Irate farmers make their presence felt
Thousands of farmers from throughout Greece drove more than 200 tractors to Athens on Tuesday, intensifying weeks of protests against increasing costs and international competition.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1232187/irate-farmers-make-their-presence-felt/
Greek Foreign Ministry hands note verbale to Turkey, protests Turkish Navtex
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has handed a note verbale to the Turkish government regarding a recent Turkish Navtex and related information reported by media, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
Kasselakis challenges doubters, takes swipe at media
In response to harsh criticism, SYRIZA President Stefanos Kasselakis challenged those casting doubts about his leadership of the party to clarify their stance.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1232212/kasselakis-challenges-doubters-takes-swipe-at-media/
Registered unemployment down 4.7% in January
Registered unemployment totaled 1,039,475 persons in January, down 4.7% from the same month last year and off 0.03% compared with December 2023, Public Manpower Agency (DYPA) said in a report on Tuesday.
https://www.amna.gr/en/article/798532/Registered-unemployment-down-47-in-January
ATHEX: Minor gains extend rally of benchmark
The Greek stock market managed on Tuesday to maintain the gains its had secured on Monday and added some more for its benchmark, which climbed to yet another 13-year record high, even though the mid-cap index and the majority of stocks headed south. The local bourse continues to show resilience and is expected to continue down the same path for the next few weeks at least.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1232196/athex-minor-gains-extend-rally-of-benchmark/
KATHIMERINI: Farmers make their presence felt loud and clear
TA NEA: Farmers: The Syntagma square blockade
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Farmers: “Without us, what will you eat ?”
AVGI: SYRIZA heads towards a unitive party conference
RIZOSPASTIS: Farmers’ fair fight continues with the solidarity of society
KONTRA NEWS: People enraged
DIMOKRATIA: Minister of Maritime Affairs handed-off half of the Aegean to Turkey
NAFTEMPORIKI: Tourism and exports are counterbalancing forces
UKRAINE AID
HAPPENING TODAY: Representatives of the 27 EU governments will today seek to strike a deal to top up the Union’s defense fund and agree joint arms purchases for Ukraine.
Franco-German brake: But the European Peace Facility (EPF), as the fund is known, is being held up by the EU’s supposed engine: Behind the scenes, France and Germany are delaying an agreement on the aid.
Berlin’s view: Germany’s demand, first reported by my colleague Jacopo Barigazzi, boils down to a question of money. Berlin has been financing one-quarter of the EU fund, as contributions are calculated based on national income. Germany now wants a rebate, as it’s also been the biggest donor of bilateral aid to Ukraine.
Not helping: Diplomats have accused some EU countries of using EPF funds to modernize their own militaries, and then sending their old kit to Ukraine. As Playbook scooped last year, Estonia claimed the value of new, modern weapons from the EU fund as reimbursement for Soviet-era howitzers that it sent to Ukraine — even though it had already planned to replace them before Russia started its full-scale invasion.
Paris’ view: France’s demand, backed by Greece and Cyprus,is over how the EU money should be spent. France insists on a “Buy European” clause for defense purchases, to ensure any gear that’s purchased with EU money is also made here. “The goal is to spend better and to spend European,” a French diplomat told Jacopo. But other countries warn this boost for EU industry would come at the cost of delays in getting military kit to Ukraine.
REPEATING MISTAKES: Instead of leading by example, as Denmark has just done, France and Germany risk repeating the same mistake as with ammunition for Ukraine, diplomats and senior officials warned in conversations ahead of today’s meeting.
Short-sighted: With every day that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delay a decision on more aid, Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the frontline are being forced to retreat.
Remember last year? “It’s exactly the same debate we had last year in the plan to provide ammunition to Ukraine,” one diplomat complained, pointing to when decisions on ammo for Kyiv were delayed over France’s insistence to buy European. “In the end Ukraine didn’t get the 1 million shells we promised them and now we’re on course to make the same mistake again.”
What’s next: On top of discussions about Germany’s rebate and France’s Buy European clause, diplomats will today discuss increasing the overall financial ceiling of the EPF by €5 billion. However, three diplomats ruled out the possibility of a deal coming imminently on Germany’s demands, but one was fairly optimistic an agreement can be reached by the end of the month.
And if all else fails, the EPF could go back to the EU leaders’ table at their March summit.
NOW READ THIS: What could the EU do to actually help end the war in Ukraine? My colleagues Gabriel Gavin, Koen Verhelst and Victor Jack examine five options policymakers could deploy if they truly wanted to put the squeeze on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
NAVALNY FALLOUT
MEPS URGE EU TO ADOPT NAVALNY’S SANCTIONS LIST AND RENAME EEAS BUILDING: MEPs say the EU should adopt a new sanctions package based on a list that Alexei Navalny proposed to EU leaders “more than two years ago” — but which they still haven’t picked up.
‘Backbone ‘of Putin’s regime: In a letter to EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, the MEPs say the sanctions should strike “against the backbone of Putin’s regime,” and be based on a list of more than 6,000 individuals Navalny and his anti-corruption organization identified as key members in the Kremlin’s mafia-like state apparatus.
Going after Putin’s stooges: The EU should also sanction “all those involved in Alexei’s agony in Putin’s Gulag, including the prison directors, guards, police officers, public attorneys, and judges,” write the MEPs in their letter, obtained by Playbook.
Renaming EEAS building: “Finally we think it would be appropriate to name the EEAS Building in Brussels after him in order to honour his legacy,” the letter says.
The list of signatories here and here, includes leading MEPs from the liberal Renew Europe group, as well as MEPs from the center-right European People’s Party, center-left Socialists & Democrats, the Greens, Catalonia’s Junts party, and even some European Conservative and Reformists and Identity and Democracy members from Belgium’s New Flemish Alliance, Poland’s Law and Justice and Italy’s Lega.
DON’T FORGET GEORGIA: Following Navalny’s death in prison, MEPs have called on the EU to push Georgia to release former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is “languishing” in prison. “It is all the more shocking that a country that aspires to join the European Union should keep in prison a man who was its President, who led the democratisation of Georgia,” reads the letter, initiated by senior Renew MEP and former French EU Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau and signed by two-dozen other MEPs so far.
X BLOCKS, THEN REINSTATES NAVALNAYA: Elon Musk’s social network X briefly suspended the account of Yulia Navalnaya, the Russian dissident and widow of Navalny. X’s safety team said the platform’s “defense mechanism against manipulation and spam mistakenly flagged @yulia_navalnaya as violating our rules.” Details here.
WHAT WILL RUSSIANS DO? “Navalny’s murder, at the age of 47, now leaves two major questions to be answered: Will Russians respond and pick up the gauntlet he threw down?” writes POLITICO’s Jamie Dettmer.
AI OFFICE
AI OFFICE, COLD OPEN: The EU is officially opening its AI Office today. Working in it, as POLITICO first reported, will be about 100 people — 20 of them redeployed from within DG Connect and 80 brought in as contracted agents and national experts. The recruitment of the latter bunch, Commission spokesperson Johannes Bahrke said, “will be launched in the coming weeks.”
Office work: The office, which was created as part of the Artificial Intelligence Act, has a chunky brief: monitoring and enforcing observance of the AI Act’s rules on general-purpose AI; creating related codes of practice, guidelines and evaluation tools; encouraging the uptake of trustworthy AI across the Union and within the Commission; overseeing the interim “AI Pact;” being the poster body of the EU’s AI diplomacy in international fora … the list goes on.
Office politics: Speaking on Tuesday at a tech industry event in the Parliament, DG Connect boss Roberto Viola said the AI Office is built “to actually exercise power — including in terms of potential sanctions or interventions in the market.” Those would be “extreme scenarios,” Viola said, but his message was clear: AI companies should take notice.
AROUND THE INSTITUTIONS
VDL KILLS ‘NANNY STATE’ POLICIES: With one eye on the June EU election, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is quietly taking the ax to her own agenda, cutting unpopular files that are likely to cost votes to a resurgent far right. From pesticides to alcohol labeling, a range of proposals has been watered down, held back, or shelved altogether. And the orders came from on high, Paula Andrés, Carlo Martuscelli andBartosz Brzeziński report.
CALL FOR EPSO HEAD TO GO: Several labor groups representing EU staffers are calling for the resignation of Minna Vuorio, the head of the EU’s personnel agency EPSO. In a letter dated Feb. 14 and seen by POLITICO, three unions expressed “deep concern and dissatisfaction with its current management,” and called for a change in mindset and new leadership at EPSO to “restore faith in the EU institutions.” Barbara Moens has the details.
BANNING AMAZON LOBBYISTS: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and political group chairs will discuss a potential ban of Amazon lobbyists from Parliament premises, as requested by employment committee lawmakers. The MEPs claim Amazon has failed to engage in dialogue with lawmakers over labor concerns — something company disputes — as POLITICO reported earlier this month.
NEW POSTS: The German Christian Democratic Union delegation in the Parliament (part of the EPP group) on Tuesday night elected Christine Schneider as its new parliamentary secretary. Schneider’s predecessor, Markus Pieper, will shortly be leaving the Parliament to join the Commission as its newly created SME envoy.
IN OTHER NEWS
GREEK RULE OF LAW: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the country’s rule of law is “stronger than ever,” but took no questions at a press conference after hosting Roberta Metsola in Athens on Tuesday. Mitsotakis blamed political opponents for criticism over spyware attacks against journalists and political opponents, Nektaria Stamouli reports from Athens.
No justice for train crash victims: Later on Tuesday, Greek opposition MPs walked out of a parliamentary committee probing the Tempi train crash, accusing the government of engineering a cover-up and acquitting those responsible. As POLITICO revealed in January, the government dismissed a call from the European public prosecutor to take action over the potential criminal liability of two former transport ministers after last February’s deadly train collision.
UKRAINE’S CHICKEN KINGS: After being targeted by Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s largest poultry business is going on the counterattack. MHP has for weeks been in the crosshairs of French farmers and politicians who accuse it of flooding the European market with cheap chickens. Giorgio Leali reports on the company’s efforts to stop European politicians pecking at its reputation.
EURO-CLEARING: Some in Brussels thought Brexit was a chance to reroute financial “plumbing” away from London. After nearly eight years of wrangling, EU policymakers reached a deal this month which will draw some financial business into the bloc, but far less than expected. Banking bosses still had eyes for the U.K. — and they had a surprise ally in the French government, Fiona Maxwell, Kathryn Carlson and Hannah Brenton report.