Russians likely knew of Greek presence
As more time goes by, it is becoming increasingly clear that Moscow knew that at the time of the missile strike on the port of Odesa on Wednesday that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were standing just a few hundred meters away.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1233531/russians-likely-knew-of-greek-presence/
Mitsotakis: We all have a message for the Kremlin – we will continue to support Ukraine
“I was in Odessa yesterday with President Zelensky when a Russian ballistic missile hit the port during our visit to the facility. I think we all have a message for the Kremlin: We shall not be intimidated, we will continue to support Ukraine and its brave people for as long as it takes. And, of course, we remain completely united in our resolve to do so,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday, addressing the European People’s Party (EPP) Congress in Bucharest.
Jobless rate at 10.5% last quarter
The unemployment rate in Greece dropped to 10.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023, down from 10.8% in the third quarter of the same year and 11.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the results of the Labor Force Survey for the fourth quarter of 2023, announced by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Thursday.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1233539/jobless-rate-at-10-5-last-quarter/
Poll finds over three-quarters of Greeks believe in ongoing Tempe coverup
An Alco poll conducted on behalf of private broadcaster Alpha showed that citizens have lost faith in Tempe investigation, and that leftist SYRIZA fell behind socialist PASOK by one percentage point.
Hatzidakis on Piraeus Bank: An unprecedented success
The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) announced on Thursday that it has concluded the sale of all the shares it held in Piraeus Financial Holdings. The public offer, which was successfully concluded, attracted strong interest from both Greek and foreign investors, with the total value of the transaction reaching 1.35 billion euros.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/802267/Hatzidakis-on-Piraeus-Bank-An-unprecedented-success
KATHIMERINI: What Athens believes about the Russian strike in Odessa
TA NEA: Insured persons will be charged 3 euros per referral for diagnostic tests
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Outbreak of extreme violence against women
AVGI: Uprising in support of public universities
RIZOSPASTIS: Today the students will talk: The bill on universities is rejected
KONTRA NEWS: PASOK MPs enraged with their leader Nikos Androulakis
DIMOKRATIA: Banks are predators
NAFTEMPORIKI: “Greeks” post double score in shipbuilding
OVERNIGHT: U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a fiery State of the Union address designed to show that despite his age, he’s up to another term in office. Biden pushed for Congress to approve aid for Ukraine, repeatedly hit out at Donald Trump (without uttering his name), and confirmed the U.S. military will construct a temporary pier in Gaza so more aid can be delivered to Palestinians.
Resurrecting Reagan: “If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not,” Biden said. “It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, thundered, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ Now, my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, ‘Do whatever the hell you want.’” Here’s the full text of Biden’s address … POLITICO’s live blog … and here’s the essential analysis.
GOOD MORNING, and happy International Women’s Day!It’s Josh Posaner at the controls for today’s Playbook, brought to you from French Space Command in Toulouse. Before we get to the orbital battle to save fictional Arnland from malevolent Mercury, there’s plenty of news brewing down here on Earth.
DRIVING THE DAY
LIBERALS UP NEXT: The European People’s Party and Socialists have now both picked their lead candidates for the EU election — Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen and Jobs Commissioner Nicolas Schmit respectively. But the liberals are yet to get their act together.
Favorite out: On Thursday, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas ruled herself out of being the face of Renew’s campaign, killing off the last flicker of life in the so-called Spitzenkandidat system. Kallas said she wanted to stay on as PM.
Thinking big: Instead, Renew, currently the third-biggest power in the European Parliament, will have a team of three candidates leading a campaign to be launched later this month. That’s according to the small centrist European Democratic Party (EDP), which is part of the Renew campaign platform, my colleague Eddy Wax writes in to report.
Who’s who: MEP Sandro Gozi is expected to be confirmed as the EDP lead candidate, and thus one of the Renew team of three, in Florence today. French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party has chosen MEP Valérie Hayer to lead its list. ALDE is expected to name its own candidate to complete the trio, with Germany’s Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who’s heading to Brussels at the top of Germany’s Free Democrats list, a potential contender.
Why a troika? Paris has long preferred a team rather than a single candidate, not wishing to cede more power to the Parliament.
BRETON VS. VON DER LEYEN: Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton was straight out of the trap to blast his boss on social media Thursday night — hours after she was crowned the EPP’s lead candidate.
Unfriendly fire: Breton, a one-time hopeful for the Commission presidency who is aligned with the French liberals, took aim over von der Leyen’s apparently lackluster support at the EPP congress. Retweeting some stats on the vote in Bucharest, Breton said: “The EPP itself does not seem to believe in its own candidate.”
Fact check: The figures Breton retweeted had already been updated by the EPP by the time he published his missive (737 delegates had voting rights, not 801 as the post asserted, and of those, 591 registered to vote). And counting ballots that aren’t cast as negative votes, as the post Breton retweeted did, is a dangerous game, given turnout in the 2019 Parliament election was a mere 51 percent.
Buckle up … it’s a long way to go until the vote in June.
But in case you’re keen for more: The team from POLITICO’s EU Confidential podcast went behind the scenes at this week’s EPP congress in Bucharest, speaking to leaders including Parliament President Roberta Metsola, EPP chief Manfred Weber and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Listen in here.
MESSAGE FROM MY X: Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen and Nicolas Schmit have started their new EU election X accounts here and here, per the Commission’s campaigning guidelines. As of this morning, follower count for the accounts, which aren’t verified, were a bit grim: von der Leyen has 1,358, Schmit 1,111.
SUNSHINE STATE
ORBÁN HITS FLORIDA: If you thought finally green-lighting Sweden’s NATO membership would take Hungary’s heat-seeking controversy missile Viktor Orbán out of the headlines for a couple of days, think again. The Hungarian PM is in Florida today to meet Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. There’s no official White House visit planned, so that raises eyebrows.
And then there were 32: Orbán arrives in the Sunshine State having lifted his block on Stockholm finally joining NATO, as my colleague Stuart Lau reports. The flag-raising ceremony comes Monday, but it’s official: Sweden is the alliance’s 32nd member.
Bye-bye neutrality: With this step, Sweden is “leaving 200 years of neutrality and military nonalignment behind,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in Washington.
Hello military powerhouse: It may only be home to just over 10 million people, but Sweden’s no pushover. Decades of neutrality have made it a pocket military power with serious muscle, making everything from fighter jets to submarines. Lucia Mackenzie has a read today on what Stockholm brings to the NATO table — and it’s a lot more than affordable furniture and pickled fish.
THIS ONE’S FOR THE REAL NATO-HEADS: Do you know when the other 31 NATO members joined the alliance? Take our quiz to test your knowledge.
MORE ON THE ROAD TO THE EU ELECTION
FINLAND EYES HEAVYWEIGHT EU BRIEF: Finland wants a competitiveness or security portfolio in the next European Commission, its conservative Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told Eddy Wax in Bucharest. “Under competitiveness there are many interesting portfolios and let’s see how it goes,” he said, sipping a Peroni.
A model for Brussels? Orpo, whose party is in the EPP, has led a coalition that includes the right-wing populist Finns party, which sits in the ECR group. Despite a spate of racism scandals hitting the Finns last year, Orpo argued things are going well and that he’s moderated them by giving them ministerial posts. “In my opinion, [the Finns] are not a far-right party anymore,” Orpo said.
Where Orpo stands: The PM dodged a question about whether Germany should give Taurus missiles to Ukraine, dismissed calls to put boots on the ground in Ukraine — but backed Mark Rutte as the next NATO secretary-general.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
GREENS TOP BRASS UNDER PRESSURE OVER HARASSMENT ALLEGATIONS: Two internal meetings this week have not calmed tensions within the Greens in the European Parliament — quite the contrary, five staffers told my colleague Barbara Moens.
Reminder: The group’s co-presidents, Terry Reintke and Philippe Lamberts, are under pressure over their handling of the harassment allegations against ex-MEP Malte Gallée, who resigned from the Parliament last Friday after accusations emerged that he had sexually harassed staff and interns, which he denied.
This week’s meetings between leadership and staffers were very intense and at times emotional, the staffers said. “We expect our leadership to have higher standards on these issues than other groups,” said one. “If you are expecting something, the disappointment is even bigger.”
Trying to turn down the heat: In a statement, Reintke said it’s “incredibly close to my heart that the Group is a trusting and safe place and workplace.” Therefore, it will now evaluate existing procedures and improve them.
In an e-mail sent to staffers on Wednesday, seen by POLITICO, the group’s leadership promises to set up an internal task force and to do an external audit. Meanwhile, there will be a first set of measures announced next Wednesday “to increase the protection of staff members, assistants and interns when they lodge concerns.”
Not over yet: Most staffers dismissed reports from the German media outlet Stern (which published the allegations about Gallée) that Reintke herself would be under pressure to resign. Reintke is also one of the two lead candidates for the Greens in the European election.
ASTROPOLITICS
SAVING ARNLAND: The French Space Command is running its latest, and largest, AsterX military exercise in the high-tech industrial zone of Toulouse through today — pitting Americans against the rest.
Setting the scene: Mercury — a fake country, not the planet — has moved to destabilize the fictional state of Arnland, and the United Nations has approved a multi-country mission, Celtica, to put things in order. Combatants from America’s Space Force are leading Mercury’s red team (the baddies), while France is joined by officers from allies as far afield as Japan and Australia in the blue team (the goodies).
Back office battle: The exercise puts eyes firmly on efforts to protect space-based comms, imaging and navigation satellites from Mercury’s sabotage, with revelations on Russian anti-satellite nukes adding a dose of intensity.
Blues vs. Reds: In the main control room in Toulouse, staff in military fatigues with blue armbands worked Thursday to identify fake satellites and calculate trajectories on screens tracing imaginary spacecraft through geostationary orbit. It isn’t Moonraker and there wasn’t a laser in sight. Instead, it’s painstaking work trying to identify what’s going on in space with telescopes and old-fashioned detective work.
Way to go: The ex-fighter pilot now running France’s Space Command, Major General Philippe Adam, told me that while the center was operating at a training level, it’s far from a viable standalone division. Adam said command and control probably wouldn’t be consolidated under his management until 2030, long after French Space Command moves into bespoke offices being built nearby in Toulouse in late 2025.
Petit force: But Europe’s efforts pale in comparison to the U.S. Space Force: A few hundred experts packed into a control room is nothing compared with the thousands of staffers running on a $30 billion annual budget. “We need to be as rich as Americans to afford a Space Force,” said Adam.
SPACEX SECURITY DEAL: The EU and U.S. have closed in on the text of a joint security pact allowing the European Commission to move ahead with paying Elon Musk’s rocket company €180 million to get four of its Galileo satellites into space. The first launch is set for the second half of April.
Reminder: We wouldn’t be here if Europe’s long-delayed Ariane 6 had come online as planned.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
GRIM REMINDER: Women in politics continue to face gender-based violence that often forces them to quit and hinders aspiring women from entering the field, report my colleagues Elena Giordano and Ketrin Jochecová.
Giving up: “I met a lot of young women who would like to get involved in politics but decided to give up after what happened to me,” said Laura Boldrini, the former president of Italy’s lower house of parliament who was targeted by a sexist campaign by her political opponents. After receiving death and rape threats, she has been forced to live under police protection for the past 13 years.
Women are underrepresented at all decision-making levels in politics across Europe. “If you look at Europe in general, you have 33 percent of members of the parliaments across EU countries who are women and only 34 percent who are ministers,” said Jéromine Andolfatto from the European Women’s Lobby. Andolfatto says women face all kinds of obstacles to enter and stay in politics, from online harassment to psychological and physical violence.
The EU institutions: Once women do enter politics, they tend to receive portfolios with lower political priority, according to Andolfatto. In the European Parliament, for example, there are still problems when it comes to committees’ gender balance. “When you look at the committee on women’s rights and gender equality, I think it is about 91 percent women. But when you look at the budget committee, it’s about 85 percent men,” said Andolfatto.
IRISH REFERENDUMS: Is a woman’s place in the home? That’s what the conservative Irish constitution (written in 1937) says. Constitutional referendums held today aim to remove sexist language and recognize unmarried couples as families. But government officials who spoke to POLITICO’s Shawn Pogatchnik are worried that a combination of public confusion and extremist fear-mongering could block what should be slam-dunk “yes” votes for change. Read his full story.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACROSS EUROPE: It’s not just in Ireland where women’s rights are in the spotlight. With far-right parties making significant gains ahead of the EU election, there are fears that fundamental women’s rights could be under threat across the bloc, writes Giovanna Coi.
IN OTHER NEWS
VDL IN CYPRUS: Ursula von der Leyen will be in Cyprus today to inspect the budding maritime humanitarian corridor to Gaza. Aid is expected to set sail from Cyprus before Ramadan starts this weekend, my colleague Nektaria Stamouli writes in to report.
NEW JOB FOR ZALUZHNY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has tapped Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the recently ousted commander-in-chief of the country’s military, as Kyiv’s ambassador to the U.K. Details here.
FRENCH WAR GAMES: French troops are preparing for a high-intensity conflict against an enemy who can match them — a big change for an army that’s spent the past decades fighting counterinsurgency campaigns in places like Mali and Afghanistan. But war in Ukraine has changed the thinking about how to prepare for conflict, Laura Kayali reports.
NOW READ THIS: The EU’s carbon tax may devastate Ukraine, writes Federica Di Sario.
PORTUGAL POLL: Portugal is preparing for an early general election on Sunday. Aitor Hernández-Morales brings you six things you should know about the most unpredictable vote the country has seen in years.
LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS: After the Taurus leak, Berlin should take a leaf out of Moscow’s new intelligence playbook and lock up tight, writes Jamie Dettmer.
Not like us to poke fun: Berlin’s embarrassing leak gets the Declassified treatment from Paul Dallison this week. Read his column here.