Agreements signed following trilateral summit in Cairo
After the conclusion of the trilateral summit, a number of important agreements were signed in the presence of the leaders of Greece, Egypt, and Cyprus.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/875238/Agreements-signed-following-trilateral-summit-in-Cairo
Eulogies to be delivered by president, PASOK leader, prime minister at Simitis’ funeral
Former PM Costas Simitis’ funeral will be held on Thursday, with the service at the Athens Metropolitan Cathedral starting at 12:00, followed by burial at the First Cemetery of Athens. Simitis, a former PASOK leader, died early on Sunday morning. He was 88. Eulogies will be delivered by President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, former minister and professor Tassos Giannitsis, and professors Yiannis Voulgaris and Constantinos Tsoukalas.
UN Security Council: Greece supports political Transition in Syria; calls for regional stability
Greece’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris, during the Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, stressed the importance of a smooth, fully inclusive political transition. Sekeris also referred to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, which Greece welcomes and recognizes as a defining moment for Syria and the entire region.
IELKA: Supermarket prices down in December
Product prices in supermarkets decreased by an average of 0.94% in December 2024 compared to December 2023, according to the results of a survey by the Consumer Retail Research Institute (IELKA). The same survey showed prices fully stabilising in the 12 months of 2024, with a marginal increase of +0.04% on average compared to the 12 months of 2023.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/875153/IELKA-Supermarket-prices-down-in-December
ATHEX: Bank stocks and mid-caps hold ground
Bank stock continued to grow at Athinon Avenue on Wednesday, but other stocks bogged the benchmark down, preventing it from registering another 13-year high after Tuesday’s record. Even the profit-taking effort by some traders proved short-lived and the favorable corporate news points to further gains in the days to come, barring any external concern.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1258068/athex-bank-stocks-and-mid-caps-hold-ground
KATHIMERINI: New form of fraud: The phone call that empties bank accounts
TA NEA: AirBnB: Thousands of houses to be ousted
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: RRF hangs in the balance
RIZOSPASTIS: Workers and farmers in upheaval and ready to rally
KONTRA NEWS: Why Europeans are terrified of Trump
DIMOKRATIA: Trilateral meeting in Cairo: Message to Turkey and Syria
NAFTEMPORIKI: Tectonic changes on the energy market
DRIVING THE DAY: ELON MUSK, 28TH COMMISSIONER
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: The conversation in Brussels has swiftly moved from “Will Donald Trump defend Europe?” to “Will Donald Trump invade it?”
Going Nuuk-lear: A year ago we revealed Trump had reportedly said he’d “never” come to Europe’s aid if it was attacked. As recently as late December the talk in town was all about whether European security guarantees for Ukraine would be worth a centime without U.S. backing. Come 2025, the threat of invasion is coming not only from Russia, but seemingly from Trump’s own desire to take over mineral-rich Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Little Greenland men? Trump’s refusal in a press conference Tuesday to rule out using military force to get his way triggered furious responses from the French and German governments. But overnight, Mike Waltz (tapped to be Trump’s national security adviser) and his nominee for Ukraine and Russia envoy Keith Kellogg both seemed to double down on the Greenland rhetoric in separate Fox News interviews.
So why is the European Commission so mealy-mouthed on the topic? As my colleague Csongor Körömi reported, the Berlaymont’s official mouthpieces danced around journalists’ attempts to get them to engage with Trump’s threats on Wednesday. It led one cheeky journo, Euractiv’s Nicholas Wallace, to ask: “Are you waiting for American marines to land in Greenland or what?”
If you ignore him, does he go away? The Commission appears to be taking a head-in-sand approach to Trump’s threats, hoping the saber-rattling will amount to nothing once he actually takes power. But here’s a sobering reminder that Trump does sometimes follow through (and a persuasive argument for why we should listen to what he says he will do): PolitiFact’s tracker of the campaign pledges Trump made before winning his first term shows he kept 23 percent of them and partially followed through on a further 22 percent. Which isn’t comforting if you’re in Nuuk (or in Copenhagen, for that matter).
Going, going … Speaking with the confidence of a man who’s leaving office in less than two weeks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave his view of a potential Greenland invasion: “It’s not going to happen.”
The method to Trump’s Greenland madness: My colleagues Karl Mathiesen and Giovanna Coi have a top read out this morning in which they explain what makes Greenland so attractive to Trump in a world transforming thanks to climate change. Hint: It’s all about getting a leg up on Russia and China.
EUROPE REGULATES, AMERICA ENERVATES: The sense the EU is a follower, not a doer, will only be compounded tonight from 7 p.m. when Elon Musk fires up his X platform for a livestream with far-right German politician Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the Alternative for Germany. (The AfD is currently polling in second ahead of next month’s election, 11 points behind the center-right Christian Democrats.) My colleague Nette Nöstlinger has five things to watch the livestream for.
Musk x AfD: Musk has repeatedly expressed his backing for the AfD, calling it the “last spark of hope” in an op-ed in Welt am Sonntag. Weidel can’t be like Adolf Hitler, because she has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka, was one of his key arguments.
Algorithm angst: EU bureaucrats will be watching to see whether Musk breaks EU law tonight by boosting the video on X, my tech expert colleague Pieter Haeck writes in this piece. The EU has already charged X with breaking EU rules relating to the misleading nature of its blue ticks verification system.
Déjà vu? We’ve been here before. France’s former Commissioner Thierry Breton sent an open letter last summer warning Musk not to break EU laws ahead of his pre-election livestream with Trump, and after the X boss posted inflammatory commentary on far-right riots in the U.K. That triggered an outcry in the U.S., where Trump allies blasted the EU for interfering in the American presidential election, and in Brussels, where members of the center-right European People’s Party accused the liberal Breton of going rogue. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen disowned Breton’s letter (and later ditched him as commissioner).
Now here we are again. In an interview with French paper Les Echos, published last night, Breton said Europe is “powerful enough” to influence digital policy in the Trump era — “if it gives itself the means to do so.”
Keeping their own counsel: But the EPP and top EU leadership have been silent, even as Musk works to disrupt the German election on Feb. 23. There hasn’t been a public statement from von der Leyen — though, in fairness, she’s ill. Henna Virkkunen, the new tech commissioner, has kept a low profile, saying nothing publicly on the matter all week. Her only comments came via a letter she sent to German center-right MEP Andreas Schwab pledging to “energetically advance” the Commission’s long-running probe into X. (Schwab made the letter public.)
NOW READ THIS: The FT has a long-read on the X accounts that are fueling Musk’s obsession with British politics.
DOES THE EU HAVE ANY FRIENDS IN TRUMP LAND? Von der Leyen’s opening salvo, when Trump won the presidential election, was to placate the new administration by offering to buy more American gas. But it doesn’t really look like the cozy approach is paying dividends.
Who’s got a golden ticket? Which EU politician has managed to snag an invitation to Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration? Sarah Knafo, a French far-right MEP, along with her firebrand far-right partner Eric Zemmour. Knafo, who was in the U.S. on election day, is not attached to any political grouping in the European Parliament, and therefore cannot even take charge of EU legislative files …
And yet: She seems more embedded in the Trump circle than the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who hesitated when asked recently by my fellow Playbooker Sarah Wheaton who her top contact in Trump’s circle was, before blurting out that she plays golf. We said buddy, not buggy!
Security for shitposting: Don’t forget that incoming veep JD Vance last year explicitly threatened that U.S. support for NATO was conditional on the EU reining in its regulation of Musk’s X.
MEANWHILE, COMMISSIONERS FLOCK TO BLUESKY: Agriculture boss Christophe Hansen became the latest top EU official to join Bluesky, which sells itself as an alternative to X. Playbook found 10 other commissioners’ accounts, including Ursula von der Leyen — whose handle Jon Worth reserved a year earlier (she thanked him on her first day on the platform). European Council President António Costa also has an account, but Parliament President Roberta Metsola doesn’t yet. “Keep your eyes on the sky,” said her spokesperson.
MAY ELECTIONS
POLAND: The Polish presidential election has been set for May 18. Polls predict a runoff vote between Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski (Civic Coalition) and historian Karol Nawrocki (Law and Justice).
ROMANIA: Romania will rerun its presidential election on May 4, with a runoff on May 18, after concerns about Russia’s “aggressive hybrid action” led to the first attempt being annulled. But as my POLITICO colleague Carmen Paun writes, the ultranationalist Euroskeptic Călin Georgescu still appears to be a strong contender and could again emerge victorious.
DOCTOR’S WAITING ROOM
(NO) VON DER LEYEN HEALTH UPDATE: The Commission president has a “severe” case of pneumonia, the Berlaymont said six days ago. Since then there has been no update on her condition. As von der Leyen recuperates at home in Hanover, her normally punishing schedule is clear till mid-January, with her illness even forcing a delay to a key competitiveness initiative, as my colleagues Aude van den Hove, Giovanna Faggionato and Zia Weise revealed Wednesday.
What’s pneu? Retired Belgian doctor Yves Van Laethem, an expert in infectious diseases, told Playbook that symptoms of pneumonia — a respiratory illness affecting the lungs that is more often bacterial rather than viral — can include blue lips, difficulty breathing, coughing and a foggy head due to restricted oxygen.
“Severe” usually means hospital: When asked whether von der Leyen, herself a medical doctor, had been hospitalized for treatment, her spokesperson Paula Pinho said there was “no update” — and there’s no suggestion she has been. “Most cases of pneumonia are mild to moderate,” said Tiago Villanueva, a GP and president of the European Union of General Practitioners. But for severe pneumonia, normally “you would have to be admitted.”
IN OTHER NEWS
DE CROO POISON PEN UPDATE: Letters containing white powderthat were sent to Belgian government offices on Rue de la Loi and injured a member of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s team contained the poisonous substance strychnine, Le Soir reports.
ICYMI — 3 NEW QATARGATE CHARGES: Three people connected to the S&D group in the European Parliament were charged as part of the Belgian criminal investigation into Qatargate, also per Le Soir.
CIAO, SONO TORNATA: Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was released from an Iranian prison on Wednesday. In the newest episode of her podcast “Stories,” the 29-year-old recounts her experience. Listen here.
AUSTRIA LATEST: Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg from the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) will become chancellor on Friday, taking over from Karl Nehammer.
He’ll have his work cut out for him: The European Commission could be set to punish Austria over excessive public spending, with Vienna needing to present a credible plan to cut the cash splash by Jan. 21, Gregorio Sorgi reports.
WARSAW FLAGS CHANGE TO SOVIET PASSPORT PROGRAM: The Polish government may stop granting passports to relatives of Poles deported to the former Soviet Union in the 1940s, in part over fears it could be infiltrated by Russian spies, the FT reports.