Mitsotakis: Justice, not political games
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to address the cabinet on Wednesday, acknowledging public demands for truth and justice over the deadly train crash in Tempe in central Greece on February 28, while condemning opposition efforts to politicize the tragedy.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1262623/mitsotakis-justice-not-political-games
Gerapetritis after meeting with Guterres: A solution for Ukraine aligned with international law
Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis after his meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement to Greek correspondents that it is an important moment for Greece, its first presence in the UN Security Council as an elected member, in an extremely difficult and complex time for the whole of humanity.
Budget execution figures reveal primary surplus of almost 2.0 billion in January 2025
The State Budget Primary Balance for January 2025 amounted to a surplus of 1.98 billion euros, against a primary surplus target of 1.4 billion euros, according to figures on the execution of the budget on a modified cash basis released by the economy and finance ministry on Tuesday.
Central bank sees growth at 2.5%
The Bank of Greece on Monday predicted a sharp decline in inflation in the country over the next two years. The central bank predicted that inflation will fall to 2.5% in 2025 from 3% in 2024, while a further fall to 2.2% is expected in 2026.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1262633/central-bank-sees-growth-at-2-5
ATHEX: Bourse index loses grip of 1,600 points
The benchmark of the Athens stock market dropped below the psychologically barrier of 1,600 points on Tuesday, as the concession of shares by some large-cap company stakeholders has the market worried about valuations and prospects. Investors are fretting over the political risk too, as they are concerned that opposition rallies are eating into the government’s leeway for the necessary reforms.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1262638/athex-bourse-index-loses-grip-of-1600-points
KATHIMERINI: International diploma from 15 public high-schools
TA NEA: Recruitment of public employees: what changes in written exams
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Article by former PM Alexis Tsipras: Justice-Truth-Oxygen
RIZOSPASTIS: The bargain on mineral resources exposes the imperialistic excuses
KONTRA NEWS: Trump humiliated Macron and Europe
DIMOKRATIA: Justice Minister Floridis exposes the government regarding the handling of the Tempi crash site
NAFTEMPORIKI: Heavy penalties for triangular donations
DRIVING THE DAY
WHAT HAPPENS IN WASHINGTON … GETS SHARED IMMEDIATELY: European leaders — including outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — will hold an “extraordinary” meeting today to hear from French President Emmanuel Macron about his recent trip to the White House, where he corrected Donald Trump’s statement on Europe’s contribution to Ukraine and attempted to bromance him into siding with the West — instead of Russia.
Likely to be discussed: Reports last night that Kyiv has agreed to a deal pushed on it by the United States to give up a large chunk of its mineral wealth in return for continued support from the new U.S. administration. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may travel to Washington as soon as Friday to ink it, Trump suggested.
What’s mine is … mine: The U.S. president said last night that Ukraine gets: “$350 billion and lots of … military equipment and the right to fight on,” in exchange for the minerals. Asked how long the U.S. will sustain support for Kyiv, Trump said: “Well, it could go forward for a while, and maybe until we have a deal with Russia.”
Mine de rien: “It’s one of the best ways to have the U.S. commitment in Ukrainian sovereignty,” Macron said of the deal in an interview with Fox News this week.
EUCO chatroom: The EU leaders’ video chat this morning — involving the bosses of the European Commission and Council and the 27 national leaders — is intended as homework for the special meeting that António Costa has convened for March 6.
MEMORANDUM OF MISUNDERSTANDING? European Commission spokespeople — tightly controlled by President Ursula von der Leyen — slapped down suggestions that the EU had offered Ukraine a bespoke and fairer EU deal on critical raw materials on a trip to Kyiv — even though this was exactly how French Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné billed it. Séjourné’s team referred to it a “new proposal.” Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said “There is no proposal.” Rather, Regnier said, Brussels is talking about implementing an existing 2021 memorandum of understanding between Ukraine and the EU.
ORDER OF EVENTS — MACRON SAYS CEASE-FIRE THEN NEGOTIATIONS: As Macron outlined in his Fox News interview, there would first be a truce between Russia and Ukraine followed by deeper talks on territory, rebuilding Ukraine and on security guarantees — i.e. including foreign troops manning the border or beefing up Ukraine’s army. “I think it’s feasible to have a truce at least and start negotiating for a sustainable peace,” the French president said. Then at the end, a peace treaty.
BRITS ABROAD: U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves for Washington this afternoon and will meet Trump in the White House Thursday. Starmer will debrief European leaders when he holds his own defense meeting in the U.K. in the coming days. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the meeting would happen Sunday — while a senior U.K. government official said that’s likely but they are still fine-tuning the exact date.
Line-up changes: The participants will be a different array of nations than the group of 11 who met in Paris last Monday, according to a Downing Street official.
IN FOR A PENNY: In a bid to woo Trump, Starmer announced Tuesday that U.K. defense spending will rise to 2.5 percent from 2027. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it a “strong step from an enduring partner.”
URSULA’S NEW WEAPON: Ursula von der Leyen is floating a new “instrument” designed to beef up the amount of money EU countries can spend on ammunition, air defense and missiles. Read all the details in the story by Zia Weise, Laura Kayali and Gregorio Sorgi.
Make that 109 days: The European Commission’s much-anticipated strategy document on how to beef up its defense industrial base won’t be ready until March 19. While that means there’ll be time to add final tweaks based on the leaders’ discussion on March 6, it also means the Commission is going to miss its self-imposed deadline to present it within the first 100 days of von der Leyen’s mandate. March 19 is technically Day 109.
VÁRHELYI’S NO-SHOW IN KYIV: Five European commissioners didn’t make it to the Commission’s Kyiv trip on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Most had a good excuse (Kaja Kallas and Dubravka Šuica stayed in Brussels for the Foreign Affairs Council and the EU-Israel Association Council, for instance.)
Dog ate my homework: Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi — the commissioner in charge of animal welfare — was officially absent because he had to stay in Brussels to attend an agriculture ministers’ meeting. Slovakia had put forward a mysterious non-paper on the possible impact of a new pet welfare law on the breeding of “hunting dogs.” Várhelyi was in and out of the meeting in 10 minutes, a diplomat said.
WHY IS PUTIN IN A NEGOTIATING MOOD? Moscow could soon struggle to finance the war, and fiscal breathing room may well be what the Russian leader’s looking for, writes the ECFR’s Agathe Demarais.
CLEAN INDUSTRIAL DEAL
EU TO LAUNCH INDUSTRIAL PLAN IN ANTWERP (AGAIN): Ursula von der Leyen will be in Antwerp this afternoon to launch her battle plan to save Europe’s ailing industry — oh, and the climate — in one fell swoop.
Just like a year ago, the venue will be teeming with business leaders as the Commission president sets out her vision to lower energy prices, stimulate demand, ensure access to key materials and boost investment. The CEO-heavy summit is organized by the chemicals industry association Cefic, which was also behind a call for an EU Industrial Deal in Antwerp a year ago.
EPP-ECR BEAT SOCIALISTS ON THE OPTICS: Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera has ownership of the file and will be part of press events in Brussels. But the choreography in Antwerp — where the Socialist Ribera appears not to be traveling — provides an optics win for the European People’s Party and European Conservatives and Reformists, who have long campaigned for a more robust EU industrial policy and less red tape.
New Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever — whose Flemish Nationalist MEPs sit in the ECR group in the European Parliament — will attend the summit in the city where he was mayor for the past 12 years.
MORE EPP/ECR CATNIP: The Commission will also publish an “omnibus” bill to revise key Green Deal laws today. The EU’s approach to deregulation has “nothing to do with the chainsaw,” Ribera told El País this week. In an FT interview published this morning, Ribera said “we need to ensure that there’s a story of growth and prosperity,” adding: “The global reality has evolved, and we may need to think to what extent these things that were there need to be updated.”
TOXIC REACTION FROM PRO-BREXIT CHEMICALS GIANT: British tycoon Jim Ratcliffe, who owns chemicals giant Ineos and is a minority shareholder in the Manchester United Football Club, won’t be attending, despite the fact Ineos runs a €4 billion chemicals plant in Antwerp.
Putting the twerp in Antwerp: “It is telling that the one person that is investing in Europe is not in the room,” said an Ineos spokesperson. “A year on … we have not seen the action necessary to stem the decline of European industry. Ineos has continued to invest in Europe. However, it is now an exception in a landscape of deindustrialization and closures … Decarbonizing Europe by deindustrialization is idiotic.”
NOW READ THIS: Europe faces an impossible choice: Which industries should survive the green transition? Zia Weise has the story.
THE STEEL LADY: Von der Leyen will launch a “strategic dialogue” with the steel industry on March 4 to develop a plan for the sector threatened by U.S. tariffs.
MIDDLE EAST
POLITICO SCOOP — KALLAS TO VISIT ISRAEL: EU High Representative Kaja Kallas will visit Israel at the end of March, the country’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told Playbook in an interview. The trip will come before Kallas holds what the EU is billing as the “first-ever high-level political dialogue” with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. The EEAS was approached for comment but a spokesperson did not reply by the time of publication.
ISRAEL HAILS “CONSTRUCTIVE” STANCE UNDER KALLAS: Sa’ar suggested he was largely happy with the high-level political talks between the EU and Israel in Brussels on Monday. (Kallas called Monday’s meeting “candid.”) Although some EU countries, such as Belgium, Spain and Ireland, have been highly critical of Israel’s military response in Gaza to the 2023 Hamas attacks, Sa’ar was bullish about the prospect of closer ties with the bloc.
“The approach is different. It’s constructive, it’s honest,” Sa’ar said, contrasting that with what he called a “very hostile, unbalanced, one-sided approach” under Kallas’ predecessor, Josep Borrell. He said trade relations between the EU and Israel are “great” and emphasized their alignment on key security issues, including Syria and Iran.
But for all the talk about how well things are going … the EU and Israel are miles apart when it comes to the future of the Palestinians. While the EU has reiterated its call for a two-state solution, the government Sa’ar represents is roundly opposed to Palestinian statehood. On Donald Trump’s ambition to take over Gaza and force out its people (which has been widely rejected by Arab nations), Sa’ar said, “It’s important to have original new ideas on the future of the Gaza strip.” It’s “moral, humane, practical,” to allow Gazans to emigrate if they choose to, he added.
Israel looks for cease-fire extension: With Hamas still firmly in control of Gaza, Israel and the U.S. are looking to prolong the temporary first phase of the cease-fire deal agreed by Israel and Hamas, which is set to expire this Saturday. Phase two of the cease-fire deal, which is meant to permanently end the war, has yet to begin.
The holdup: Negotiations have been fraught, with Hamas holding “despicable” hostage handover ceremonies, Sa’ar said, even bringing other captives to watch them. But things looked to be moving again overnight, with Hamas and Israeli officials saying they had reached an agreement for the “simultaneous” release of four Israeli hostages’ bodies and 602 Palestinian prisoners, the Times of Israel reports.
Israel’s new far-right European friends: Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right Spanish party Vox, is “totally legitimate” and a “good friend of Israel,” Sa’ar said. He also spoke favorably of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán and Dutch leader Geert Wilders. Sa’ar told us he had instructed his ministry to open dialogue with parties including Vox, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and the Sweden Democrats after what he described as careful checks on their record on antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
No thaw in Irish relations: Israel closed its embassy in Dublin in December after a diplomatic furor in which it accused the Irish government of “extreme anti-Israel” policies. “We still have diplomatic relations with Ireland,” Sa’ar said, adding that he shook hands with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris Monday. But he said he preferred to open an embassy in Moldova instead. The Irish government has insisted it wants to keep channels open, and forcefully rejects Israel’s characterization of it as “anti-Israel.”
Iran warning: Sa’ar also said a “military option” could be required to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. Israel is still committed to a diplomatic path to restrain Tehran’s ambitions, Sa’ar said, but he warned that time is running out to stop it from weaponizing its enriched nuclear material and triggering a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
Read the full write-up by Nick Vinocur here.
IN OTHER NEWS
KRAH TO BUNDESTAG: Controversial far-right German politician Maximilian Krah will leave the European Parliament to take up a seat in the Bundestag after being elected for the Alternative for Germany party to the national parliament. There will be 152 AfD politicians in the Bundestag. Krah (whose former assistant “Jian G” was charged with spying for China) has been sitting as a non-attached MEP since last summer after being kept out of the AfD’s new Europe of Sovereign Nations grouping.
COMMISSIONER FOR PROSPERITY: The European Commission’s EVP for prosperity and industrial strategy Stéphane Séjourné has €322,674 in his four bank accounts, according to his most recent declaration of interests, published Tuesday in France. (Séjourné was French foreign affairs minister before he became an EU commissioner.)
POPE LATEST: Pope Francis’ “condition remains critical but stable,” the Vatican said last night. POLITICO’s Ben Munster has this must-read story on the papal succession battle that’s already kicking off, which could be one of the most unpredictable ever.