Mitsotakis: Cyprus of the European family is not and will never be alone – Macron: Whoever attacks Cyprus, attacks Europe
French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Cyprus on Monday to show solidarity with the EU island nation.
Gov’t meeting on repercussions of war on economy concludes; decisions expected this week
A scheduled preparatory meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on economic repercussions of the war concluded late on Monday. According to government sources, Mitsotakis received the reports of the relevant ministers of development and energy, but nothing was decided as he is set to be away on Tuesday to attend the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris. The same sources said that the government’s decisions on interventions to tackle profiteering phenomena in the market will be finalized within the week and announced shortly after.
Pierrakakis on energy crisis: We have the tools and the political will to react, if necessary
The situation in the Middle East is deeply concerning, Eurogroup president Kyriakos Pierrakakis said on Monday following the Eurogroup meeting. According to Pierrakakis, the European economy has the capacity and the resilience to absorb temporary shocks. “But at the same time, we must be prepared for a more prolonged period of instability, with potential disruptions to shipping, increases in energy prices and implications for inflation”.
Eurozone government bonds under strong pressure; Greece’s 10-year bond yield at 3.7%
Eurozone government bonds are under strong pressure, with investors selling their bonds, pushing yields to their highest levels in a year. The geopolitical flare-up in the Middle East and Iran’s involvement have caused a “domino effect” in international markets. The surge in oil prices has reignited fears of a new inflationary wave, overturning the European Central Bank’s plan to cut interest rates. The German 10-year bond, considered Europe’s safe haven, returned to its 2025 levels with its yield soaring to 2.92%. In the domestic market, the yield on the 10-year bond touched 3.70% from 3.58% at the end of the previous week. At the same time, its spread over the corresponding German security widened to 0.83% from 0.62%.
ATHEX: Stock drop mitigated by closing
The amassed worries of international markets throughout the weekend exploded in a dramatic decline for all bourses at the start of Monday’s trading, but this was mitigated as the day went along. Accordingly the Greek stock market saw its benchmark slide by as much as 4% during the day – with banks losing up to 5.40% – but it soon came off the day’s lows to close with significantly reduced losses, primarily thanks to the reaction by a handful of blue chips. Therefore the main index at Athinon Avenue successfully defended the 2,100-point level.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1297522/athex-stock-drop-mitigated-by-closing
KATHIMERINI: Macron: An attack against Cyprus means an attack against the EU
TA NEA: Cyprus: 3+1 SOS by Pafos
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: IMF Head: On the way to the… unthinkable
RIZOSPASTIS: Greece and EU to escalate their involvement in the imperialistic massacre
KONTRA NEWS: IMF Head Georgieva: “Prepare for the unthinkable”
DIMOKRATIA: Cyprus will never be alone
NAFTEMPORIKI: Shielding measures for households and markets
DRIVING THE DAY
EUROPE FACES ENERGY PRICE SHOCK: EU leaders are drilling down on a range of options to lower energy prices that have skyrocketed due to Iranian attacks on oil-exporting Gulf states and ships — including price caps or the release of emergency oil stocks.
Ready to unleash: G7 ministers raised the prospect of using the emergency stocks on Monday, although French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said “we are not there yet.”
Special leaders’ VTC: Energy prices will also be discussed today in a video-conference of EU leaders ahead of a European Council gathering on March 19, according to four diplomats who spoke to your Playbook author and Camille Gijs. Germany, Belgium and Italy are hosting the pre-summit meeting, in a repeat of the breakfast they hosted ahead of the Alden Biesen summit in February.
RSVP: The leaders will be talking about how to cut more EU red tape as well as the ongoing energy crisis, according to two of the diplomats. It wasn’t clear on Monday evening which leaders had confirmed their participation, but one diplomat said it was in the “double digits.”
No emergency powers: The European Commission has so far ruled out the use of emergency powers that would allow EU governments to spend public money to offset the higher energy prices, Bjarke Smith Meyer writes in to report. Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis rebuffed calls from some countries to trigger the so-called general escape clause during Monday’s meeting of finance ministers, according to two officials.
Why the frenzy? Energy prices have jumped to the top of leaders’ priority list in a matter of days amid ongoing disruption to fossil fuel production and exports caused by drone and missile strikes across the Middle East.
Blowback: Leaders are concerned about political consequences. In Hungary, where voters go to the polls early next month, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has called for Brussels to lift its sanctions on Russian energy exports to offset high prices — a call the EU hasn’t heeded.
Flashbacks: The worrying rise in prices recalls the situation in late 2022, when energy prices soared across the bloc in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and triggered a scramble to diversify the EU’s energy imports, my colleagues Charlie Cooper, Giorgio Leali, Ben Munster and Victor Goury-Laffont report.
How long will the energy shock last? Donald Trump told CBS News Monday evening that the war with Iran could soon be over — “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” he said. But both sides continued to trade threats overnight. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it won’t allow “one litre of oil” to be shipped from the Middle East unless the U.S. and Israel stop attacking. Trump then threatened on Truth Social that Iran will be struck “TWENTY TIMES HARDER” if it blocks the Strait of Hormuz.
The bottom line: The EU is braced for an unpleasant replay of the inflation shock that came in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But so far, the view from Brussels amounts to this: Hold your fire, we’re not there yet.
HUNGARY ELECTION
ORBÁN PLAYS THE UKRAINE CARD: With just over a month to go until Hungarians vote in a national election, Viktor Orbán’s camp is increasing its anti-Ukraine rhetoric in the hope of closing a nearly 10-point polling gap with Péter Magyar’s opposition Tisza party.
After first seizing on the dispute with Kyiv over Russian oil to claw back ground with Hungarian voters, Orbán has been pushing allegations that Ukraine has been trying to interfere in the April 12 parliamentary election, Max Griera writes in to report.
March 3: Orbán claimed at a public event that Kyiv is financing Tisza to install a friendly leader in Budapest. “I’m not their man, I’m yours, and therefore I’m not good for them, they’re looking for someone else,” Orbán said, according to his official website. (Tisza didn’t respond to a request for comment on the claim.)
March 5: Hungarian authorities seized two armored vehicles in Budapest transporting millions in cash and gold between Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank and the Ukrainian state lender Oschadbank. Kyiv reacted furiously, accusing Hungary of “stealing” money that was being legally transferred and unlawfully detaining seven Oschadbank employees. But Orbán’s ministers have publicly cast doubt on the money’s origin and purpose.
“What was it used for and in whose interests?,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó posted on X Sunday. “How much of it was spent in Hungary and for whose benefit?” Oschadbank’s lawyers have denied the funds are linked to criminal activity or the Hungarian opposition, saying the transfer was fully documented and lawful, Euronews reported yesterday.
The latest: Orbán’s party introduced a bill Monday that would allow the funds to be frozen while Hungary’s tax authorities investigate the origin, destination and any national security implications.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha blasted that move on X: “Hungary is falling down a spiral of lawlessness … We will hold everyone involved accountable — not only for the theft of money but first and foremost for the brutal treatment of seven Ukrainian citizens.”
ALLEGATIONS ARE FLYING BOTH WAYS: Magyar on Saturday accused Orbán of “inviting” Russia’s military intelligence service to deploy agents in the country’s embassy in Budapest to influence the election.
Hungary’s international communications office batted away that claim, telling POLITICO: “This false accusation by left-wing media outlets and politicians is merely a pathetic attempt to divert attention from the threat directed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as well as from other attempts to interfere in the Hungarian elections.”
PARLIAMENT CORNER
DATE NIGHT FOR THE COALITION: The leaders of the EU’s two largest political groups are going on what are being referred to as “dates” to repair their fraught relationships, Max Griera writes in this exclusive report.
Team-building: Manfred Weber of the European People’s Party and Iratxe García of the Socialists and Democrats — plus 10 deputies each — went out for a meal in Strasbourg last month, according to five people who were there. And there are more dates to come.
The reason? To stop the two traditional allies fighting after a turbulent 2025, in which the two groupings clashed over everything from the EU’s migration policy to the Commission’s simplification agenda. Which brings us to …
RIGHT-WING CAMP PASSES DEPORTATION BILL: Ursula von der Leyen’s EPP voted with right-wing and far-right groups late on Monday to toughen the EU’s deportation policy. The text allows detention for up to 24 months, broadens the definition of people considered security risks and it gives countries greater flexibility to build deportation centers in non-EU countries, as we reported last week.
“We are proud of it,” said the lead negotiator, French EPP lawmaker François-Xavier Bellamy, after the vote, adding that he hoped EU countries would move quickly to ratify the decision.
But the left-wing camp slammed the law as undermining fundamental rights. It “reflects a racist and populist ideology,” said French Green lawmaker Mélissa Camara, adding the law includes “highly problematic” provisions such as “lifetime entry bans and detention for an indefinite period without serious legal grounds.”
AI CHAT FOR EU PARLIAMENT: The European Parliament plans to build its own internal generative artificial intelligence platform and establish internal machine learning teams by the end of 2026, according to the institution’s AI Roadmap obtained by POLITICO.
AI for dummies: The administration is planning to establish an “AI literacy program” to teach lawmakers and staffers to use the technology in their work, touting its “great potential” to help them be more innovative and efficient.
Doing something illegal? Tick Y or N: The Parliament plans to identify cases in which staffers have broken (or could break) the law through their use of AI by making them fill out a compliance questionnaire.
IN OTHER NEWS
STILL ANGRY: A week after Donald Trump called the Spanish government “terrible” and threatened to cut trade ties with Madrid, Spain’s leaders remain furious with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for sitting in silence while the U.S. president delivered his tirade. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz told Aitor Hernández-Morales that Merz is among a current crop of EU leaders “who have no idea how to manage the historic moment we’re living in,” adding “what Europe needs today is leadership, not vassals who pay homage to Trump.”
New number, who dis? Merz’s spokesperson tried to downplayed the tensions and told Nette Nöstlinger the chancellor had tried to speak directly to Sánchez, but his phone calls went unanswered. It turns out he was dialing the wrong digits: the Spanish prime minister’s team told Aitor the phone number is changed periodically for security reasons. Merz now has the right one, but the two leaders haven’t yet managed to chat. Aitor and Nette have more details here.
What Merz is worrying about: After a disappointing result in an election in Baden-Württemberg on Sunday, polls suggest further chastening losses are to come for the chancellor’s ruling coalition amid rising anxiety about Germany’s economic future.
FRENCH MINISTER SLAMS COMMISSION MISSION CREEP: The European Commission should stay in its lane on foreign policy, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told a meeting of EU ambassadors Monday. The minister said the EU executive should “restrict itself to the strictest respect of subsidiarity, of the letter and the spirit of the treaty,” according to a transcript of his remarks shared with Playbook.
Zing: Barrot’s intervention comes amid growing frustration at Ursula von der Leyen’s foreign policy choices and friction between the Commission president and High Representative Kaja Kallas. While he didn’t name von der Leyen, Barrot said “Article 18 of the Treaty of the European Union is perfectly clear. The high representative conducts the common foreign and security policy of the Union.” Obeying the treaty, he added, is “the condition for Europe to be able to avoid the negative consequences of the growing rivalry between the United States and China.”
PARLIAMENT TO UNVEIL PRIZE WINNERS: The EU will bestow its Order of Merit prize on “up to 20” people who have rendered services to the bloc in a ceremony kicking off at 12:30 p.m., according a Parliament official. All heads of state and speakers of Parliament have been asked to submit names for consideration. Playbook hears Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel are in the running.
HEY, BIG SPENDER: The Commission and Parliament will be spending as much as €275 million for media services over the next four years, according to a tender document published Monday, our tech colleague Eliza Gkritsi writes in to report. That’s before VAT, so the final tally may exceed €300 million.