The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by Euractiv’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
The European news you deserve to read. Welcome to The Capitals by Euractiv.
Today’s edition is powered by WindEurope
Our wind, our value.
Come to WindEurope’s Annual Event in Bilbao to find out how wind energy is creating value for Europe while living up to Europe’s values. 12,000+ attendees, 40+ sessions, 250+ speakers, 480+ exhibitors, excellent networking opportunities and much more!
Find out more >>
In today’s news from The Capitals:
PRAGUE
Czechia will abstain in the upcoming vote on the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact, said Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) after this week’s cabinet meeting, adding that the pact’s new version is worse than the one Czechia helped prepare when it held the EU presidency in the second half of 2022. Read more.
///
EU INSTITUTIONS
Retailers: Stricter rules for food supply chain will not improve farmers’ situation. Amid calls from several EU leaders to re-examine the balance of market power in the supply chain, the retailers’ association Eurocommerce has called for stricter rules against transnational purchase alliances to be avoided. Read more.
EU’s Borrell wants EU voters to know what it’d be like to have Putin as neighbour. EU citizens should be better informed about what it would mean to have a “puppet” government in Ukraine, as in Belarus, if Russia were to take over the country in the run-up to EU elections in June, warned the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, pointing out that President Vladimir Putin currently seems to have no intention of backing down. Read more.
New additions to Meloni’s ECR cools relations between ID and EPP. Relations between the European Parliament’s far-right ID group and the right-wing European People’s Party (EPP) seem to have cooled following the new addition of Eric Zemmour’s far-right party Reconquête!, with relations expected to cool even further if and when Orban’s Fidesz joins. Read more.
///
BERLIN
Germany adopts strategy to prevent global online censorship, experts unsure. While the German government believes its international digital policy strategy, adopted on Wednesday, will foster bargaining power on the international stage while preserving democratic values and ensuring access to the internet without censorship, experts lament the lack of concrete measures. Read more.
///
PARIS
Former French tech minister Jean-Noël Barrot takes over EU portfolio in reshuffle. Jean-Noël Barrot, tech minister since July 2022, was appointed as new EU minister in the final stretch of the French government reshuffle late on Thursday. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
MADRID
Council of Europe delegation visits Spain over amnesty law, rule of law. A delegation from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission arrived in Madrid on Thursday to discuss details of the controversial amnesty law that would pardon Catalonian separatists involved in the unsuccessful and illegal 2017 independence bid, which Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised to push through in exchange for separatist votes in parliament. Read more.
///
LISBON
Kyiv counts on Portugal and Brazil for peace plan. Ukraine is counting on Portugal and Brazil for the Kyiv peace plan because “all countries are suffering” from the war in Ukraine, a Ukrainian Presidency official has said. Read more.
EASTERN EUROPE
WARSAW
Poland is sceptical about 90% emission reduction target, cites economic concerns. Poland is unlikely to back the European Union’s new climate target of cutting CO2 emissions by 90% by 2040, citing the economic and social risks that come with speeding up the green transitions, Polish media reported. Read more.
///
BRATISLAVA
Slovakia eyes national food quotas in the constitution. The Slovak Minister of Agriculture, Richard Takáč, wants the constitution to require retailers to stock a defined minimum proportion of Slovak food on their shelves, despite the precedents of the Czech Republic and Romania, who were forced to abandon similar initiatives following a legal spat with the European Commission. Read more.
Slovakia greenlights divisive crime law reform, presidential veto imminent. After more than two months of obstructions and eight rounds of weekly protests across Slovak cities, the Criminal Code reform of Robert Fico’s government, which means dissolving the Special Prosecutor’s Office, reducing penalties and weakening whistleblower protection, has passed. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
Bulgarian Constitutional Court rejects far-right’s Eurozone referendum. Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court rejected the far-right initiative on Thursday to hold a referendum to delay the country’s accession to the eurozone for at least twenty years. Read more.
///
BUCHAREST
Romania allows rapid NATO deployment in case of highly serious threats. Romania has allowed the deployment of the high-readiness NATO rapid deployment forces on Romanian territory this year, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis informed parliament in a letter sent on Wednesday evening. Read more.
///
BELGRADE
EU Parliament calls for investigation into Serbian elections. The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an independent international investigation into election irregularities in Serbia, with reactions in Serbia spanning between criticism and suggestions that the EU is actually keen to see democratic processes at work in Serbia. Read more.
///
PRISTINA
Vucic refuses to sign EU agreements with Kosovo during showdown at UN Security Council. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti again called on Serbian President Aleksander Vucic to sign the EU-mediated Brussels agreement during a face-off at the UN Security Council on Thursday, but Vucic refused and was scolded by the council president for interrupting and shouting in the assembly. Read more.
AGENDA:
- EU: Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis participates in trilogue on Economic Governance Review; Participates in formal plenary meeting of Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) Joint Committee;
- Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit participates in “Towards zero homelessness, only 6 years to succeed” conference, organised by the Belgian Presidency;
- Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni delivers keynote speech on “A Pivotal Year: What’s at Stake in 2024 for Europe, America and the World” at Harvard Kennedy School European Conference, in Boston, United States;
- Health Commissioner hosts organisers of European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe; Holds videoconference with US Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra;
- Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli delivers online keynote speech for Athens Pride;
***
[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Sofia Mandilara]
Read more with Euractiv
Vucic refuses to sign EU agreements with Kosovo during showdown at UN Security CouncilKosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti again called on Serbian President Aleksander Vucic to sign the EU-mediated Brussels agreement during a face-off at the UN Security Council on Thursday, but Vucic refused and was scolded by the council president for interrupting and shouting in the assembly.
Source: euractiv.com
