Mitsotakis: ‘No question of sending European forces, NATO forces, into Ukraine’
There is no issue of sending European NATO forces into Ukraine, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in statements to journalists, after the conference on the support of Ukraine in Paris on Monday.
Public sector strikes to mark anniversary of deadly train crash
Greece’s public sector will grind to a halt on Wednesday as the union representing civil servants, ADEDY, has called a 24-hour strike to demand pay rises and mark the anniversary of the country’s deadliest train crash.
Counter-terrorism squad detains eight in connection with terrorist group
Eight people were detained by the Counter-Terrorism Squad on Tuesday, following a police operation that began earlier the same day in Attica, in connection with a terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for three bomb attacks and has levelled threats against judges.
Rail crash victims’ families to demand lifting of ministers,’ MPs’ immunity
The Association of Relatives of the Victims of the 2023 Tempe railway disaster is planning to send a petition to Parliament demanding legislative action to lift ministers’ and MPs’ immunity from criminal prosecution.
Skrekas: Price reductions of up to 15% in important product categories, after March 1
“From Friday onwards, when the package of measures we have taken to deal with soaring prices will be implemented in its entirety, we will see prices that are up to 15% lower in important product categories. Categories such as household cleansing products, personal hygiene products, baby diapers, but also a series of consumer goods that are essential in the life of households,” Development Minister Kostas Skrekas said on Tuesday, on the public television channel ERT1. Regarding the price of baby formula, he said the prices will approach the European average after March 1.
ATHEX: Minor losses for majority of stocks
Another mixed session at the Greek bourse on Tuesday had the majority of stocks and the main index lose some ground, though banks heahed the other way, as investors continue to have very selective approach to their stock moves these days.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1232802/athex-minor-losses-for-majority-of-stocks/
KATHIMERINI: An accounting office on our mobile phones
TA NEA: Shocking penalty for real estate asset owners: 10% fines on the value of assets
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Strike for dignity
AVGI: Justice for the fatal Tempi railway crash
RIZOSPASTIS: National strike today: wage increases, stop to price hikes, no cover-up for the Tempi crime
KONTRA NEWS: People hit the streets – Government is so out of it
DIMOKRATIA: 28.02.2023: If the dead could speak…
NAFTEMPORIKI: The refuge of the out-of-court settlements
ELECTION INTERFERENCE
JOUROVÁ WARNS OF RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA, WILLING “PROXIES” AND GERMAN FAR RIGHT: Commission Vice President Věra Jourová is urging countries to do more to guard against Russian propaganda ahead of the upcoming European election.
Doing the rounds: Jourová is embarking on a “democracy tour” across Europe to push for more concerted action, armed with data on Russian disinformation campaigns and a new EU law to foster media freedom. She will visit Finland today and Italy next week.
Domestic proxies: In an interview with Playbook Tuesday night, Jourová warned that Russian propaganda had already found willing parrots in most EU countries — pointing to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — and even in some governments, citing Hungary and Slovakia. “The Kremlin directly cannot influence the minds and hearts of European people. They need domestic proxies,” she said.
AfD the “biggest concern”: “We see AfD taking over the Russian narratives and, honestly, this is for me the source of biggest concern, because if Germany turns its back against Ukraine and the … European Union, we will be in big, big trouble.” Jourová said, adding that she will travel to Berlin before the summer as part of her tour.
Background: The AfD has called for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, for Germany to work more closely with Moscow, to stop arms shipments and sanctions and start importing Russian gas again. The party has repeatedly denied that it represents Russian interests.
Standing up for democracy: “The democratic forces in Germany are more vocal now, I think that this is the only way how to counter that,” Jourová said.
Kremlin’s eye on Berlin: “Russia is a master of propaganda … They have a strategy for every country,” including plans on where to focus interference efforts. “They have some cost-benefit analysis, I mean that they have very good calculations of where to invest. And in Germany it might be a successful investment with a big, big impact on the whole of Europe.”
Size matters: Jourová insisted that “every state matters. But in case the AfD is very successful in the European elections, just the arithmetic says that it might create considerable change, so of course this is the source of concerns.”
Undoing from within: The irony, the Commission VP told Playbook, is that “in the current context, democratic processes might give the blessing to the end of democracy.”
Back to Hungary and Slovakia: In most countries, Russian narratives are being spread by opposition parties or groups outside parliaments, Jourová said. But, she added, “We have two countries where we hear the Russian narratives from the governments. And it’s Hungary and Slovakia.”
Copying Trump’s playbook: Jourová argued that leaders and politicians were partly to blame, as some of them were playing into Russia’s efforts by speaking to and promoting new “alternative media” channels that regurgitate Kremlin talking points. “We see a new trend that some politicians use alternative media rather than recognized traditional media and public service media.”
What kind of peace: “One narrative is especially powerful,” said Jourová, “and it is a very short message: ‘We want peace.’” She added: “We all want peace. But it must not be appeasement. This ‘we want peace,’ coming from the Kremlin means ‘stop supporting Ukraine.’”
Learning from the Finns: “I start in Helsinki today as Finland is a country that can serve as an inspiration. The Finns have the resilience against disinformation in their DNA as they know Putin’s playbook by heart.”
Telling fake from real: Finland’s success “is also due to a long-standing media literacy education from kindergarten to retirement,” said Jourová.
ROAD TO EU ELECTION
VDL’S TIGHTROPE: In the coming months, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will enter uncharted waters, combining her role as leader of the EU’s executive arm and a Spitzenkandidat, while abiding by ethical standards she drew up for office-holders campaigning for a second term.
Juggling two hats: The lines between candidate and Commission leader representing the interests of the entire EU are blurry — and have already forced von der Leyen to backtrack. Over the course of 72 hours last week, she lurched from Commission president to election candidate and back again to president, as Barbara Moens, Jacopo Barigazzi and Suzanne Lynch report.
Accession flip-flop: Last week, von der Leyen said she would delay the next step of Ukraine’s EU accession until after the EU election in June — an attempt to keep the sensitive issue out of the campaign. But soon after, during a visit to Kyiv and after uproar from some EU countries, she backtracked, saying the Commission will submit the next formal step for Ukraine’s EU bid in mid-March, as originally planned.
If it looks like a campaign move: Six senior EU officials interpreted the backpedaling as a perfect example of the risks of walking the campaign tightrope. “It was just another reminder that from now on, we have to watch her every move as a campaign move,” said one Commission official.
EUROPEAN DEFENSE
TODAY — EU AMBASSADORS TALK DEFENSE FUND: Representatives of EU countries today continue talks aimed at getting a deal on the Union’s defense fund. All eyes will be on any signs of a change in position from Paris on the question of whether the fund’s money can be used to buy weapons or ammunition from outside the EU — something France previously opposed, but which President Emmanuel Macron on Monday signaled he was open to.
Under pressure: In a letter sent to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, and seen by POLITICO, the foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland stress that non-EU “producer countries” can help Europe reach the 1 million rounds target for Ukraine “in a short timeframe.” Sweden’s Tobias Billström and Finland’s Elina Valtonen say that is why “we have insisted on not limiting the procurement of defense equipment to only European defense industry and Norway,” Jacopo Barigazzi reports.
Buy European: In a Commission document prepared for the presentation next week of the new European Defense Industrial strategy, also seen by POLITICO, the Commission stresses that “78% of defense acquisitions by EU member states between the start of the war and June 2023 were made from outside the EU, the U.S alone representing 63% of this share.”
The chicken-and-egg problem: As long as EU production capacity remains limited, countries will buy abroad … and vice-versa. Can it be so hard to find a solution under which Ukraine’s immediate needs are met with purchases abroad, but longer-term orders are placed within the EU? Apparently yes, since EU countries have now been discussing this point for months.
No such issues for Russia: Pyongyang has sent millions of artillery shells to Moscow since the summit between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin last September, South Korea said this week.
BERLIN-PARIS SPLIT: Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are feuding over how to arm and defend Ukraine. As my colleagues James Angelos and Joshua Posaner report, German fears of conflict with Russia are particularly ingrained. On Tuesday, Scholz shot down any consideration of Western countries sending troops to help defend Ukraine — something Macron didn’t rule out in controversial comments he made earlier this week.
Russia responds: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that a conflict between Russia and NATO would be inevitable if the West did send troops to Ukraine. “In this case, we need to talk not about the likelihood, but about the inevitability [of a conflict],” he said. More from Laura Kayali and Claudia Chiappa here.
Now read this: Russia’s threshold for using tactical nuclear weapons is lower than the Kremlin has publicly admitted, according to leaked Russian military files from over a decade ago, seen by the Financial Times.
Macron’s “whatever it takes” moment: The French president’s comments about Western boots on the ground in Ukraine appeared to be an effort to style himself as a statesman who can step into the breach in the mold of Italy’s Mario Draghi, who famously steadied the crisis-stricken eurozone with his pledge to do “whatever it takes.” Macron wants to take on the mantle of global leadership — but French politics will make that a hard role for him to pull off, Clea Caulcutt writes.
AROUND PARLIAMENT
KAILI’S VENTURE INTO TECH: Just three months before she was arrested in the Qatargate cash-for-influence scandal, then-European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili set up an NGO for digital and tech affairs, Follow The Money reports today. Her former co-founder is now under investigation over a separate Belgian corruption scandal. By not reporting the group, Kaili might have broken the Parliament’s internal rules, FTM reports — highlighting once again the Parliament’s enforcement problem.
RENEW WANTS MORE TRADE DEALS TO KICKSTART GROWTH: The liberal Renew group has published a 10-point-plan to keep the EU rich “in a fragmenting global economy” — notably via new trade deals. “We have lost our competitive edge in the global economy, and this demands urgent political action,” Danish MEP Morten Løkkegaard said. The group has also sent a wish list to Mario Draghi, who is preparing a much-anticipated report on EU competitiveness.
SPYWARE DEBATE: Last week, POLITICO revealed that two members and one staffer from Parliament’s subcommittee on security and defense had been targeted by spyware. Parliament debated the topic late Tuesday, with the Commission represented by International Partnerships chief Jutta Urpilainen — who looked just as puzzled to be there as lawmakers were to see her. The 9:40 p.m. slot also meant an almost empty plenary room.
I spy the wrong commissioner: Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in ’t Veld took a swipe at Urpilainen’s presence, Antoaneta Roussi writes in to report. “I’m sorry to say to Madame Commissioner but you’ve just been given a note to read out and it was all rubbish,” in ’t Veld said, referring to a script read by Urpilainen. “I don’t know what to say anymore, the responsible commissioner is not even here, the European Council is not even here … what kind of debate is this?”
GREEK TRAIN CRASH ANNIVERSARY: In’ t Veld also called on European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to commemorate the victims of last year’s train crash in Tempi, Greece, and to “call for truth and justice” on behalf of the Parliament. “Two responsible government ministers are unfortunately shielded by immunity laws and the parliamentary inquiry left many questions unanswered,” in’ t Veld said in a note sent to Metsola on Tuesday, seen by my colleague Nektaria Stamouli.
Protests planned: Today marks the one-year anniversary of the deadly train disaster. Demonstrations will take place around Greece, with calls for strikes to protest what is perceived as a systematic attempt to obscure the causes of the tragedy and protect the politicians who may be responsible.
AMAZON OUT: Amazon lobbyists are set to be banned from the European Parliament, my colleague Giovanna Faggionato reports, after the company’s representatives refused to participate in a dialog with the employment committee to address labor concerns.
G20 FINANCE MINISTERS MEET
BRAZIL WANTS TO TALK TAXATION AND INEQUALITY AT G20: Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is using his country’s presidency of the G20 to shift the conversation.
On the agenda: Brazil has put the fight against inequality front and center at the meeting of finance ministers in São Paolo today, with discussions on global taxation and debt relief on their agenda on Thursday. “Brazil, under Lula, once again sees itself very strongly as the voice of the Global South,” a German finance ministry official told my colleague Gregorio Sorgi.
Setting the record straight: EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni will seek to challenge Lula’s previous remarks that Ukraine and Russia share an equal blame for the war. “This week I will be setting the record straight, stressing that it is Russia’s own actions that — in addition to causing unspeakable suffering in Ukraine — are damaging the global economy and hurting vulnerable populations around the world,” he wrote to POLITICO.
IN OTHER NEWS
OMBUDSMAN REVEALS FRONTEX INQUIRY: European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly will publish her findings in the inquiry into Frontex’s role in search and rescue operations at sea at 10 a.m. today. The probe was launched following the deadly Adriana shipwreck off the coast of Greece in June last year.
NATURE LAW FIGHT: Europe’s conservatives lost their battle agains the EU’s controversial Nature Restoration Law on Tuesday, as liberal and left-wing lawmakers managed to pass the bill. But the close call underscored broader trends likely to hamper green lawmaking following this summer’s EU election, Zia Weise and Louise Guillot report.
MICHIGAN PRIMARIES: U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump scored decisive wins in their respective Michigan primaries on Tuesday — but questions hover over both candidates, my Stateside colleagues report.