US President Donald Trump has announced punitive tariffs against eight European countries that oppose his plans for Greenland. The ten percent surcharges are to be introduced on 1 February and are to remain in effect until the Arctic island is acquired. The EU plans to reach a decision on countermeasures at a special summit to be held in the next few days. Commentators make their own recommendations for responses.
For the first time in 40 years, the Portuguese presidential election will go into a second round. On 8 February, the socialist candidate António José Seguro (31 percent) will face off against the right-wing populist André Ventura (23.5 percent). The candidate of the ruling conservative PSD party came in fifth in the first round of voting on Sunday. Portuguese media take stock.
According to a representative of the Iranian government, 5,000 people have been killed during the recent wave of protests in Iran, 500 of whom were members of the security forces. The Sunday Times puts the number of deaths at 16,500 or more, however. Washington had initially stated it would stage a military intervention. Then, on Wednesday, Donald Trump announced there would be no intervention for now as the regime had cancelled its plans to carry out executions.
US President Donald Trump welcomed Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to the White House on Thursday to discuss the future of her country, Venezuela. At the end of the meeting, Machado presented the president with the Nobel Peace Prize medal she received last year, citing his commitment to the freedom of the Venezuelan people. Commentators are appalled.
After an unsuccessful meeting on the Greenland issue on Wednesday, several European Nato states will send military delegations to the Arctic island. There is now also disagreement about the objective of a working group set up at the Washington meeting: according to US President Donald Trump, it will merely clarify technical details for the US takeover of Greenland. This has been vehemently contradicted in Copenhagen and Nuuk.
Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok announced the date for the 2026 parliamentary elections on Tuesday. The Hungarians will decide on 12 April who governs their country: Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, which has been in power for 16 years, or Péter Magyar's Tisza party. Several opinion polls put the Tisza party ahead of Fidesz. Commentators predict a heated campaign.
Hungary has granted asylum to Poland's former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro. The Polish public prosecutor's office has brought numerous charges against him, including embezzlement of state funds and leading a criminal organisation. Ziobro was justice minister in the PiS government from 2015 to 2023 and is considered the architect of a controversial judicial reform. What's behind this unusual situation between EU states?
In an interview for the British podcast The Rest is Politics, Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova, said that she would vote in favour of unification with Romania if a referendum were held on the issue. She noted that for a small country like Moldova, it was becoming "increasingly difficult to survive as a democracy, as a sovereign country." Is unification a realistic option?
Two former employees of singer Julio Iglesias have filed a complaint against him in Spain for human trafficking and sexual assault. The 82-year-old singer allegedly sexually harassed and humiliated employees at his villas in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021. The complaint follows a report published by the news site eldiario.es and the television station Univision Noticias after a three-year joint investigation into the incidents.
Discussions about Greenland and the US's plans for a takeover will be held in Washington today. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with his Danish counterpart Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt. US Vice President JD Vance, who has emphasised his country's security interests and advised Europeans to take Trump seriously on the matter, also plans to attend. Europe's press points to a major conflict of interests within Nato.
The regime in Iran is reacting to the wave of protests in the country with a major crackdown and mass arrests. Amnesty International has warned that public executions of demonstrators are imminent, the Iranian ambassadors have been summoned in several European capitals, and US President Donald Trump has threatened "decisive action" if death sentences are carried out.
In France, Marine Le Pen's appeal trial against her conviction for misusing EU funds has begun. In the first instance, the judges ruled that the presidential candidate of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is barred from standing for election for five years - which would include the 2027 presidential election. Commentators discuss whether Jordan Bardella, the current leader of the RN party and only 30 years old, could replace her as its presidential candidate.