Greece at UN: The security situation in Yemen has reached a critical crossroad
The security situation in Yemen has reached a critical crossroad, Greece’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Aglaia Balta, stressed on Monday.
Mitsotakis: Countries that threaten EU members with war cannot participate in the European defense architecture
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed the EU’s support for the Polish partners who defended the Union’s eastern borders against an open violation of their airspace, after his meeting on Monday with the President of the European Council Antonio Costa.
Assets frozen as EU prosecutor probes Semertzidou in farm subsidy case
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has received a report from Greece’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority concerning alleged misuse of agricultural subsidies by former New Democracy official Kalliopi Semertzidou, her partner and family members. According to sources, the assets of four individuals, worth at least 1.5 million euros, have been frozen, funds that investigators say were not used for the productive and developmental purposes for which they were granted.
Former protected witnesses in Novartis case convicted
In a final chapter for the high-profile Novartis scandal, two former protected witnesses were convicted on charges of false testimony and libel. The court’s decision marks a significant moment for the judicial system, with many political figures calling for the exposure of those behind the conspiracy.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1280926/former-protected-witnesses-in-novartis-case-convicted
ATHEX: Traders wait for central bank verdicts
Traders on the Greek stock market appeared quite reserved at the start of a week that will bring interest rate decisions from several central banks around the world. The week’s first session at Athinon Avenue painted a mixed picture, with the benchmark and blue chips yielding some ground, the losing stocks outnumbering the gainers by the smallest of margins and mid-caps posting minor gains.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1280943/athex-traders-wait-for-central-bank-verdicts
KATHIMERINI: Ankara’s messages through the NAVTEX for the Piri Reis exploration vessel
TA NEA: Self-written wills: 6 keys to being legitimate
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Tempe fatal rail crash: The express of the cover-up
RIZOSPASTIS: Immediate response to the whitewashing ruling for the Nazi party Golden Dawn
KONTRA NEWS: OPEKEPE scandal: 11 real estate assets, Porsche and Ferrari cars confiscated
DIMOKRATIA: Ruling party’s endless corruption
NAFTEMPORIKI: Investments using the development law under scrutiny
DRIVING THE DAY: SQUEEZING RUSSIA
BREAKING — 19TH SANCTIONS PACKAGE TIMING SLIPS: The next sanctions package against Russia — the 19th since Moscow began its war against Ukraine — is no longer expected to be presented on Wednesday, an EU diplomat and a national official told my colleague Camille Gijs. It’s fallen off the Coreper II agenda as U.S. President Donald Trump and the EU’s own pressure build on Slovakia and Hungary to cut their reliance on Russian oil (more below).
Indefinite delay: The information was communicated to capitals late Monday afternoon, with no details on when the sanctions would be unveiled. A spokesperson for the European Commission declined to comment.
TRUMP-SIZED SHADOW OVER ENERGY DELIBERATIONS: Meanwhile, EU energy diplomats meet today to discuss the latest changes to Brussels’ proposed ban on Russian gas as they race to finalize an agreement, Victor Jack writes in to report.
Trump effect: The Commission unveiled a bold legal proposal in July aiming to fully end EU reliance on Russian energy by 2027. Over the weekend Trump weighed in, ordering NATO allies to stop importing oil from Russia, after his energy envoy Chris Wright called on the EU to accelerate its phaseout date.
No excuse now: Trump’s demands offer extra leverage to push Hungary and Slovakia to cut their reliance on Moscow. But even if some countries see the additional pressure as good for focusing minds on the current proposal, the bloc is unlikely to shift its phaseout date earlier than 2027, according to two EU diplomats, nor add a formal oil ban to the bill.
THIS IS WHERE THE CYNICISM REALLY SETS IN: If Trump wants EU countries to stop buying Russian oil, all he’s gotta do is pick up the phone and dial Slovakia’s Robert Fico and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, reasoned one diplomat. “These are his friends,” the diplomat said, “he could just call them.” Plus, Trump’s ultimatum requires a huge change in policy from Turkey, which imports 57 percent of its oil from Russia — not gonna happen.
Suspected ulterior motive 1: In practice, “this looks more like a stunt than a good-faith offer from Trump — he has dodged confrontation with Putin at every turn,” said Noah Barkin, a senior fellow at German Marshall Fund.
Suspected ulterior motive 2: It also looks like a ploy to get EU countries buying more U.S. oil and gas at a time when a new wave of LNG is set to flood global markets from next year and the U.S. industry is laying off thousands of workers due to tumbling crude prices.
IF THESE GOALS SEEM HARD … Trump’s other ask for Europe — slapping 50 to 100 percent tariffs on China — received a rating of “forget about it” in this point-by-point of each of his demands, by Gabriel Gavin, Victor Jack, Antonia Zimmermann and Camille Gijs.
TRUMP AND EUROPE, TALKING PAST EACH OTHER
SHOT: King Charles will warn Trump about the fate of the planet. Trump probably won’t listen.
CHASER: Trump lieutenants tell Europe to stop worrying about climate change.
PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: POLAND’S PRESIDENT
NATO “PASSED ITS TEST”: Everything went great the day a bunch of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace, President Karol Nawrocki told Paul Ronzheimer of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, of which POLITICO is a member.
Sure, expensive NATO fighter jets were only able to shoot down three of the at least 19 relatively cheap Russian drones. But Nawrocki on Monday said the alliance was able to “send a clear signal to the Russian Federation that we are prepared.” He added that he’s confident “there will be no more such attacks on the territory of the North Atlantic alliance.”
It’s all good: “I think that NATO passed its test on Sept. 10,” Nawrocki said. “The response was decisive, the drones were intercepted and posed no direct threat, and thankfully they did not kill any Polish citizens or Polish soldiers.”
OK, there is some room for improvement: As other NATO members scrambled jets to help, the drone incursion showed that alliance solidarity is solid. But Nawrocki did acknowledge the need to develop “anti-drone infrastructure.”
What about Trump? Nawrocki, a right-wing populist embraced by Trump, said he had successfully overcome the U.S. president’s initial skepticism that the drone incursion was intentional. No one, he insisted, now has any doubt it was a deliberate attack orchestrated by Moscow. He continued to express hope that Trump would successfully end the war: “Who and what, if not President Donald Trump, will lead to peace in the world? We see that there are no alternatives to such negotiations for the free world.”
KREMLIN SEES NATO “AT WAR”: Citing direct and indirect support for Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday claimed NATO is “de-facto taking part in this war,” per Russian news agency TASS.
WARSAW’S BEEF WITH BERLIN: Nawrocki studiously avoided criticizing Budapest or Bratislava, even as Paul repeatedly brought up their refusal to divest from Russian fuel. Instead, Nawrocki said only that “all countries that want peace and freedom should refrain from subsidizing the Russian Federation.” But he didn’t hesitate to point the finger at Germany, criticizing the country’s purchases of Russian LNG and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Meeting Merz: Nawrocki will get the chance to make these points directly to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as he also makes the case for World War II reparations in Berlin today. More from Nette Nöstlinger, Wojciech Kość and James Angelos.
ISRAEL-GAZA DECISION TIME
Listed in order of consequence, and in reverse order of controversy …
STATEHOOD: Luxembourg intends to recognize the state of Palestine at the U.N. General Assembly later this month, Prime Minister Luc Frieden said Monday. Read more.
SONG CONTEST: Today, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE will formally propose Spain boycott Eurovision if Israel is allowed to participate in May, national media reports. It would be the first of the so-called Big 5 top economic supporters of European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the song contest, to make such an ultimatum.
SYMPHONY: A planned concert in Belgium featuring Israeli conductor Lahav Shani appears to be definitively canceled after the board of the Flanders Festival met Monday evening without reversing its decision, per Belgian daily De Standaard.
The intrigue now surrounds Flanders Festival board member Christoph D’Haese, who as the Flemish nationalist mayor of Aalst knows a thing or two about facing accusations of antisemitism. Amid criticism from N-VA Prime Minister Bart De Wever, D’Haese says the concert never should have been canceled and threatened to quit the board. But the initial decision was made unanimously, De Standaard reports, and records show D’Haese was present.
OUTSIDE BRUSSELS
SPOTTED AT THE WHITE HOUSE: Beatrix von Storch, deputy leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, along with Joachim Paul, the AfD mayoral candidate in Ludwigshafen who was excluded from the election over doubts about his loyalty to the constitution. More details.
SPOTTED IN ROME: European President António Costa dining at Hostaria Da Pietro — “a casual trattoria that draws high-profile guests,” as one luxury travel agency aptly put it — on Monday evening after meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
IN OTHER NEWS
MERZ’S EMOTIONAL MOMENT: Friedrich Merz spoke through tears about the Holocaust and its “industrialized genocide” during a reopening ceremony for a synagogue in Munich, Hans von der Burchard reports. Merz recalled the words of Rachel Salamander, a daughter of survivors who grew up in a “displaced persons camp.” In one of her books, she wrote that as a child she had often asked whether no one had helped the Jews. It was horrifying, the Christian Democrat leader said, to realize that the vast majority did not.
Of growing antisemitism, Merz said: “I would like to tell you how ashamed I am of this: as chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, but also as a German, as a child of the post-war generation, as a child who grew up with ‘never again’ as a mission, as a duty, as a promise.” Merz promised that the federal government would do everything in its power to ensure that Jews throughout Germany could live without fear.
CZECH RUCTIONS OVER UKRAINE AID: Czech election front-runner Andrej Babiš from the ANO party has slammed Prague’s successful effort to source over a million artillery shells for Ukraine, Csongor Körömi reports.