Imagine how complicated American football must be when even after a full political rant about a singer using Spanish, Trump still couldn’t resist complaining about how stupid one rule is. Like… sorry, I just can’t unsee it

Men’s ski jumping hits crunch time (shall I say crotch time?) and I can’t stop thinking about the poetry of this 'penis injection' thing which is not doping, just pure aerodynamics: 3 cm here become 5 to 6 extra meters down there by landing. Nothing lost, everything transformed

An extraordinary 'power play' (yes, that’s the actual name of the move) by Italy’s Stefania Constantini has been crucial to seal a 7–6 win over the U.S. in mixed doubles curling. Even more extraordinary given minister Salvini was in the stands—famously a walking jinx for Italian athletes

Don't feed 'el loco' new ideas, Benito

It's the same all over the world: Indian farmers' leaders called India-U.S. trade deal a “total surrender” to American agricultural multinational corporations, demanding Trade Minister’s immediate resignation www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...

“Injecting hyaluronic acid in your dong” deserves to be an EPSO AD5 test option for male candidates under the question: How far would you go to become a lifelong eurocrat?

It’s always kind of sad when the cruelty of having drawn the shortest straw is so plainly on display

Greenland effect on Eurobarometer? Asked if they would feel more worried if their country were not an EU member, Danes tops the list (76%). Views of the US are bleak too: 91% of Danish respondents say things are going wrong there, versus just 4% who think they’re going right

Today’s Brussels Playbook must-read is Enrico Letta's take: the run-up to the 12 Feb EU leaders' retreat is crucial. The goal is still to make 2028 Europe’s new 1992 (a Maastricht-style ambition then) by finally completing the Single Market

The EU's anti-coercion instrument for dummies

#EUInstitutions - #Commission therapy session: #VonderLeyen tries to stamp out tensions in her top team, by @gerardofortuna.bsky.social | Politico www.politico.eu/article/comm...

Just a meeting, or inter-institutional accusations in disguise? (Just in case, I know Commissioners’ work is often under investigation, but that’s not a very nice thing to say about OLAF)

Latest on EU and Epstein files: the Commission says it's not proactively checking if former or current EU officials appear in the files, nor can it exclude it. “These are millions of pages,” a spokesperson said, "we're also still discovering, as you are, what's being disclosed"

Still no deal on the €90bn loan to finance Ukraine, a Cypriot EU presidency spokesperson says. “Work will continue on a compromise text,” to be circulated among EU ambassadors “in the coming days.” Reminder: time is running out as Ukraine runs out of money from the end of March

Using the well-reputed (and so far accurate) Weyand snapshot barometer, the EU–India deal could be classified as a good one

For India's Republic Day Parade, Von der Leyen wore a sherwani (a coat-style garment quite popular for visiting international dignitaries). Not exactly sober with rich gold floral brocade, but the final look is stylish with the 'fusion' pairing with light-colored Western trousers

Literally every headline quoting this man takes on a whole new flavor the moment they use that sunglasses pic

In today’s Brussels Playbook: the 'enlargement' element of the EU–U.S. $800 billion “prosperity” framework for Ukraine—that @politico.eu scooped last Friday—is raising eyebrows in some member states 🧵👇 (1/6)

The “Macron glasses effect” is real: Maison Henry Jullien says the Pacific glasses worn by the French President in Davos and at EUCO triggered such “exceptional” traffic that it had to create a temporary purchase page. State coolness, now officially a technical issue

LIVE from EUCO: that's an actual Nobel Peace Prize

One thing to watch at EUCO: Will anyone (ahem, Friedrich Merz) raise the EU–Mercosur deal stalemate? And if so, will von der Leyen find herself in the hot seat for underestimating a relatively minor parliamentary vote that has now complicated the process of getting the deal over the line?

Context:

LIVE from EUCO: Danish PM Mette Frederiksen is open to working with the Americans, as long as it’s in the framework of the 1951 defense agreement (that allows American military bases in Greenland), @jakobweizman.bsky.social reports for @politico.eu liveblog

LIVE from European Council: He's wearing them 😎

Even after Trump’s Greenland tariff threat reversal, tonight’s informal European Council meeting is still taking place. So, what's on the agenda now? In Brussels Playbook, @gerardofortuna.bsky.social takes a look 👇 More on what to expect tonight: www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

TL;DR of Trump’s very long, still-going speech: he wants Greenland—but says, “I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.” Then adds: “You can say yes and we’ll be very appreciative. You can say no and we will remember.” Also: big fan of Macron’s sunglasses (I guess)

I haven't quite got which "piece of ice" Trump wants, is it Greenland or actual Iceland?

This is for the EU journos: How it looks before tables made their appearance

Everything under heaven is utter chaos; the situation is excellent

Macron will be at the EU summit, I'm hearing in Brussels. "Everything else is just speculation based on ideas texted in a private messages." The French President has also an additional burden as his government holds the G7 presidency (hence the need to explore every option)

Not sure how other EU leaders will react privately to Macron's move to invite Trump to a dinner in Paris while he has "plans" for that evening (an extraordinary EU summit in Brussels)

The end of (e)motions: An almost empty plenary for the no-confidence debate against von der Leyen’s Commission (striking, given how lively it was just months ago). Not even Jordan Bardella, who led the charge, showed up. Our @maxgriera.bsky.social was there though 👇 www.politico.eu/article/von-...

👀 Second member of Iceland’s government visiting Brussels in less than a week (last Wednesday, it was the country's PM Kristrún Frostadóttir being received by Ursula von der Leyen) Notable uptick since the Greenland issue surfaced, this time meeting the EU's Enlargement Commissioner... 👀👀👀

There'll be an extraordinary College of Commissioners meeting after the extraordinary EUCO, POLITICO's Seb Starcevic scooped. It'll be focused on U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, one of the EU officials said

Is the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument (aka trade bazooka) a bit like Draghi’s 2012 Whatever it takes? A tool that works simply by being mentioned, without ever being fired? An EU spox told me: “Sometimes just mentioning the possibility of a stronger tool can serve the desired effect"

In a letter to Norway's PM, confirmed by Bloomberg and Politico too, Trump: -says he "no longer feels an obligation to think purely of Peace” after not having received the Nobel -challenges Denmark's “right of ownership” of Greenland on which he claims "Complete and Total Control"

Meeting's ended at around 8.40ish pm. Over three hours of talks is a pretty serious level of situation monitoring...

⚠️European Council President António Costa has announced he will convene an extraordinary gathering of EU-27 leaders in the coming days

No one's seen the trade bazooka so, as the quintessential EU boogeyman, it might well look like something like this

More on this meeting happening at 5 p.m. local time: -It's 'restricted' format (no laptops, no minutes taken) -it's 1+1 format (so each ambassador is allowed to bring their...plus one) -It's on US tariffs and many hear that the trade bazooka option will be raised by at least one EU capital

Giorgia Meloni seems to be one of the first EU leaders to have spoken to Trump after his announcement of tariffs over Greenland. She told reporters in Seoul these tariffs are "a mistake, and I don't agree with" adding there had been "a problem of understanding and communication"

Read already 2 ex-Commissioners (Malmström, Gentiloni) explicitly mentioning the trade bazooka. Seems that if it were for former EU executives, the choice for the current one should be straightforward. (Reminder: the Commission assesses coercion, opens a case, and proposes response to EU lawmakers)

If you listen very carefully, you can hear Charles de Gaulle screaming I BLOODY TOLD YOU SO from some rural French cemetery.

There’s an actual Nobel Prize medal on display at the entrance of the Berlaymont (the European Commission building in Brussels), and another at Justus Lipsius (the EU Council's). That's because the EU won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012. Maybe he's after those two as well

It’s still 7 a.m. in South Korea, where Giorgia Meloni continues her Asian tour. It may be early, but at the very least one would expect soon a statement of solidarity with NATO allies. No closeness to U.S. president, or a future role in de-escalation, would justify silence

Honestly, freezing the EU–U.S. trade deal right now should be a no-brainer. Any Trump tariffs would clearly violate what was agreed. This shouldn’t be framed as a counter-threat or even escalation—just the straightforward consequence of his own threat

It’s ironic that as the EU considers appointing an envoy to restart talks with Putin after years of diplomatic freeze, it might already be time to appoint a Trump envoy too

Agree, that's the only thing. Also, playing ball has so far proven completely ineffective

The whole situation is so mental we’ve lost sight of the basics. As @jakubkrupa.bsky.social rightly pointed out: Denmark is basically being threatened with tariffs for moving troops on its own territory 😳