General strike to bring Athens to a standstill on Wednesday
Greece’s major labor unions are set to stage a general strike on Wednesday, protesting the rising cost of living and demanding better wages and collective agreements.
ND ethics committee rubber-stamps expulsion of former PM Samaras
New Democracy’s ethics committee has unanimously approved Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ decision to expel former prime minister and lawmaker Antonis Samaras from the ruling party’s parliamentary group.
Tax evasion measures pay off
The 2024 budget execution data are showing tangible results from the fight against tax evasion, a perennial goal of governments hitherto unachieved. According to sources, the government estimates that about 1.8 billion euros of the €3.5 billion of excess tax revenue, which the budget will have this year, come from the fight against tax evasion.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1253857/tax-evasion-measures-pay-off
Greek police seize cache of explosives in central Athens
Greek police seized firearms and explosives during a search of a storage unit in the central Athens neighborhood of Pangrati late Tuesday. According to reports, earlier that day, a private citizen alerted authorities after discovering a stockpile of weaponry in a storage unit he owned but had not visited for an extended period.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1253932/greek-police-seize-cache-of-explosives-in-central-athens
Handelsblatt: Greece to amend 2025 budget due to increased tax revenues and early loan repayments
Greece needs to amend its 2025 budget as more funds are available than initially planned, due to increased tax revenues. At the same time, it is repaying its aid loans ahead of schedule.
No newspapers due to yesterday’s strike in the press.
DRIVING THE DAY: EPP POWER GAMES
WEBER AND VON DER LEYEN VIE TO TIGHTEN THEIR GRIP: The two heavyweight center-right figures in the EU capital — Ursula von der Leyen and Manfred Weber — are within touching distance of expanding their powers.
Inching toward a deal: European People’s Party chief Weber and his counterparts in the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew Europe groups are close to unlocking a standoff that has effectively kept six of the most powerful commissioners-to-be in von der Leyen’s new College (plus Hungary’s nominee Olivér Várhelyi) hostage for more than a week since their parliamentary confirmation hearings.
Possible landing zone: Weber held talks with Socialist leader Iratxe García and the liberals’ Valérie Hayer in Parliament last night, Max Griera reports — and while they haven’t clinched a deal yet, a landing zone has moved into view. In a minor concession by the EPP, all three groups would sign a piece of paper akin to a coalition deal — but not binding in the same way — in exchange for the safe passage of all commissioners, including Spain’s Socialist nominee Teresa Ribera (threatened by the EPP) and the Brothers of Italy’s Raffaele Fitto (reviled by the Socialists).
Spanish intervention: German paper FAZ reported Tuesday that the deal came about after Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez put his foot down and demanded that García do a deal (more on their split just below). The agreement will “reaffirm” cooperation between the three pro-EU groups that dominated the Parliament before its recent lurch to the right, FAZ reports.
Clock ticking: “Fingers crossed” emojis were doing the rounds with talks set to resume today. A deal soon would all but guarantee that the new Commission starts on Dec. 1, though officials involved in the discussions stressed it wasn’t done yet. Some whispered to Playbook that the conversations could drag on until next week.
Weber has cake, prepares to eat it: Playbook is reminded of another agreement between the three groups in 2022 — a non-binding accord intended to set the legislative and political priorities for the Parliament until 2024. The liberals hailed that as a “landmark agreement,” but it had little political force. Similarly, any pact they sign now could end up being worthless, from the Socialists’ and liberals’ perspective, if it doesn’t prevent Weber from aligning with their adversaries on Parliament’s right when it suits the EPP.
“The only value that such an agreement can have is if it says something about ECR, and if they don’t say anything on ECR it’s going to be useless,” Greens co-leader Bas Eickhout told Max, referring to Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, who in recent weeks have emerged as powerful partners to the EPP, despite the Socialists’ and liberals’ objections.
MEANWHILE, IN THE COMMISSION: Von der Leyen is about to bring a small army of bureaucrats under her command as she beefs up control of the EU’s post-pandemic cash pot, my colleague Gregorio Sorgi reports. The move comes as von der Leyen tries to change the way the EU budget works into a new “cash-for-reforms” model, which is based on how the post-pandemic “recovery fund” operates and gives her Commission a powerful role.
VDL giveth, VDL taketh away: The decision to shunt 200 civil servants into a wing of the Commission that the president directly oversees would reduce the power of Fitto, who was meant to hold dominion over regional funding in the next Commission. Read Gregorio’s full piece here.
Socialists capitulate? Back in Parliament, the Socialists are facing an embarrassing climbdown, having threatened not to support the new Commission if Fitto was given one of the most senior positions in the next College.
Sánchez throws García under the bus: Asked at the G20 if acceptinga senior role for Fitto was a red line for him — as his fellow Socialist García indicated it was for her — Sánchez replied: “It’s not that there’s some line to be crossed or not,” adding: “It’s the Italian government that decides who goes or doesn’t go” to Brussels. The Spanish PM went on to tell journalists that the agreement struck in summer between the main three groups still holds, carefully ignoring the fact that Fitto’s title will be the same as Ribera’s. “Every country has the right to a commissioner,” he said.
EPP’s concession: The EPP, of course, would also have to accept Ribera as the No. 2 commissioner. But she must face questions in the Spanish parliament this morning about her handling of the Spanish floods, part of her ritual humiliation by the Partido Popular. Once (or if) the dust settles, the real loser will be Parliament itself, and any semblance that its commissioner hearings are conducted on merit.
Greens outside, looking in: Greens Co-President Terry Reintke said in comments to Playbook: “We have been constructive, showing readiness to negotiate and looking for solutions. Until now we haven’t gotten any signal from the EPP group that they want a pro-European majority with us.” The Greens supported von der Leyen for a second term, but now appear to be excluded from the power center, as the music stops. Another masterstroke by Weber and VDL?
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
BIDEN UNSHACKLING KYIV: The Biden administration, in another major policy shift, will send anti-personnel mines to Ukraine for the first time, the Washington Post reported overnight. The mines are to be used in Ukraine’s east, where Russian forces have been making steady progress. The development comes after Ukraine’s military used long-range U.S.-supplied missiles to strike the Bryansk region on Tuesday, after Biden green-lit their use on Russian territory.
Now read this: Veronika Melkozerova explains why Ukraine is facing such a tough point in the war, noting that Kyiv’s forces are exhausted and undersupplied.
PIPE DOWN, MACRON TELLS PUTIN: French President Emmanuel Macron told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to climb down from making nuclear threats after Moscow lowered its threshold for launching a nuclear strike earlier in the day, my colleagues Clea Caulcutt and Joe Stanley-Smith report from the G20 in Brazil.
U.K. PM Keir Starmer also slammed Putin’s “irresponsible rhetoric,” and gave his clearest signal yet that Ukraine could win authorization to strike targets in Russia with Britain’s own Storm Shadow missiles. More on that here.
SPD BACKS SCHOLZ, EYES PISTORIUS: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius ranks as one of Germany’s most popular politicians, my colleagues Nette Nöstlinger and Josh Posaner write today. The Social Democrat says he’s not interested in being the SPD’s candidate for the February 2025 election — which would mean challenging Olaf Scholz, the unpopular chancellor. But Pistorius isn’t entirely ruling it out either, and has lots of support inside the party.
ESTONIA DIALS IN WITH MORE SCHOLZ CRITICISM: Meanwhile, Scholz is still getting it in the neck for phoning up Vladimir Putin last week.Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal added to a chorus of criticism, in an interview with POLITICO’s Sam Clark in Tallinn.
Phone-y war: “I don’t think that that phone call will help with lasting and just peace,” said Michal, who replaced Kaja Kallas in July.
Toughen up, Olaf: “If you want to help Ukraine to achieve lasting and just peace on Ukraine’s terms, you should probably talk about giving Ukraine free hands, ammunition, weapons and funds,” Michal said. Russia should be pushed into talks, “not the other way around,” he said.
Scholz’s “Mr. Prudent” campaign: As my colleagues in Berlin report, Scholz is making his longstanding refusal to give long-range missiles to Kyiv a core feature of his election campaign, arguing he’s stopping the war from spiraling out of control. That’s different from his main rival, the frontrunner from the center-right CDU, Friedrich Merz, who is willing to give Ukraine Taurus missiles.
Someone has cottoned onto that: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a thinly-veiled jab at Scholz in his video address to MEPs Tuesday, saying: “While some leaders think about some elections, Putin is focused on winning this war.”
RULE OF LAW
HUNGARY CHIDED FOR CHAIRING MEETING ON … HUNGARY: Ministers from three EU countries criticized Hungary’s EU Minister János Bóka for chairing a discussion on the rule-of-law situation in Hungary, instead of recusing himself at a Council meeting last night.
Who better to chair this discussion? Ministers from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg pointed out it was not normal protocol for Hungary — which holds the rotating Council of the EU presidency — to chair a sensitive conversation about itself. They raised concerns about media freedom, LGBTIQ+ rights and a “sovereignty” law, also discussing Austria, the Netherlands, Poland and Malta. A similar development happened in September.
Inelegant comms: Only Belgium raised this on behalf of the other two countries, a Hungarian presidency spokesperson said, adding no one had questioned it prior to the meeting. Bóka told ministers “it would have been more elegant to flag this concern earlier,” according to the spokesperson. “Raising this matter exclusively at the Council meeting serves only political communication purposes,” said the spox.
Now, in EU speak: “Important concerns still persist,” noted Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders at a press conference, noting that the EU is blocking billions for Hungary over rule-of-law failings. He said “it’s possible” there’ll be enough progress to unblock around €1 billion in December, but that will depend on a yet-to-take place Commission assessment.
One voice, two hats: “I’m walking a very thin line between [being] representative of the presidency and a representative of the Hungarian government,” Bóka replied in response to Népszava’s Katalin Halmai, the sole journalist to ask a question.
HUNGARY’S ALTERNATIVE RULE-OF-LAW REPORT: A 10-minute drive from where ministers were meeting, the political foundation of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party presented a report on “the rule of law situation in the European Union institutions,” at an event in Brussels, Csongor Körömi reports.
Fidesz-linked polling firm Nézőpont’s report describes the way the European Commission president is appointed “illegitimate,” slaps the Council for not taking unanimous decisions in foreign policy, and calls out the Commission for prioritizing eurozone member countries when allocating recovery funds.
I’m yours (according to polls): “We started the research back in the spring, and we’ve been doing it mainly over the summer, with 20 researchers from 10 countries,” Nézőpont CEO Ágoston Sámuel Mráz told POLITICO. “We wanted to do a fact-based and hopefully fair report,” which they aim to produce annually.
SPOTTED — Venezuela vibes: MEPs from the Patriots, ECR and EPP attended the report launch. Slovenian EPP MEP Milan Zver was among those in attendance, saying the groups “need to cooperate more” as they basically agree on everything regarding the rule of law.
ORBÁN HAS OIL TO PLAY FOR: Hungary is ready to end its dependency on Russian oil — if the EU hands over hundreds of millions of Euros to help secure alternatives, the country’s biggest fuel refiner told POLITICO. Gabriel Gavin and Victor Jack have the story.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE WESTERN BALKANS
COMPLICATED CASE: With the EU in the midst of a renewed enlargement push toward the Western Balkans, there’s a hearing in a case in Europe’s top human rights court today that gives a sense of the roadblocks ahead. The European Court of Human Rights is assessing whether Bosnia and Herzegovina’s electoral system limits voting rights based on ethnicity, potentially clashing the country’s constitution, Playbook Reporter Šejla Ahmatović reports.
Background: A year ago, the ECHR ruled in favor of Slaven Kovačević, who’d argued Bosnia and Herzegovina violated his voting rights as an ethnic minority. The country’s Council of Ministers appealed the decision, with the Grand Chamber of the ECHR now considering the case.
Small country, big personality: Bosnia and Herzegovina has a population of 3 million, three presidents, two political entities and three “constituent” peoples — Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs — plus several minorities. But they don’t all have the same voting rights.
The complaint: Kovačević sued because he cannot vote in the election for the Serb president because of where he lives, and because he could not become an MP himself. Kovačević wants everyone to be able to vote for each of the three presidents, regardless of ethnicity or place of residence.
Power of the carrot: The rulings from the Strasbourg-based court aren’t legally binding — but they are persuasive, given Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the EU waiting room. Jasmin Mujanović, a senior non-resident fellow at the Newlines Institute in Washington D.C., noted that the EU had made Bosnia’s EU membership conditional on implementing such court rulings.
EU INSTITUTIONS
SCOOP — GOVERNMENTS HATE NEW VDL-METSOLA DEAL: A step toward closer cooperation between the European Commission and Parliament has gone down like a cup of cold sick with national governments in the Council. According to a document seen by Playbook, the Council is drafting a letter to Ursula von der Leyen and Parliament chief Roberta Metsola to state its “strong reservations” about a freshened-up agreement between the other two institutions, which is in the offing. Their fear is that the Parliament’s ploy to prise new powers from the Commission at a moment when commissioners need MEPs’ approval will upset the balance between the trio of institutions.
Pass the popcorn, fellow EU nerds: “The Treaties define exhaustively the respective powers conferred on the institutions which may not be modified or supplemented by the institutions themselves, either unilaterally or by agreement between them,” the ambassadors’ draft letter states, warning that the Council will take “any appropriate actions” to defend its prerogatives.
RACE TO BECOME TOP SOCIALIST OFFICIAL: Fabrizia Panzetti is tipped to become the next secretary-general of the Socialists and Democrats group, sources tell Playbook and POLITICO’s Hugo Murphy. There are at least three candidates in total. Panzetti, who used to head the Cabinet of Federica Mogherini when she was the EU’s top diplomat, is seen as the frontrunner in a race to succeed Dutchman Antony Beumer, who is set to retire. The secretary-general has a powerful administrative role shepherding MEPs and handling millions in EU funds.
IN OTHER NEWS
CABLE TIES: Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said Tuesday that NATO and the EU must do more to protect undersea cables from attack, after two incidents earlier this week. In the latest development,the FT reports that a Chinese-registered vessel that was on its way from a Russian port to Egypt passed close to both the Swedish-Lithuanian and Finnish-German cables around the time each was cut. The Germans say it’s sabotage.
ISRAEL LATEST — HOSTAGE PLEA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a reward of $5 million to anyone who frees an Israeli hostage being held by Hamas in Gaza. He also vowed to protect that person and their family. Bild has more.
Can Trump do a Middle East peace deal? My colleague Jamie Dettmer considers the prospect.