Cyprus, Greece arrests expose Hamas cell
Greek and Cypriot authorities say Palestinians arrested in Cyprus and Greece formed an active Hamas-linked cell, with five people already in custody and investigators examining the role of at least one additional individual.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1306068/cyprus-greece-arrests-expose-hamas-cell
Mitsotakis makes mini cabinet reshuffle amid election speculation
Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis on Monday announced a series of changes to the cabinet, as decided by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
This included the appointment of Giorgos Kotsiras as Alternate Transport Minister, while Dimitris Markopoulos is to take over as Deputy National Economy and Finance Minister responsible for Taxation Policy and Marilena Soukouli as the new Deputy Environment and Energy Minister.
In addition, Tasos Chatzvasileiou will take over as Deputy Foreign Minister responsible for European Affairs.
Urban planning chief resigns amid corruption probe
The Environment and Energy Ministry said Monday it has accepted the resignation of its top urban planning official, Efthymios Bakoyannis, as authorities investigate an alleged corruption ring involving municipal planning services. The resignation also comes amid heightened scrutiny following revelations of an alleged corruption network operating within municipal planning offices. Police have arrested six people following coordinated raids by the Internal Affairs Division. Among those arrested is reportedly Bakoyannis’ brother-in-law, a technical adviser at the Decentralized Administration of Attica.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1305994/urban-planning-chief-resigns-amid-corruption-probe
Greece reports 64 wildfires in 48 hours as officials cite negligence and heat
Greece’s Fire Service said Monday that 64 wildland fires broke out across the country over the past 48 hours, with most incidents attributed to negligence during outdoor work or other activities.
ATHEX: Banks slow benchmark’s trend to drop
The Greek stock market showed remarkable constraint on Monday, avoiding a sharp drop due to the decline in Wall Street last Friday and the day’s jitters across eurozone markets as hostilities resumed between Iran and Israel and oil rates advanced again. Banks at Athinon Avenue contained the drop of the benchmark and even obtained gains, as reports from foreign banks and firms insist that the local credit sector has the potential to outperform its eurozone peers.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1306050/athex-banks-slow-benchmarks-trend-to-drop
KATHIMERINI: Infrastructure protection from hybrid attacks
TA NEA: Attica: the mystery regarding the foul odor was solved
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: “Patchwork” government reshuffle
RIZOSPASTIS: The Greek government deflects on the issue of the Ukrainian drone in Lefkada
KONTRA NEWS: Red alert for the networks of Hamas
DIMOKRATIA: Shocking court ruling challenges adoptions by homosexual couples
NAFTEMPORIKI: The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) gets its penalty list in order
DRIVING THE DAY
SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR: Ukraine’s ambition to move rapidly along the path to EU membership is creating tension between Kyiv, Brussels and some European capitals ahead of the opening next week of a first formal negotiating cluster, according to diplomats and EU officials.
Meeting in the middle: Kyiv and Brussels have publicly hailed the likely start of formal negotiations on June 15 as a breakthrough. But Ukraine is concerned its bid could be “parked” due to political issues, including France’s presidential election. That could push enlargement off the EU agenda. Brussels, meanwhile, is worried about the pace of reforms in Kyiv.
Membership lite: Discussion papers floated by Paris and Berlin, touting “associate membership” for Kyiv and other interim solutions for candidate states, are jangling nerves. “In practice, Ukraine is being offered everything except membership itself,” Ukraine’s Ambassador to the EU Vsevolod Chentsov told Playbook.
Nobody puts Kyiv in a corner: The risk for Ukraine is being parked in a side room — with some of the benefits of EU integration but no clear path to full membership. Kyiv isn’t rejecting the Franco-German ideas, but wants stronger guarantees on where it will end up, according to officials informed on the talks.
Why it’s getting tense: Kyiv wants to open not one but several negotiating clusters before the end of this summer, as a signal to its politicians and war-weary voters that EU membership is a real prospect, not a pipe dream.
Different vantage: Brussels is concerned about disenchantment as a risk factor for Ukraine’s internal reforms. Indeed, progress on passing key laws required to join the EU has slowed in recent months, amid unfilled seats in the Rada, the national parliament, and concerns that some measures wouldn’t secure a majority if put to a vote.
Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos visited a bomb-scarred Kyiv this week with a “keep calm, carry on” message, as she met with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and the heads of parliamentary committees in charge of reviewing reforms.
Dispatch from Ukraine: “Inside the room there was a sense that both sides are really starting to roll up their sleeves and to get much more hands-on in the access process,” an EU official informed on details of Kos’ trip told Playbook.
The bottom line: Managing Kyiv’s EU membership bid is a delicate dance for Brussels and EU capitals. Stakes are high — and missteps will have painful consequences.
BIG AND BREAKING
COURTING CHINA: French President Emmanuel Macron is set to host a video call Thursday between G7 countries and China to address global trade imbalances, according to four officials familiar with preparations for the meeting.
EXCLUSIVE — ESN IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Here’s the 300-page report in which the authority overseeing European political parties urges EU institutions to launch proceedings to ban the far-right ESN party for allegedly breaching the bloc’s values. There’ll be a debate among EU Parliament group leaders and a possible vote next week in Strasbourg on whether to move the process forward.
CURTAINS FOR FRANCO-GERMAN FIGHTER JET: France and Germany have abandoned a plan to jointly build a next-generation fighter jet, in a major blow to Macron’s vision of closer European defense integration.
CYBERSECURITY CLASH: The European Commission is preparing to take France and Spain to Europe’s top court over their failure to pass cybersecurity legislation, after the two countries missed an October 2024 deadline to get bloc’s rules onto their own lawbooks.
PRE-EUCO ECON HUDDLE: Seventeen EU leaders, including those of Germany, Belgium and Italy, huddled via video conference Monday to talk about EU competitiveness amid concerns that the European Council isn’t paying enough attention to the bloc’s economy.
DEFENSE REINFORCEMENTS
EXCLUSIVE — DEFENSE STAFF BOOST: The European Commission’s defense department is set to receive an increase in staff, including a potential new top-level official, as it takes on new duties linked to distributing SAFE loans. That’s according to four EU officials aware of plans for the moves who spoke to Jacopo Barigazzi and me.
DG DEFIS may be getting some high-level reinforcements, with Benedikta von Seherr-Thoss, a German official currently serving as managing director at the EU’s diplomatic arm, eyeing a move in a high-level role, per two other officials. Von Seherr-Thoss didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Another winner: DG CONNECT, the directorate in charge of developing and implementing the EU’s digital policies, will also receive a staff boost as part of an annual internal redeployment of civil servants, as it faces increased pressure to implement policies like the AI Act.
Relocation: The moves, which the officials said would be announced this week, are part of an annual exercise by which 1 percent of the Commission’s staff (about 330 employees for an institution with headcount of roughly 33,000) is meant to move internally to departments facing particular strain.
A deeper look: But the staffing shifts don’t signal a burst in hiring at the Commission. On the contrary — they’re part of an attempt to make the EU executive more efficient, following a decrease in overall staffing between 2014 and 2020. But it’s not just about internal gap filling.
New blood: The Commission is now looking to boost its ranks by some 2,400 staff in the bloc’s next long-term budget, with Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin arguing the hires are needed to carry out the bloc’s new defense and security priorities.
Not everyone is happy: Austria has come out loudly against the Commission’s hiring plans, arguing Brussels should be tightening its belt at a time when national administrations are under pressure to cut staffing levels. “We have to consolidate our national budget. On the other hand in Brussels there is obviously no limit to spending money in administration,” Austria’s Minister for Europe Claudia Bauer told Gregorio Sorgi.
20-SECOND PLAYBOOK PRIMER
Brussels hosts an EU-South Korea summit tomorrow, the first such event for three years. But what are they going to talk about? A range of topics, including trade (a free trade agreement between the two sides has been in place since 2011), security and defense, as well as AI. Geopolitical topics such as the conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s war on Ukraine will also get a mention. President Lee Jae Myung will represent South Korea, with European Council President António Costa and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen there for the EU.
TALK TO PLAYBOOK: WhatsApp us on +32 491 050629 and listen from 7 a.m. to hear if we give you a shoutout.
NEW PATRIOT
EXCLUSIVE — FAR RIGHT’S FRESH FACE: The newly appointed chief whip of the Patriots for Europe, Marieke Ehlers, has one of the most important jobs on Europe’s far right: turning a movement built on opposing Brussels into one capable of shaping EU laws, Max Griera writes.
The strategy: In an exclusive interview, Ehlers says the mainstream parties’ firewall against engaging with the far right is already crumbling, with the center-right European People’s Party increasingly willing to work with the Patriots. Pragmatism and compromise are opening doors for the Patriots to shape EU law, despite the group still preferring to keep Brussels at arm’s length, she says. “If there’s a left-wing majority, it will be way worse.”
Locked out: The Patriots’ next important task, Ehlers says, is to tear down another firewall — the one that surrounds the European Parliament’s leadership positions. The argument is that the EPP, the Socialists and Democrats and Renew continue to divvy up among themselves vice presidential and committee chair posts, which could otherwise be claimed by the Patriots under proportional allocation. As things stand, the far right doesn’t have a seat on Parliament’s bureau, the body that oversees the institution’s internal functioning — something Ehlers describes as “very undemocratic.”
Non-negotiable: With all leadership positions up for grabs in January and speculation that Parliament President Roberta Metsola could seek Patriots’ support for a third term, Ehlers praises a “semblance of fairness” by Metsola in how she treats MEPs in the plenary and debates, and her management of requests from the Patriots. But, Ehlers adds, her group “cannot support someone who openly commits to upholding the cordon sanitaire” around the far right.
6 MORE THINGS GETTING US TALKING
TAKE THE REINS: European leaders are ready to assume the leading role in negotiations to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday.
SIDE EYE FOR SMART GLASSES: Europe is ramping up its warnings over the surveillance risks posed by smart glasses, in what is seen as the next big fight over people’s physical privacy.
OCEANIC PREDICAMENT: The EU wants to plug a gaping hole in ocean research left behind by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The trouble is, the bloc has a lot less cash to splash.
DON’T GIVE UP: Five ways U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is trying to show his administration still has gas in the tank.
FINANCIAL CLOUT: Britain’s banks want to muscle in on Starmer’s Brexit “reset” with the EU, with the sector calling for a “genuinely strategic” partnership between the two sides.
RED CARD FOR SOMALI REF: A World Cup referee from Somalia has been denied entry to the U.S., forcing him out of the event just days before the first match.