EU probes Russian involvement in new border system

Today’s agenda: Fallout from Trump’s Gaza plan; banks offload Twitter debt; Big Read on Greenland; Peter Mandelson, Prince of Darkness, returns; and the FT’s new Trump trade tracker

Good morning. We start today with an exclusive story on potential Russian involvement in building the EU’s new electronic border system, which will establish the bloc’s biggest personal information database.

What we know: Documents seen by the Financial Times show French IT group Atos used staff in Russia to buy software in 2021 for a highly sensitive EU project, the so-called Entry/Exit System (EES). The files suggest Atos’s branch in Moscow operated under a licence that would grant Russia’s FSB security service access to its work in the country. EU authorities are looking into the involvement of Atos Russia in the border project, according to people with knowledge of the probe.

Why it matters: The disclosure of Russian involvement has raised significant security questions “because of the enormous amount of data that [the EES] would contain”, said one European official. The new system will collate data tracking the movements of every foreign traveller entering or exiting the bloc, recording biometric and personal information as well as their visa status. An expert on Russia’s security services said the Atos Moscow branch’s licence would grant the FSB a “back door” into its activities. “They can look at everything this company is working on,” he said.

EU-Lisa, the agency implementing the EES, has said it “never had any contractual relations with Atos Russia” and that “there has been no identified security breach”. Laura Dubois has more from Brussels.

• More EU-Russia: Billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have sold their stakes in Russia’s largest private lender and its insurance arm, as they attempt to overturn EU sanctions against them.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The Eurozone, France, Germany, Italy and the UK have their construction purchasing managers’ indices.

• UK interest rates: The Bank of England is expected to cut borrowing costs in its decision today.

• South Africa: President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his annual State of the Nation address to parliament in Cape Town.

• Results: Amazon, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, L’Oréal, Philip Morris International, Société Générale and Thomson Reuters are among those reporting. See our Week Ahead newsletter for the full list.

Five more top stories

1. The White House has insisted Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” Gaza does not necessarily mean sending in US troops. The president’s press secretary sought to assuage fears of a protracted military intervention after his proposal, which included resettling the enclave’s 2.2mn residents, provoked widespread condemnation.

2. Wall Street banks saddled with debt from Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover of Twitter sold large chunks of the loan package to investors yesterday, allowing a number of lenders to exit one of the toughest acquisition financings in recent years. People briefed on the matter said there was booming investor interest in the assets.

3. Exclusive: The owner of Jim Beam expects some global consumers to boycott its US brands as part of a backlash to Trump’s trade policies. Takeshi Niinami, chief executive of drinks giant Suntory Holdings, reckons its American brands will be “less accepted” because of the threat of tariffs and the “emotion” of consumers in major markets, including Europe. Read the full FT interview.

4. Last month was the hottest January on record, surprising scientists who expected the cooling La Niña weather cycle in the tropical Pacific to slow almost two years of record-high temperatures. Calling the data “terrifying”, one expert said: “I don’t think there can be any doubt that dangerous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown has arrived.”

5. UnitedHealth Group has raised concerns with the top US securities regulator over a social media post by Bill Ackman, who claimed that the company could be inflating profits. The billionaire activist investor said in a now-deleted post on X that he “would not be surprised to find that the company’s profitability is massively overstated”.

The Big Read

Trump’s renewed interest in taking control of Greenland has thrust the vast, frozen landmass of 57,000 people into the spotlight. A long period of so-called Arctic exceptionalism, during which major powers viewed the region as a low-tension area where rival nations could find common ground over problems such as climate change, appears to be ending.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Science under Trump: Academics must resist the US president’s efforts to tear down research and the temptation to pre-emptively self-censor, writes Anjana Ahuja.

• Trading the trade war: While global investors had time to prepare for Trump’s tariffs, swift market reversals are keeping them on edge.

• UK regulators: The Competition and Markets Authority may have flaws, but they can be corrected without government interference, writes John Gapper.

• The Prince of Darkness returns: George Parker speaks to Peter Mandelson, the Labour grandee named as the UK’s ambassador to Washington.

Graphic of the day

With the US president threatening a global trade war, keep track of the latest data on imports, exports and trade balances with the FT’s new interactive Trump tracker.

For more on global trade, sign up for Alan Beattie’s weekly Trade Secrets newsletter here if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription.

Take a break from the news . . . 

Clothes can be a source of comfort and restore one’s sense of self. Against the backdrop of wildfire devastation in Los Angeles, Emily Cronin explores a lesser-discussed aspect of recovery: rebuilding a wardrobe that may have taken years to amass.