Mitsotakis to announce presidential nominee to Sakellaropoulou on Wednesday
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to meet with President Katerina Sakellaropoulou at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday to inform her of the individual he intends to nominate for the Greek presidency
Mitsotakis calls on European Commission to move faster to reduce energy prices
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has written to Ursula Von der Leyen to request that the European Commission consider new ways to bring down gas and electricity prices.
PASOK tables proposal on pricing of private health insurance contracts
PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) tabled in Parliament a proposal on the price hikes for private health insurance contracts on Tuesday. In statements ahead of the action, party leader Nikos Androulakis accused the government of allowing “excessive increases in health insurance” and said the price hikes affected over 1 million Greek citizens.
Issuing of 10-year bond successful; 3.6% interest rate, lower than expected
The bidding book for the new 10-year bond auction closed earlier on Tuesday. As announced by the Public Debt Management Agency, the Greek government hopes with this issue to eventually raise 4 billion euros at a lower interest rate than originally expected, namely with a margin of 102 basis points (1.02%) over the interbank market rate. Consequently, the fixed borrowing rate for the Greek state (coupon of the bond) is set at the level of 3.6 %. The amount of bids submitted for the new 10-year bond was indicative of investors’ high interest, exceeding 42.5 billion euros.
ATHEX: Index takes a step higher on Tuesday
The Greek stock market had a positive day from start to finish on Tuesday, with the benchmark recovering some of the ground it had lost on Monday. The selective moves by traders, targeting bank stocks and other important blue chips such as Titan Cement and OPAP, brought the main index of Athinon Avenue closer to the 1,500-point mark, showing some stability in the face of global market volatility. The huge amount of cash committed for bids to the new 10-year sovereign bond did not diminish the bourse’s turnover.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1258624/athex-index-takes-a-step-higher-on-tuesday
KATHIMERINI: Price hikes of up to 15% for ferry tickets
TA NEA: Independent Authority for Public Revenue targets undeclared square meters of real estate assets
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The relations between crime rings
RIZOSPASTIS: Greek Communist Party submits parliamentary question regarding flood protection asking for checks on infrastructure
KONTRA NEWS: Turkey challenges the status quo of the Dodecanese
DIMOKRATIA: The mother’s curse against Parliament President Konstantinos Tassoulas
NAFTEMPORIKI: Alternative routes for green shipping
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CEASE-FIRE UPDATE: Hamas accepted the terms of a draft agreement for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages, two officials involved in the talks told the Associated Press overnight. An Israeli official told AP there had been progress but it was not yet a done deal. The news agency also obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, which you can read here.
All down to Trump: “The only reason that right now we’re on the verge of signing a hostage deal is because of the American pressure put on by Trump,” said Yotam Cohen, the brother of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier and hostage held in Gaza. Yotam blamed Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for not agreeing to a cease-fire and hostage deal sooner.
Pressure in Brussels: Several family members of hostages met reporters in Brussels Tuesday, after speaking with EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas. The expectation that a deal could soon be done was palpable. “I don’t trust now the deal, I don’t trust nothing until I see the first hostage released, and indeed we need Europe to start to be more active in our area,” said Gilad Korngold, whose son Tal Shoham was kidnapped by Hamas.
Information vacuum: The family members — among them Udi Goren, who wants to get his murdered cousin Tal Haimi’s body back from Gaza — said they had had no information about their relatives, not even through international aid organizations like the Red Cross.
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING. Eddy Wax here. I’m about to take off to Warsaw along with a bunch of other European journalists on a trip organized by the Polish presidency. A warning that I might not be totally coherent when I report back in Thursday’s edition: we’ve been promised vodka.
DRIVING THE DAY: HYPER-CENTRALIZATION
TWO VIEWS ON VDL: The revelation that Ursula von der Leyen ran the European Union from a hospital bed for seven days is stoking questions about the extent to which the center-right German politician has centralized control of the Commission since 2019. Today, the first College meeting of 2025 takes place — without her.
Ironically, the main discussion will be about hospitals.
The big question: Does von der Leyen’s increased command over the levers of power in the Berlaymont make the EU a more agile beast, or does it slow things down?
Real-world consequences of a headless EU: After deafening silence from Brussels while Trump flirted with the idea of seizing Greenland and Elon Musk ran roughshod over the EU’s burgeoning tech laws — Brussels “was a doormat,” in the words of one dismayed French politician — now a proposal for a “competitiveness compass” has been shunted to the end of the month.
If you’re just tuning in: The Commission Tuesday refused to apologize to reporters for hiding the fact that von der Leyen spent the week starting Jan. 2 in hospital with severe pneumonia. During that period, she did not hand over the reins to her No. 2, Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribera.
Royal fumble: “My first thought was even Buckingham Palace nowadays admits illnesses and hospitalization,” senior German Social Democrat MEP Gabriele Bischoff told Playbook last night. “Why do you have executive VPs if you don’t trust them to take over usual business in times like [the] first week in January, where many [are] still on holiday?”
Von der Leyen seems to want to “run the Commission as a one-woman show,” Bischoff added.
Taking stock: As von der Leyen recuperates before a big week in Davos and Strasbourg, we can look back at a record of transparency and governance that so far includes … getting sued by the New York Times in the “Pfizergate” case, which brought criticism of von der Leyen for not revealing text messages to the boss of Pfizer while negotiating contracts worth billions of euros … being blasted by the last EU Ombudsman (along with her “powerful consiglieri”) for creating a non-transparent culture … raising the watchdog’s eyebrows over the handling of a request for documents relating to a holiday at the Greek PM’s home in Crete … and removing lower-level staffers from the EU’s online public directory, making faceless bureaucrats also nameless …
Wait, there’s more … Von der Leyen has given few one-on-one interviews with major media outlets … typically does very short press conferences … was forced into a climbdown after picking an ally for a cushy business job … was accused of politicizing the rule of law in Italy by burying a report … has left many in Parliament smarting from being kept in the dark … was accused by former commissioners of “questionable governance” and lacking “collegiality” … and imposed a new internal structure on the Commission that was widely seen as a power grab …
Hi, it’s Ursula: One example of von der Leyen in operation that Playbook has heard more than once is that she tends to speak directly to directors-general in the Commission rather than going through the relevant commissioners.
ALTERNATIVE VIEW … THIS IS JUST LEADERSHIP: The counterargument to those accusing von der Leyen of a top-heavy, unaccountable approach is that — more than most presidents — she has steered the EU through major geopolitical crises (Covid-19, the war in Ukraine) and has raised the bloc’s prominence in the process.
Don’t take it from me: I asked former Commissioner Věra Jourová whether she thought the Berlaymont was too centralized. “There were topics where I felt it is centralized,” she said, but added that she understood strong central leadership was necessary at times of crisis. “I never felt that my voice is not heard by Ursula or by the colleagues.”
The president’s team was keen to point out to Playbook that teamwork is one of her key values. “The von der Leyen Commission has always put collegiality and cooperation between commissioners and services at the heart of the Commission’s working methods,” said her deputy spokesperson Stefan De Keersmaecker. “All commissioners are equal and have equal responsibilities to deliver on the priorities of the von der Leyen Commission.”
USA VS. DSA
IS THE EU ENTERING ERA OF “DIGITAL APPEASEMENT”? Former Commissioner Jourová warned her ex-colleagues in the Berlaymont not to go soft on their digital laws, after reports suggested Brussels was rethinking ongoing investigations into big U.S. tech platforms ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.
“Please enforce all the rules in full,” Jourová said in a speech opening the Maison du MédiaLab, a program for Eastern European journalists, in Brussels. “I would not really like to see any kind of digital appeasement.”
The sound of silence: “I can imagine under the circumstances the need to keep as strong as possible bonds with the United States,” Jourová mused to Playbook. “Maybe the silence has some deeper meaning. But the silence sometimes could be read as weakness. And we are strong because we have democratically elected rules which need to be enforced.”
It helps to be an X: Her comments follow a pattern — among the strongest voices on how the EU should react are former commissioners. “The EU seems to have lost its voice,” Nicolas Schmit wrote online this week, saying the Commission “remains silent” while its mission to protect member countries is attacked.
Look who’s also talking: Meanwhile, former EU digital czar Thierry Breton has made at least 10 public statements — eight on TV, per Playbook’s count — in the past month alone. In his latest, Breton told the regional French publication Ouest-France that the DSA is “everything except censorship” and that claiming the EU is tamping down on free speech is “an enormous piece of fake news.” Musk’s reply: “Groan.”
PARLIAMENT QUIBBLES OVER “MUSK”: The Parliament’s political group leaders meet today at 5 p.m. to settle on the framing of a plenary debate about Musk, X and compliance with the DSA, my colleagues Max Griera and Pieter Haeck report. A majority of groups support holding a debate but the bone of contention is whether to include “Musk” in the title.
Henna in the house: The Commission’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen will join the huddle, too. It will be a homecoming of sorts for her head of cabinet, Antti Timonen, who was until recently a spokesperson for Parliament President Roberta Metsola. Virkkunen is under increasing pressure from MEPs to speak up firmer and louder about Musk. “We cannot work like this,” Renew President Valérie Hayer told reporters about the Commission’s communication last week.
Give ‘em Hell-sinki: Since Friday, Virkkunen has been doing the media rounds, breaking the ice. She spoke first to POLITICO, and has faced TV crews at the Finnish broadcaster Yle and Bloomberg. Is it cutting through?
The 40 Musk-eteers: For some MEPs, a debate is not enough. They want the man himself. Greek ECR lawmaker Emmanouil Fragkos told Max he would send a letter to Metsola, signed by 40 MEPs, urging her to summon Musk to speak in plenary. Fragkos’ letter said Musk’s business insights “could make the EU a hub of creativity and technological advancement.” The signatories are mostly from the right-wing Europe of Sovereign Nations, Patriots for Europe and European Conservatives and Reformists, although Romanian Socialists and Democrats lawmaker Maria Grapini and Slovenian European People’s Party MEP Branko Grims also signed, Max reports.
Musk has other plans: Musk and fellow tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will compete for Trump’s attention by attending his presidential inauguration ceremony in Washington next week. NBC News reports the trio will sit in a prominent spot with Trump’s cabinet nominees, underscoring how quickly and drastically the political wind in Silicon Valley has changed since the November election.
In a final salvo from the Biden administration, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hit Musk with a lawsuit this morning over an alleged failure to correctly disclose his purchase of Twitter stock in 2022.
METSOLA JOINS BLUESKY: The presidents of all three main EU institutions are now on the social media platform that is seeking to cast itself as an alternative to Musk’s X. Metsola’s account is here.
EU-CHINA
EXCLUSIVE — CHINESE ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN SET TO HIT EUROPE: Weak consumer demand and spiraling debt are dampening China’s economy and setting its citizens on edge. More than 75 percent of respondents to a survey from German think tank MERICS said economic stress would make public dissent or protests a likely event this year.
Hawks will be hawks: That economic malaise is increasing pressure on Chinese companies to dump their goods elsewhere, and French Prime Minister François Bayrou is having none of it. “This month, China’s trade surplus has just passed the milestone of — get this — a trillion dollars … This is a strategy that has been planned for 10 years, whose aim, consequence and purpose is purely and simply to replace our industry,” Bayrou said Tuesday in his first major policy speech.
Unreliable narrator: The new prime minister, who took over after Michel Barnier was toppled in a parliamentary vote in December, also said France could no longer rely on Washington to push China to respect the global trade rulebook. The U.S. “has chosen, by other means, the same policy of power and domination.” Giorgio Leali has more.
Look the other way: EU-China relations turned frostier following the Commission’s decision to slap new duties on made-in-China EVs following an anti-subsidy investigation. Yet for all the EU’s talk of wanting to decouple, the vast majority of China experts cited by MERICS expect Chinese foreign direct investments in Europe’s EV sector to increase.
Gentle, gentle: Don’t expect Council President António Costa to take Bayrou’s approach in curbing the practice. During a phone call on Tuesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Costa chose a softer approach, praising “mutual commitment to a rules-based international order and to multilateralism” and agreed that the EU and China working together would be a “positive signal for world peace, stability and prosperity,” according to the EU official cited above.
Xi called for a “mutually beneficial resolution of the dispute on electric vehicles,” the EU official added. The two can pick up the conversation at the EU-China summit that will likely be held in early May. MERICS will be discussing the survey and the future of EU-China policy at a panel moderated by POLITICO’s Jordyn Dahl today.
IN OTHER NEWS
MALAY TALKS BACK ON? The EU and Malaysia are close to reopening trade negotiations. POLITICO’s Camille Gijs and Koen Verhelst got the scoop.
ALONE IN FEARING TRUMP: Europeans are much more pessimistic about Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency than the rest of the world, according to research by the European Council on Foreign Relations. A poll of more than 28,000 people found that respondents in countries such as India, China, Turkey and Brazil are upbeat about his potential impact.
Silver lining: The rest of the world regards Europe as more powerful than Europeans themselves do, and reckons the EU can compete with the U.S. and China, the poll found.
MERZ PUTS ECONOMY FIRST: Friedrich Merz , Germany’s likely next chancellor, has vowed to put the economy ahead of tackling climate change. More here.
KICKL THE CAN: Austrian far-right politician Herbert Kickl’s likely rise to power ends a firewall that has kept populist politicians at bay in EU countries for decades. My POLITICO colleague consider the implications in this morning’s big read.
NEW IRISH GOVERNMENT: Ireland’s Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael reached an agreement with the conservative Regional Independent Group to form the next government in Dublin. Micheál Martin is expected to become taoiseach. My colleague Shawn Pogatchnik has a rundown.
SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT ARRESTED: South Korean investigators have detained impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, after failing to do so several times this month. Yoon, who had a short-lived attempt at declaring martial law last month, said he would cooperate with the investigations to avoid “bloodshed.” The BBC has a live blog.