Mitsotakis: Bill on bad agricultural loans to be submitted next week
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with members of the Board of Directors of the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives on Thursday, at the Maximos Mansion. During their meeting, the importance of the bill for the regulation of bad loans of cooperatives and farmers was emphasized, with the aim of further strengthening the primary sector.
Greek FM to meet US secretary of state in Washington
Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington next week. Sources say Gerapetritis will travel to New York on Sunday to address the UN Security Council on Ukraine on Monday and the Middle East on Tuesday.
PASOK’s Androulakis: New Democracy invests in toxicity
The leader of PASOK- Movement for Change Nikos Androulakis in an interview with Mega TV stressed that “New Democracy invests in toxicity”. Androulakis, speaking about the train accident in Tempi and the political controversy that exists, said that PASOK did not call anyone a murderer.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/885513/PASOKs-Androulakis-New-Democracy-invests-in-toxicity
Cold front ‘Coral’ to affect Greece until Monday
The intense cold front (called Coral) will continue to affect Greece and the wider region of southeastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean until Monday, according to the Update of the Emergency Weather Deterioration Report issued by the Ministry of the Environment, which classifies the phenomenon in the orange warning indicator. At the same time, stormy northerly winds reaching up to 8 on the Beaufort scale will prevail locally in the Aegean and there will be local snowfalls, generally light, in the eastern mainland, the Aegean islands and Crete.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/885394/Cold-front-Coral-to-affect-Greece-until-Monday
ATHEX: Bourse sees a session of two halves
Thursday’s bourse session at Athinon Avenue was a game of two halves for traders, as the early decline recorded in prices was later replaced by growth that left the benchmark with moderate gains upon closing and the great majority of stocks with growth, especially mid-caps. Ahead of the bank results season, coming next week, investors are bracing for more records in what is expected to become the ninth consecutive week of growth for the main index on Friday.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1262220/athex-bourse-sees-a-session-of-two-halves
KATHIMERINI: Dome for the Aegean and missiles for Evros
TA NEA: Wills: 3+1 changes
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Thousands of borrowers are waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision regarding protection from banks and servicers
RIZOSPASTIS: The strike on February 28 must provide “oxygen” to simple folks’ struggle
KONTRA NEWS: The government is terrorizing people so that they don’t participate in the rally for the fatal Tempi rail crash
DIMOKRATIA: Hubris against the mother of Vassilis
NAFTEMPORIKI: 30-day Trump-mania in the markets
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DRIVING THE DAY: GERMAN ELECTION
MERZ + VDL = FRENEMIES FOREVER? Germans are heading to the polls on Sunday, a key step in Friedrich Merz’s seemingly inexorable march toward the chancellery. On paper, that will mean Merz can lock arms with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for renewed domination by German Christian Democrats at the EU level.
But looks can be deceiving: Though they’re from the same political family, the Merz-VDL relationship looks more like sibling rivalry than brother-and-sister-in-arms, report Nick Vinocur and Rasmus Buchsteiner in this dishy article.
Merkel’s favorite: Von der Leyen was essentially installed in her current job by Angela Merkel, after rising through the ranks of the German government under her patronage. Merz, on the other hand, was shunted aside and quit politics to work as a corporate lawyer. “And Merkel does not miss many chances to show how much she hates Merz,” one insider told my colleagues. “These people don’t get along.”
It’s not (just) personal: Von der Leyen hews to the political center, championing green reforms, gender parity and keeping Europe’s internal borders open. Merz, by contrast, is a classic West German conservative who wants deregulation, has spoken out against parity in government, taken aim at green policy (big read on that here), and has no problem shutting Germany’s borders to its neighbors
But it’s still kind of personal: Merz and von der Leyen struggled to land dinner plans on their respective visits to Brussels and Berlin. But the Commission chief did make at least one Merz catch-up a priority: Her bout of severe pneumonia virtually froze EU policymaking last month, but she rallied in time to make it to Merz’s meeting of center-right leaders from around Europe, where the German CDU leader pushed through policy briefs meant to bind Brussels’ hands for the years ahead. Read the article.
Not just Ursula: Merz gives women voters the ick, report Hanne Cokelaere and Nette Nöstlinger. Translation for the non-Gen Z among us: Surveys repeatedly show a considerable gender gap when it comes to preference for Germany’s likely next chancellor.
MEANWHILE, OVER IN THE AFD CAMP: The far-right party is using AI-generated imagery to bring to life its promise to return Germany to an idealized, better time — and to prevent what it sees as a dark future brought about by increased immigration. Emily Schultheis has the story.
Are German Jews really voting AfD? Jakob Weizman and Jasper Bennink investigate.
LOG IN SATURDAY: POLITICO’s live blog kicks off at 7 p.m.
SUNDAY TIMING …
6 p.m.: Voting ends; first exit poll released
6:30 p.m.: Preliminary results published
11 p.m.: Conclusive results expected
ICYMI: Nette Nöstlinger on how to watch the German election like a pro.
‘GLOBALIZED’ WAR
LEADERS FLOCK TO KYIV FOR SHOW OF SOLIDARITY: A raft of Western heads of government will rally in Ukraine on Monday, the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, my colleagues report.
Wingtips on the ground: European leaders are no closer to agreement on sending soldiers or peacekeeping forces in the event of a peace deal. But a squad of political power players will be on the ground, including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, European Council President António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen (along with much of her Commission team). Leaders from Lithuania, Latvia, Malta and Canada will join either in-person or virtually in a unified show of support, several officials told POLITICO; ditto European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. Read more.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who said Russians had “globalized the war in Ukraine” when asked if it was turning into World War III, is due to travel to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump on Monday, the White House confirmed last night. Former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will be in Kyiv.
The symbolism matters as Trump appears to be taking Russia’s side in the conflict (to illustrate the point, here are 29 times he did what Vladimir Putin wanted). It was with that in mind, perhaps, that Washington reportedly asked to cancel Trump envoy Keith Kellogg’s planned press conference Thursday evening in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“It’s important for us — and for the entire free world — that American strength is felt,” Zelenskyy said in his own readout. “Ukraine is ready for a strong, effective investment and security agreement with the President of the United States.”
New deal: The U.S. has given Kyiv an “improved” draft for a deal that would open Ukraine’s vast deposits of rare earth minerals to U.S. investment, Axios reports. It comes after POLITICO reported that Ukraine’s allies in Washington have been pushing for Zelenskyy to rescue his relationship with Trump by accepting the administration’s proposal.
G7 BREAKDOWN: This symbolism ain’t subtle: Washington is objecting to the phrase “Russian aggression” in a planned statement from G7 countries to mark the third anniversary of the war, the FT reported, even though that’s pretty much been boilerplate in G7 statements since 2022.
Virtual absence: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is already a hard no for a virtual G7 summit on the books Monday, the FT notes, and Zelenskyy’s participation is up in the air.
ATHENS BULLISH ON JOINT DEBT: In an interview with Bloomberg on boosting defense spending, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he expects a proposal for “some sort of joint European borrowing facility” to “pick up steam quickly.”
SANCTIONS FRUSTRATIONS
HUNGARY TO HOLD UP SANCTIONS RENEWAL: Budapest will block the renewal of sanctions against thousands of Russian and Belarusian individuals — at least initially, said Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. Speaking to Hungarian media after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Szijjártó said he’d prefer to give Trump’s peacemaking efforts time to play out rather than greenlight another six-month extension when EU foreign ministers discuss it on Monday. (Foreign policy chiefs are also slated to approve the 16th sanctions package that day.)
“We will not agree to extend the sanctions on Monday — there is time until March 10,” Szijjártó said in Washington, according to a translation posted by a government spokesman on X.
Behind the dates: Hungary mentions March 10 because it’s close to March 17, the next deadline for extending one of the Council’s decisions on sanctioning individuals.
WHY SANCTIONS AREN’T REALLY WORKING 1: This need to extend sanctions every six months, with unanimity, is among the reasons the EU’s measures to punish Russia haven’t had the “bite that they could,” Transparency International EU said in a report looking at the previous 15 rounds. Patchy enforcement is another factor, according to the report.
WHY SANCTIONS AREN’T REALLY WORKING 2: An Investigate Europe analysis of customs data indicates how aircraft spare parts coming from Western countries have entered Russia through Indian intermediaries.
LISTEN UP — GOODBYE TO GEOPOLITICAL EU? Finding unanimity on sanctions has been hard; agreeing on sending blood and treasure to protect Ukraine might be impossible. That’s why we’ve seen the emergence of a “post-NATO, non-EU security architecture which includes the hard-power countries” this week, Defense Editor Jan Cienski told yours truly on the EU Confidential podcast. Listen to this week’s episode here.
OMNIBUST-UP
DEREGULATION PLAN IS A TICKING TIME BOMB FOR THE CENTRIST MAJORITY: In less than a week, Ursula von der Leyen will present her landmark proposal for slashing red tape. Will she turn to her traditional allies in the center, and opt to protect environmental objectives? Or give way to the more radical deregulation agenda her party is asking for by stepping closer to the far right?
A coalition in shambles: The problem is that the coalition that returned von der Leyen to the Berlaymont is marked by a deep division between her own center-right European People’s Party and the center-left Socialists and Democrats.
Red lines over cutting red tape: With disagreements over the fundamentals of the law, EPP coordinator Tomas Tobé told my colleagues Marianne Gros and Max Griera that he’s getting fed up with the center-left’s red lines. “Sometimes, yes, there could be another majority and it could be a majority that S&D [is] not happy with,” Tobé said. Read the full article.
Naming their terms: The S&D outlined its non-negotiables and revealed potential concessions in a letter sent to von der Leyen on Thursday evening, obtained by POLITICO. Group chief Iratxe García asked the Commission chief to take a lighter touch on the simplification package and avoid gutting key Green Deal legislation. “We are currently in a delicate process of rebuilding trust amongst the political groups,” the letter warns. “This exercise is fragile and any legislative proposal that might reignite ideological debates has the potential to put this process at risk.”
FIELD TRIPS
SEE AND BE SEEN AT CPAC: CPAC, the annual confab that defines American conservative orthodoxy, has turned into a global magnet for right-wingers worldwide — and for European pols, it’s a great chance to prove Trumpian bona fides.
Echoing JD Vance: “The greatest obstacle does not come from the outside but from within: Europe’s decline is fueled by its own choices,” said European Conservatives and Reformists Party President Mateusz Morawiecki, a former Polish prime minister from PiS, during his speech.
Moderating … ? When Morawiecki unpacked that idea, however, he sounded less like Vance in Munich and more like an EPP politician in Brussels, avoiding the culture war and focusing on deregulation and boosting defense spending.
… or not: Yet the conference center just outside Washington was also a venue for stronger bonds between Europe’s right-wing families: Morawiecki and MEP Kinga Gál, vice chair of the Patriots for Europe group, pledged to “fight together against illegal immigration, against Green Deal, against the woke ideology.”
What the Twitterati will be talking about today: Elon Musk’s (literal) bureaucracy chainsaw and Steve Bannon’s “salute.”
MEPs BLOCKED FROM WESTERN SAHARA: Uniformed officials “violently” forced three lawmakers from The Left group back into their plane after declaring them persona non grata, Finnish MEP Jussi Saramo told my colleague Max Griera. The events took place in the city of Laayoune in the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, partly controlled by Morocco.
Unofficial business: Saramo, Spain’s Isabel Serra and Portugal’s Catarina Martins said they were on an “observation mission” to monitor compliance with the recent EU court ruling that annulled the agriculture and fishing arrangements between the EU and Morocco. However, the visit was not organized either by The Left group or the Parliament. Moroccan officials did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Read more.
IN OTHER NEWS
CHINA BACKS U.S.-RUSSIA DEAL ON UKRAINE: Beijing supports the “recent consensus” the U.S. and Russia have reached on ending the war in Ukraine, China’s top diplomat said Thursday.
KYIV’S ANTI-CORRUPTION EFFORTS PAYING OFF: Ukraine has progressed in its fight against corruption — despite the ongoing war with Russia, says a report released Thursday by the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption group GRECO. The EU candidate country has successfully put 18 out of 31 recommendations into action aimed at addressing corruption among lawmakers, judges and prosecutors.
FRIDAY FUNNY: The world can’t keep up with these turning tables, writes Giulia Poloni in the Declassified humor column.