Federal Worker Confusion, European Leaders In DC, German Election, Greenpeace Lawsuit

0:02An email to every federal employee asked, what did you do last week? and Elon Musk threatened they would lose their jobs if they didn't answer. You can't interpret silence to be a resignation. Do labor laws protect these workers? I'm Leila Faldin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. The leaders of France and Britain are visiting Washington this week, on their agenda convincing President Trump not to abandon Ukraine. Can they sway him? Plus, conservatives won the German election, and the country's far-right party made its strongest showing in decades. And Greenpeace goes on trial today.

0:39They're being sued by a Texas energy company for disrupting the construction of an oil pipeline. Everybody's afraid of these environmental groups and the fear that it may look wrong if you fight back with these people. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.

0:58Support comes from our 2025 lead sponsor of Up First, Amazon Business. How can you grow your business from idea to industry leader? Bring your vision to life with smart business buying tools and technology from Amazon Business. From fast, free shipping to in-depth buying insights and automated purchase approvals, they deliver everything you need to achieve your goals. It's not easy to stand out from the crowd. Simplify how you stock up to get ahead. Go to AmazonBusiness.com for support. This message comes from Rince, who knows that greatness takes time. So does laundry. So Rince will take your laundry and hand deliver it to your door expertly cleaned.

1:37And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up that Irish flute or those calligraphy pens or the daunting Beef Wellington recipe card and leave the laundry to Rince. Rince. It's time to be great. This message comes from LPL Financial. What if you could have more control over your future? LPL Financial removes the things holding you back and provides the services to push you forward. Because when it comes to your finances, your business, your future, LPL Financial believes the only question should be, what if you could?

2:16LPL Financial, member FINRA SIPC. No strategy assures success or protects against loss. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. What did you accomplish last week? Well, that's the question that hundreds of thousands of government employees have until tonight at 11.59 p.m. to be exact to answer or they could lose their jobs. The deadline was laid out in a three-line email sent Saturday from the Office of Personnel Management. Elon Musk, President Trump's cost-cutting chief and an unelected billionaire, threatened on X that failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.

2:51Suzanne Summerlin is a federal sector labor attorney in Washington, D.C. She says ignoring the email likely would not be grounds for firing and... You can't interpret silence to be a resignation. Resignations in the federal service must be made voluntarily by the employee, and the employee has until the date of their resignation to rescind it. Summerlin and others also question the legality of the demand. She says the Office of Personnel Management must respect the chain of command within government agencies. OPM seems to be running an in-route around that chain of command and directly dealing with employees.

3:27This is a violation of collective bargaining laws, unfair labor practice laws. On Sunday, OPM said the emails were part of the Trump administration's commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce. To add to the confusion, some agency leaders appointed by Trump at the FBI, the State Department and the Department of Defense are instructing employees to disregard the email. Still, the directive has prompted a new sense of uncertainty and confusion among federal workers. So far, in a little over a month into the Trump administration, thousands of government employees were dismissed, including some by mistake.

4:11French President Emmanuel Macron is in Washington today, where he will meet with President Trump in the Oval Office. Yeah, European leaders were stunned by President Trump's abrupt reversal of alliances last week. He accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia. Ukraine did not start the war. And Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator while letting Russian President Vladimir Putin off the hook for its full-scale invasion of its neighbor. In meetings today, Macron will try to keep Trump on board with the U.S.'s traditional allies. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley is in Paris following all this.

4:46So, Eleanor, what arguments will he try to try and get through to President Trump? Well, yeah, Macron is going to try to convince Trump that it's in America's strategic interest not to make some deal with the Russians without involving the Europeans. He'll present a European action plan to help achieve a peace deal that is durable with solid guarantees that Russia won't use the time to build up its forces and invade Ukraine again. Macron must make Trump understand that Russia poses an existential threat to Europe. And to do this, he'll be relying on his personal friendship with President Trump.

5:18Macron is probably the closest to Trump of all the European leaders, with the exception of Hungary's Viktor Orban. And he's going to appeal to Trump's ego and inner dealmaker. In fact, Macron actually told us what he would say to Trump in a live question and answer session broadcast on Instagram last week. Let's have a listen.

5:38I'm going to tell him you can't be weak in front of Putin. That's not you. He said he'd tell Trump, that's not your brand and it's not in your interest. How are you going to be credible in front of China if you're weak in front of Russia? Macron said he would also emphasize that Trump cannot help someone, i.e. Vladimir Putin, who's actually helping Iran develop the nuclear bomb. All right. So what are European leaders like Macron proposing? Well, last week there were two emergency meetings out of Paris after Trump's comments about the war. A couple dozen leaders attended. France and Britain, who are Europe's only nuclear powers, are said to be ready to provide the backbone of a European military force to secure any peace deal in Ukraine.

6:19That would include boots on the ground, in the air, and even ships at sea. Other countries that could join include Finland, Sweden, and the Baltics. The problem is Putin has said any European troops in Ukraine is a red line. Now, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also expected to meet with Trump this week. I spoke with Gesine Weber. She's expert in security and defense at the U.S.-German Marshall Fund in Paris. And she said at first Macron and Starmer planned to meet together with Trump, but now they have separated their visits. Let's listen. It could be smart to have the sequencing of the visits to reinforce the message and potentially also adapt it and coordinate it.

6:55So if Macron manages to speak for the Europeans and Starmer manages to speak for the Europeans, that can actually be a message amplifier. But some analysts say it's already too late for the Europeans because Trump so wants to cut a deal with Putin. Yeah, Trump has demanded that Europeans contribute more to their security. So are they willing to do this long term? Well, first of all, we have to say Europe has given more for the war in Ukraine if you add military, financial and humanitarian. But yes, this is a big wake up call for the second time. Their transatlantic ally looks like it might not always have their back.

7:28So they are ready to increase. Many nations are spending more and say they will. But everything is going on at such an accelerated pace now, and it's going to take time to get those defense industries going. That's NPR international correspondent Eleanor Beardsley in Paris. Eleanor, thanks. Thank you.

7:52Germany is getting a new chancellor. Yeah, results this morning indicate that Friedrich Meretz center-right Christian Democrats will be able to form a new government with only one coalition partner. That will likely return the country to a more stable two-party government that ran Germany for most of the past three decades. NPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz joins us now to talk about the results. So Rob, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on his way out, which means Europe's biggest economy will have a new leader. So what was the big issue that decided this election? Well, for the most part, it was the struggling German economy.

8:26Schultz's government collapsed over a dispute about how to revive it. But it was also Schultz himself who's been the problem for voters. His slow, methodical approach to governing did not suit the chaotic times that Europe is in with a war on European soil and an economic downturn. You know, these challenges require decisive action, and his three-party coalition government had a difficult time rising to the occasion. So it's clear from the results that Germany will likely return to a two-party coalition government. How is it going to be different than the last administration? Well, Scholz's center-left Social Democrats will likely remain in the government, but it's a center-right Christian Democrats under Friedrich Merz that will be in the driver's seat now.

9:03And Merz seems ready to move fast. He wants a government formed by mid-April, which is very quick for Germany. And he says he has big plans.

9:14He said last night that his number one priority is to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that it can achieve independence from the United States. He went on to say, I never thought I'd be saying this, but after Donald Trump's statements last week, it's clear the Americans, or at least this administration, is indifferent to the fate of Europe. I want to point out here that Germany has long considered the U.S. as its most important ally. So this is truly an astonishing statement from an incoming German chancellor. Yeah, and one thing we should say here is that the far right alternative for Germany party came in a strong second place.

9:46They will not, though, be in government. Why not, Rob? No, you know, Germany's parties in the political center vowed never to govern with AFD, the party's acronym in German. The AFD is under domestic surveillance for the threat it poses to Germany's democracy. And its members routinely trivialize German atrocities in World War II. Last night, Meritz derided the AFD, saying it was not interested in real solutions and that the AFD is happy to see Germany's problems get worse. He also criticized the AFD for its cozy relationship with Elon Musk. Oh, and how did the AFD respond? Well, the party's co-chair, Alice Weidel, said Meritz's incoming government will not last long.

10:20Here's what she said.

10:24So she's saying here Meritz won't be able to form a stable government without the AfD and that he will face the consequences when his government crashes and fails. But will Meritz have a stable government? So I posed that question to the U.S. German Marshal Fund's Suda David Wilp. Here's what she said. And now it's going to be difficult for this sort of grand coalition, but it needs to deliver reform. Otherwise, the AFD may be even stronger during the next German election. And even now it cannot be ignored because it will be the largest party in the opposition. So she said what this means is that Merz's incoming government will need to move toward the right to address voter concerns like migration and a slowing German economy.

11:02And it's clear Germans really care about these things because voter turnout was 84%. That is the highest turnout since Germany's reunification in 1990. That's NPR's Rob Schmitz. Rob, thanks. Thank you.

11:20The environmental group Greenpeace USA faces a$300 million lawsuit that could force it to shut down. This is related to Native American-led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline about eight years ago. The company that built the crude oil pipeline is suing Greenpeace. Jury selection begins this morning in North Dakota. Jeff Brady joins us now from NPR's Climate Desk. So, Jeff, why is the pipeline company suing Greenpeace? Yeah, the company is Energy Transfer. It's based in Dallas, and it claims Greenpeace and other activists conspired to raise money, insight protests, hurt the company's reputation, and delay construction of its Dakota Access Pipeline.

12:01Energy Transfer didn't respond to our interview request, but co-founder and now executive Chairman Kelsey Warren, did answer questions on CNBC back in 2017. Everybody's afraid of these environmental groups and the fear that it may look wrong if you fight back with these people. But what they did to us is wrong, and they're going to pay for it. This was when Energy Transfer filed a federal lawsuit. That case was dismissed, and the company filed a similar case in state court. That's the case headed to trial now. So how did the protests wind up affecting the pipeline construction? There were thousands of protesters who traveled to North Dakota and camped out near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

12:39The pipeline route is just north of there. There were clashes with police. At one point, officers used water cannons on protesters and below freezing temperatures. Still, the 1 ,100-mile pipeline was finished, and it's been transporting oil since 2017. Construction was delayed, Kelsey Warren estimated, about 90 days in that interview. Okay, so what is Greenpeace saying about this case? And actually, I mean, how does it plan to defend itself? Greenpeace calls this a SLAP suit. And SLAP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Essentially, a wealthy company takes a less wealthy critic to court, forcing them to spend time and money defending themselves rather than protesting.

13:18Sushma Raman is the interim executive director at Greenpeace USA and says this is a free speech issue. This case is simple. Big oil wants to silence its critics. We will not be silenced. We are fighting back. Greenpeace says the goal here is to win and dissuade other companies from filing cases like this. Yeah, these slap suits have been an issue across the country. Some states have even passed laws to counter them. So what's the situation in North Dakota? Yeah, 35 states and the District of Columbia have anti-slap laws now. That makes it easier to get cases dismissed and recover attorney fees from plaintiffs.

13:55But North Dakota is one of 15 states that does not have such a law. That means even if Greenpeace wins this case, it'll have to pay for its own defense. The organization hasn't disclosed how much that'll be. But a spokesperson says what they've spent so far is in the millions. OK, so jury selection begins today. How long might this trial last? It's expected to last about five weeks, should go to the jury at the end of March or beginning of April. We haven't seen any hint of settlement talks yet. Both sides seem pretty dug in on their positions here. So once there's a decision, I suspect an appeal is pretty likely.

14:32All right. That's Jeff Brady from NPR's Climate Desk. Jeff, thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

14:42And that's up first for Monday, February 24th. I'm E. Martinez. And I'm Leila Faldin. Make your next listen, consider this. The team behind NPR's All Things Considered goes deep into a single news story in just 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's Up First was edited by Ryland Barton, Kevin Drew, Neela Banerjee, Jenea Williams, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nea Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Join us again tomorrow.

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