PM Mitsotakis sets out Constitutional reform plans in weekly review
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a Facebook post on Sunday, opened his weekly review of the government’s work with a focus on constitutional reform. He said he had launched a dialogue aimed at creating institutions that are more modern, transparent and resilient to the challenges of the 21st century. The Greek Premier outlined the key proposals, including enshrining fiscal stability in the Constitution, changes to the law on ministerial responsibility, the establishment of non-state universities, judicial participation in the selection of the leadership of the judiciary, and evaluation mechanisms in the public sector. He added that the final proposal would be presented in March, with the aim of achieving broader political consensus.
Air Force colonel remanded in custody in alleged China espionage case
A Hellenic Air Force colonel accused of espionage involving China has been remanded in custody following his appearance before an investigating magistrate. The 54-year-old officer is suspected of transmitting highly classified military information to third parties using encrypted communication software, allegedly risking harm to national security.
Kikilias: There is no evidence of a pushback in the Chios incident
There is no report of a pushback action by the Hellenic Coast Guard vessel against the boat of the trafficker carrying persons illegally into Greece, Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Minister Vasilis Kikilias said on Friday, at the end of the session of the Production and Trade Committee to brief MPs on “the incident of February 3, 2026, in Chios.” “On the contrary, the evidence, which will also be part of the case file, shows a change of course by the trafficker’s vessel and the rubber boats, which caused the collision,” Kikilias stated.
Deputy head of consumer authority resigns
Anna Stratinaki has resigned from her position as deputy governor of the newly established Independent Authority for Consumer Protection and Market Oversight, where she oversaw the Consumer Ombudsman, officials said. The Development Ministry said in a statement that Stratinaki stepped down for family health reasons. However, media reports have linked her resignation to her husband’s alleged involvement in the case of labor union leader Yiannis Panagopoulos, who on Thursday was reported to be under investigation for alleged embezzlement and money laundering.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1294580/deputy-head-of-consumer-authority-resigns
ATHEX: Eighth week of advance for bourse
Most of the noon losses at Athinon Avenue were recovered for the benchmark of the market on Friday, as a late rally by buyers, focused on banks, all but made up for the decline shown earlier in line with the trend in most other eurozone bourses. Turnover was the highest of the last six sessions, partly due to Metlen that accounted for more than a quarter of the volume.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1294644/athex-eighth-week-of-advance-for-bourse
SUNDAY PAPERS
KATHIMERINI: The Constitution, bluffs and ballots
TO VIMA: Government proposal for changes in the Constitution : How ministers will face justice
REAL NEWS: Greek air force commander made in China
PROTO THEMA: Stop being on your smartphones all the time! Upcoming bill to ban social media for youths up to 15 years old
MONDAY PAPERS:
TA NEA: Serviceman was spying for China for 3 years and not just 3 months
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The sale of poll company MRB is a political scandal
KONTRA NEWS: Former servicemen involved in spy network
DIMOKRATIA: Mitsotakis’ slapped by the EU for the sheep and goat pox vaccines
NAFTEMPORIKI: Race worth 29 billion for 98 stock market deals
DRIVING THE DAY
GROW OR DIE: European Union countries are piling pressure on the European Commission to get serious about turning around the bloc’s sluggish economy, amid fears it could be left at the mercy of other big players like the U.S. and China. Capitals are pushing for measures to link up markets, keep money on the continent and ax rules they say are hurting key industries ahead of Thursday’s summit on European competitiveness.
That debate will come to a head behind closed doors in Alden Biesen castle Thursday, where presidents and prime ministers will hear from two former Italian prime ministers now being held up as economic visionaries: Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta. On the agenda are reforms to the European market, kickstarting productivity and navigating an increasingly uncertain geo-economic environment. According to one EU official, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will write to leaders today, “pledging further concrete action to advance the competitiveness agenda” as a basis for the discussions about growth.
Show me the money! “Without GDP growth, we will be really vulnerable for external shocks,” Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domański told me amid preparations for the sit-down. Poland, he continued, is only able to spend “close to 5 percent of our GDP on defense because we have tax revenues going higher.” The Commission and other EU policymakers, meanwhile, will have to “focus on growth, focus on deregulation and being more ambitious,” the minister said — something critics say the commission hasn’t been able to deliver.
Sandwiches and the single market: At a lunch with ambassadors Friday, von der Leyen was questioned repeatedly on energy prices and trade, according to diplomats present. The two issues remain impediments to prosperity, despite new action plans and deals with third countries. Von der Leyen pushed back, saying Brussels is doing its part by planning an additional seven packages of rule-revoking amendments — “omnibuses,” in Brussels-speak — to cut red tape. She pointed to energy taxation and single-market alignment as ways capitals can do their part.
How’s your Dutch? For those who spreek de taal, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has a book out this morning weighing into the deregulation debate called “On Prosperity.” De Wever warns that “the European locomotive that was supposed to pull us forward is faltering” just as it is most needed, and blames overregulation for harming emerging sectors like AI. For those yet to master the language, my colleague Pieter Haeck has you covered.
Nein zu Bürokratie: Germany, meanwhile, is warning countries will only be able to give up control and integrate further into the single market if Eurocrats promise not to keep piling on the red tape. That’s according to a position paper circulated by Berlin and obtained by POLITICO over the weekend.
PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: The EU commissioner in charge of slashing unnecessary regulation, Valdis Dombrovskis, told Playbook that he is “absolutely” receptive to the new push from member states to speed up the process. “We have placed this at the very center of our political priorities. One year into the mandate, we have put forward 10 omnibus packages that will bring over €15 billion in annual administrative cost savings. But this is just a start,” he said.
Boo to bureaucracy: “Let me use the example of SMEs. Today, they represent 99.8 percent of all our businesses, employ almost 90 million people and are responsible for more than half of the added value created in the EU,” Dombrovskis added. “Fifty-five percent of our SMEs cite regulatory obstacles and administrative burdens as their single greatest challenge. Our simplification agenda is about enabling businesses to focus on what they do best: investing, innovating and expanding, not filling in forms.”
BUY EUROPEAN
EU CASH FOR EU WORK: A more controversial aspect of the new growth campaign is an initiative to ensure that more EU public money gets spent inside its markets on key industries. France has championed the idea, but Germany, Sweden and others are wary, fearing inflexible rules could hinder the economy, rather than help it. Giorgio Leali has more on Paris’ play here.
“I think it’s time to reflect on this and see what we can do,” a European diplomat supportive of the move told Playbook. “[We don’t need] protectionism but cleverness — targeted and smart.” Leaders will be hoping to hash out the details of what “Buy European” would mean in practice, given the file, currently being drafted by officials, has remained stuck at technical level and hasn’t yet made it to College.
It’s not a no: “The proposal as it was introduced would not have made it through the Council — fundamentally, it was too protectionist, too broad,” said an EU official. “There’s been a huge amount of work on this and it’s still being worked on. It’s important, so it’s important to get it right.” As the old Brussels truism has it: On the rare occasion Paris and Berlin can agree on something, it might actually happen.
MIGRATION
VIOLENCE CRACKDOWN: Murderers, rapists and other criminals who commit serious acts of violence could be deported if they aren’t EU citizens, under the terms of new proposals being pushed by Sweden. Stockholm’s migration minister, Johan Forssell, is calling his counterparts to build support for an overhaul of international conventions. The plan is to ensure criminals can be sent back to their countries of origin, even in cases where the guidance from the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) currently stands in the way.
Sweden’s center-right coalition government will introduce new measures in spring, designed to bring about a six-fold increase in migrant returns, Forssell told Playbook. Despite that, Forssell said international conventions limit what can be done, “especially when people with refugee status commit rape and other forms of serious sexual violence.”
Changing the rules: “The Refugee Convention allows for the expulsion of refugees if they have committed a particularly serious crime and pose a danger to the national security of the member state,” Forssell said. “Rape is one example of a particularly serious crime but UNHCR guidelines … require an individual assessment of the characteristic of the crime to determine whether it is particularly serious or not.” Sweden’s initiative aims to overhaul the UNHCR guidelines so that rape and other forms of serious sexual violence are always considered a particularly serious crime.
Plenary week: The European Parliament will vote Tuesday on new rules establishing lists of safe countries that failed asylum-seekers could be readily returned to without a lengthy review process. The vote will also outline safe third countries that could act as return hubs. At the same time, MEPs will discuss the humanitarian crises in Syria, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo that have forced civilians to flee their homes for safety abroad.
ELECTION WATCH
SEGURO ELECTED: Veteran center-left politician António José Seguro was elected Portugal’s next president Sunday, after comfortably beating far-right Chega party rival André Ventura in a second-round election. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Seguro won by a two-to-one margin. A former MEP, Seguro missed out on becoming leader of the Socialist Party in 2014, after losing an internal power struggle to then-Lisbon Mayor António Costa — now president of the European Council.
Storm clouds gather: The election was held despite extreme rain and winds knocking out power to thousands of homes and flooding sparking a state of emergency in 69 of 308 municipalities. Nineteen of the hardest-hit areas were given special permission to vote a week later than others, sparking criticism from outgoing President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and national election authorities, who insisted it must go ahead as planned.
Elsewhere on the Iberian peninsula … the Socialist Party of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez suffered a major defeat Sunday in an election in the region of Aragón that is seen as a barometer of the national electoral mood. The far right made substantial gains in the poll.
WINNING BIG IN JAPAN: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party won a landslide victory in a snap parliamentary election overnight, giving the country’s first female leader a strong mandate for conservative reforms on security, immigration and the economy.
IN OTHER NEWS
SAFE OPTION: The EU’s flagship defense program, SAFE, is up for discussion among ambassadors meeting Tuesday, a diplomat told my colleague Jacopo Barigazzi. Eight of 16 national plans are ready for formal approval when defense ministers meet Wednesday.
EURO-N YOUR OWN: Fears over increasingly unpredictable American policymaking have prompted the European Commission to work up plans to reduce exposure to the U.S. dollar, according to confidential notes seen by Giovanna Faggionato and Gregorio Sorgi.
NUCLEAR OPTION: Those same fears have also driven European governments to consider how best to shore up their nuclear umbrella, contemplating a new pact based on French — and even British — atomic weapons. Defense colleagues Laura Kayali in Paris and Victor Jack in Brussels have more this morning.
FARAGE FIGHTBACK? The man who could find himself as Britain’s next prime minister — Nigel Farage, the veteran Euroskeptic and leader of the right-wing populist Reform UK party — is doing what he can to clean up his party’s foreign policy problems, including its positions on Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Esther Webber has the inside story.
NO LAUGHING MATTER: Controversial Italian comedian Andrea Pucci said Sunday he had pulled out of a scheduled hosting gig at the Sanremo song festival because of insults and threats. His decision prompted Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to accuse her center-left opponents of silencing their critics in the entertainment world, Reuters reports.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING … pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Hong Kong court, a penalty that could heighten Beijing’s diplomatic tensions with foreign governments, the Associated Press reports.