PM pushes for sculptures’ homecoming
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis raised the long-standing issue of the Parthenon Sculptures during his meeting with UK counterpart Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street on Tuesday.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/culture/1255272/pm-pushes-for-sculptures-homecoming
Androulakis: The time has come for a portion of the benefits for banks to also go to the Greek taxpayer
Main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis, in a post on social media on Tuesday, stated: “Now that the banks have entered a phase of strong profitability, thanks also to ‘Hercules’ programmes, the time has come for a portion of these benefits for the banking system to also go to the Greek taxpayer”.
PM Mitsotakis to meet PASOK leader Androulakis at 12:00
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will have a meeting on Wednesday, at 12:00, with PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis, at the prime minister’s office in Parliament.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/867773/PM-Mitsotakis-to-meet-PASOK-leader-Androulakis-at-1200
Greece-Türkiye Deputy FMs’ joint statement: Meeting held in positive atmosphere
Following their meeting in Athens, the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Greece and Türkiye issued a joint statement as part of the ongoing political dialogue between the two countries. The meeting was held in a positive atmosphere and the two sides reiterated their joint commitment to further exploring areas of bilateral and international cooperation.
ATHEX: Banks keep main index on the rise
Blue chips gained some more ground on Tuesday after the significant rise recorded on Monday, though the start of the session at Athinon Avenue had pointed to another day of major growth for prices, and the mid-cap index ended the day virtually unchanged. The majority of stocks finished the session in the red, but turnover showed some further growth.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1255285/athex-banks-keep-main-index-on-the-rise
KATHIMERINI: The “key-words” regarding the Parthenon marbles
TA NEA: What was agreed regarding the Parthenon marbles
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The government works in favor of banks and rejects taxation of their super-profits
RIZOSPASTIS: Collective Labor Agreements must be restored immediately
KONTRA NEWS: PASOK leader Androulakis will not provide any form of consent to PM Mitsotakis
DIMOKRATIA: “Exikonomo” power saving program for households with subsidies from 50% to 100%
NAFTEMPORIKI: Tough bargain between government-banks
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING 1 — DIDIER REYNDERS INVESTIGATED FOR MONEY-LAUNDERING: Belgian politician Didier Reynders, who was until a few days ago the EU’s justice commissioner, was questioned by police Tuesday over allegations he laundered money for years through the Belgian national lottery, including during his time on the EU stage, Follow the Money and Le Soir reported last night.
Lottogate: The police waited until Reynders’ five-year term as a commissioner ended Saturday, before swooping and raiding his homes, those outlets reported. Reynders did not reply to a request for comment, and nor did his erstwhile spokesperson. An Schoonjans, a magistrate at the prosecutor general’s Brussels office, confirmed there was an investigation but wouldn’t say more.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING 2 — DESANTIS IN, HEGSETH OUT? U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is considering nominating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as defense secretary, my Stateside colleagues report. DeSantis would replace Pete Hegseth, whose prospects for confirmation appear to be dimming amid allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse.
DG MEME BECOMES REALITY: Someone in the Commission thought it would be a great idea to get all the commissioners together to film an Instagram video that shows them silently — and somewhat menacingly — turning in slow-mo to the camera as if they’re starring in a new reality TV show, where 27 strangers with nothing in common are sent to live together in Belgium for five years. Watch it here before it disappears. It’s even better with this as the backing track.
Commissioners’ hobbies: The video reveals that Kaja Kallas is a “total bookworm,” Hadja Lahbib a “passionate dancer,” Dan Jørgensen a “passionate birdwatcher” and Jozef Síkela a “music enthusiast.” The others almost all mention sport, except Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi … who seemingly has no hobbies at all.
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING. This is Eddy Wax.
DRIVING THE DAY
FRENCH GOVERNMENT FACES EXISTENTIAL VOTE: Europe’s new commissioners are holding their very first proper meeting in Brussels today — just as France, the bloc’s second-biggest economy and foremost military power, teeters over a political chasm.
Happening today: Prime Minister Michel Barnier is expected to be ousted in a no-confidence vote after failing to get Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally to sign off on a slimmed-down budget to wrestle France’s finances back in line. The consequences for the EU as a whole are set to be drastic.
Getting barmier for Barnier: Fifty-seven days after becoming PM, the former European commissioner and Brexit negotiator dubbed “Babar” faces almost certain defeat today. If he does go, it would make his government the briefest since 1958, and Barnier the first PM to be ousted since 1962. As he used to say about Brexit, the clock is ticking.
It ticks for thee: Clea Caulcutt has this must-read piece today on the tragedy of a man who made a decent fist of it, but was let down by the stinker of a hand he was dealt.
Babar’s last hurrah? The left-wing bloc in the French parliament has proposed a no-confidence vote this afternoon over Barnier’s plans to cut billions from a proposed budget he said was urgently needed. Barnier looks doomed because the National Rally backs the no-confidence move.
Will Le Pen wield the sword? Some are still desperately clinging to the hope Le Pen is merely flexing and will ultimately change her mind and instruct her MPs to keep Barnier’s government on life support. The PM made a last-ditch attempt to woo the far right on TV last night, asking MPs to “show responsibility.”
Macron jetting in: Emmanuel Macron’s parliamentary allies are trying to hold the vote back until the president returns home from his trip to Saudi Arabia, my colleague Sarah Paillou reports from Paris. Speaking Tuesday, Macron insisted that he didn’t believe the government would collapse — and sought to ease fears that if it did, it would wreak havoc upon the Eurozone because of the scale of France’s debt.
What Le Pen wants: Macron on Tuesday also dismissed calls for him to resign coming from across the political spectrum. But it is precisely that — Macron’s scalp, not just Barnier’s — that Le Pen likely wants, reports Victor Goury-Laffont in this analysis of her motivation.
If Barnier does fall, Macron would have to propose a new prime minister or create a technocratic government — a new election can’t be held until next summer.
Is France the new Bulgaria? I tuned into a radio show this week where French commentators were bemoaning the lack of politicians’ willingness to compromise. Could the French government be heading for a prolonged period of instability and fresh elections, much like Bulgaria (which is about to hold its eighth in four years)?
INSIDE THE BERLAYMONT
BRUSSELS MUSICAL CHAIRS WINNERS AND LOSERS: Governments have spent months haggling to place their nationals in the top cabinet positions in the new College of Commissioners, where they have power to shape new EU laws. But while Italy and Spain are two of the EU’s larger countries, they appear to have pulled the short straws when it comes to securing the coveted head of cabinet and deputy head of cabinet roles in the VDL 2 College.
Number crunch: Out of all 53 names published by Playbook Tuesday, my colleague Hanne Cokelaere and I found just three Italians and one Spaniard.
One theory in town: The Italians “are paying the price for Meloni’s choice [of Raffaele Fitto] and the Spanish are paying the price for Ribera’s difficulties” during her parliamentary hearing, said one European diplomat. While other countries’ diplomats were busy bartering for top Berlaymont real estate, these two were too busy making sure they got through, argued the diplomat.
No surprises here: German and French officials still dominate the top positions. Four commissioners, including President Ursula von der Leyen, have Germans as their heads of Cabinet (the others are Slovakia’s Maroš Šefčovič, Latvia’s Valdis Dombrovskis and Bulgaria’s Ekaterina Zaharieva); five have a German deputy. There’s only one French head of cabinet (for France’s Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné), but a whopping seven commissioners have a French national working as their deputy cabinet head.
Not the full picture: “We are not sure that counting heads of cabinet is an accurate way of measuring the influence,” said a second European diplomat. “Would you say that the number of Germans measures the influence of Chancellor Scholz?” Touché.
FIRST COLLEGE MEETING: Von der Leyen will convene the first meeting of her new College on the 13th floor of the Berlaymont today. It’ll focus on adopting new rules (what a surprise), but mostly ones that will govern the way the commissioners themselves function in coming years. They include measures on transparency, working methods, and who’s responsible for what, as well as formally adopting the rules for staffing Cabinets.
First stop, Parliament: The Commission College will need to agree on a mandate to open formal negotiations with the European Parliament over a new document known as a framework agreement that governs the two institutions’ relationship. The aim is to reach a deal within a few months. The Council is apoplectic about it, as it could see the Parliament snaffling more powers.
COMMISSIONER PECKING ORDER: The Commission has established a hierarchy for who replaces von der Leyen among the senior commissioners when she’s out of office. Ribera is the de-facto first executive vice president, according to what the Commission officially calls a protocol order. Then come Henna Virkkunen, Stéphane Séjourné, Kaja Kallas and Roxana Mînzatu. Fitto’s last.
TASK FORCES ARE SO IN RIGHT NOW: The Commission’s communications wing will create a new task force on “countering information manipulation,” according to a Commission document dated Dec. 1 and seen by Playbook.
WTF, or What Task Force? DG Energy will have a new task force on housing and one on start-ups, the document says. My colleague Giovanna Faggionato already scooped the plans for a task force for implementing the Draghi report on boosting Europe’s competitiveness — though as Mathieu Pollet reports in a story out this morning, EU capitals are pushing back on key Draghi recommendations.
MEA CULPA: It’s Mari Hämälainen who is joining the Cabinet of Home Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner. We got the name wrong in Tuesday’s Playbook.
GREEN DEAL
DEFORESTATION DEAL: The center-right EPP group failed in its efforts to weaken a new anti-deforestation law, after negotiators from different parts of the EU’s machinery reached a political deal last night, my colleague Louise Guillot writes.
You win some: The EPP succeeded in its bid to delay the new law over concerns about its feasibility for businesses. As a result, the rules will be pushed back by one year, and now won’t apply until late 2025.
You lose some: But Manfred Weber’s group failed in its attempt to weaken the text further, after meeting the resistance of EU governments, which blocked further tweaks in the final agreement. The law aims to ensure products like cocoa or coffee sold in the EU haven’t caused deforestation.
UKRAINE
NATO OR NOTHING FOR UKRAINE, SAYS ESTONIA: Western allies need to get over their hangups about bringing Ukraine into NATO and give Kyiv the green light to join, because nothing else will deter Vladimir Putin from carrying on his assault.
That’s the message from Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, who spoke to Playbook’s Nick Vinocur as he prepared to join a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, which continues today. “We need to invite Ukraine into NATO. The only working security guarantee for Ukraine is NATO membership,” he said via Zoom. (That’s Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s assessment, too.)
Putin’s obsession: While diplomats are toying with various “peace proposals” for Ukraine that propose to freeze the conflict (read our compilation here), such plans are pure fiction unless Russia feels it no longer has an upper hand in a battlefield situation that Tsahkna called “complicated” for Kyiv. “The main point is that Putin has not changed his goal of destroying Ukraine. He has said publicly that there is no nation of Ukraine. So we need to focus on changing his goals.”
Waiting for Donald: The minister admitted that “big strategic decisions” on NATO membership were unlikely to come from the NATO gathering. “Everyone is just waiting for Trump.” A quick sense check among officials in Berlin, where Nick wrote this, suggests that Germany isn’t ready to push the button on NATO membership quite yet, and outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden hasn’t shown much inclination either. That’s also the mood music from new NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Big mistake: But Putin has made a serious miscalculation, argued Tsahkna. By bringing North Korean soldiers into his fight against Ukraine, the Russian leader has effectively globalized the conflict and — crucially — caused major alarm among lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Trump’s entourage may be irritated with Europe, but they’ll think twice about emboldening the world’s most aggressive and unpredictable dictatorship.
WAITING FOR BUCHAREST: Meanwhile, this weekend’s Romanian presidential runoff will also be top of mind today. Romania is a serious military power, so the risk that NATO-skeptic, pro-Russia candidate Călin Georgescu will become its president is confounding the alliance, report my colleagues Laura Kayali and Giovanna Coi.
OTHER NEWS
VDL 1, WOLVES 0: Countries across Europe backed a proposal to lower the protection status of wolves, in a major win for farmers who want more freedom to shoot animals that threaten their livestock. It’s also a personal victory for Ursula von der Leyen, whocampaignedto get this proposal through, and whose pet pony Dolly was killed by a wolf in 2022. Louise Guillot has more.
SOUTH KOREA LATEST: An attempt by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to implement martial law fizzled overnight, after he decided to call the whole thing off. The U-turn came after South Korean MPs locked themselves in parliament and voted against the martial law decree, despite attempts by the military to forcefully enter the building, and widespread street protests.
Who’s next? There are now widespread calls for the president to stand down, with South Korean lawmakers preparing to start impeachment proceedings. Major South Korean newspaper the Chosun has an interesting piece on Lee Jae-myung, who is most likely to replace Yoon, and his stance on China. The paper accuses Lee of “kowtowing” to Beijing, after the opposition leader recently said his country should “stop pestering” Chinese President Xi Jinping.