5.2 magnitude earthquake hits near Santorini, strongest in recent days
A 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck on Wednesday night, a few minutes after 9 p.m., in the sea area between Santorini and Amorgos islands. This is the strongest earthquake recorded near Santorini by the Geodynamic Institute in recent days. The area has been shaken by more than 6,400 tremors over the past nine days, alarming scientists and residents, many of whom are fleeing the island.
Turkey insists Erdogan, Mitsotakis to meet in April
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that President Recdep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet in April during the next bilateral Supreme Cooperation Council. But Greek diplomats are not so sure.
Third vote for the election of the President of Republic to be held on Thursday
The third vote in the parliament plenary for the election of the President of the Hellenic Republic will take place on Thursday, after a second round of voting on January 31 failed to yield the required two thirds majority for any of the candidates.
Calls for prosecution of supermarket worker in wiretapping case
Main opposition PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis and journalist Thanasis Koukakis have requested that the lawsuits they had filed against a supermarket employee accused of facilitating use of the Predator spyware in the 2022 wiretapping scandal be reopened on the grounds that he provided false testimony in the previous investigation.
ATHEX: Moderation on bourse as traders choose to wait
The Athens bourse had a relatively calm day on Wednesday, after the previous sessions’ volatility, with fewer fluctuations and on reduced turnover. Traders apparently chose to take a wait-and-see position amid a particularly unstable international backdrop, with rate cuts, trade wars and financial pressure that render Greece an island of relative stability. Some observers note that following the market trends is not for the fainthearted these days.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1260801/athex-moderation-on-bourse-as-traders-choose-to-wait
KATHIMERINI: 4 scenarios regarding Trump’s “bomb” for the Gaza strip
TA NEA: Debt regulation for the middle class
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Trump’s outrageous “final solution”
RIZOSPASTIS: Farmers are right! Solidarity to their fight
KONTRA NEWS: Behold the names of the upcoming government reshuffle
DIMOKRATIA: Banks block out-of-court settlements
NAFTEMPORIKI: Changes in the tracking of state contracts
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DRIVING THE DAY: COMMISSION FIELD TRIP
WELCOME TO GDAŃSK: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is expected to offer a dose of tough love when he welcomes the College of Commissioners, including President Ursula von der Leyen, to Gdańsk today for a special session hosted by the Polish Presidency of the EU amid a growing push for deregulation.
The message: Tusk hasn’t shared what he’ll tell his guests, but based on prior comments and conversations with diplomats in Brussels it’s expected that he’ll have a stern message for commissioners on the need to slash red tape, grow some geopolitical muscle and prepare for a future in which the U.S. isn’t footing the bill for European defense.
Vibe check: An EU diplomat said it was “not the time to race to see how many legislative proposals the Commission can come up with. If you legislate, be careful, do the impact assessments, make sure this isn’t holding us back.”
Nota bene: “Try to get Europe fit for the more transactional, geopolitical world we are living in … The Americans won’t pay for us anymore.”
Rage against the regs: Tusk posted on X over the weekend: “The revolt against regulation is inevitable! Whether someone in the EU likes it or not. The time is now!”
Better late than never: The Gdańsk trip was meant to happen almost a month ago, but von der Leyen’s pneumonia upended the Commission’s agenda.
What’s in Gdańsk? It’s the city where Tusk was born and forged his political identity in the fight against communism. Tusk was an activist in Poland’s Solidarity movement, starting his career underground before launching the Liberal Democratic Congress — a pro-business, pro-Europe party — after communist rule ended.
Laying it on: Tusk’s tweet on a “revolt against regulation” may sound a bit rich for a man who used to be president of the European Council. But the College visit comes in the middle of a race to elect Poland’s next president in May, in which Tusk’s centrist Civic Platform party is battling against the far-right Law and Justice party.
Reply guy: Mateusz Morawiecki, Tusk’s rival and predecessor as Polish PM, replied to Tusk’s post: “The only upcoming revolt will happen in Poland, and it will target your failing government.”
What’s on the menu: Commissioners arrive in Poland today and will join Tusk for dinner. On Friday the program is devoted to meetings with Polish ministers.
Bigger picture: This gathering is the umpteenth at which we’ll hear Europe needs to spend more on defense. But despite national increases edging up to 2 percent of GDP, the bloc is nowhere near the huge boost called for by Mario Draghi, NATO’s Mark Rutte or Donald Trump.
The bottom line: The EU is still far from agreeing on how to finance its defense ramp-up. Hopes are now centering on Germany’s potential next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, to reverse Berlin’s opposition to joint borrowing for defense bonds. Just another few weeks and all will be sorted, folks. Or not.
EU POLITICS
KALLAS GETS YELLOW CARD FROM PARLIAMENT: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola will ask High Representative Kaja Kallas to show up more to plenary sessions, after the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Greens complained during a meeting of the political group chairs on Wednesday evening, according to two officials with knowledge of the discussions, Max Griera writes in to report.
Far right and center left agree on Merscosur: The chairs of the far-right Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) voted alongside the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), S&D and Greens to include a debate on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, according to the two officials.
Bardella left out in the cold: Remember how Patriots’ Chair Jordan Bardella sent a letter to all right-wing groups asking to debate scrapping the Green Deal? Well, he was ultimately left in the cold as only ESN voted in favor of their proposal. Even ECR, which had initially answered they would support them, ultimately failed to support the debate, instead asking to “review” the Green Deal, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.
PARLIAMENT TO CONTINUE TESTS TO IMPROVE ATTENDANCE: Political group leaders agreed on Wednesday to test whether not publishing the speakers’ schedule ahead of parliamentary debates would improve lawmakers’ attendance. Following a pilot in January, Parliament will conduct another test next week during the debate on the 2025 Commission work program, according to an official present during the negotiations.
TIMMERMANS CALLS OUT MERZ: Frans Timmermans, the former European Commission executive vice president and current Dutch opposition leader, said Friedrich Merz is making a “tragic mistake” by shifting his CDU party to the right. “If the center right starts to mimic the radical right, it’s the radical right that wins,” Timmermans said during a visit to Brussels Wednesday.
Timmermans defended the EU’s Green Deal and criticized the European People’s Party for distancing itself from the climate policy. “The Green Deal was not just only possible because the EPP participated in all decision-making and voted positively, the Green Deal very often was claimed by the European People’s Party as their project,” he said.
JAPAN JUNKET: Nine MEPs got approval from senior lawmakers last night for a week-long trip to Japan in the spring that will cost more than €285,000, Eddy Wax reports. Sven Simon, a German EPP member who chairs the European Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee, requested the trip “on an exceptional basis.” Simon had argued in his letters to Parliament authorities that the trip was “necessary to inquire about the process of constitutional reform in the country.” The budget comes to over €31,000 per MEP.
Simon says: A spokesperson for Simon — who represented the EPP last night at the meeting where this was approved — argued that the costs of the trip were justified. “The actual costs are expected to remain below this ceiling,” they said. “Please note that the total estimated cost of the mission includes expenses for MEPs, accompanying staff and interpreters combined. It is essential to ensure that such missions are properly resourced, as they contribute to the EU’s diplomatic outreach.”
TRUMP
BEHIND TRUMP’S BID TO “OWN” GAZA: Donald Trump discussed his outlandish ambition to take “long-term ownership” of the Gaza Strip with members of his team for months before announcing it at a press conference Tuesday, my colleagues in Washington reported overnight. Some advisers saw it as a negotiating ploy to give Israel more leverage over Hamas.
“This was a ‘get your ass to the negotiating table’ message,” said one source, comparing the gambit to Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canada.
But there wasn’t much of a plan … The new administration hadn’t done “even the most basic planning” to test the feasibility of Trump’s ownership proposal, the New York Times reported late last night, and even senior members of the government were taken by surprise when the president floated it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only found out Trump planned to announce the idea as they walked out for their joint press conference, the newspaper said.
Walking back: Aides were scrambling to clarify and tone down some of Trump’s comments last night, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying American taxpayers wouldn’t foot the bill, Trump hadn’t committed to putting “boots on the ground” and Gazans would only have to relocate temporarily. More details on Bloomberg and Reuters.
Recipe for conflict: Trump’s “real-estate deal of the century — treating Gaza like it’s Atlantic City — risks propelling the U.S. into yet another forever war,” Jamie Dettmer writes in his foreign affairs column today.
“NO LONGER THE AMERICA WE USED TO KNOW”: Germany’s Friedrich Merz told a campaign rally on Wednesday night he is “highly concerned” about recent developments in the U.S. “The way officials, the Department of Justice, the public prosecutors’ offices, the way they’re all being thrown out, the way they’re pardoning people who have been sentenced to years in prison, that will have consequences for America,” Merz said. More here.
EU HIRES REPUBLICAN-LINKED LOBBY FIRM: What’s an EU official to do if they can’t get access to Donald Trump or any of his MAGA friends? Hire a lobbying firm, that’s what. Elisa Braun reports that EU diplomats in the U.S. have hired a prominent Republican-linked lobbying firm with ties to the first Trump administration, DCI Group, to advise on trade and investment communication strategy, according to documents seen by POLITICO.
Trade and investment: It’s unclear how long DCI Group will have the contract with the EU delegation and how much the diplomatic service has paid the lobbying firm. When those questions were put to the European External Action Service, it said: “The EU Delegation in the U.S. engages different resources to advance public outreach across the United States. DCI is currently advising the Delegation on public communication with an emphasis on promoting EU trade and investment in the United States.” Read Elisa’s story here.
PLAY HARDBALL: Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has urged the EU to take a firm stance in responding to possible tariffs from the Trump administration. Summers told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast that “an excessively compliant response will be taken as weakness and will lead to a further escalation of demands.” He added, “Europe is going to need to be very careful to lay out a principled position that it could defend and then be prepared to stick with.” Listen here.
IN OTHER NEWS
GERMANY’S NEXT GOVERNMENT: Although the overall winner of Germany’s national election on Feb. 23 seems almost nailed on — Friedrich Merz’s conservatives have a comfortable lead, according to the polls — the makeup of the next governing coalition is still very much up in the air. My colleagues in Berlin have a useful piece out today running through the possibilities, from the GroKo to the Kiwi to the Kenya coalition. Read it here.
MINE YOUR BUSINESS: Around 100 people protested at Place du Luxembourg Wednesday against plans in Serbia to create one of Europe’s largest lithium mines, Playbook’s Šejla Ahmatović reports. The demonstration was prompted by an event at the Parliament promoting a new documentary, “Not In My Country,” funded by the KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals, which the protesters say misrepresents critics of the Rio Tinto project and suggests the opposition could be influenced by Russian disinformation.
Some MEPs were supportive of the protesters. “It is very clear to me that we need to support civil society,” said German Left MEP Carola Rackete. “There are large majorities who are against the mine.”
ALZHEIMER’S GROUP BLASTS MEP JOKE: A Left group lawmaker has been accused of making a “disrespectful” joke about dementia by Alzheimer Europe, Mari Eccles reports. In a now-deleted TikTok video, French MEP Leïla Chaibi was seen discarding correspondence from France Alzheimer, before quipping that she “forgot” about it, Mari Eccles writes in to report.
Stigma: Alzheimer Europe’s Executive Director Jean Georges said: “It is extremely disappointing to see this kind of disrespectful ‘joke.’” He added: “France Alzheimer and all our national member organizations fight stigma and misconceptions about dementia on a daily basis and try to ensure that people with dementia and their families get the support and respect they need and deserve.”
Mea culpa: Chaibi’s team told our colleague Max Griera: “We sincerely regret that these remarks, which were the result of a clumsy joke, may have offended people with Alzheimer’s disease and their loved ones.”