Election of the new Parliament speaker on Wednesday
The parliament plenary will hold a vote to elect the new president of the parliament on Wednesday, following the resignation of Konstantinos Tasoulas, who has been nominated by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the office of President of the Republic. New Democracy deputy Nikitas Kaklamanis is expected to be elected with a vast majority.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/878177/Election-of-the-new-Parliament-speaker-on-Wednesday
PM Mitsotakis: Greece and US relations never better; Greek gov’t goal is to play constructive role in Europe
The election of Donald Trump to the American presidency is Europe’s last motivation to move from words to actions – not in a spirit of opposition to the US, since we have very close relations and these will be maintained – but to search for mutually beneficial solutions,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in response to a question during an event at the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening.
Ruling Conservatives lead by 13.6 points in Interview poll
The ruling New Democracy party remains the leading political force in Greece, according to a new poll by Interview, conducted on behalf of politic.gr and published on Tuesday.
Recovery Fund absorption rate set to reach 64%
The European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) approved modifications to Greece’s Recovery and Resilience Plan on Tuesday. Greece submitted targeted amendments to its plan on October 21 that is worth 36.6 billion euros, to be provided in grants and loans. The absorption rate is expected to reach 64%, Ecofin said during a meeting attended by Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1259286/recovery-fund-absorption-rate-set-to-reach-64
ATHEX: Bourse index makes it six in a row
Athinon Avenue enjoyed one more day of price growth on Tuesday, the sixth in succession. Its benchmark climbed to highs unseen since April 2011, and the fact that it was the closing auctions that bolstered the blue chips most shows that there is hardly any growth fatigue yet in the market. The so-called “January effect” appears to be in full swing, though banks once again failed to match the pace of the main index.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1259300/athex-bourse-index-makes-it-six-in-a-row
KATHIMERINI: 22 States against President Trump
TA NEA: Public employees’ wages to increase
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Revelation: PM MItsotakis in favor of surveillance with AI help
RIZOSPASTIS: Strike today for better wages and measures for health and safety
KONTRA NEWS: The government is toying with the lives of cancer patients
DIMOKRATIA: Shameful act by the Minister of Health at EOPYY pharmacy
NAFTEMPORIKI: BoG Governor Stournaras: Fortified EU through unification
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DRIVING THE DAY: EUROPE’S FUTURE
EUROPE BRACES FOR A “HARSH” FOUR YEARS: The exclusive Swiss town of Davos hosted speeches from two powerful European leaders — and Olaf Scholz — at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
Selling Europe to Trump: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen laid out the EU’s plan for defense, energy, trade and tech in what she termed a “new era of harsh geostrategic competition.” As my fellow Playbookers Sarah Wheaton (who’s in Davos) and Nick Vinocur write in this piece, von der Leyen delivered a not-so-subtle message to Donald Trump: The EU is a rules-based economic superpower, with an attractive market, and we have other options if you start playing nasty. (She also went hard on China, warning Beijing to play by the rules of the global economy — a message that Trump, presumably, would enjoy hearing.)
The Art of the VDL: The context may have been the threat of a trade war launched by Trump — and the new president reiterated his intention to impose tariffs on the EU last night, calling the bloc “very, very bad” to the U.S. — but the content was mostly about other nations. Von der Leyen was at pains to show just how cozy other bits of the globe are getting with Europe, listing trade progress with Switzerland, Malaysia, Mexico and Mercosur. The Commission also announced that all commissioners will trek to India for trade talks in the spring. Are you listening, Donald?
No waffle here: Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was much less upbeat: “If there’s a trade war between the U.S. and Europe, the Chinese will love it. It’s a good thing for them and I think it would be foolish to do it,” he told reporters in Davos, POLITICO’s Camille Gijs reports.
Reality check: While von der Leyen put a positive spin on Europe’s chances of staying ahead in this new dog-eat-dog world order, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his Davos address to deliver a bleaker assessment of the Continent’s potential. Zelenskyy hit on several themes dear to President Trump — for instance, that Europe should urgently bolster its capacity to defend itself. “Washington does not believe Europe can bring them something that is really substantial,” he said.
Hard questions: “Will President Trump even notice Europe?” Zelenskyy said in the blistering speech, in which he urged the bloc to step up and take the lead on geopolitical negotiations, weapons development, tech development and energy independence. “Right now, it’s not clear whether Europe will even have a seat at the table when the war against our country ends.” Playbook’s Zoya Sheftalovich has a full write-up of Zelenskyy’s speech here.
UKRAINE EMBRACES TRUMP: Zoya has another piece from Davos this morning that details how Kyiv’s embattled leaders are now pinning their hopes of ending three years of war on Trump forcing Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. Trump said last night he expects to speak to Putin about a resolution in Ukraine “very soon.”
BY THE WAY: There’s still no news on when von der Leyen or Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, will make contact with the new administration in Washington.
MERZ SHRUGS: Germany’s likely future chancellor Friedrich Merz said he’s unfazed by Trump’s return. “His positions had always been clear. No surprise for me,” the CDU leader said during a Q&A in Davos. “So let’s work with it and let’s figure out where we are having approaches in common.”
Precondition: Merz is up for a Trump meeting “as soon as possible,” he said. “But there is one precondition,” he added — that no EU leader should meet Trump “without having tried to coordinate what we are telling them from our European perspective.” That was unmistakably a knock against Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, who has actively sought Trump’s favor since he was reelected.
APRÈS-SKI IN STRAZ: Von der Leyen will today travel from glitzy Davos to the European Parliament in Strasbourg — that’s some comedown — where she will dine with the leaders of the European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Renew Europe and Greens groups, two officials told Max Griera. They’ll chew over Trump and competitiveness.
KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST IN DAVOS: Listen to historian Niall Ferguson casting doubt on Trump’s ambition to strike a quick deal on Ukraine in an interview with Power Play’s Anne McElvoy … read about the 11 tribes of Davos, from the 1-percenters to the blockchain bros … and don’t forget to sign up to Global Playbook for daily updates from the forum.
FRANCE AND GERMANY
ONE LAST PUSH FOR THE FRANCO-GERMAN ENGINE: The Franco-German relationship hasn’t been this frosty in a long time, my colleague Hans von der Burchard writes in today’s Berlin Playbook. Scholz and Emmanuel Macron frequently clash in public, and Macron has been known to fume about unfavorable photos that emerged after they’ve had lunch. Now they are also poles apart about the Mercosur deal.
Treaties and Trump: Today, Macron and Scholz meet in Paris. Officially it’s to celebrate 62 years of their Elysée Treaty, which formalized postwar reconciliation and cooperation. The unofficial reason for the meeting? The EU urgently needs to find answers to challenges on defense policy and competitiveness — and to the risks posed by Trump.
There are a few rays of hope: The two sides are pulling in the same direction on competitiveness and cutting red tape. Work has already begun in Brussels on implementing Franco-German proposals. An EU bureaucracy reduction plan is due to be launched at the beginning of February. The Clean Industrial Deal, which Brussels intends to present on Feb. 26, three days after the German federal election, contains ideas that have the blessing of Paris and Berlin. (Zia Wiese has the latest on that here.)
The aim of today’s meeting is to “keep up the pressure and take concrete steps to reduce red tape,” a German official said. Scholz is scheduled to arrive at the Élysée Palace at 1.15 p.m. with a press statement soon after, followed by a working lunch, my colleagues in Berlin and Paris report.
Nevertheless: Europe’s two biggest economies remain sharply divided on some of the most consequential issues facing the EU. It doesn’t help that the personal relationship between the country’s leaders is less than warm. There are unlikely to be many tears shed in Paris if Scholz loses next month’s German federal election, Clea Caulcutt reports in Paris Playbook.
Looking to the future: Speaking in Davos on Tuesday, Merz said the two countries could overcome their disputes on Mercosur and other trade matters. “I am very close to Emmanuel Macron, and we are meeting regularly on these issues,” Merz told a panel. POLITICO’s Camille Gijs has more for Pros.
TRUMP REACTIONS
HOW TO DEAL WITH TRUMP: Since returning to office Monday, President Trump hasn’t been entirely clear on three big questions facing European leaders, my colleague Tim Ross writes. Namely: U.S. support for Ukraine, the sweeping tariffs he’s threatened to introduce and the future of NATO as the Continent’s security umbrella.
Over in Europe: There has been a generally muted response to Trump’s announcements from European governments so far — no one really wants to stick their neck out and anger the new POTUS straight away. But there are still signs that politicians around the Continent will try different tactics to influence Trump …
Beg: Some member countries will beg, predicted former French ambo to the U.S. Gérard Araud, commenting on a POLITICO article last night.
Persuade: Germany’s health minister said it will try to convince the U.S. not to pull out of the World Health Organization.
Flatter: “Your election victory is truly remarkable,” Germany’s probable next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, wrote in a post congratulating Trump on X.
Use diplomatic language: “Dear President Trump, listen carefully: Greenland has been Danish for 800 years. It is an integral part of our country. It is not for sale,” far-right Danish MEP Anders Vistisen said in Parliament Tuesday, according to Ritzau. “Let me put it in a sentence that you understand: Mr. Trump, fuck off.”
Deploy stats: We need each other, von der Leyen argued, saying 1 million American jobs directly depend on trade with Europe.
Show off: The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) crowed on X that it was the “only European political party invited to the inauguration.” (Its main national leader, Italian PM Meloni, was the most prominent European politician to attend.)
Express regret: An EU Commission spokesperson said “we very much regret” that the U.S. pulled out of a global minimum corporate tax regime, while Brussels’ climate chief Wopke Hoekstra described Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords as a “truly unfortunate development.”
Pay up: The EU will hold talks with U.S. officials about buying more American fuel. “The priority is to have a conversation, to engage early, discuss common interests and then be ready to negotiate,” said a Commission spokesperson. More on that from Gabriel Gavin here.
Give up: “There is not much more we can do,” said German Vice Chancellor (and Greens candidate) Robert Habeck, because the country already imports about 90 percent of its gas from the U.S.
Avert their eyes: The European Commission’s chief spokesperson Paula Pinho was asked about Elon Musk’s “Dr. Strangelove” impression but wouldn’t discuss the controversy. “We absolutely stand our policy [against] antisemitism. We will not comment on any gestures which are indeed being interpreted by some and not by others as having a particular meaning or intention,” she said. U.K. government representatives said they hadn’t seen the salute.
PARLIAMENT
PARLIAMENT’S DEBATE PILOT: A debate about enforcing the Digital Services Act on Tuesday morning turned into a fiery three-hour affair, in part thanks to the European Parliament keeping MEPs’ allotted speaking times secret, which forced many to stay in the room — for once. It was a pilot trialed by the Parliament to boost attendance during debates. “The room was quite full … that’s already a good starting point,” said EPP chief Manfred Weber.
Vibe check: “Everybody felt there was a better vibe in the room,” said Volt MEP Damian Boeselager, whose assessment was echoed by other lawmakers and Parliament staff. According to Boeselager, who spearheads a group of young MEPs pushing to reform debate rules, the turnout was “decent” but there’s still room to spice things up — especially by using more blue cards to allow lawmakers to have impromptu Q&As.
HUNGARIAN “SPYING”: EU lawmakers debated on Tuesday media reports alleging the Hungarian government spied on investigators from the EU’s anti-fraud office OLAF, which at one point was looking into EU tenders awarded to a company owned by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law.
“The Commission has at its disposal specialized services in charge of human and digital counterintelligence,” Commissioner Piotr Serafin, in charge of OLAF, told MEPs. He added it will ensure OLAF’s staff safety and reminded Orbán that “protecting EU money” is the duty of all member states.
LA CASA DE BERNARDA ALMA: Spanish center-right politician Alma Ezcurra is in line to be the rapporteur for the special committee on the EU’s housing crisis, tasked to draft the recommendations that will be ultimately sent to the Commission, an MEP and an EPP official told Max. Last week we reported that Italian S&D lawmaker Irene Tinagli will chair the special panel.
IN OTHER NEWS
GREENLAND LATEST: Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B. Egede said Tuesday that his government is working to arrange a meeting with Donald Trump to discuss the U.S. president’s threats to take over the Arctic island. More here.
CHINA AND RUSSIA DEEPEN TIES: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone call Tuesday in which they pledged to boost cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the wake of Trump’s return to the Oval Office.
Hybrid threats: Germany is urging the EU to take a tougher stance on hybrid threats coming from Russia, including by expanding the sanctions regime and limiting access to Europe by Moscow’s diplomatic missions. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock circulated proposals ahead of a meeting of her counterparts in Brussels next week, Nette Nöstlinger and Hans von der Burchard report.
MIDDLE EAST UPDATE: Israel launched a major military operation in the West Bank last night that killed at least nine Palestinians and wounded dozens of others, according to local officials. It came after Israel’s top general resigned because of security failures relating to the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. The Associated Press has the latest.