PM Mitsotakis in Washington: The use of ‘North Macedonia’ name erga omnes is non-negotiable
The use of the constitutional name of the Republic of North Macedonia erga omnes – for all uses – is fundamental in the Prespa Agreement with the neighboring state and is non-negotiable, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a discussion with former ambassador to Greece Daniel Speckhard.
Mitsotakis, Erdogan to meet in Washington
Although a meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not on the agenda, the Greek and Turkish missions at the NATO Summit in Washington have been in constant contact so that it can take place on Wednesday.
Former PM Samaras requests that identity of protected witnesses in Novartis case be revealed
Former Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has submitted an official request to the Financial Crimes Prosecutor, based on an article of law passed in 2024, asking that the true identities of two protected witnesses who testified against him in the Novartis case be revealed.
Prolonged heatwave and dry conditions expected in Greece in July
A prolonged period of very high temperatures and the absence of noteworthy rainfall are expected this July, the National Observatory of Athens/meteo.gr said on Tuesday. A characteristic feature of the next few days will be that the maximum daily temperature will exceed 38 to 40 degrees Celsius in many regions of Greece daily, reaching levels 6 to 8 degrees Celsius above the normal values for the season.
Greece’s annual inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.3%, ELSTAT reports
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in June 2024 compared with June 2023 increased by 2.3%, according to a report by the independent statistical agency ELSTAT released on Tuesday. In June 2023, the annual rate of change of the CPI was 1.8%. The CPI in June 2024 compared with May 2024 increased by 0.5%. In June 2023, the monthly rate of change of the CPI was 0.6%, the report added.
ATHEX: Stock index rises for fifth straight day
Tuesday’s mixed session on the bourse showed a lack of clear direction in the market, with banks heading lower, mid-caps closing higher and the benchmark as well as the blue chip index ending up practically unchanged. That sufficed to make it five days in a row for the benchmark’s growth, a performance not seen in three months at Athinon Avenue.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1243585/athex-stock-index-rises-for-fifth-straight-day
KATHIMERINI: Desperate actions to cover the gaps in the NHS
TA NEA: Health Ministry: Conflict ahead – Justice Ministry: Agreement ahead
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Huge fiasco regarding tax declarations
RIZOSPASTIS: NATO Summit: Hot agenda brings peoples closer to a general massacre
KONTRA NEWS: Erdogan’s initiatives for the international recognition of the pseudo-state in northern Cyprus
DIMOKRATIA: Blind date between Mitsotakis and Erdogan
NAFTEMPORIKI: Three gifts for punctual taxpayers
HOWDY. Welcome to Wednesday’s Brussels Playbook, where we’ll start by revisiting an item from our previous edition. Our observation about a bus-riding MEP prompted several to write in with this baffled question: Do MEPs have the right to a driver?
Indeed, they can request a lift from the Parliament’s fleet of 32 cars, which includes, as of 2020, 11 BMWs, 11 Mercedes and a Jaguar. Another 145 vehicles were leased. (H/t Aitor Hernández-Morales.)
Eddy Wax is in the Playbook driver’s seat on Thursday and Friday.
DRIVING THE DAY: BUDAPEST BLUES
THE EASY RESPONSE TO ORBÁN? JUST LEAN OUT: In Europe’s capitals, two schools of thought are emerging on how to deal with Hungary’s rogue Council presidency: Quiet quitting vs. overachieving.
THE QUIET QUITTERS are essentially delegators. Don’t send a political bigwig to Budapest for Council discussions. Send a faceless bureaucrat. That was the approach on display Tuesday, when only seven countries (plus Hungary) sent their industry ministers to Hungary’s first Council meeting, on Chinese EV tariffs.
Sending their regrets: Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, usually ubiquitous, opted out, with the Commission represented instead by a top civil servant. Germany swapped Sven Giegold, its state secretary for economic affairs, with a lower-ranking official at the last minute. France only sent the director of its European department. And Lithuania snubbed the hosts by sending its ambassador based in Budapest.
“This is the Hungary effect,” one national EU official told Koen Verhelst, who was on the ground in Budapest. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s trips to Moscow and Beijing “certainly play a role,” the official added. “The Commission’s not going to do his marketing for him.” More from Koen for Trade Pros.
Setting a precedent: Diplomats preparing for today’s meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels liked what they saw. The idea of a “boycott” of informal Council meetings (the negotiations that take place in the presidency’s country, instead of Brussels) is “gaining traction,” said one EU diplomat. “The low turnout at the Competitiveness Council was probably just the beginning.”
Or not: European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra is planning to attend the informal meeting of environment ministers taking place today and tomorrow, his team told POLITICO’s Zia Weise.
THE OVERACHIEVERS are looking for a more dramatic confrontation, boldly and creatively wielding the force of the Treaties to shut Orbán down.
Laying the groundwork: Most member countries have signed on to a Polish demand for a discussion about the legality of Orbán’s “peace mission.” They want the legal service to weigh in on the role of the Council presidency on external relations, and more details on the call for “sincere cooperation” in the Treaties, as one diplomat described the situation to Barbara Moens.
Pessimism: Ultimately, scenarios like starting the Polish presidency early don’t seem likely. “The other EU foreign ministers should now make it clear in a joint statement that Orbán does not speak for them,” Luxembourg’s long-standing former Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told my colleague Jakob Hanke Vela. Echoing what we’ve heard privately from current EU diplomats, Asselborn argued that attempts to shorten the Hungarian presidency would fail. “The ECJ would rule against that, and other countries would fear creating a precedent,” he said.
Civil society assist: NGOs are definitely in the Overachievers camp. Alberto Alemanno, The Good Lobby founder and longtime agitator for curtailing the Hungarian presidency, filed a complaint with the Council’s secretariat and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell late Tuesday. It asks them to “put an end to these ongoing violations” by the Hungarian presidency. However, Alemanno didn’t have a clear answer when we asked what, concretely, the likes of Council Secretary-General Thérèse Blanchet are supposed to do to stop Orbán from jetting off to geopolitical hotspots.
BUDAPEST’S REBUTTAL
WHAT ORBÁN WILL LIKELY TELL AMBOS: Orbán is likely to push his version of a Russia reality check on EU ambassadors during a debrief on his “peace mission,” also added to the Coreper agenda. “The Russian side estimates the monthly losses and casualties of the Ukrainian forces at 40-50 thousand soldiers,” he said in a letter to Council President Charles Michel, viewed by POLITICO, before pressing the case for an immediate cease-fire. Csongor Körömi and Barbara Moens have the key points — and context Orbán left out — here.
DROPPING THE APOLITICAL PRETENSE: In the runup to the presidency, Orbán’s emissaries sent mixed signals about the approach they’d take. At this point, they’ve pretty much dropped the pretense that they’ll be a neutral referee on EU debates.
“Good start” is how Hungary’s EU Affairs Minister János Bóka characterized the first nine days, adding that it’s been “very political and very active from the beginning.” Speaking at the summer reception of the Fidesz-linked Foundation for a Civic Hungary, Bóka said the presidency would “represent the voice of those who want to change and keep alive the hope of change for the next institutional cycle.” (Scroll down to see more on who was there, including members of the newly formed Patriots for Europe group.)
“Buckle up because the Hungarian presidency is coming,” Bóka concluded. He’s set to take reporters’ questions at a Brussels press conference today.
NATO AND UKRAINE
BIDEN’S BIG DAY AT NATO SUMMIT: U.S. President Joe Biden is in the spotlight today as he leads a three-hour meeting of NATO leaders in Washington. His health continues to be a top political issue in the U.S., even though he’s refusing to step aside after his disastrous performance in the debate against Donald Trump.
With the eyes of the world on him, Biden delivered a forceful speech on Tuesday night to kick off three days of meetings in the U.S. capital. Hoping to extinguish doubts about his fitness for the job domestically and demonstrate that he can still rally allies to Ukraine’s cause for the long haul, the president spoke clearly and appeared energized, my colleagues Alexander Ward and Myah Ward reported. “Ukraine can and will stop Putin,” Biden said at the ornate Mellon Auditorium, where the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949. “Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail.”
ZELENSKYY DODGES ON TRUMP: Ukraine’s President is also in Washington for the summit, where he was inevitably asked for a view on the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House. But Zelenskyy was diplomatic, saying he’s had good conversations with the former president in the past and is optimistic he would have them again if Trump is reelected.
The Ukrainian leader implored the U.S. — and the rest of the world — not to wait for the outcome of the presidential election to take decisive action to resist the Russian invasion. “It’s time to step out of the shadows to make strong decisions to act and not wait for November.”
MAR-A-NATO: European leaders are hedging their bets. As POLITICO’s Miles Herszenhorn reports, Baltic defense ministers “made a forceful case for the NATO alliance that was conspicuously Trump-friendly” at a POLITICO panel on Sunday. The FT notes that EU delegations are sneaking meetings with Trump advisers on the side. And Polish President Andrzej Duda told POLITICO in an interview he’s happy to work with whoever American voters choose as president — as long as that person shares his goals of securing Europe from Russia.
MAKING EUROPE DEFEND AGAIN: The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell touted the Union’s progress on defense and emphasized its commitment to Ukraine during a speech on Tuesday at an EU Defense Night event, Miles writes in to report. “We know, we are fully aware, we are convinced that we have to improve the capacity of our armies, of our defense in order to be able to defend ourselves,” Borrell said. “Not as an alternative to NATO — there is not an alternative to NATO for the territorial defense of Europe — but to make NATO stronger and share the burden.”
KEEP MINCING THE WORDS: Negotiations for the leaders’ declaration remain open ahead of expected publication on Thursday, according to the French Ambassador to NATO Muriel Domenach. “As is always the case, deputies re-read the text until the last moment,” Domenach said in reply to my colleague Stuart Lau on X, adding: “Absolutely no worries.”
NEW NATO COMMAND IN GERMANY: White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the alliance will create a new command that would help train and bolster Ukraine’s armed forces. It’ll be based in Germany and led by a three-star general.
Boosting links to Kyiv: Sullivan also announced that 20 countries and the U.S. would join a new “Ukraine compact.” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, he added, would appoint a new NATO military representative to Kyiv to bolster the ties between Ukraine and the alliance.
New air defenses: The U.S., the Netherlands, Italy, Romania and Germany said overnight that they’ll each chip in a new strategic air defense system for Ukraine.
Countermoves: The Wall Street Journal has a detailed report on how Moscow is learning to defeat precision munitions in Ukraine.
LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR? Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis didn’t sound especially impressed with what NATO could deliver for Ukraine at this summit, Stuart writes in to report. “Allies really want to stick to a consensus, avoid any political battle when it comes to negotiations, and bring what you could call a clean text that has a bar [that’s] lower, but where everyone finds an agreement … [and] some level of comfort,” Landsbergis told the Hudson Institute Tuesday.
UKRAINE THREAT SPILLS OVER: American military bases around Europe were placed on heightened alert last week after intelligence reports suggested Russian actors were plotting sabotage, CNN reports. It’s part of a pattern of fires and explosions in recent months that authorities linked to Moscow in Riga, London, Warsaw, Prague and Paris.
TURKEY PLAYS LAST-MINUTE GAMES: According to a NATO diplomat, Turkey made a “rare” last-minute intervention as allies prepare to seal the declaration, Stuart also wrote in to report. A few hours before Playbook went to pixel, Turkish diplomats suggested that the 2026 summit take place in Turkey and that NATO provide additional air defense for the easternmost country in the alliance, the diplomat said.
Turkey’s careful balancing act: Ankara is friends with Russia, supplies weapons to Ukraine, and is wary of the EU playing a greater role in defense, Elçin Poyrazlar reports.
POLITICAL FAMILIES
POLITICAL GROUPS DIVIDE UP VICE PRESIDENCIES: The political families in the European Parliament have doled out the 14 vice presidencies, which give MEPs prestige and a big say on how the institution is run. Playbook’s Eddy Wax has this dispatch …
Share of the spoils: According to two people familiar with the negotiations, the European People’s Party group should get the presidency (the incumbent Roberta Metsola is so far the sole candidate), plus three vice presidents. The Socialists and Democrats are in line for four vice presidencies. Renew Europe and the European Conservatives and Reformists would get two, and the Greens and Left groups would get one each. The Patriots are also entitled to a vice president, but centrist groups will likely block them by proposing another candidate from one of their groups. The vote is next Tuesday.
What Wilmès wants: Ex-Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès aims to be one of Renew’s veeps, Le Soir reports.
ANOTHER FAR-RIGHT GROUP? Yet another far-right political grouping could today be launched in the European Parliament, as the “Europe of Sovereign Nations” — which will probably be known as the Sovereignists — takes shape. Around half the group’s MEPs will be from the Alternative for Germany party, though probably without Maximilian Krah, its scandal-prone lead candidate.
Czech mates: Our reporter Ketrin Jochecová reported that a far-right Czech party has already announced the group will be founded today — despite giving few details. Some parties, like Poland’s Confederation and the sole French Reconquest party MEP, were on the fence Tuesday. A meeting to launch the is tentatively scheduled at 6 p.m. Playbook bumped into AfD MEP Christine Anderson huddling from the torrential rain at Beer Factory on Place du Luxembourg, and she said they have the numbers.
URSULA 2024
SOCIALISTS QUIZ VDL: The S&D group spent three hours questioning Ursula von der Leyen in Parliament Tuesday evening, Eddy writes in to report. The vote on her second term is tentatively scheduled for Thursday next week.
Positive vibes: MEPs leaving the meeting were hesitant to say whether she had got their votes, though a few intimated it was a yes. One gave von der Leyen an 8 out of 10 grade. In general, the feeling was that she had performed well. Von der Leyen faced questions on topics dear to the Socialists’ hearts including housing, labor rights, the Green Deal, cohesion, media freedom, collective bargaining and blocking the far right in the Parliament. Spanish MEP Hana Jalloul said she wanted to hear more on foreign affairs but praised von der Leyen, saying she didn’t dodge questions.
No firewall against ECR: According to three people in the room, von der Leyen said that the new Patriots for Europe grouping will be covered — as expected — by a cordon sanitaire but the ECR won’t be. She won’t negotiate with the ECR to get their votes, she said, but she will meet them. That will happen at an unspecified date in the coming week.
Home run: The Socialists’ President Iratxe García called on von der Leyen to create a commissioner for housing in a tweet posted during the meeting, something VDL said she’d be open to, according to two participants.
Mixed opinions: Has she got the vote of the French Socialists, widely perceived as one of the most critical delegations inside the S&D? “We are open to all possibilities,” said French MEP Christophe Clergeau. The delegation would meet today to debrief. “We haven’t had all the answers for the moment tonight,” he added.
Priorities: Many Spanish MEPs were seen leaving before the meeting ended. After all, Spain vs. France was starting at 9 p.m.
Greens up next: Von der Leyen will have to walk an even finer line today, as she meets with the Parliament’s Greens in a bid to expand her coalition. Her meeting with The Left is slated for Monday.
NOW READ THIS: Will the secret ballot help von der Leyen’s prospects, or hurt them? POLITICO considers the different scenarios.
RECOUNTS AND LAWSUITS
RECOUNT FOR CZECH SEAT: Czech former EPP MEP Michaela Šojdrová is not ready to say bye to Brussels just yet. The Czech Supreme Court recently ordered a recount of preferential votes — as in votes cast for a specific candidate, not just the list — after she complained that a counting mistake cost her reelection. Šojdrová, who was only 615 votes short of winning a new term, estimates that about 5,500 of her preferential votes erroneously went to other candidates.
Could really suck for the other guy: If the court proves her right, the newly elected MEP Ondřej Kolář, who was on the same candidate list, would lose both his European and Czech mandate (he resigned as a Czech MP after having been elected an MEP).
UNSEATED CATALAN MEP MOVES TO SUE METSOLA: Catalan separatist MEP Toni Comín will file suit against European Parliament President Roberta Metsola at the Court of Justice of the EU today, alleging the Maltese politician is violating his fundamental rights by refusing to recognize his reelection.
Ongoing saga: As we’ve reported previously in this space, Comín was reelected to his European Parliament seat in June. He won’t go back to Spain out of fear of arrest, but he can’t get certified on the official list of Spanish MEPs without an in-person visit to Spain’s Central Electoral Board. And the Parliament’s position is that if Comín’s name isn’t on the list, he cannot be seated.
See you in court: After receiving no reply to a letter he sent to Metsola on Friday — seen by POLITICO —Comín is appealing to the EU’s top court. He has reason to expect the Luxembourg court’s sympathy: The lawmaker already sued one of Metsola’s predecessors, former EP president Antonio Tajani, for refusing to seat him and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont for identical reasons after the 2019 election. While a final ruling on that case is still pending, earlier this year the Court of Justice’s top adviser sided with the Catalans and said Tajani had broken EU law by refusing to recognize their election and barring them from the Parliament.