War memorial rules divide Parliament
A contentious amendment to tighten protections around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament building has triggered political tremors within and beyond the government, exposing tensions over national symbols, protest rights, and the lingering trauma of the 2023 Tempe rail disaster. The proposed measure – aimed at defining rules for the monument’s protection and surveillance – has drawn unified opposition from all major parties and stirred internal unease within the ruling New Democracy.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1284488/war-memorial-rules-divide-parliament
Greek music legend Dionysis Savvopoulos dies at 81
The musical legend of Greece, singer-songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos, passed away at the age of 81. The beloved “ Nionios” had been receiving treatment in a private hospital in recent days.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/942660/Greek-music-legend-Dionysis-Savvopoulos-dies-at-81
BoG governor: Jump in investments foreseen for Greece, to 18% of GDP in 2027
Greece can look forward to a jump in investments during coming years, Bank of Greece (BoG) governor Yannis Stournaras said on Tuesday, during an event to present him with an honorary volume at the University of Athens.
Greece up three places compared to last year in the International Tax Competitiveness Index
Greece has gone up three places compared to last year in the rankings of the International Tax Competitiveness Index – the Index is published by the Athens-based Center for Liberal Studies (KEFIM) in collaboration with the Tax Foundation.
ATHEX: Convincing rebound for most stocks
This time the rebound of Greek stocks was more meaningful, as Tuesday’s bourse session saw prices recover some of the ground lost last week and the benchmark moved back above the psychologically significant 2,000-point mark. After a weak start, stocks started a rally that was led by banks, giving blue chips healthy gains even if mid-caps struggled to follow. Gains were eventually contained somewhat, but sufficed to change the mood in the market.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1284504/athex-convincing-rebound-for-most-stocks
KATHIMERINI: Turbulence domino regarding the unknow soldier monument
TA NEA: Dionysis Savvopoulos 1944-2025: A beautiful legend
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The amendment for the unknown soldier monument divided the government
RIZOSPASTIS: Bill on civil aviation to create fatal hazards for flights’ safety
KONTRA NEWS: We will re-write the names [of the Tempe rail-crash victims] even if we have to use or own blood
DIMOKRATIA: Guerilla warfare by Defence Minister Dendias
NAFTEMPORIKI: The secrets of the digital euro
DRIVING THE DAY: PERSONAE NON GRATAE
THE BEAST IS BACK? It’s looking increasingly likely that Martin Selmayr will return to Brussels after years in effective exile, most recently as ambassador to the Vatican.
The only question is what job he might get. POLITICO reports this morning that Jean-Claude Juncker’s feared former chief of staff has held talks with the EU’s top diplomats and is eying a post in its foreign service.
Man of the cloth: But savvy Commission officials fearing a new round of turf wars have hatched a plan — suggesting Selmayr could instead become the EU’s special envoy for religious freedom if he wants to return to Brussels so badly, according to three diplomats and officials. (We checked and, yes, that job actually exists).
The cosmic irony: A man returns from a posting in the Vatican to take a job in Brussels on religious freedom. It sounds like satire — but surely the College of Commissioners isn’t that funny … right?
The plan would keep Selmayr away from the levers of power and, ideally, out of Brussels. Read the full inside story from Gabriel Gavin, Nicholas Vinocur, Hans von der Burchard and Jacopo Barigazzi.
He’s no Dumas: The prospect of Selmayr joining the EEAS is not going down well with diplomats and officials who remember his reign as the “Monster of the Berlaymont” and were on the wrong side of his uncompromising approach to getting things done. “He will be like the Count of Monte Cristo, coming back to have his revenge,” said one diplomat.
Others say the panic is overblown. Two Commission officials pointed out that in transactional Brussels, Selmayr would be largely defanged — with no real means to reward loyalty or wield influence from a post (whatever it will be) that’s neither at the top of the machine nor at its heart.
FROM ONE UNDESIRABLE MAN TO ANOTHER: Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi is facing renewed scrutiny following allegations that intelligence officers linked to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government tried to recruit EU officials as spies between 2012 and 2018.
The grilling: As we reported in Tuesday’s Playbook, academics have called for Várhelyi’s ouster. Now, as the crisis of trust in the Commission deepens, EU lawmakers will grill the institution on the issue today.
What could happen? Several MEPs — from the Greens, Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew Europe — are pushing for a parliamentary inquiry into the Hungarian spying allegations. But the center-right European People’s Party is opposed, its spokesperson Daniel Köster told POLITICO, meaning a formal inquiry is unlikely.
Brussels’ Dr. Várhelyi or Budapest’s Mr. Hyde? The Hungarian commissioner remains one of Brussels’ most enigmatic figures. Is he Orbán’s envoy, or the competent insider who “understands Brussels,” as several EU officials describe him?
Will VDL cut him loose? Several EU officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told me it’s unlikely Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will act — unless pressure mounts further. Their view: Várhelyi is too capable to lose (for instance, he delivered the Critical Medicines Act in record time). And, to put it mildly, no one in Brussels (certainly not von der Leyen) is eager to see whom Orbán might nominate as his replacement.
The Commission risks looking naive … Still, the situation is increasingly awkward. Hungarian officials in EU institutions told POLITICO that the alleged spy network has long been an open secret in Brussels. Várhelyi told von der Leyen he was “not aware” of any such efforts, according to a Commission spokesperson.
… or worse. “There are two options,” a person who worked with Várhelyi during his embassy days told POLITICO’s Mari Eccles. “Either the Commission didn’t know and learned about the spy ring from the press — which is a disaster. Or they knew and didn’t act — which is worse.”
STILL ON SPIES: Don’t miss Antoaneta Roussi’s deep dive on how the transatlantic trust crisis is pushing Europe’s spy agencies to move faster — and closer — than ever before, burying old rivalries to build a shared intelligence operation against Russian aggression.
BUDAPEST LOSES ITS BIG MOMENT
MORE BAD NEWS FOR HUNGARY: Donald Trump’s second planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was meant to take place in Budapest imminently, is off.
What happened? The White House said Tuesday that the meeting — announced by Trump last week after a two-hour call with Putin — is no longer in the works. The decision came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a rough call on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
But why? The swift collapse of the plan stems from Moscow’s refusal to shift from its maximalist demands on Ukraine. At a press conference in Moscow, Lavrov said he told Rubio that Russia’s position remains unchanged: a peace agreement must come before any ceasefire. A frustrated Trump on Tuesday said he’d lay out his current thinking on the Ukraine war within two days, adding: “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting. I don’t want to have a waste of time.”
Visiting daddy: Right on cue, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is dashing to Washington to sweet-talk Trump.
Hungary is fuming. “From the moment the Peace Summit in Budapest was announced, it was obvious many would do everything possible to stop it from happening,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó posted on X, blaming “the pro-war political elite and their media.”
MEANWHILE, IN LUXEMBOURG … Ministers at Tuesday’s General Affairs Council discussed the state of Hungary’s rule of law reforms under Article 7 — covering judicial independence, anti-corruption measures, media pluralism and LGBTIQ+ rights. Among those who voiced dissatisfaction at the lack of progress, according to one diplomat, was Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s former prime minister and now deputy PM and European affairs minister, who said: “Being LGBTIQ+ is not a choice, but being homophobic is.”
PARLIAMENT’S POLITICAL HEADACHES
TAKING A CHILL PILL: POLITICO’s Parliament correspondent Max Griera is — unsurprisingly, since it’s his job — in Strasbourg for plenary week, sending dispatches and lamenting how much less fun it is without me. He reports that the temperature has cooled: fewer attacks between Socialist boss Iratxe García and Christian Democrat leader Manfred Weber, for instance.
The thawing comes after Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met in Madrid weeks ago and vowed to ensure the S&D and EPP — led by a Spaniard and a German respectively — would work closely together. But as much as EU leaders want Parliament to keep calm, the troops are fired up and revolution is brewing left and right.
Tensions remain: Max writes in to report that beneath the surface, García and Weber are struggling with increasingly unruly national delegations threatening to derail their mission: deliver for their bosses and allies. For García, that’s Sánchez; for Weber, it’s Merz and von der Leyen.
GARCÍA’S HEADACHES: As if swallowing the omnibus file once (and convincing your group to do likewise) wasn’t enough, García faces another test: today’s ratification of the green corporate reporting rules simplification package (aka omnibus 1). Several political groups forced a plenary vote after challenging the existing agreement between the centrist groups — and many of García’s MEPs, including the Dutch, French, the Swedes and part of the German delegations, could break ranks and vote in favor of rejecting the omnibus.
Machiavellian move: The far right has asked for a secret vote — to allow centrist MEPs to defy their group line without fearing the whip — in the hope the dissenters will bring down the agreement and force the EPP to team up with the far right to reach an agreement.
No agreement? No problem. In what could become a systematic thing, with the S&D forced to swallow tough files in the name of responsibility and stability — and to appease both the Council and Sánchez — García said at a press conference Tuesday she won’t impose a strict whip, adding that “it’s totally normal” if less than 100 percent of her group votes the same way.
Lashed by the EPP: Weber seized on the S&D’s voting chaos to brand them unreliable — and hinted he could torpedo the Socialists’ hopes of nominating Parliament’s president for the second half of the term in 2027, effectively paving the way for a third Metsola mandate.
WEBER’S HEADACHES: But while Weber criticizes others’ disunity, he’s struggling to keep his own house in order — and to deliver on von der Leyen’s agenda.
Can he actually do that? As POLITICO previously reported, Weber faces internal resistance over the 2040 climate target and MFF national plans — two reforms von der Leyen has prioritized. Negotiations are stalled, with the EPP increasingly leaning toward rejecting the MFF national plans in November’s plenary.
The French revolution (kinda): François-Xavier Bellamy and three other French MEPs voted to censure von der Leyen — despite Weber’s orders to oppose the motion. Asked by POLITICO, Weber told reporters he understands France’s “challenging political context,” but said Bellamy’s move “was a breach of the EPP group’s voting line” and “a matter of concern.” He added that “steps have been initiated” within the group.
Weber’s moment of truth: With major files ahead and the EPP split on sensitive issues, Weber’s reaction to Bellamy’s rebellion will set the tone — and show MEPs how far they can go in defying the whip.
Whip it (or not): Two EPP staffers told Playbook they doubt Weber will actually punish Bellamy. Still, possible sanctions include losing rapporteurships, reduced speaking time, or exclusion from key posts. (More on the EPP’s whipping system in this this piece.)
HOUSING IS THE NEW COMPETITIVENESS
WATCH THIS TREND: This could be the week we all realize one topic has emerged as the next big thing — at least in the political narrative (we’ll see about actual policies). That’s the takeaway from a conversation I had Tuesday with the new president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
Séamus Boland is set to be elected for a two-and-a-half-year mandate. (A hint that his election is a done deal: Boland is already scheduled to meet European Council President António Costa immediately afterward.) He’s an Irish farmer who describes himself as “a big believer in fighting poverty who wants to get the subject back into Europe’s agenda.”
His starting point? Housing.
Good intentions, but show me action: That’s exactly what Boland will be discussing with Costa today. The Council president “said that housing is a problem from Dublin to Cyprus. I’m delighted he’s making this a priority,” Boland said. While the renewed political focus is “music” to Boland’s ears, he said he’ll hold the Commission and other EU institutions accountable if they fail to deliver real solutions. (He’ll also meet von der Leyen in January.)
The “lifeblood of all living communities”: The EESC only has advisory power within the EU system, but it’s a fully fledged institution representing civil society — a source of strength Boland wants to build on. “These organizations are dealing with disability, poverty, young people, migrants, rights, people in poverty. These are people on the front line.” He cited examples like Covid-19 and the Valencia floods, when civil society organizations were the first to act.
BUILD AFFORDABLE HOMES … OR ELSE! It’s not just civil society. The mayors of more than a dozen major cities (including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin and Rome) have sent a letter to the presidents of the European Council, Commission, Parliament and the Eurogroup arguing that if the EU doesn’t do more to take on the housing crisis, far-right and Euroskeptic groups will continue “gaining ground around the continent.” Read it here.
Doubling down: Meanwhile, von der Leyen on Tuesday unveiled the 2026 Work Program, in which Brussels reaffirms its commitment to tackle unaffordable housing. Following up on the Affordable Housing Plan due out in December, the Commission will present an initiative on short-term rentals next spring and its Construction Services Act — which aims to slash regulations related to the building sector and accelerate the construction of new homes — toward the end of 2026. Aitor Hernández-Morales and Ferdinand Knapp have more here.
SORTING THROUGH COMMISSION TRASH: Since we mentioned it, let’s dig into the most entertaining part of the Commission’s work program: the trash.
Dumpster diving: The Commission plans to scrap 25 draft proposals in 2026 as part of its ongoing purge of red tape. Last time, 37 were on the chopping block and 32 eventually withdrawn after a fierce lobbying battle (capitals and MEPs have six months to plead for any proposals they want to save).
Among the doomed files: A monitoring framework for resilient European forests and a certification scheme for international trade in rough diamonds. Matthieu Pollet has more for Pros.
But EU leaders want more: Cutting red tape is one of the few areas of policymaking on which EU countries largely agree; in fact, they’re calling for even more. Competitiveness — the other big buzzword before housing took over — is fast becoming an excuse to sideline old priorities like environmental protection and to cave to U.S. pressure, explain Marianne Gros and Camille Gijs.
ICONIC MOMENT
TEQUILA AND MARIACHI … Sometimes in politics, you can only stop and wonder: what the heck just happened? Like on Tuesday night, when Ursula von der Leyen attended a Parliament reception celebrating Mexico’s Día de Muertos — complete with an altar, a mariachi band and an open margarita bar. (Parliament President Roberta Metsola was also there.)
VDL’s political message: “The EU remains Mexico’s second-largest source of foreign investment,” von der Leyen told the crowd, and promised to go to the country to sign the Modernized Global Agreement. According to Playbook’s spies, she closed her remarks shouting: “¡Viva México! ¡Viva la vida! ¡Muchas gracias!”
And that wasn’t all: A mariachi band serenaded the president with a cover of “Gema,” by Mexican icon Vicente Fernández. It opens with, “You are like a precious stone / like a truly valuable divine jewel,” and the chorus goes: “You are the gem that God turned into a woman for the good of my life.” All the people I spoke to agreed that the event was one of the weirdest moments of the mandate so far.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
FIRST EU–EGYPT SUMMIT: Today marks the first EU–Egypt summit, focused on Cairo’s role in the Gaza ceasefire. Leaders will also discuss the future of bilateral relations under the upgraded Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, agreed in March 2024.
Choreography: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will meet with Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, before dining with EU leaders arriving for Thursday’s European Council.
Migration management and security cooperation will top the agenda. The summit will also touch on the recently proposed Pact for the Mediterranean, with a focus on cooperation pillars like “people as drivers of change” (read: migration, again).
BALKANS ENLARGEMENT IN LONDON: Also today, the Berlin Process Summit convenes in London, bringing together leaders of the Western Balkans Six — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — along with EU representatives, international lenders and major European governments including Germany, France, Italy, and the U.K.
COME FLY WITH ME: Commissioner Michael McGrath is off to Canada for a three-day mission across Montreal and Ottawa. Before takeoff, he told Playbook: “Democracy isn’t a destination, it’s a daily commitment that requires constant nurturing.”
OK, so what are you doing there? Poetic moments aside, McGrath’s mission is to prepare the EU-Canada summit next June, focused on strengthening democratic resilience. That includes fighting disinformation and foreign interference — “threats that know no borders,” he said. “Canada’s experience offers invaluable lessons as we finalize work on the European Democracy Shield and ramp up efforts to protect democracy across Europe.”
IN OTHER NEWS
UKRAINE STRIKES RUSSIAN CHEMICALS FACTORY: Kyiv’s forces, using the U.K.’s Storm Shadow cruise missiles, launched a “massive” strike on a Russian chemical plant that makes gunpowder and explosives, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on social media. Sky News has a write-up.
Ceasefire push: European nations are working with Kyiv on a 12-point plan to end the war along current front lines, Bloomberg reports.
PORTUGAL’S FORMER PM DIES: Former Portuguese PM Francisco Pinto Balsemão, who founded the media conglomerate Impresa, died on Tuesday. Expresso has an obit.
EVERYTHING’S FINE: Scientists found mosquitoes in Iceland for the first time this month.
(LITERAL) CAR CRASH AT THE WHITE HOUSE: A vehicle rammed into a security gate outside the White House last night, with the driver immediately arrested, the New York Times reports.