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French FM ‘can’t rule out’ more diplomats are in Epstein files

PARIS — French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in an interview Wednesday that he could “not rule out” the possibility that more French diplomats are in the Epstein files after revelations emerged of a former envoy who was allegedly in close contact with the convicted sex offender.



The allegations regarding the former French diplomat, which emerged Tuesday in French media, prompted Barrot to report the individual to the justice system, launch an internal probe an...

EU-Gipfel: Wie Merz von Macron genervt ist

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Der EU-Sondergipfel zur Wettbewerbsfähigkeit legt Spannungen in Europ...

France’s 2027 presidential election race is already in full swing

PARIS — France’s presidential election may still be more than 14 months away, but the campaign is already well under way.



Traditionally, French campaigns don’t get going until after the August holidays of the year before, but the stakes for the 2027 contest are so high — given the potential victory of a far-right president skeptical of the European Union and NATO — that the race is now on.



Almost every policy agenda in France, from the environment to business regulation, is now b...

Germany shoots down Macron’s Eurobonds proposal

BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for a joint borrowing scheme ahead of an EU leaders summit on Thursday.



In an interview with six European media outlets published Tuesday, Macron urged Europe to launch a plan for new common borrowing, or eurobonds, to boost investment in strategic sectors, framing it as an economic necessity if the continent is to keep up with the U.S. and China.



Berlin strongl...

Macron’s pick to audit the French budget is the person who wrote it

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is facing accusations of playing politics with the country’s civil service after tapping Budget Minister Amélie de Montchalin as the country’s next top auditor.



Once she takes the post as the head of France’s Court of Auditors, it would be de Montchalin’s job to independently review and assess the impact of the French budget each year — including the 2026 budget she was responsible for drawing up.



“How will [d...

Macron calls for Eurobonds ahead of informal summit

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron made an energetic appeal for Europe to launch a joint borrowing scheme and boost investment in strategic sectors, framing it as a economic necessity if the continent is to keep up with the United States and China.



In an interview with six European media outlets published Tuesday, Macron said Europe must seize on the unity it showed during its transatlantic rift with Washington over the Trump administration’s threat to annex Greenland.



“We ...

SONDAGE EXCLUSIF : à Toulouse, LFI en arbitre

Toulouse est un cas d’école. Celui d’une ville foncièrement à gauche (à la présidentielle, aux législatives, aux européennes), mais qui élit un maire de centre droit depuis 50 ans, à l’exception de la période 2008-2014. Notre sondage* exclusif Cluster 17 pour POLITICO sur les municipales de mars prochain dans la Ville rose ne dit pas l’inverse.



Au premier tour, Jean-Luc Moudenc, maire sortant anciennement LR (il a quitté le parti en 2022), soutenu par Horizons, l’UDI, Renaissance et le Mo...

Bank of France chief’s surprise exit stokes suspicion among Macron’s opponents

PARIS — Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau is to quit his job in early June, more than a year before the end of his mandate.



In a move that took both Paris and Europe’s financial markets by surprise, the 66 year old said in a letter to staff Monday that his mission at the bank was largely accomplished and that it was time “to pass on the responsibility.”



One consequence of his early departure is that it will allow the current French President, Emmanuel Macron, to manag...

François Villeroy de Galhau quitte la Banque de France

PARIS — François Villeroy de Galhau va quitter la Banque de France début juin, a appris POLITICO auprès de son entourage. Après plus d’une décennie en poste, le gouverneur a fait connaître sa décision lundi matin à son comité de direction, avant de partager la nouvelle à ses collaborateurs, dans une lettre obtenue par POLITICO.



Le haut fonctionnaire va prendre la présidence de la Fondation Apprentis d’Auteuil, afin de succéder à Jean-Marc Sauvé, dont le mandat se termine fin mai.



“Cett...

France’s Lecornu outlines end-of-mandate agenda, rules out running for president

PARIS — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu this weekend announced his working plan for the rest of his mandate and made clear once again that he is not planning to run in next year’s presidential election.



“2026 will be a productive year for the French. We will focus on the essentials,” Lecornu wrote in a social media post on Sunday. “On these issues, we cannot wait until the presidential election,” he added.



After finally passing the 2026 budget last...

The curious California case of singing French grasshoppers

When Gavin Newsom was asked at a press conference this week about Donald Trump’s move to take control of building permits in Los Angeles’ wildfire-stricken neighborhoods, the California governor first said it was absurd, likely illegal and designed to do nothing more than provoke reaction.



Then, to punctuate his point, he turned to an evocative metaphor.



“It’s just typical Trump,” Newsom said, “trying to, forgive me, it’s a French phrase: ‘piss on the grasshoppers to hea...

Former French minister Lang quits plum job over Epstein ties

PARIS — Jack Lang, a former French culture and education minister, tendered his resignation from his position as the president of the Paris-based Arab World Institute after the latest revelations about his and his family’s financial ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.



France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot “took note of his resignation” and launched the procedure to replace him, according to a statement dated Saturday. The institute, a museum and cultu...

Poll: Two-thirds of National Rally supporters prefer Bardella to Le Pen as their candidate

PARIS — Nearly 70 percent of people that support France’s far-right National Rally say the party’s 30-year-old president, Jordan Bardella, would be a stronger presidential candidate than longtime leader Marine Le Pen, according to a new poll.



The survey from respected pollster Odaxa is yet another data point showing how increasingly difficult it is becoming for Le Pen to mount a bid for the French presidency next year while fighting to overturn the five-year electoral ban that...

Russia’s Lavrov calls French diplomatic efforts ‘pathetic’ after Macron adviser’s Moscow visit

PARIS — Russia’s top diplomat slammed French efforts to resuscitate dialogue between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin as “pathetic” just days after the French president’s top diplomatic adviser traveled to Moscow for high-level talks.



“French President Emmanuel Macron about two weeks ago once again said he would somehow call [Vladimir] Putin,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with state media outlet RT.



“You know, this is not serio...

French police arrest 2 Chinese citizens over alleged attempt to access military data

PARIS — Prosecutors in Paris opened an investigation Wednesday into allegations that Chinese citizens had sought to capture sensitive French government and military data using Starlink.



“Four people were brought before the investigating judge for indictment, with two of them being remanded in custody,” the public prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Investigators are looking into possible acts of “delivering information to a foreign power or a company or organi...

Le Pen’s fighting spirit fades as presidential dream slips away 

PARIS — Marine Le Pen recent public statements seem to indicate that she’s losing faith in her effort to quash the five-year election ban standing in the way of her becoming France’s next president.



In her latest comments Tuesday, outside the gilded Parisian courtroom where she has been appealing since January an embezzlement conviction that knocked her out of the 2027 election, Le Pen told reporters: “I never expect a good surprise when I step into a courtroom.”



But, she added: “I am ...

Prosecutors seek to uphold 5-year electoral ban on Marine Le Pen

PARIS — French prosecutors on Tuesday recommended that a five-year electoral ban on far-right leader Marine Le Pen should be confirmed — a move that, if accepted by the court, would likely prevent her from running in next year’s presidential election.



Le Pen’s far-right National Rally is comfortably ahead in polls ahead of the first round of the 2027 election but she is currently looking unlikely to be able to stand as the presidential candidate herself thanks to a five-year electio...

Technical work is under way to restart European talks with Putin, Macron says

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday preparatory work was under way to restart direct discussions between Europe and Russia over the war in Ukraine.



“It has to be prepared, so technical discussions are under way to prepare for this,” Macron said, answering a reporter who asked the president about his call in December to restart talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.



“It is important that Europeans restore their own channels of communication, ...

Police raid Elon Musk’s X office in France

French authorities searched Elon Musk’s social media platform X’s French offices on Tuesday as part of a criminal investigation into its Grok AI chatbot, the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a post on X.



France opened an investigation last month following the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok on X, following up on a previous probe into the chatbot’s antisemitic outbursts over the summer.



Owner Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino have bee...

L’Assemblée nationale va enquêter sur la fiscalité des plus riches

PARIS — La loi de finances 2026 à peine envoyée au Conseil constitutionnel, les députés s’apprêtent à enquêter sur “l’imposition des plus hauts patrimoines et des revenus les plus élevés et leur contribution au financement des services publics”, a appris POLITICO auprès de deux sources parlementaires.



Le groupe d’élus indépendants Liot est à l’initiative de cette demande de commission d’enquête, qui doit être entér...

Poll: Far-right candidate breaks through in Paris mayor race

PARIS — Anti-immigration MEP Sarah Knafo of the Reconquest party is set to advance to the second round of the Paris mayoral election in what would be a historic first for a far-right candidate, according to new polling shared with POLITICO.



The survey from Cluster17, a prominent French pollster, shows Knafo, who formally entered the race in January, winning 10 percent of the vote in the municipal election next month.



The data suggests her campaign is building traction — a surprise in a...

France finally passes 2026 budget

PARIS — The French state budget for 2026 officially passed through parliament on Monday, ending a months-long deadlock that had increased fears of a debt crisis in the European Union’s second-largest economy.



After months of cross-party negotiations failed to yield consensus, center-right Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu activated a constitutional clause that allows the government to pass legislation without a vote in parliament. The use of that clause, however, allows lawmakers to ...

SONDAGE EXCLUSIF : à Paris, Grégoire en hausse, Dati stagne, Knafo qualifiée

Son entrée tonitruante dans la campagne a déjà produit des effets : Sarah Knafo atteint pour la première fois la barre des 10% d’intentions de vote aux municipales de mars à Paris (soit le seuil de qualification pour le second tour), dans un sondage* réalisé par l’institut Cluster 17 que POLITICO publie en exclusivité. Le score de la candidate de Reconquête ouvre la voie à une possible quinquangulaire, avec le maintien de cinq candidats.



“Sarah Knafo récupère un tiers de...

Former French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire allegedly met Epstein at disgraced financier’s house

PARIS — Former French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein at the convicted sex offender’s house, according to the latest document release by U.S. Department of Justice.



Le Maire was purportedly brought to one of Epstein’s homes by former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s aide Olivier Colom, according to an email exchange between Colom and Epstein. The email does not specify at which of Epstein’s houses they met.



The email exchanges a...

Macron enters his lame duck era

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron’s celebrations over the imminent passage of the 2026 budget will be short-lived. Once it’s approved, he’s going to be a lame duck until the presidential election of spring next year.



Current and former ministers, lawmakers and political aides — including three Macron allies — told POLITICO that now that the budget fight is over and the concerns of angry citizens and jittery markets are assuaged, the whole cycle of French politics will shi...

French energy giant relaunches $20B massacre-linked gas project in Mozambique

French energy giant TotalEnergies announced Thursday that it is restarting its natural gas project in Mozambique, after a massacre at the site led to the company being accused of complicity in war crimes in November.“I am delighted to announce the full restart of the Mozambique LNG project … The force majeure is over,” TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné said at a relaunch ceremony attended by Mozambican President Daniel Chapo.



The project, billed as Africa’s largest liquefied natural gas ...

France’s under-15 social media ban: 5 things to know

BRUSSELS — France is hurtling toward a ban for children younger than 15 to access social media — a move that would see it become only the second country in the world to take that step.



The plan comes amid rising concerns about the impacts of apps including Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and X on children’s mental health.



After Australia in December kicked kids under 16 off a host of platforms, France is leading the charge in Europe with a bill that would prohibit social media for under-1...

France to ban officials from US video tools including Zoom, Teams

PARIS — France will ban public officials from using American platforms including Google Meet, Zoom and Teams for videoconferencing, a spokesperson told POLITICO.



The decision, part of an effort to shift government activities onto a home-grown technology platform, comes amid rising sensitivity in Europe about the deep reliance on U.S. services.



The prime minister’s office has prepared a notice requiring state officials to use Visio, a videoconferencing software designed by the country’s...

Trump ally and tech billionaire Peter Thiel brings Antichrist warning to Paris

PARIS — Tech billionaire and early Trump backer Peter Thiel is bringing his Antichrist lecture series across the Atlantic.



The famed venture capitalist and right-wing tech icon on Monday delivered an in-depth presentation on the subjects to a small audience inside the wood-paneled halls of one of France’s most prestigious bodies, the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, two attendees told POLITICO.



An outline of Thiel’s 23-slide presentation, distributed to attendees b...

UK’s Starmer mocks Macron’s sunglasses

LONDON — Keir Starmer has been throwing a little shade at fellow world leaders.



The British prime minister ditched his buttoned-up public persona on Monday evening to poke fun at France’s Emmanuel Macron during a live recording of comedian Matt Forde’s podcast.



Handed a pair of aviator sunglasses, similar to those worn by the French president during the World Economic Forum in Davos last week due to an eye health issue, Starmer put them on and jibed to audience laughter: &#...

France snaps back at NATO chief Rutte in feud over Europe’s defense muscle

PARIS — The French government responded curtly to Mark Rutte after the NATO secretary-general said Europe could not defend itself without the U.S.



“No, dear Mark Rutte. Europeans can and must take charge of their own security. Even the United States agrees. This is the European pillar of NATO,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.



On Monday, answering a question from French far-right MEP Pierre-Romain Thionnet, Rutte told the European Parliament that the cont...

Marseille’s drug war reshapes France’s political battlefield

MARSEILLE, France — Violence at a drug trafficking hotspot in the social housing complex next to Orange’s headquarters in Marseille forced the telecoms giant to lock its forest-green gates and order its thousands of employees to work from home.



The disruption to such a recognizable company — one that gives its name to the city’s iconic football venue — became a fresh symbol of how drug trafficking and insecurity are reshaping politics ahead of municipal elections.



In a recent poll...

4 French mayoral races that will show where the presidential race is heading

Want to get a sense of how the next French presidential vote will play out? Then pay attention to the upcoming local elections.



They start in 50 days, and voters in more than 35,000 communes will head to the polls to elect city councils and mayors.



Those races will give an important insight into French politics running into the all-important 2027 presidential contest that threatens to reshape both France and the European Union. 



The elections, which will take place over two rou...

French Navy boards suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker

PARIS — The French Navy on Thursday boarded a vessel off the Mediterranean coast it suspects of being part of Russia’s embargo-defying shadow fleet.



“The French Navy boarded an oil tanker coming from Russia, subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag,” President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X.



Last October French forces arrested two crew members on a tanker suspected of belonging to the shadow fleet off Europe’s Atlantic coast. Hundreds ...

Macron’s sunglasses dazzle Davos and give Europe a meme for the moment

DAVOS, Switzerland — In fashion, accessories make the dress. In politics, they make the moment.



French President Emmanuel Macron’s sunglasses were the talk of Davos this week. They seemed, in fact, to make people forget the hits he took from Donald Trump as Paris tried to push back against the U.S. president’s now-withdrawn tariff threats against opponents of his designs on Greenland.



Even Trump complimented the French leader’s pair of blue aviator sunglasses. “Beautiful. ...

Bulgarian president resigns, clearing path to run for parliament

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said Monday he would resign ahead of snap parliamentary elections, paving the way for him to participate in the upcoming legislative vote.



“Today is the last time I address you as president,” Radev said in a televised address to the nation, adding he would formally resign on Tuesday.



Although he did not explicitly say he would run in the parliamentary elections, expected to be held in the coming months, his speech strongly h...

Denmark sends more troops to Greenland

With Donald Trump continuing to ramp up pressure in his bid to annex Greenland, Denmark on Monday is boosting its military presence on the Arctic island, according to local press reports.



A “substantial contribution” of Danish combat soldiers is expected to arrive in Kangerlussuaq, the location of Greenland’s main international airport, on Monday evening, according to Danish broadcaster TV2.



Denmark’s top military commander in the Arctic, Maj. Gen. Søren Andersen, said tha...

EU looks to ban nudification apps following Grok outrage

BRUSSELS — The European Commission is exploring a ban on artificial intelligence-powered apps that undress people online in the wake of abusive content generated through X’s Grok.



European Parliament lawmakers last week launched a call — first reported by POLITICO — to ban apps and tools that allow users to generate fake intimate images of individuals without consent under the bloc’s flagship AI law.



The EU’s executive is “looking into the matter,” European Commission spokesperson Thom...

Davos disinvites Iran’s top diplomat after bloody crackdown on protests

The World Economic Forum said Monday that Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will not attend this year’s summit in Davos.



“Although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year,” the Switzerland-based international advocacy NGO said in a statement on social media.



The decision came a day after U.S.-based NGO United Against Nuclear Iran ...

Berlin and Paris seek joint strategy against Trump’s tariff threat, Germany’s Merz says

BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Berlin and Paris would negotiate a joint strategy to stave off U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats in the run up to a gathering of the bloc’s 27 leaders in Brussels this week.



French President Emmanuel Macron’s office on Sunday asked the European Union to activate the bloc’s Anti-Coercion Instrument, nicknamed the trade bazooka. Germany — dependent on trade with the U.S. to a greater extent than France — has been m...

Mario Draghi wins Charlemagne Prize

Former European Central Bank President and ex-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has been awarded the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, as the EU grapples with how to stay relevant in a harsher global order.



Organizers announced the 2026 winner Monday, citing Draghi’s “historic services” to European integration and his renewed role in shaping the bloc’s economic future. He will be formally awarded at a ceremony on May 14.



The timing of the award is deliberate. Europe ri...

Trump envoy disinvited from Greenland dog sled race after US tariff threats

U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland was disinvited from a traditional dog sled race on the Arctic island as a crisis escalated over the fate of the autonomous Danish territory.



The Greenland Dog Sledding Association (KNQK) objected to the invitation for Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and last week launched an investigation into who sent it. Trump last month tapped Landry to lead his efforts to take control of Greenland.



In a statement on Facebook late Sunday, the a...

UK rules out Trump Greenland tariff retaliation — for now

LONDON — A tariff war with the U.S. is in no one’s interest, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday, while condemning Donald Trump’s plan to impose trade levies on the U.K. over its support for Greenland.



At an emergency press conference in Downing Street, Starmer hit out at the U.S. president’s threat to slap 10 percent tariffs from Feb. 1 on NATO allies who sent troops to the Arctic island.



It is “completely wrong,” Starmer said, while arguing reta...

German finance minister supports Macron on readying EU trade ‘bazooka’ against Trump

BERLIN — Germany’s finance minister is throwing his weight behind France on the need for a tough counterstrike against President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to press for U.S. control of Greenland.



Lars Klingbeil, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor, told reporters on Monday that the European Union should prepare its so-called trade “bazooka” to be ready to strike back at Washington if Trump presses ahead with his threats of increased tariffs against EU co...

Why Starmer is saying Trump is wrong

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Trump’s tariff bombshell leaves Europe scrambling to defend Greenland — live updates

European leaders this week face an escalating crisis as U.S. President Donald Trump steps up his threats to seize the island of Greenland, a self-ruling Danish territory.



Trump has threatened to tariff eight European countries in pursuit of his goal, sparking intense discussions (plus outrage) across the Continent about how Europe should hit back in defense of its land.



POLITICO’s top team of reporters will be bringing you every twist and turn, from Brussels to Washington to Da...

EU to hold emergency leaders’ summit over Trump’s Greenland threats

BRUSSELS ―The leaders of the European Union’s 27 governments will meet “in the coming days” to discuss a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to seize Greenland, European Council President António Costa announced late Sunday.



Costa called the extraordinary meeting of the European Council after EU ambassadors huddled in Brussels on Sunday to discuss Trump’s statement on Saturday that he would buy Greenland and punish with tariffs EU countries that...

US’s Bessent defends Trump’s ‘strategic’ tariffs on European countries

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the national emergency that justified the announcement of new tariffs on eight European nations is that there would be a national emergency if tariffs were not implemented.



“The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It is a strategic decision by the president. This is a geopolitical decision. And he is able to use the economic might of the U.S. to avoid a hot war. So why wouldn’t we do th...

‘Hands off Greenland’ protests sweep Denmark as Trump escalates takeover threat

Greenlandic organizations said Saturday they had mobilized thousands of demonstrators across Denmark and Greenland to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to take over the Arctic island, framing the rallies as a defense of democracy and self-determination.



The demonstrations were organized by Uagut, the National Organization for Greenlanders in Denmark, together with the citizens initiative “Hands Off Kalaallit Nunaat,” the Joint Association for Greenlandic Local Associations in ...

Confronted with thorny problems, Trump turns to the military

President Donald Trump threatened to unleash a familiar tool this week when he sought to stop protests against immigration agents in Minnesota: the military.



His warning to send federal troops into the state came as administration officials debated whether to order Pentagon strikes against Iran and use troops to seize Greenland from Denmark. Faced with a domestic or international problem this term that he can’t resolve with traditional diplomacy or politickin...

Denmark presses US lawmakers to avoid narrow Greenland vote

Danish officials told U.S. lawmakers this week to avoid a war powers vote on Greenland unless it could pass overwhelmingly, warning that a narrow or partisan outcome could do more harm than good.



Danish representatives delivered their message to lawmakers from both parties in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill earlier this week, according to three people familiar with the discussions who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.



A weak showing that included little Republ...

Exiled crown prince implores Trump to follow through on Iran strikes

Belgium downplays Greenland tension with ‘Uncle Sam’ as Europe steps up presence

Belgium is not heading to Greenland to pick a fight with Washington, Defense Minister Theo Francken said Friday, pushing back against suggestions that a growing European military presence on the Arctic island amounts to a show of force against the United States.



“It now looks as if we’re going there to say: come on, Uncle Sam, let’s have a good fight and see who wins,” Francken said in a television interview with VRT. “That is absolutely not the intention,” he added.



Francken said Belg...

‘He’s an idiot’: Musk and Ryanair’s O’Leary trade insults in Starlink Wi-Fi row

A spat over in-flight Wi-Fi has spiralled into a public verbal brawl between Elon Musk and Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, pitting one of the world’s richest men against Europe’s most outspoken airline boss.



The clash burst into the open after O’Leary dismissed Musk and his satellite internet business in a radio interview on Ireland’s Newstalk. Responding to Musk calling him “misinformed” over Ryanair’s refusal to install Starlink Wi-Fi, O’Leary told listeners he would “pay...

US senator threatens to use congressional ‘tools’ to block Trump’s Greenland grab

U.S. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski threatened Friday to invoke congressional powers to stop U.S. President Donald Trump from following through on his threats to seize Greenland.



Speaking to reporters in Copenhagen after taking part in a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials, Murkowski — an Alaskan who is a regular critic of the president — said it was “an important message for the people of the Kingdom of Denmark to understand” ...

Munich Security Conference disinvites Iran’s top diplomat

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will not attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in February, a spokesperson for the event confirmed Friday.



“Several weeks ago, invitations were extended to individual government representatives from Iran. In light of recent developments, the Munich Security Conference will not uphold these invitations,” the spokesperson told POLITICO. 



Araghchi this week described the anti-government demonstrations in Iran — in which thousands of protesters ...

Carney to Trump: Back off on Greenland

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Friday that a decision on who owns Greenland doesn’t belong to U.S. President Donald Trump.



“The future of Greenland is a decision for Greenland and for the Kingdom of Denmark,” Carney told journalists at a press conference in Beijing following talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.



Carney urged NATO allies including the U.S. to “respect their commitments” as he stressed Canada’s support for Danish sovereignty over the strategically vi...

Bulgaria heads for yet another snap election

Bulgaria will once again hold a snap parliamentary election, a month after the country’s last government collapsed, President Rumen Radev announced Friday.



He had most recently tasked the centrist Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (APS) group with forming a government, but it rejected the chance to nominate a prime ministerial candidate. This marks the third time a party has rejected the president’s request this week alone.



APS Chairman Hayri Sadakov said Friday: “Our parlia...

Kremlin sees win in European calls for Putin talks

The Kremlin’s chief spokesperson hailed calls from Paris, Rome and Berlin to reopen talks with Moscow as a “positive evolution.”



Russia has largely been in the diplomatic freezer since early 2022, when it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.



But Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have recently signaled new openness to dialogue with Moscow, with Merz this week calling for a “balance in relations” with Russ...

Venezuelan opposition leader says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented President Donald Trump with her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize at their White House meeting Thursday.



Machado, who spoke to reporters following the meeting and a visit to Capitol Hill, also said her conversation with Trump was “excellent” and came away from the meeting believing the president is “committed to … the freedom of all Venezuelans.”



Machado’s visit to the White House comes as the U.S. seeks to take control of the S...

Vaccine skeptics are coming for your feta cheese

ATHENS — Greek farmers are begging for vaccines to save their flocks from sheep pox, and Brussels is offering them for free. But the Athens government doesn’t want them, preferring to cull infected animals.



That’s all very bad news for feta cheese fans.



Sheep pox is so infectious that global farming regulations require whole herds to be slaughtered immediately after even a single case is detected. Since the first case emerged in a northern region of Greece in 2024, authorit...

From Erik the Red to Donald the Orange: A brief history of Greenland

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.



First came Erik the Red (who got his nickname because he loved a glass of pinot noir with dinner).



Erik was what we might now call a troubled soul. Born in Norway, the family moved to Iceland because his father committed “a number of killings,” according to Greenland’s tourism department (it’s never a good sign when people stop counting how many murders you’ve done).



Alas, the apple didn’t fall far ...

Countries split over plans for two-tier EU

BRUSSELS — Countries that have waited years to join the EU are divided over plans being drawn up in Brussels to let them become members without the customary full voting rights.



Among the handful of nations in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans in line to join the bloc, a split is emerging over the conditions attached to their applications. Some insist they should get the bloc’s full benefits — whereas others are happy just to be around the table.



To appease concerns from exi...

Trump bites. Europe grasps for an antidote.

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“A little less conversation, a little more action.”



That line from...

European troops in Greenland won’t change Trump’s mind, White House says

The deployment of European troops in Greenland doesn’t alter U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to get his hands on the Arctic island, the White House said.



“I don’t think troops in Europe impacts the president’s decision-making process or impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday when asked whether recent announcements of European boots on the ground would affect Trump&...

7 times Nigel Farage and his new best mate Robert Jenrick fell out

LONDON — Nigel Farage has a new recruit to his Reform UK cause. They haven’t always been the best of pals.



Robert Jenrick, a former Tory leadership contender, defected to Farage’s right-wing cause Thursday after being fired from the Conservatives by party Leader Kemi Badenoch.



Farage is “obviously the right person to lead the movement for change Britain needs,” Jenrick said, adding the Reform leader was “all too often a lone voice of common sense.”



Farage and Jenrick ha...

Arctic ‘matters enormously’ to EU, von der Leyen says

LIMASSOL, Cyprus — The EU has “doubled down on investments and supporting Greenland” because the Arctic and its security “matter enormously for us,” Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday.



A day after Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers held talks with senior members of the U.S. administration following Donald Trump’s threats to seize the island, the European Commission president said the EU would “continue our work on Arctic security with our allies, ...

UK and Norway back ‘Arctic Sentry’ NATO mission — including in Greenland

BARDUFOSS, Norway — Britain and Norway are publicly backing the idea of an “Arctic Sentry” NATO mission, a military co-operation that would aim to counter Russian threats while reassuring U.S. President Donald Trump of Europe’s commitment to the region.



U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Thursday in an interview with POLITICO that she envisages the mission as covering “the whole of the high north,” including Greenland, Iceland, Finland and the increasingly busy shipping lanes aroun...

Update: Europa schickt Truppen nach Grönland – Botschaft an Trump?

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Grönland rückt immer mehr ins Zentrum der Sicherheitspolitik: Dänemar...

Trump fears muscle in on EU’s competitiveness summit

BRUSSELS — The need for the EU to respond to multiple global crises means world affairs are likely to encroach on a leaders’ summit next month that was supposed to be solely a brainstorm on how to boost the bloc’s flagging industries.



Discussions over February’s informal European Council agenda — the first face-to-face sit-down of the year — reveal the competing short and long-term pressures facing Brussels, as it works to cut the economy’s reliance on the U.S. and...

The EU’s little-known way to save Greenland without NATO

BRUSSELS — If Donald Trump uses military force to take over Greenland, Denmark has options beyond NATO.



The core of Denmark’s security rests on the transatlantic alliance — but that’s likely to be of little help in a confrontation with the U.S. as America dominates NATO.



Instead, Denmark could trigger a little-known clause in the EU treaties: Article 42.7, the European Union’s common defense pact.



While some analysts claim it’s actually stronger than NATO&#82...

EU should ban AI nudification apps in wake of Grok scandal, say lawmakers

BRUSSELS — Artificial intelligence apps that allow users to undress or nudify people should be banned in the EU, dozens of European Parliament lawmakers have said.



A group of 57 lawmakers from across the political spectrum has called for a ban in a note to the European Commission seen by POLITICO, after widespread outrage at a proliferation of sexualized deepfake images created by the Grok bot and hosted on Elon Musk’s social network X.



“Recent shocking reports of AI-powered nudity app...

Cypriot drugmaker denies involvement in corruption allegations

A drugmaker named in an alleged corruption scandal in Cyprus has denied making any political donations to the country’s president to protect a Russian businessman from EU sanctions.



Cyprus has been plunged into political turmoil just as it assumed the leadership of the Council of the EU, a role which is crucial to the bloc’s political functioning. It is now having to defend itself against allegations senior officials accepted cash to help companies avoid sanctions as well as to bypa...

It’s not over, Europe’s regulators tell X

The European Union and the United Kingdom are not ready to let Elon Musk’s Grok off the hook for creating non-consensual nude deepfakes.



Social media platform X announced late Wednesday it would stop people from “editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis” following a proliferation of sexualized images created by the Grok artificial intelligence bot that is integrated into X.



These changes apply only to publicly available tweets targeted to the Grok chatbot ...

Starmer’s three big woes revealed

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Serbia let Putin’s spies zap dogs with ‘sound cannons’

Serbia let Putin’s spies zap dogs with ‘sound cannons’







Documents show Belgrade brought in Russia’s FSB to conduct experiments on animals.



By UNA HAJDARIin Belgrade, Serbia





















Illustration by Natália Delgado/ POLITICO




Serbian intelligence officers tested sound cannons on dogs in collaboration with Russia’s notorious security service, according to government documents seen by POLITICO.



The Serbian documents confirm that President Aleksandar...

Europe shifted right — it’s time centrists do too, says Manfred Weber

BRUSSELS — The EU’s centrist powers need to move to the right to reflect the new political reality, according to Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party.



The EPP caused uproar in Brussels last year when it voted alongside the far right rather than with its traditional allies, the socialists and liberals. Weber’s remarks are the strongest signal yet that he wants to repair bridges with the other two parties that have ruled the EU for decades. However, he made c...

Why Trump doesn’t need to own Greenland to build Golden Dome

President Donald Trump has linked his desire to own Greenland with the development of his nascent missile defense shield, Golden Dome.



Except that he doesn’t need to seize the Danish territory to accomplish his goal.



Golden Dome, Trump’s pricey vision to protect the U.S., is a multi-layered defense shield intended to block projectiles heading toward the country. The president announced a $175 billion, three-year plan last year, although gave few details about how the administ...

Denmark, Greenland failed to win the Trump team over

Denmark and Greenland “still have a fundamental disagreement” with the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s desire to control the Arctic territory, Denmark’s foreign minister said Wednesday.



Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenland counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt finally had their chance to try to turn down the temperature at the White House after more than a year of aggressive internet trolling, statements and demands from the U.S. Their conversation did little to dissuade Trump and his team fr...

EU-US relationship is ‘disintegrating,’ says Germany’s vice chancellor

BERLIN — German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has assailed U.S. President Donald Trump for his rhetoric on Greenland and actions in Venezuela, saying the situation is worse than politicians like to admit.



The comments lay bare divisions inside Germany’s governing coalition over how to handle Washington as transatlantic tensions mount. They also mark a divergence between Klingbeil’s approach and that of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has taken a far more cautious approach to ...

Update: Hybride Angriffe – wie wehrhaft ist Deutschland? Mit Thomas Daum

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Kriege werden längst auch unsichtbar geführt: im Netz, über Desinform...

UK offers to work with Europe on Putin shadow fleet seizures

HELSINKI — The U.K. is ready to work with its European allies to intercept vessels in Russia’s “shadow fleet,” Britain’s chief foreign minister said Wednesday.



A week after British armed forces supported the U.S. seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, Yvette Cooper said Britain is prepared to work on enforcement with “other countries and other allies” against ships suspected of carrying sanctioned oil or damaging undersea infrastructure.



Promising “stronge...

PMQs: Badenoch mocks Starmer over digital ID U-turn

Prime minister’s questions: a shouty, jeery, very occasionally useful advert for British politics. Here’s what you need to know from the latest session in POLITICO’s weekly run-through.



What they sparred about: U-turns. The latest reverse ferret on digital ID gave Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch the perfect catalyst to lash Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the various 180-degree shifts he has made since he entered office.



If your internet was down: Officials confirmed Tuesday evening digi...

UK nudification app ban won’t apply to Elon Musk’s Grok

LONDON — The U.K. government’s upcoming ban on nudification apps won’t apply to general-purpose AI tools like Elon Musk’s Grok, according to Tech Secretary Liz Kendall.



The ban will “apply to applications that have one despicable purpose only: to use generative AI to turn images of real people into fake nude pictures and videos without their permission,” Kendall said in a letter to Science, Innovation and Technology committee chair Chi Onwurah published Wednesday.



Gro...

Iran summoned EU diplomats in Tehran for a lesson — but got an earful instead

European diplomats were summoned to a closed-door meeting in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at which they “forcefully” objected to Iran’s crackdown on anti-regime protests, according to European officials.



An EU diplomat, granted anonymity to speak freely, said all European ambassadors still active in Tehran had been summoned to the highly unusual meeting with Araghchi. The U.K. was also invited.



The meeting started with Araghchi presenting the Is...

Europe’s right-wing elite (and Netanyahu) endorse Orbán in Hungary election race

Nationalist leaders lined up to endorse Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a campaign video released this week as the election race begins in earnest.



The nearly two-minute clip, posted by Orbán, rolls out support from a who’s who of European and international conservatives, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, her deputy Matteo Salvini, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin N...

Trump droht mit Zöllen gegen Iran – mit Folgen für China und Europa

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Donald Trump kündigt  Strafzölle gegen alle Staaten an, die weit...

US oil producers pledge to help stabilize Iran if regime falls

The head of the U.S. oil industry’s top lobbying group said Tuesday that American producers are prepared to be a “stabilizing force” in Iran if the regime there falls — even as they remain skeptical about returning to Venezuela after the capture of leader Nicolás Maduro.



“This is good news for the Iranian people — they’re taking freedom into their own hands,” American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers said of the mass protests that have embroiled Iran in recent days. Pr...

Le Pen’s concession in court signals shift in high-stakes appeal

PARIS — Marine Le Pen conceded Tuesday that she may have unwittingly broken the law on the tense first day of an appeals trial that will determine whether she can stand in France’s presidential election next year.



The surprising comments from the longtime face of the French far right signal a major shift in strategy as she attempts to get a French court to overturn a five-year ban on running for office after she, her party — the National Rally — and several other codefendants were f...

EU left pushes for action against Israel as attacks on Gaza continue

BRUSSELS — A coalition of European left parties has launched a call for signatures to force the European Commission to suspend the EU’s association agreement with Israel over Gaza.



Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement in October, Israel has kept attacking targets in the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, drones and tanks, prompting the pro-Palestinian movement to renew its calls for the EU to take action against Israel.



The coalition — led by France’s La France Insoumise, Spain’s...

BBC wants Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit thrown out

LONDON — The BBC will attempt to have Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit over the way it edited a 2021 speech thrown out of court.



Filings in the southern district of Florida published Monday said the BBC would “move to dismiss” the case because the October 2024 documentary for the flagship Panorama program which carried the edited speech was not made, produced or broadcast in the state.



The court lacks “personal jurisdiction” over the BBC, and the U.S. president “fails to ...

Hungary election that could spell end of Orbán set for April 12

Hungary will hold its parliamentary election on April 12, the country’s President Tamás Sulyok announced Tuesday.



“Voting will take place on Sunday, 12 April 2026. One of the cornerstones of democracy is the right to free elections. I encourage everyone to exercise this right,” Sulyok said in a post on Facebook.



The spring election poses a serious threat to populist-nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s two-decade grip on power during which he has been criti...

Global central bankers speak up for beleaguered Fed Chair Powell

Global central banks rallied behind Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday, pushing back against a perceived political attack on the independence of the world’s most important financial institution.



“We stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell,” the officials said in a joint statement. “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve. It is th...

Dog sled race organizers probe rogue invite to Trump’s Greenland envoy

The organizers of a traditional dog sled race in Greenland said they are investigating who sent an invitation to U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the island.



The Greenland Dog Sledding Association (KNQK) published a statement on social media Tuesday saying an American journalist had informed them that Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry had been invited to its annual race.



The association said it was “unacceptable that political pressure is being exerted from outside” and desc...

Ukrainian civilians suffered deadliest year yet in 2025, UN says

KYIV — Russia’s relentless assault killed at least 2,500 civilians and injured 12,000 in Ukraine last year, according to a new report published this week.



Those figures made it the deadliest year for Ukraine’s civilian population since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission said.



The U.N. monitors included only deaths and injuries they were able to verify, noting the total dead and injured toll in 2025 was still 31 per...

Von Haseloff zu Schulze: Letzte Hoffnung für die CDU in Sachsen-Anhalt

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In Sachsen-Anhalt stellen sich der CDU-Vorstand, die Fraktion aber au...

Trump threatens 25 percent tariff on ‘any country’ that trades with Iran

President Donald Trump threatened Monday to impose a 25 percent tariff on “any country” doing business with Iran, potentially affecting U.S. trade with China, India, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union and others.



“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “This Order is final and conclusive. Thank yo...

Fix Grok or else, EU tech chief tells Elon Musk’s X

BRUSSELS — The European Commission’s top tech official has warned Elon Musk’s X to quickly “fix” its AI tool Grok — or face consequences under the controversial Digital Services Act.



The fact that Grok allows users to generate pictures that depict women and minors undressed and sexualized is “horrendous”, said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s tech chief.



She urged the company to take immediate action.



“X now has to fix its AI tool in...

French far-right leader Bardella slams Trump’s ‘imperial ambitions’ in Greenland, Venezuela

PARIS — Donald Trump’s mounting threats toward Greenland are irking even his potential allies in Europe.



Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally opposition party, criticized the U.S. president’s pledge to seize the autonomous Danish territory as “a direct challenge to the sovereignty of a European country” in his New Year’s address to the press on Monday.



He also cited the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro as an example of recent U.S. hawkish moves he ...

NATO ends if Trump invades Greenland, EU commissioner warns

A U.S. military takeover of Greenland would mean the end of NATO, Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has said, echoing the view of Danish leader Mette Frederiksen.



“I agree with the Danish prime minister that it will be the end of NATO, but also among people it will be also very, very negative,” Kubilius told Reuters on Monday at a security conference in Sweden.



The island is a largely autonomous part of Denmark. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. needs Greenl...