A weird and wonderful mission to Greenland

Good morning from Nuuk.

Pro-Trump influencers handing out $100 bills and MAGA hats, filming videos saying, “Buy Greenland! We don’t like Danish people”, and US media friendly to Trump broadcasting “fixed” reportages: This is the reality Euractiv’s Magnus Lund Nielsen reports from Nuuk in Greenland.

During his mission, Magnus spoke to locals, giving us a taste of the situation on the ground in light of incoming President Donald Trump’s ambitions to buy or even invade Greenland.

With Trump’s official inauguration looming on Monday, a poll published yesterday found that only 22% of EU respondents think Trump will be good for their country.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s staunch opposition to unions and his growing influence among European business leaders pose a serious threat to EU workers and the bloc’s wider economy, the head of Europe’s largest trade union organisation warned.

Moreover, according to documents seen by Euractiv, EU lawmakers have launched a flurry of initiatives over Elon Musk’s EU activism, with one even proposing him for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

In the tech world, open-source software has been proposed as a potential remedy for the European Commission's dependency on Microsoft. However, with the EU executive sceptical of any credible alternative, Euractiv decided to examine the issue more closely.

Lastly, in agrifood, the EU Parliament’s right wing is leading the 'identity battle' against the EU push for more non- and low-alcohol wines to meet changing consumer preferences. Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro reports that even the more reluctant EU capitals are giving in to the growing trend.

BERLIN

Critics say that the German Green's chancellor candidate, Robert Habeck's proposal to pay social security contributions on capital gains could reduce Germans' already low appetite for investing in capital markets. Read more.

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VIENNA

Austria ‘should really leave’ EU, says far right MP in secret video. At a beer-fueled meeting of Austria's far-right Freedom Party this week, members of parliament referred to Afghan refugees as “knife-wielding sex offenders” and to the EU's “repression of speech”, hidden camera footage has revealed. Read more.

STOCKHOLM

Sweden looks to crack down on dual-citizen gang members. Sweden's centre-right government and its far-right ally want to change the country's constitution to strip dual nationals involved in gang crime of their Swedish citizenship. Read more.

ROME

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara announced a sweeping reform of the country’s primary and secondary school curricula, which opposition parties criticised as retrograde and overly nostalgic. Read more.

Meloni announces new cable to tap into Albanian hydropower. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced today a deal with Albania and the United Arab Emirates to build an underwater power cable across the Adriatic, connecting Tirana and Rome. Read more.

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MADRID

Spain insists on Israel’s ‘complete withdrawal’ from Lebanon. Israel must fully withdraw from Lebanon, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said while announcing Madrid's donation of €10 million to the Lebanese armed forces as part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).Read more.

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NICOSIA

In Nicosia, government sources explained that the decision boosts the Cypriot army's deterrence capability and its relationship with the US military system.

Biden’s decision comes ahead of an informal meeting on the Cyprus problem in mid-March in Switzerland between Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the leadership of the island’s occupied territory with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

WARSAW

Russia planned "acts of terror" against aircraft in Poland and elsewhere, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday. Read more.

Poland, Ukraine move on exhumations deal of WWII-era massacre victims. Hailed as a 'breakthrough' in relations, the deal signed by Poland and Ukraine to resolve a historical dispute over wartime exhumations could pave the way for even closer cooperation. Read more.

Poland's proposal for gene edited crops stirs up legal debate. Warsaw is pushing for new rules for innovative biotech crops, but its controversial proposals on patentability have left small farmers and the seed industry worried. Read more.

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PRAGUE

Czechia ready to talk AI chip export limits with US. The Czech government has signalled its willingness to negotiate with the US over newly announced export controls on AI chips. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Fico government targets Slovak student over pro-Ukraine gesture. Slovak government officials have criticised a young student who refused to shake hands with President Peter Pellegrini at an official ceremony while wearing a pro-Ukrainian ribbon on his jacket - a gesture widely praised by pro-Ukrainian and anti-government sections of Slovak society. Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgaria on the cusp of getting a government. After four years of failing to form a viable government and repeated snap elections, Bulgaria is on the verge of having a cabinet, although last-minute surprises are always on the horizon. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Far-right push to suspend Romanian president dubbed 'destabilisation'. Romanian far-right parties AUR and POT announced their intention to start procedures to suspend President Klaus Iohannis from office, a move political scientist Cristian Pîrvulescu says has minimal chances of success and is primarily aimed at destabilising the country. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Martina Monti, Alice Taylor-Braçe]