Gov’t abolishing ailing organization for distribution of EU farm funds, integrating it in tax service
The government is abolishing OPEKEPE, the Greek organization handling the payment of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy funds to Greek farmers, and incorporating it into the revenue service, it was made known on Tuesday.
ND proposes parliamentary inquiry into former transport ministers
The ruling New Democracy party has submitted a proposal to establish a parliamentary investigative committee to examine the potential responsibilities of former conservative transport minister Kostas Karamanlis in the deadly 2023 Tempe railway crash.
Mitsotakis: Green transition should not undermine competitiveness
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday the need for green transition in the economy should go hand in hand with boosting high competitiveness in the European Union.
Greek bonds reach new five-year low against the German Bund
The yield margin of 10-year Greek bonds reached a new five-year low against the German Bund on Monday, with the spread reaching 0.42%.
ATHEX: Yet another 15-year high for ATHEX
The improvement in the international market climate continued to benefit the Greek bourse on Tuesday, leading stock prices higher and the benchmark at Athinon Avenue to new 15-year highs, threatening even the record dating since early May 2010. Banks remained the driving force of this rally for another day, with the index climbing to its highest point in nearly a decade, as May is proving particularly beneficial for Greek stocks three sessions before its end.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1270974/athex-yet-another-15-year-high-for-athex
KATHIMERINI: Revoke of driving license for up to 8 years for those who drive while using their mobile phones
TA NEA: Competition for Public Employees: The exam topic bank and the dates
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Cover-up for former Transport Minister Karamanlis – Immunity for PM Mitsotakis
RIZOSPASTIS: 150-billion-euro deriving from simple folks’ sacrifices are being used to create a reserve for the groups of war
KONTRA NEWS: The whitewashing of former Transport Minister Karamanlis regarding the Tempi crash is provoking society
DIMOKRATIA: New Democracy whitewashes former Transport Minister Karamanlis regarding the Tempi case
NAFTEMPORIKI: Greek shipowners order new ships “with new compass” amid geopolitical turbulence
DRIVING THE DAY: ISRAEL SAYS DROP THE ‘STICK’
URSULA UNCHAINED: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered her most excoriating assessment so far of Israel’s military action in Gaza last night. “The expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza targeting civilian infrastructure, among them a school that served as a shelter for displaced Palestinian families, killing civilians, including children, is abhorrent,” she said, according to a readout of her call with King Abdullah II of Jordan. Her comments follow unusually strong criticism from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this week.
Just words? For all von der Leyen’s tough commentary, how long will it be possible for EU officials and member countries to resist the growing clamor to penalize Benjamin Netanyahu’s government? The European Commission is currently reviewing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, amid demands for it to be suspended.
Punishments won’t help, according to Israel’s Ambassador to the EU Haim Regev. He aims to show Brussels that his country wants constructive relations with European allies. “If you build trust, both sides gain,” the ambassador told Playbook in an interview last night.
Relations between Brussels and Israel suffered during Josep Borrell’s time as the bloc’s top diplomat (he recently accused Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing), but things improved under Kaja Kallas. Tensions over Gaza are clearly straining those ties again.
EU wanna be a player? Regev’s argument is that the EU wants its voice to count in the Middle East, so it should avoid imposing penalties on Israel, including suspending that association agreement. The EU “has an interest to be a player, so it’s important to have a constructive interaction with all the players, including Israel,” Regev said. “Taking a non-constructive measure, I think, can endanger these things. Again, I don’t want that to be heard like a threat — it’s not a threat. But at the end of the road, the idea here is to build trust, and once we have constructive dialogue with trust, we can do many things together for both sides.”
No sticks please: “The association agreement is important for both sides. Part of the association agreement is this discussion,” Regev said. “Using this platform as a stick, it’s totally different. This is the main message. There is a difference between the association agreement as a platform to pass messages, concern, influence — now, suspension means using it as a stick, and it’s not helpful for both sides.”
“What is the essence of the association agreement? To see how we make partnership, how we increase the level of cooperation. It’s not a favor for each side. It’s not a favor for Israel, it’s not a favor for the EU.”
Von der Leyen reiterated in her call with Abdullah that Israel has the right to security, though it felt more like she was saying it because she had to. “This escalation and disproportionate use of force against civilians cannot be justified under humanitarian and international law,” she said. “Israel needs to immediately restore aid delivery in line with humanitarian principles, with the participation of the U.N. and other international humanitarian partners.”
Israeli officials hope the sight of aid being handed out in Gaza will lower the temperature of international criticism.
How’s that going? On Tuesday, there were reports Palestinians overwhelmed the aid delivery program touted by Israeli officials — which excludes the U.N. — leading to chaotic scenes in Rafah. Videos posted on social media showed crowds of people climbing over flattened fences to grab food at a distribution center. The site was run by the controversial GHF group, which has support from armed American security contractors and Israeli troops.
BUDA-PEST CONTROL
MORE COUNTRIES CALL FOR PUNISHING HUNGARY OVER PRIDE BAN: The number of EU governments calling on the European Commission to take action against Hungary for its ban on Pride celebrations has now reached 20, including powerhouses France and Germany, according to an EU diplomat.
What’s the plan? The Commission could decide to freeze more funds that would normally be headed Hungary’s way by linking them more tightly to respect for rule of law, my Playbook colleague Nick Vinocur hears. The EU’s next budget doesn’t come online until 2028, but these changes could come much more swiftly, affecting funds that Budapest is due to receive in the coming months and years.
Overall, the increasingly heated rhetoric from EU diplomats and officials toward Hungary reflects growing frustration with Budapest. The EU is showing Hungary its torture box in the hope that Viktor Orbán’s government relents not only on rule of law, but also removes the threat of blocking the rollover of EU sanctions on Russia in July.
Buda-pest: Hungary’s EU Affairs Minister János Bóka insisted to reporters on his way into Tuesday’s General Affairs Council in Brussels that there was no such thing as a Pride ban in his country.
Who’s going then? EU Democracy Commissioner Michael McGrath told a press conference last night that he was “not in a position” to travel for the planned June 28 Pride parade in Budapest. But “there may well be many public figures who are traveling and who are attending.”
WHAT NEXT? A major milestone is expected early in June with an “opinion” from the advocate General at the Court of Justice of the EU in the case the Commission is bringing against Hungary. McGrath said the CJEU could potentially deliver its final ruling by the end of the year.
E tu, Slovakia? As if that wasn’t enough, Slovakia’s relations with the EU are also growing increasingly testy. A group of lawmakers from the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control is in-country checking up on the use of EU funds. One participant described their meetings with members of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s SMER party as “tense.”
Shady business: Fico’s party is staging press conferences attacking members of the delegation as meddlers. One government official spent an entire meeting with the lawmakers in sunglasses, the participant told Playbook. “We had seen this previously when we went to Hungary in the past,” said German Greens MEP Daniel Freund. “That we get attacked like this is not a great sign.”
Tune in: Freund wants possible misuse of EU funds and severe weakening of anti-corruption measures to get more scrutiny from the Commission. The committee will discuss its findings at a press conference at 4 p.m. today.
GET UP, START UP
TAKE A STAKE: The Commission is today due to unveil its big plan to help the bloc’s struggling start-ups and boost companies looking to scale up their operations. My POLITICO colleague Pieter Haeck scooped the draft of the blueprint for our Pro subscribers last week. The Commission’s plan included setting up a fund to invest in artificial intelligence and quantum technology companies that want to expand.
What’s new: The plan has a proposed launch date of next year, Pieter says, and the document contains specific details on how it would work: The Commission pledges EU funds, but the fund would be privately managed and private investors would provide co-financing.
But can Brussels pick winners? Some argue it might not be the best idea to let Eurocrats decide which companies or technologies to support. “Would we think a Commission official is better placed at placing these bets than [Spotify founder] Daniel Ek, given his network and experience and expertise?” mused Sandro Gianella, OpenAI’s top lobbyist in Europe.
ALSO OUT TODAY — GREEN AMBITION: The European Commission will say today that the bloc is on track to slash planet-warming emissions by 54 percent by 2030, just shy of its 55 percent reduction target. Meanwhile, Brussels is preparing to propose a 90 percent emissions cut by 2040 despite member state pushback, Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera told POLITICO’s Zia Weise.
UKRAINE LATEST
NEW GERMAN PACKAGE: Friedrich Merz will welcome Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin today with military honors and a new package of aid, my Berlin Playbook colleague Hans von der Burchard reports.
Although Merz’s government no longer publicizes the exact weapons it sends to Ukraine, the new aid, worth billions, is expected to involve air defense capacities, other weapons and financial support for Kyiv to buy U.S. kit.
Did someone say Taurus? Merz still refuses to comment on whether Germany will supply its long-range missiles to Ukraine (though Hans hears Berlin might give Kyiv technical components to build its own rockets). Merz is now under fire from within his own ranks for the lack of clarity over the Taurus question, report James Angelos and Nette Nöstlinger.
TRUMP AND PUTIN: Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “playing with fire,” U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday. It seems the American president is continuing his learning journey when it comes to what kind of partner the Kremlin is.
Saying the quiet part out loud: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Golden bridge: My Stateside colleagues report warnings from inside the White House that while Trump hasn’t yet decided what to do with Putin, he’s sure getting close to grounding him. “Putin is getting dangerously close to burning the golden bridge that Trump has set out before him,” one administration official said.
AMMO LOVE-IN: Czech President Petr Pavel is stepping into his country’s turbulent politics to ensure military aid to Ukraine continues regardless of who takes power after the October election — even if it’s populist frontrunner Andrej Babiš, a Ukraine skeptic.
Pavel rounded up all Czech political parties last week for a heart-to-heart “to make sure that the principles of the security of the Czech Republic are understood by all of them,” he told my colleague Jacopo Barigazzi in this interview.
IN OTHER NEWS
PEACE OUT: The latest Eurobarometer survey is published today, based on the usual enormous sample of interviews with more than 26,300 citizens across the EU. Playbook has been given a sneak preview. It found “peace” was the value that best represents the EU, according to 41 percent of respondents.
At the same time, 81 percent supported a common defense and security policy, the highest proportion backing EU-wide defense measures since 2004. In the words of one EU official, the finding reflects the motto, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
POLISH ELECTION: U.S. Republicans have accused the European Commission of failing to safeguard Sunday’s presidential vote in Poland against bias in favor of centrist candidate Rafał Trzaskowski. Brian Mast, chair of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, wrote a letter to Ursula von der Leyen to express “profound alarm.” Meanwhile, Trzaskowski won the backing of the European Greens. More details here.
TRADE WAR LATEST: Donald Trump may have declared himself delighted with the EU’s promise to speed up trade talks, but don’t expect a big, beautiful deal when the dust settles. In this must-read analysis, POLITICO’s trade guru Camille Gijs says the bloc still has bruises from the failed TTIP talks a decade ago, and won’t want to go there with America again.
LOST LANGUAGE: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez failed to get Spain’s co-official languages recognized at the EU level. Maybe von der Leyen can cheer him up when she meets him later today. Read more here.
SHUTTING IT DOWN: The Greek government announced on Tuesday it would shut down a state agency being investigated by the European prosecutor over a major alleged fraud involving the EU’s massive farm budget, Nektaria Stamouli reports.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: “The Conversation” with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns arrives on Sunday, June 1 — and we’re dropping a preview of what’s set to be a new kind of political interview show/podcast. Dasha will sit down each week with one of the most compelling — and sometimes unexpected — power players in Washington. Catch the trailer to see what Dasha’s digging into this season, and subscribe here, wherever you listen or watch.