Government denies allegations of cover-up in Tempe disaster case
The government has strongly rejected opposition claims of a cover-up following the deadly train crash at Tempe in central Greece in late Februay, 2028.
FM Gerapetritis from Riga: Europe cannot achieve autonomy without energy independence
Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis met with Latvian counterpart Baiba Braze in Riga. In his statements he stressed that there can be no autonomy in Europe without energy security and added that it is vital for Europe to develop methods of energy diversification.
Independent MP Michalis Hourdakis joins Movement for Democracy
Movement for Democracy announced on Tuesday that independent MP Michalis Hourdakis is joining the party and taking over as its spokesperson.
University of Patras takes safety measures after fatal meningitis case involving a 20-year-old student
Following the fatal case of meningitis involving a 20-year-old student, the University of Patras announced that “in cooperation with the National Public Health Organization and Public Health, the protocol for managing the situation was implemented and all measures were taken for the safety of those involved.”
ATHEX: Stock compass keeps pointing to the north
The Greek stock market left Monday’s decline behind it and rebounded on Tuesday to register yet another 13.5-year high, led by a number of blue chips that continue to attract the growing interest of investors in the local bourse. The increasing turnover is also testament of the view that Athinon Avenue is de facto a developed market on most traders’ radars nowadays.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1259997/athex-stock-compass-keeps-pointing-to-the-north
KATHIMERINI: Government is open to a parliamentary inquiry regarding the Tempi rail crash
TA NEA: Code “helmet” in gas stations
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Fiasco regarding restoration works for the Athens metro
RIZOSPASTIS: Cases like the Tempi rail crash exist everywhere! Working spaces are traps of death
KONTRA NEWS: Government reshuffle in order for the agenda to change
DIMOKRATIA: Prorata survey: Greeks want to start a family but they can’t
NAFTEMPORIKI: Taxpayers’ bank deposits under “e-scrutiny”
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DRIVING THE DAY: MAKING EUROPE COMPETITIVE AGAIN
A COMPASS, A ROADMAP — BUT WILL THE EU FIND ITS WAY? European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today begins the process of burning down her own Green Deal, as the EU seeks to respond to a red-tape-slashing Donald Trump in the White House and to give Beijing a run for its yuan.
Bonfire night! The Commission will today present a broad framework of objectives called the Competitive Compass (or is it the Competitiveness Roadmap?), designed to help fire up the Continent’s economy over the next five years. One of the first concrete measures: an “unprecedented simplification effort” to be presented next month.
What that means in practice: At the heart of the compass is legislation slashing through the rulebook on how companies report their compliance with the EU’s green regulations, my colleague Marianne Gros reports in her big curtain-raiser this morning. Meaning von der Leyen is trashing laws she introduced herself — some of them barely a year ago.
Nothing has changed! The Commission insists the package won’t change the environmental objectives of the rules; critics say von der Leyen is abandoning her green agenda to please conservatives — including within her European People’s Party (EPP) — and beat Trump at his own game. (As Playbook reported Tuesday, Jordan Bardella, the leader of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, wants EU conservatives to help him kill the Green Deal.)
What else is in the Competitiveness Compass: My POLITICO colleagues scooped a draft of the document. The highlights: The Commission wants to redirect more regional funding, normally reserved for infrastructure and schools, toward boosting EU-wide strategic investments … establish an EIB-led TechEU investment program that could fund AI, clean tech, chips, energy storage quantum tech, etc. … and to slash energy prices for businesses.
FROM MECA TO MEGA: As the Commission seeks to make Europe competitive again, members of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Patriots for Europe groups gathered in the European Parliament on Tuesday for the first day of the 2025 Make Europe Great Again conference. The festivities will continue today at the Thon Hotel in the EU quarter.
Spotted Tuesday … ECR President/ex-Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, French ECR MEP Marion Maréchal, Paraguayan politician Raúl Luís Latorre Martinez, former TV news anchor Kari Lake (now Trump’s pick to run Voice of America) and Newsmax’s Bill Robinson, wearing a “Trump Force Captain” hat. OK then. (H/t Elena Giordano.)
OLAF, UNCHAINED
NO MORE MR. NICE SCHOLZ: It only took 1,147 days, one Feb. 23 snap election, countless insults, the threat of an Elon Musk-backed far-right wave, and a sliver of Holocaust denial to shake German Chancellor Olaf Scholz out of his stupor and into a fighting mood. Last night, Scholz hammered Musk over his controversial remarks about Germans needing to get over their “past guilt” for the horrific crimes carried out by the Nazis.
This is what it sounds like when doves cry: “I’m so angry about Elon Musk intervening for the far right and Elon Musk also not acting adequate to this killing of so many Jews and other people in Europe done by Germans in the past,” said Scholz, speaking in English to journalists on the sidelines of a campaign event in Berlin.
Scholz added about Musk: “If you look at the print press in Germany, you will see that there are many billionaires that also intervene in politics. That’s not new. What is new is that he is intervening in favor of right-wing politicians all over Europe. And this is really disgusting.” Full write-up here.
POLITICO MATCH-MAKING
ARE YOU THERE, MARCO? IT’S ME, KAJA: The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Tuesday finally got U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the blower (that’s Aussie for telephone, for those playing along at home). It’s Rubio’s first contact with a top EU official, though he has previously spoken to some foreign ministers from around the European Union. Now, I’m not saying the call came because POLITICO reported Rubio had failed to even acknowledge the EU’s invitation to attend a meeting with foreign ministers — but I’m also not not saying that either. Capiche?
What they talked about: “Global issues where the EU and US have the same interests, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, Iran’s malign influence and challenges posed by China,” per Kallas’ readout on social media. An EU official told my colleague Jacopo Barigazzi that the pair agreed on the necessity of maintaining maximum pressure on Moscow to move toward a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.
Kissing up to Trump: Kallas also stressed Europe’s increasing investment in defense and its readiness to take on greater responsibility, per the official.
Hope dies last: “Looking forward to meeting you soon,” Kallas said on X.
WHO DOES HAVE TRUMP’S EAR: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House on Feb. 4. It’ll be Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader since he returned to office. My U.S. colleagues have the details.
KEEPING GREENLAND DANISH
BOOTS ON THE GROUND (IN GREENLAND): The psychodrama over Trump’s attempts to bully Denmark into selling out Greenland continues, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Tuesday saying Paris had discussed putting troops on the ground, but that Copenhagen had rebuffed the offer.
Actual footage from Kyiv’s Mariinsky Palace right now …
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OK, BUT SERIOUSLY: French troops attempting to fight off invading Americans in Greenland (bonne chance, mes amis) isn’t quite what I had on my 2025 bingo card — but that is the fever-dream reality of the Trump administration. After the disbelief wore off, Trump’s overtures toward Greenland triggered frantic talks among European leaders aiming to stop him, as my colleagues report in this rip-roaring yarn.
Actions speak louder than words: While Denmark, the EU and NATO were planning to stay quiet in response to Trump’s bellicose Greenland rhetoric, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s mad dash between Berlin, Brussels and Paris on Tuesday to shore up support did the talking for her. “I don’t travel around giving speeches. I don’t need to,” Frederiksen said. “But I am safeguarding Denmark’s interests, and I am doing so very firmly right now.”
Ice breakers, trust falls and invasion prepping: Diplomats have now set aside time to discuss relations with Trump — likely including the Greenland crisis — at an informal meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Feb. 3, per several people familiar with the plans.
What’s behind the Trump trolling: At the heart of Trump’s bombastic Greenland posturing is the fact that a battle for control of the Arctic is underway — and the U.S. is off to a slow start compared to Russia and China. “You look outside, you have China ships all over the place, you have Russia ships all over the place,” Trump said this month. “We’re not letting that happen.”
Will this help? In an attempt to appease Trump, who reckons Denmark has been neglecting its responsibilities on Greenland, Frederiksen and NATO boss Mark Rutte agreed at their meeting on Tuesday that allies need to focus on strengthening defenses in the Arctic, Reuters reports. Will it appease Trump, or prove to be too little too late?
Not gaga for MAGA: Per a new poll, 85 percent of Greenlanders said they don’t want a Trump takeover.
UKRAINE LATEST
ON THE AGENDA TODAY — MORE RUSSIA SANCTIONS (BUT NOT THE ONES KYIV WANTED): European ambassadors meeting today will discuss the EU’s 16th package of sanctions against Moscow — but the measures exclude a ban on purchases of Russian gas. The European Commission circulated its proposal to national governments on Tuesday, my colleagues Victor Jack and Koen Verhelst reported.
At least there’s this: The new offering will push to restrict Moscow’s aluminum exports, according to diplomats (which Bloomberg also reported overnight). The sanctions will also target video game equipment, like Microsoft’s Xbox, which the EU says Russia is using to pilot drones.
In more good news for Kyiv: The Commission last night proposed hitting Russian and Belarusian fertilizers and agricultural goods with tariffs, aiming to weaken Moscow’s war economy and protect the EU’s struggling fertilizer industry. It’s a sanctions-like move that the EU executive can make because tariffs don’t require the unanimous support of member countries, Bartosz Brzeziński reports.
EU FAST-TRACK: Meanwhile, the EU aims to speed up Kyiv’s membership bid by opening two negotiating “clusters” during the first half of this year, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos told journalists during a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday. Nick Vinocur has more.
OPENING A KARNITSCHNIG OF WORMS
REACTIVE AT EURACTIV: An email purporting to represent the views of 31 members of the Euractiv team (which came from an anonymous Proton Mail account with no names attached) was sent to company management to complain about new Editor-in-Chief Matthew Karnitschnig‘s Monday evening edition of “The Brief.” (The column is also making waves on social media.)
At issue: The piece, which aimed to highlight the lack of awareness in Europe of the atrocities of the Holocaust, included the line: “There’s no question that much of this ignorance resides in Muslim migrant communities, where hatred of Jews is as much a staple of daily life as baklava” and referred to Ireland as “a country deemed to be so hostile to Jews that Israel shuttered its embassy there.” The complaint email refers to Karnitschnig’s claims as “unfounded and unnecessarily divisive,” and says the column “fails to meet Euractiv’s editorial standards” and “runs counter to the very principles all journalists at Euractiv are expected to uphold.”
To state the obvious: Karnitschnig was a long-time POLITICO chief correspondent based in Berlin.
Back to the accusations: The letter, addressed to Euractiv’s Managing Director Claire Boussagol (a former CEO of POLITICO Europe), Publisher René Moerland and Karnitschnig himself (with Subscription Director Emmanuel Naert in CC), “urgently ask the leadership team to consider deleting the publication of the brief” and for a town hall meeting “to lay out a clear plan to prevent future unbalanced editorial decisions.”
That’s a nein: Asked whether he planned to take the piece down or call a town hall, Karnitschnig told me: “We’re definitely standing by the column. I don’t know why we’d have a town hall about an anonymous email from outside the company.” He added: “If people have the courage of their convictions, if they have a problem, they should come out and say it. Not a single person has come up to me to talk about it. Or to voice criticism directly.”
Asked whether he agreed with the substance of the complaints, Karnitschnig said: “I don’t agree with it at all. There’s enough evidence out there that antisemitism in Muslim communities tends to be higher than in the general population.” Karnitschnig pointed Playbook to several pieces of research to that end. He added: “This column is my opinion, and people are of course welcome to disagree with me.”
MD responds: Playbook asked Boussagol whether she too stood by the column. She said: “I am afraid I would only state the obvious, which is that it is essential for me to respect editorial independence, precisely as I did when I was at Politico.”
MIGRATION
MEPs VOTE ON NEW €250M FRONTEX HQ: Frontex, the agency tasked with managing the EU’s external borders, is planning to spend €250 million building a new headquarters in Warsaw, according to a note sent to MEPs and obtained by POLITICO‘s Max Griera Andreu. EU member countries approved the project on Tuesday and the European Parliament will vote on it today.
But but but … It’s unclear whether the motion will pass, especially as Frontex’s management of migration has been controversial. The Socialists and Democrats will abstain, since they oppose the plan to loan the money, MEP Nils Ušakovs said. But the EPP will vote for it since “Frontex plays a crucial role in securing our external borders, preventing illegal immigration, and ensuring the return of those who enter illegally,” MEP Lena Düpont said in a statement. The ECR will also vote in favor.
MEANWHILE, IN GERMANY: As my Berlin Playbook colleagues report, the German parliament is this afternoon set to debate a controversial proposal to curb irregular migration, brought forward by the likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz. The CDU leader hasn’t ruled out cooperating with the far-right Alternative for Germany.
AND IN FRANCE: The Socialists are pushing budget talks to the brink of collapse after Prime Minister François Bayrou said France seemed to be suffering from “flooding” by immigrants. (Not that the budget squeeze is cramping Paris’ style, with President Emmanuel Macron unveiling plans to build a new entrance to the Louvre and move the “Mona Lisa” to its own room.)
UH OH, WE’RE IN TROUBLE
GIORGIA MELONI: Italian prosecutors are investigating Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and two government ministers for repatriating a Libyan general wanted by the International Criminal Court.
ALEKSANDAR VUČIĆ: Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned Tuesday, as President Aleksandar Vučić seeks to prop up his government amid massive protests rocking the country. The ouster comes after a deadly canopy collapse at a train station in Novi Sad killed 15 people on Nov. 1, sparking a wave of huge student-led protests around Serbia. In a televised address Tuesday night, Vučić said a new election could be held in April, Reuters reports.
QATARGATE SUSPECTS: A Belgian committee that oversees the country’s intelligence and security services confirmed authorities used legal methods to gather information in the Qatargate investigation into suspected corruption within the European Parliament, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement Tuesday. La Libre has the latest (and RTBF got the scoop Monday).
FEPS: The EU’s party watchdog fined the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, the think tank of the Party of European Socialists, for indirectly funding the U.K. Labour Party.
IN OTHER NEWS
PARLIAMENT REMEMBERS HOLOCAUST WITH LOST CELLO CONCERT: For the European Parliament’s annual Holocaust memorial ceremony today at noon, musician Sam Lucas will play a Gagliano cello that was originally owned by Pál Hermann, a Jewish Hungarian composer who was sent to a Nazi death camp in 1944. Hermann’s family lost the cello after his murder but were reunited with it 80 years later. His daughter Corrie, 92, is invited as a keynote speaker, a spokesperson for the Parliament said. Watch here.
Metsola speech preview: “This European Parliament will always remember,” President Roberta Metsola is expected to say in her speech at the memorial ceremony today. “And we will always speak up — just as our first woman President Simone Veil, herself a survivor, taught us to do. Her legacy reminds us that neutrality helps only the oppressor, never the victim.”
FROM THE WTF FILES: Russia plotted to kill Armin Papperger, the head of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, a senior NATO official confirmed.
DEEPSEEK FOR DUMMIES: The Chinese AI model DeepSeek’s sudden emergence may have been a “wake-up call” for the U.S. tech sector, as Donald Trump put it — but Europe is reading it as a sign that its own AI industry has a fighting chance, POLITICO’s Pieter Haeck reports this morning. American rival OpenAI has claimed to have evidence that DeepSeek used its proprietary technology to train its model, the FT reports this morning.
FISHING FOR A BETTER DEAL: U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s hopes for a security pact with the EU are being obstructed by demands from France and other member countries about fishing rights and youth mobility, the FT reports.