Keir Starmer’s road to survival is narrowing after his most punishing week in office to date — but he’s not giving up yet.

In Playbook PM tonight: - One of Keir Starmer's biggest defenders is being sent out to bat for the under-fire PM this weekend. - Police are searching two properties as part of their probe into Peter Mandelson.

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had multiple interactions with American and Chinese business mogul Donald Tang, according to documents released as part of the Epstein files in January.

The German far-right AfD party will be back at this year's Munich Security Conference — after being banished for three straight years. Berlin Bulletin explains why 👇

The leaders of Belgium, Italy and Germany are convening a meeting with like-minded counterparts to discuss key priorities ahead of an informal meeting of EU leaders to discuss economic competitiveness next Thursday, an EU diplomat and a national official told POLITICO.

EU lawmaker and YouTube influencer Fidias Panayiotou announced today his candidacy for upcoming parliamentary election in Cyprus.

NEW 🚨 The European Commission wants to give itself more power to write and change legislation quickly. Civil society says this will undermine democracy. Read all about it on @politico.eu www.politico.eu/article/brus... w/ Leonie Cater

The European Commission proposed its latest package of sanctions against Russia today, in a package that broadens restrictions on Russian energy, banks, goods and services.

Two days after Elon Musk's SpaceX launched Starlink verification and blocked unverified terminals in Ukraine, the pace of Russia's offensive appears to be slowing, a Ukrainian military official told POLITICO.

The first episode of our #BrusselsPlaybookPod drops Tuesday. On today's episode of EU confidential, Sarah Wheaton speaks with the show's host, @zoyashef.bsky.social, about what she'll be bringing to your ears each morning 👇 Listen to the full episode: pod.link/1244862657/e...

Keir Starmer faced continued anger today from his own MPs over the government’s handling of Peter Mandelson’s association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland is facing a police investigation over alleged corruption in relation to his contact with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Sometimes in politics, it seems like the gods deal only in irony. For Morgan McSweeney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, that is bitterly true now.

Reeling from a scandal and struggling in the polls, U.K. PM Keir Starmer is weeks away from a by-election that will test whether Labour has any gas left in the tank. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/this...

The EU already had its work cut out to agree to impose a 50 percent tariff on steel imports by a summer deadline. Now, an attempt by lawmakers to graft a ban on Russian steel onto the measure has made things a lot more complicated.

U.S. President Donald Trump today threw his support behind Hungarian populist nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing the most serious challenge to his rule in more than a decade in the parliamentary election set for April.

United States lawmakers have urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to resist Trump administration pressure to water down pollution rules for the oil and gas sector.

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 design of TikTok’s app is in breach of EU rules and the company must make significant changes to avoid penalties, the European Commission said today.

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, is betting on the Winter Olympics to reassert himself on the national stage. It may not be that simple. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/matt...

Jeffrey Epstein’s private correspondence with former French diplomat Olivier Colom reveals the methods the disgraced financier used in cozying up to the one percent. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/epst...

Members of the WHO are trying to figure out how to deal with the $260 million bill Donald Trump left unpaid when the U.S. formally quit the global health agency earlier this year.

A Warsaw court ordered the arrest of former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro last night, a move that could exacerbate a diplomatic dispute between Poland and Hungary.

As negotiations for peace in Ukraine gather momentum, Turkey's potential role in the post-war order makes it a critical partner for the EU. But as the bloc tries to bring Ankara back into the fold, it's so far not offering Ankara what it really wants. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/eu-l...

Keir Starmer is fighting for his political life. But Britain’s Labour Party has a long history of ducking the chance to oust its struggling leaders.

The Winter Olympics get underway today, and there’s already no shortage of controversy surrounding them. @pdallisonesque.bsky.social has the deets in his latest Declassified column 👇

The U.K. government should reconsider its tax on oil and gas firms in the North Sea, according to the think tank run by former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.

U.K. Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle is heading to Brussels to dissuade the European Commission from shutting Britain out of its proposed “Made in Europe” initiative.

British PM Keir Starmer’s having a bad week. Markets think it’s about to get worse.

Keir Starmer is fighting to stop the toxic overspill of the Epstein files from destroying his premiership — but a by-election in the suburbs of south Manchester could offer up his next nightmare.

For Italy’s Deputy PM Matteo Salvini, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are not about sport. They are about survival.

Dozens of civil society and industry groups have warned the European Commission it will undermine democracy if it pushes ahead with a plan to simplify its rulemaking process.

Airlines, pilots and aviation worker unions are pressing the European Union's to pause the bloc's open skies deal with Qatar after the top EU official who negotiated it was fired.

When Jeffrey Epstein wanted an introduction to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, he turned to a well-connected friend: ex-diplomat Olivier Colom. Their exchange gives insight into how Epstein positioned himself at the center of a kind of subterranean Davos.

After years of looking at Turkey as a problem, the EU is now viewing it as part of the solution to its woes.

The U.S. ambassador to Poland cut ties with the country’s speaker of parliament for “outrageous and unprovoked insults” against Donald Trump after he refused to support a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for the American president. And the spat didn't stop there.

British leader Keir Starmer is facing questions about his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington despite his Jeffrey Epstein links. “Someone has to pay the price for this failure,” a Labour MP granted anonymity said. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/pete...

Keir Starmer has successfully won Donald Trump back around to supporting his controversial Chagos Islands deal, rescuing a key foreign policy goal that the U.S. president blasted last month as an “act of GREAT STUPIDITY.”

Donald Trump shocked Europe when he threatened the continent with tariffs to support his right to own Greenland. But while the U.S. President has aborted his threat to take the Arctic island by force — online, the war is just getting started. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/dona...

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is facing new accusations that he never fully severed ties with his agricultural empire, after publicly promising to do so in order to avoid major conflicts of interest in both Prague and Brussels.

In Playbook PM tonight: Labour MPs are heading to Chequers where Keir Starmer will plead with them not to bin him. But, as the Mandelson scandal engulfs his government, is it all too little too late?

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s carefully built relationship with Donald Trump could be torpedoed by the disclosure of Peter Mandelson’s communications as ambassador, U.K. officials fear.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov 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.

In today's EU Influence: 🇧🇪 The Epstein Files hit Brussels 🏆 Consultants have their say on the EU’s Better Regulation rules 🤓 Meet the newest tech lobbyist in town Dig in 👇

Britain’s Labour MPs are talking furtively about ousting their leader. There’s just one hurdle: they need to work out how.

Spain’s youth minister has intensified Madrid's clash with Big Tech after suggesting the country may need to curb — or even ban — access to Elon Musk’s social media platform X.

German lawmakers were supposed to be on a routine visit to Washington, during which they would engage in a dialogue on China. However, MPs refused to take part in the meeting after their center-left colleagues were blocked — a highly unusual step. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/pete...

In the minds of many of Labour’s own MPs and officials, the Mandelson affair has further weakened British PM Keir Starmer. And the crises and climbdowns just keep getting faster for the U.K. leader. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/pete...

The World Economic Forum is investigating its president and CEO, Børge Brende, after his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein came to light in newly released documents.

Britain has signed a new critical minerals partnership with the Trump administration, as it seeks to diversify supply chains away from China.