: Von der Leyen also backed the German-led initiative (scooped by Playbook) to organize additional air defense systems for Ukraine. “Member States are working hard to provide more air defence and other critical military supplies. And that’s exactly what Ukraine needs right now,” she said.
KYIV URGES EU NOT TO GET COMPLACENT: “We all welcome the decision of the U.S. House of Representatives … But we in Europe cannot and should not relax,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told his EU counterparts at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.
Ukraine’s supporters had a similar message: “I understand there’s a lot of relief that the United States is back into action … but that does not remove the pressure from Europe,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told POLITICO.
Think long term: The U.S. aid package — which may well be the last one, if Donald Trump wins the presidential election — doesn’t change the fundamentals. If Europe really doesn’t want Russia to win the war, it must step up its own production and defense capabilities, write my colleagues Barbara Moens, Stuart Lau and Joshua Posaner.
PARLIAMENT VOTES ON FISCAL RULES
FISCAL RULES AND THEIR CRITICS: MEPs are today expected to rubber-stamp the new debt reduction rules agreed by EU countries. But climate campaigners and trade union chiefs from across the bloc lashed out at the reforms, warning they will leave capitals ill-equipped to invest billions in green projects, education, health care and social cohesion, my Financial Services colleagues report this morning.
The reform in a nutshell: Capitals are allowed to reduce their debt piles at a slower pace, but compared to the status quo (with the old rules suspended), belts must be tightened. While proponents say it’s in countries’ best interest not to keep amassing more and more debt, and most economists agree some limit on state spending is in order, critics question the wisdom of cutting debt just as the EU faces a climate crisis and war.
What’s not to like: “We think [the reform] is not ambitious enough and still the rules remain too rigid,” Oliver Röpke, president of the European Economic and Social Committee, told POLITICO. Rasmus Andresen, speaker of the German Greens in the European Parliament, said the rules came at a terrible time, as “there is nothing more urgent than investing in Europe’s security and climate-friendly infrastructure.”
More criticism: The new criteria amount to a return to austerity, the trade union chiefs in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium wrote in a joint letter on Monday, in which they urged MEPs to reject the agreement.
But don’t hold your breath: The three largest groups in the Parliament — the European People’s Party, Socialists & Democrats and Renew — will back the deal, ensuring a stable majority. The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists’ official line is to vote in favor, but some MEPs are likely to rebel.
Latest from Rome: An Italian government official said last night that the parties supporting Rome’s government will abstain in today’s vote. Also probably abstaining: Italy’s center left Democratic Party, despite the reform being spearheaded by one of their own — Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.
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EU-CHINA
TASTE OF BEIJING’S OWN MEDICINE: The EU may imminently announce a fresh probe into China’s unfair trade practices — this time over suspicions Beijing unfairly favors domestic suppliers when buying medical devices, my colleagues Camille Gijs and Koen Verhelst report.
How the EU can retaliate: Under a new law, the Commission can respond with a taste of China’s own medicine: If the probe shows China is indeed unfairly shutting out EU companies from its public procurement, Brussels can reciprocally shut out Chinese suppliers — until Beijing corrects the situation. It would be the first time the EU tests that new wrench in its toolbox, known as the International Procurement Instrument.
GERMANY ARRESTS 3 SUSPECTED CHINA SPIES: German authorities arrested three people suspected of supplying information on military technology to a Chinese intelligence service, prosecutors said Monday. The suspects allegedly purchased a “special laser” from Germany on behalf of Beijing’s Ministry of State Security and exported it to China without authorization.
Info wars: The trio is also suspected of having schemed to get information from a German university on machine parts that are important for the operation of powerful ship engines, including those used on combat ships, according to prosecutors.
AUSTRIA CORNER
NAÏVE NO MORE: Austria, long considered by the West’s intelligence community as a Russian agents’ paradise, is keen to be rid of that image, according to Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.
No ifs or buts: Referring to the arrest last week of domestic security official Egisto Ott on suspicion of spying for Moscow, Schallenberg told my colleague Stuart Lau on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg: “The situation is very clear, Austrian laws have to be respected, and there cannot be ifs and buts.”
We were imperfect: Admitting that “we might have been blue-eyed in the past in Europe,” Schallenberg said: “With the war waging in Ukraine, there’s no room for negativity.”
On the Swiss peace conference: Schallenberg will soon travel to Switzerland for the Ukraine peace conference. “I support this peace conference … But in the long run, obviously, negotiations have to include all parties, including Russia. But we’re not there yet, Russia is not signaling in the slightest sense that they’re interested in any kind of meaningful process,” he said.
Counting on Xi and Lula: A peace conference cannot just be about preaching to the converted, Schallenberg said. “We need to break out of our own echo chambers [and] we should work harder to get the BRICS, especially China on board, Brazil, India, others — not only because they might have an influence on Moscow, but also, in the long run, we will need these countries to ensure the minimum required of security guarantees for Ukraine.”
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ROAD TO EU ELECTION
MUST READ — EP BY THE NUMBERS: POLITICO’s Hanne Cokelaere delved into voting records, legislative files and Parliament documents to figure out who’s been behind the institution’s decisions over the past five years.
MEET YOUR MEP MATCH: Research platform EUmatrix and the European University Institute have a quiz that shows which MEPs are most aligned to people’s policy preferences on 20 key topics, based on votes in the current legislature.
PUNISHMENT FOR NOOSE-WIELDING MEP: Angelo Ciocca, a far-right Italian MEP from Matteo Salvini’s League, was reprimanded by the European Parliament last night for brandishing a noose in front of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde during a debate in February.
Fine behavior: Ciocca was also fined €1,050 and banned from participating in this week’s plenary (though he can still vote) after he blew a whistle and issued a red card, soccer-style, disrupting a voting session last month. President Roberta Metsola announced the sanctions in Strasbourg on Monday. Ciocca was sanctioned in 2019 for hurling chocolates around, as our MEP unAwards mentioned.
FRENCH YOUTH CRACKDOWN: French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced measures aimed at preventing youth delinquency, in a bid to tackle a surge in support for the far right. Victor Goury-Laffont has more.
Speaking of which: Tens of thousands of people in France’s east cross the border to Luxembourg daily for work — yet Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is gaining ground in the area, Victor reports in this pre-election dispatch.
IN OTHER NEWS
SUNAK ON TOUR: British PM Rishi Sunak travels to Warsaw today for defense talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Later today, Sunak heads to Germany for the first time as prime minister, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to seek assurances on British defense spending after decades of real-terms cuts. Curtain-raiser ahead of the trip here.
TRUMP TRIAL LATEST: Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo and Donald Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche made their opening statements in the former president’s hush money trial Monday. Colangelo alleged Trump falsified 11 invoices, 12 ledger entries and 11 checks, while Blanche began his opening statement declaring: “President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes.”My U.S. colleagues have the full details.
ISRAELI INTEL CHIEF OUT: Major General Aharon Haliva, Israel’s military intelligence chief, has quit, saying he took responsibility for failures before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.