Mitsotakis warns about risk of low turnout in European elections
June’s European Parliament elections could see a low turnout, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned. “The risk of abstention is real, especially as the European elections are being held at the same time as national or local elections,” he said, in an interview with Star TV.
Beleri accuses Albanian PM of manipulating justice
Fredi Beleri, an ethnic Greek mayor-elect in southern Albania recently sentenced to two years in prison for vote-buying, and a candidate for the upcoming European Parliament elections with Greece’s ruling New Democracy party, has accused Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama of manipulating justice to prevent him from assuming his duties.
Kasselakis appeals to voters to end the fragmentation of the progressive space
Stefanos Kasselakis, leader of the main opposition party, made an appeal from Kalamata for voters to put an end to the fragmentation of the progressive space by strengthening SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance.
Security ring round Athens for Euro final
In response to public calls and threats by members of the Islamic State to carry out terrorist attacks during sporting events in the EU, Greece’s security and intelligence services are on full alert for Wednesday night’s 2024 UEFA Europa Conference League final between Olympiakos and Italy’s Fiorentina at the AEK Arena in Nea Filadelfia in western Athens.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1239940/security-ring-round-athens-for-euro-final
ATHEX: Bourse falls in line with May’s motto
The Greek stock market showed on Tuesday the phenomenon described in bourse jargon as “sell in May and go away,” with stocks suffering losses, turnover remaining below the 100-million-euro mark for a second day in row, and only Coca-Cola HBC, which is less affected by domestic trends, containing the losses of the main and the blue chip index.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1239938/athex-bourse-falls-in-line-with-mays-motto
KATHIMERINI: Security ring round Athens for Euro final
TA NEA: What is blocking tax returns
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Humanity is being murdered in Rafa
AVGI: PM Mitsotakis disrespects citizens
RIZOSPASTIS: Greek Communist Party (KKE) leader Koutsoumbas: “On June 9 we aim correctly. KKE must be stronger tomorrow”
KONTRA NEWS: Government propaganda: “Keep feta cheese away from the ballots”
DIMOKRATIA: Greece ranks last in the EU alongside Bulgaria in terms of family benefits
NAFTEMPORIKI: New outbreak in the global stock market war
DRIVING THE DAY: UKRAINE ACCESSION
EU AMBOS WANT UKRAINE MEMBERSHIP TALKS BEFORE JULY: Representatives of the 27 EU governments will today discuss the Commission’s draft framework for negotiations about Ukraine and Moldova joining the Union — and time is of the essence.
Against the clock: The EU and Ukraine want to launch accession talks before Hungary takes over the Council presidency on July 1. The Belgian presidency is eager for talks to start at the General Affairs Council, the meeting of EU affairs ministers, on June 25, one official told Playbook.
Sufficient progress: While the Commission’s latest report on Ukraine highlighted some reforms that Kyiv still needed to do before talks could begin, officials say Ukraine has now done most of its homework. That includes reforms to protect ethnic and linguistic minorities, as recommended by the Venice Commission.
Bypassing Hungary: Few want to wait for another report to confirm Ukraine’s progress in writing amid fears that the commissioner in charge of enlargement, Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi, could delay the process. “Várhelyi won’t be keen to do that very fast,” one senior official said.
Boxed in: “That’s what we get for putting the fox in charge of the henhouse,” as one diplomat previously remarked to Playbook about Várhelyi’s appointment to that role.
Don’t get your hopes up yet: Diplomats don’t expect a deal today, given how many thorny technical issues there are to be resolved. The idea is to start a discussion at the ambassador level on sensitive issues such as the rights of minorities, which are key for Hungary, to get a deal in the coming weeks. The EU diplomats are hoping Budapest could be persuaded to get the matter out of the way before Hungary takes over the Council presidency on July 1. Good luck with that!
ROAD TO EU ELECTION
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A MORE RIGHT-WING EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: In 2019, backroom horsetrading in the weeks after the election resulted in the Green Deal. This time, polls suggest the center of gravity in the European Parliament will shift to the right — so what does that mean for defense? Trade? Health? Agriculture? POLITICO reporters break down the potential consequences of a more right-leaning Parliament in the key policy areas.
Meanwhile — just how right-wing are Europe’s younger voters? Hannah Cokelaere pores over the data.
Read more: The FT has a big read on why far-right parties are winning over so many younger voters, with one teenage Alternative for Germany supporter telling the paper: “All the others have been calling the shots for long enough. Now it’s our turn.”
BARRIERS FOR VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES: Some 800,000 EU citizens could not vote in the 2019 European Parliament elections because of their disability, according to the Fundamental Rights Agency. And many will face barriers in the latest election, despite recent progress.
It’s getting better: In a new report out today, the agency says polling stations, websites and broadcasts are more accessible than they were, making it easier for people to vote.
Still, there’s much work to be done: “People with visual, hearing or intellectual disabilities still face considerable barriers, such as a lack of tactile voting devices, information in Braille, audio or easy read formats,” said the agency. And in seven countries — Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania — people under legal guardianship are still automatically barred from voting.
METSOLA’S JURY DUTY NEAR MISS: Trolling through the Maltese government gazette, POLITICO’s Karl Mathiesen noticed that a local lawyer called Roberta Metsola (you may know her as the European Parliament president) was notified in December that she may be called for jury duty. Karl asked the president’s team if she had been assigned to a trial and if she served.
It turns out Metsola was never called, but the head of her private office, Matthew Tabone, said our query set off a small flurry of nerding out in their legal team when they realized it was an open question as to whether MEPs are obliged to serve on juries in Malta. Local MPs are exempt, but the law makes no mention of European reps. Tabone assured POLITICO that, had Metsola been called, and her commitments allowed, she would have gladly done her “civic duty.”
WHOOPS: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen failed to disclose if she was behind a Google ad campaign worth €70,000 that violated European Union rules endorsed during her time leading the EU executive, POLITICO’s Mark Scott and Clothilde Goujard reported.
MACRON IN GERMANY
FRANCE AND GERMANY WON’T PROHIBIT UKRAINIAN STRIKES ON RUSSIAN TARGETS: At the Franco-German cabinet meeting in Meseberg, French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv would be allowed to fire back at attacks from inside Russia, including with Western weapons, according to my colleague Hans von der Burchard.
“We must allow them to neutralize the military installations from which the missiles are fired,” Macron said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was more cautious, saying that Ukraine’s use of Western weapons “must always be within the framework of international law.”
In other words: Ukraine could use German weapons, such as Mars missile launchers, howitzers or Patriot batteries, against Russian artillery positions or fighter planes if they attack from inside Russian territory — but not against civilian targets.
Putin’s response: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned that NATO members would be stoking a “global conflict” if they allowed Ukraine to strike deep inside Russian territory, according to Reuters.
EU divided: As Playbook reported on Tuesday, NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg has been urging allies to allow such strikes. Ukraine’s army says it is constrained in its defense of Kharkiv, the second-biggest city, because some Western countries limit the use of weapons they supply to Ukrainian territory. EU countries are deeply divided about relaxing the restrictions, High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell told reporters after a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.
BERLIN AND PARIS WILL PUSH FOR MEGA-DEALS IN A COMPETITION SHAKEUP: Germany and France are calling for an overhaul of European Union competition rules to pave the way for bigger airlines and telecoms firms as well as “targeted” subsidies to help companies grow. More here.
IN OTHER NEWS
FROM POLITICO TOWERS: After three years on Playbook, your author is passing the baton to a crack team of three top journalists: Sarah Wheaton, Eddy Wax and Nick Vinocur. “Sarah’s journalistic excellence, alongside Nick’s editing experience and Eddy’s hunger for a scoop, will make this a team to be reckoned with,” Editor-In-Chief Jamil Anderlini said in an email announcing the appointments to the newsroom. Your Playbook author will move to a new international role at POLITICO starting Monday (more on that soon).
MAFIA STATE TESTS BULGARIAN DEMOCRACY: Next month’s election in Bulgaria is boiling down to the role of a sanctioned tycoon and his capacity to undermine the nation’s fragile democracy, POLITICO’s Antoaneta Roussi reports.
To his critics, particularly from reformist, anti-corruption parties, the media mogul and MP Delyan Peevski has come to epitomize Bulgaria’s captured state, in which shadowy oligarchs, spies and crime gangs have wrapped their tentacles around key core institutions in the EU and NATO country. Nikolay Denkov, prime minister until last month, describes Peevski — sanctioned by the U.S. and the U.K. — as the “biggest evil” to befall the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people.
Functioning republic? It is little wonder, then, that one of the chief political battles around the June 9 election hinges on Peevski’s influence over the courts and the security service. Hristo Ivanov, head of the “Yes, Bulgaria” party, argues the election must break Peevski’s grip and warns that the “functioning of the Republic” is at stake.
HUNGARY’S NEW GOLDEN VISA: Budapest government is launching a new cash-for-residency scheme. Starting July 1, non-EU citizens will get a 10-year residence permit — which opens a path to citizenship — if they buy real estate or make a donation to a trust, Telex.hu reports. The top users of Hungary’s previous golden visa scheme are Russian and Chinese citizens.
DUTCH PM LINED UP: A former intelligence chief, Dick Schoof, is set to lead the new right-wing coalition government in the Netherlands, Dutch media reported Tuesday.
GEORGIA PASSES ‘FOREIGN AGENTS’ LAW: Georgia’s parliament voted 84 to 4 to adopt the “Russia-style” law, overriding a veto by President Salome Zourabichvili. Gabriel Gavin and Dato Parulava have the latest.
SLOVAK GOVERNMENT TARGETS MEDIA: Less than a fortnight after a failed assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico, the ruling coalition is again taking steps to restrict access to information and journalistic independence — with one politician warning ominously that “the era of insolence is over.”
DEADLY RAFAH STRIKE DOESN’T CROSS BIDEN’S ‘RED LINE’: The U.S., while unhappy about the civilian deaths caused by an Israeli missile strike on a refugee camp in Rafah on Sunday, has determined that the incident did not cross a “red line” President Joe Biden set two months ago. As a result, the strike is unlikely to trigger any serious reprimand from Washington.
Meanwhile … Democrats are reportedly in a full-blown “freakout” about Biden’s reelection prospects in November … and the outcome of former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York will come down to which view of his disgruntled former lawyer Michael Cohen jurors choose to believe.