Constantine Tassoulas elected President of the Republic, with 160 votes
Constantine Tassoulas was on Wednesday elected President of the Hellenic Republic, with 160 votes. After a roll-call vote, and out of 274 MPs present, 160 MPs voted for the former president of the Hellenic Parliament, while main opposition PASOK candidate Tasos Giannitsis received 34 votes, SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance candidate Louka Katseli 29 votes and NIKI candidate Konstantinos Kyriakou received 14 votes.
NATO drills ‘respect sovereignty’, Dendias highlights
Defense Minister Nikos Dendias sent a strong message to Turkey on Wednesday, emphasizing that Alliance exercises are planned with full respect for the sovereign rights of all nations.
Double seismic tremor 4.2 Richter in the sea area off Amorgos
A double earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale, one minute apart, occurred at 1 am on Thursday between Santorini and Amorgos. The first earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale occurred at 01:02, 228 km southeast of Athens. According to the Geodynamic Institute of the National Observatory of Athens, the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the sea area 23 km southwest of Arkesini, Amorgos.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/883784/Double-seismic-tremor-42-Richter-in-the-sea-area-off-Amorgos
Stournaras points out challenges for banks, Greece before global economic conditions
The prospects of the banking sector depend on Greece’s macroeconomic progress, which is in turn influenced by global developments, Bank of Greece (BoG) Governor Yannis Stournaras said at the Greek-Israeli Chamber of Commerce and Technology on Wednesday.
ATHEX: Yet another 14-year high on bourse
Wednesday marked one more 14-year high for the benchmark at the Greek stock market, with banks leading the charge and most other blue chips following. While uncertainty persists internationally, the local market appears determined to continue going from strength to strength, benefiting even listed companies of smaller capitalization, as traders seek out opportunities for profits in lesser-known enterprises that offer major returns.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1261525/athex-yet-another-14-year-high-on-bourse
KATHIMERINI: Pensioners: Retroactive payments only for those who win in court
TA NEA: Final ruling: retroactive payments only for those who addressed the courts
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: The ministers are mere pawns in the hands of Mitsotakis
RIZOSPASTIS: USA-Israel issue threats and ultimata for a new war round in the Middle East
KONTRA NEWS: Ministers contributed to the cover-up in the Greek Payment Authority of Common Agricultural Policy Aid Schemes (OPEKEPE)
DIMOKRATIA: Mockery by judges regarding pensioners’ retroactive payments
NAFTEMPORIKI: Accountants to be fined for tax violations of their clients
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DRIVING THE DAY
TRUMP STARTS UKRAINE PEACE TALKS — WITHOUT EU: Whatever Brussels is doing — it’s not working. Europe was blindsided by news that Donald Trump had held back-to-back phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (in that order) on Wednesday, launching peace talks without any semblance of coordination with his erstwhile allies in Europe.
Great day to be Putin: Trump said he and Putin had agreed to “start negotiations immediately” about the Ukraine war and to visit each other’s countries. And Trump told reporters he expects to see the Russian president in Saudi Arabia in the “not too distant future.” In a post on his Truth Social, Trump wrote: “We want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.” It was a moment Ukrainians and Europeans have been dreading for months, if not years, my colleagues write in this piece.
Over our heads: “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” is a mantra in the EU political mainstream. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola repeated it just two days ago in Strasbourg. Now, the tone has shifted, with a cacophony of ministers, diplomats and officials left begging Washington not to ditch Kyiv.
This sums it up: Last night, a reporter asked Trump whether Ukraine was an equal partner in the peace process. “It’s an interesting question,” he replied. “I think they have to make peace. That was not a good war to go into.” Which sounds more than a bit like he’s blaming Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine.
“‘Trump’s a great dealmaker all right — for the Kremlin,” concluded U.S. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. “Let’s not mince words about what this represents: a surrender of Ukraine’s interests and our own, even before negotiations begin.” More on that here.
Putting on a brave face: Zelenskyy, in his evening video address to his nation, said he’d had “very substantive” negotiations with Trump, and added: “We believe that America’s strength is sufficient to pressure Russia and Putin into peace.”
EARLIER IN THE DAY … U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s comments at a NATO meeting were a warning sign of what was to come. He took NATO membership for Kyiv off the table, and pushed the responsibility for guaranteeing Ukraine’s security after the war onto Europeans and others — but not Americans or through NATO. Returning Ukraine to its borders before 2014, when Russia launched its first (covert) invasion is an “illusionary goal” that will only prolong the war, he said, adding that China was Washington’s main priority in security policy now.
EUROPEANS ARE FREAKING OUT THAT THEY AREN’T AT THE TABLE. Remember when European Council President António Costa demanded last month that the EU have a seat at the table in peace talks? Trump has so far given Putin much more of his time than he has to Costa or Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. Europeans should start hoping they’ll be in the same building, let alone at the table, when talks are held.
Hollow words: “In any negotiation, Europe must have a central role,” top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas wrote last night after a meeting of a diplomatic format that brought together the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, Britain and Ukraine. The problem is, as Trump is repeatedly making clear, it doesn’t.
Might Beijing get Brussels’ seat at the table? The Wall Street Journal reports that Chinese officials have been sweet-talking the Trump team through intermediaries, seeking to facilitate peacekeeping efforts. Apparently the offer’s being met with skepticism. Cold comfort.
Doomsday vibes go into overdrive: “Europeans had three years to assert themselves and the liberal order by bringing Ukraine in a position of strength; they failed the test, now Putin is in a position of strength,” wrote foreign policy analyst Ulrich Speck on X. Without U.S. security protection, “the EU is no longer,” said professor of European studies Štefan Auer.
Steady on: “The big picture is still taking shape,” one EU official told Playbook last night. “I think it is a bit early to try to guess the final destination, if not the direction of travel.”
LOTS MORE ON THIS TODAY: NATO defense ministers continue meeting in Brussels today, with Ukraine’s Rustem Umerov and Kallas joining. They’ll discuss the latest Trump curveball, as well as his call for NATO allies to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense, which my colleagues report is proving a bridge too far for most Europeans. (Maybe the fact that Russian defense spending has overtaken the entirety of Europe’s combined will focus minds.)
Then on Friday, the Munich Security Conference kicks off, with Trump saying his Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (whose attendance was confirmed overnight) will meet Zelenskyy. On the EU side, 12 European commissioners will be at the conference, per their public calendars.
Also getting face-time with Vance: Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz. The two will meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference later this week, my colleagues report.
POLITICO SCOOP: General Keith Kellogg — Trump’s Russia-Ukraine envoy — is expected to visit Brussels after Munich.
FOR MORE MSC COVERAGE, make sure you’re signed up to POLITICO’s Global Playbook penned by Suzanne Lynch (first edition drops Friday morning), and head to our MSC hub.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
EP CHIEF TRAVELS TO ISRAEL, PALESTINE: Roberta Metsola kicks off a two-day trip to the Middle East today, having been invited by the Knesset and the Palestinian Authority. The reason for the trip is “to show that Europe is there and really will constructively engage,” the Parliament president’s spokesperson said.
COURT TELLS EP TO RELEASE HARASSMENT REPORT: An EU court ruled on Tuesday that the European Parliament must release an inquiry report relating to Socialist MEP Mónica Silvana González’s workplace harassment of her parliamentary assistants. The applicants wanted access to the report to use as evidence in a trial before a Belgian court, but the Parliament refused.
PARLIAMENT WANTS BUDGET INCREASE: MEPs are gearing up to squabble over the size of the European Parliament’s 2026 budget, according to an internal note seen by my colleague Max Griera. The proposal includes a 4.3 percent increase from 2025 figures, up to a total of €2.6 billion.
What do they want the extra money for? Indexation, but also for renovations of the Paul-Henri Spaak building in Brussels (construction’s due to start in 2027), as well as for cybersecurity and to help reach internal green targets. The four new directorates-general broken out from the old DG IPOL are also set to get more cash.
Trainees would be winners: The budget dedicated to trainees, as well as study visits and seconded national experts, is set to increase by 14.23 percent. Part of the increase is meant to provide trainees with scholarships “to help them cope with growing housing costs in Brussels and Luxembourg,” the note reads. And talking of youngsters …
PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW — GLEN MICALLEF
THE YOUNG FACE OF THE EU: Glenn Micallef, 35, is the EU’s youngest commissioner. He also hails from the bloc’s smallest member country: Malta. His portfolio covers youth, culture, sport and “intergenerational fairness.” These are typically areas where the EU does not have the power to act; instead it’s up to national governments to craft their culture and education policies.
Creative midfielder: “There’s a lot of value in coordination as well,” Micallef told Pieter Haeck and me in an interview in his eighth floor Berlaymont office, where the former footballer for Maltese club Żabbar Saint Patrick was surrounded by books on sport — and a basketball. But he’s rarely there. He’s taken almost a dozen trips abroad to try to engage youth since taking office in December; and he will launch a strategy for intergenerational fairness — touching on topics from health to housing — on Feb. 21.
Shooting some hoops: Ursula von der Leyen has instructed all commissioners to hold “youth policy dialogues” — in-person meetings with young people, during the first 100 days of their job. Micallef played wheelchair basketball with youths in Athens. “People need not sing our praises, but at least they should engage with us,” he said. “I’ve met with many people who crave this form of discussion face to face,” he added.
Not on TikTok: Fully engaging with youngsters means not fleeing social media platforms, like X, Micallef suggested. “In my personal opinion I wouldn’t do it,” he said. Micallef is not on TikTok but says he has “nothing against” the platform.
New kid on the bloc? “Within the College, I can say that there is intergenerational fairness,” Micallef said, smiling. “Every colleague that I speak to treats me as an equal,” he added. (The next youngest commissioner after Micallef is Stéphane Séjourné, who is 39.)
Another compass: Micallef aims to protect culture funding in the coming budget talks, and launch a “Culture Compass” — an overarching strategy for Europe’s culture in policy areas like artists’ working conditions — to be agreed on in the first half of 2026.
INSTITUTIONS BY AGE: MEPs have an average age of 50. Commissioners have an average age of 52. But members of the European Council (those who attend the EU summits), have an average age of 57.
WHAT’S MAKING NATIONAL HEADLINES
BAYROU SURVIVES — FOR NOW: French Prime Minister François Bayrou survived four no-confidence motions in his government in the space of a week. But as he looks down from what he called a budgetary “Himalaya,” the 73-year-old centrist veteran faces a tough road ahead, reports Victor Goury-Laffont.
AUSTRIA COALITION TALKS FAIL: Herbert Kickl’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), which hoped to lead the next Austrian government, walked out of coalition negotiations on Wednesday. What happens next? That’s up to President Alexander Van der Bellen. He can either call another election or allow the center-right People’s Party (ÖVP) to try to strike a deal with centrist and leftist parties. Details here.
AFD FINDS A FRIEND IN HUNGARY: German far-right chancellor candidate Alice Weidel praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as a “great role model” during her Budapest visit on Wednesday, Nette Nöstlinger and Csongor Körömi report. Weidel emphasized collaboration with Orbán to reform the EU, highlighting shared anti-immigrant stances and economic ties — and the wish for her AfD party to emulate Hungary’s policies if elected.
Meanwhile, migrants fear reprisals: In the wake of an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, migrants in the city are being targeted by right-wing extremists, reports Emily Schultheis.
IN OTHER NEWS
ROAD TRIP: European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have announced some joint travel plans. They will hold an EU-South Africa summit (in South Africa) on March 13, and the first EU-Central Asia summit in Uzbekistan on April 3 and 4.
GAS PRICE CAP UPDATE: The EU isn’t planning to include a gas price cap in its upcoming strategy to slash energy prices, a European Commission official said, pushing back on chatter that the EU executive was eyeing the measure. Gabriel Gavin and Victor Jack have more.
CLIMATE CHANGE A SECURITY THREAT TO EU: The consequences of global warming are a danger to European security, a landmark report by German researchers and the country’s intelligence service warned on Wednesday. The report said the unequal impact of climate change within the EU — with southern countries facing the brunt of droughts and heat waves — would “weaken cohesion within the EU as well as both its ability to act and its future viability.” Read more here from Zia Weise.
MILEI’S MAN ON MERCOSUR: Javier Milei’s right-hand man on Argentina’s economic revamp, Federico Sturzenegger, told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast that “if there’s a problem with the [Mercosur trade] agreement, it’s not going to be on the side of Argentina,” implying that any potential setbacks in the long-negotiated deal would be the fault of the Europeans. Listen here.
PONTIFF-ICATING ON TAX: Fresh from slamming Donald Trump’s immigration policies (and risking the ire of Catholics like JD Vance) Pope Francis will weigh in today on another thorny issue — taxation. The pontiff will open a tax justice event today at the Vatican which aims to highlight the link between taxation systems and inequality and make the moral case for change.
Take it from Stiglitz: “Multinationals earn enormous profits. They should pay a fair share of those profits in taxes where they’re earned,” famed American economist Joseph Stiglitz told my colleague Suzanne Lynch in an interview. “In many cases today, that means in developing countries.” The full interview is in Morning Financial Services.