Janša to face anti-graft probe

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The European news you deserve to read. Welcome to The Capitals by EURACTIV.

In today’s news from the Capitals:

LJUBLJANA

The Slovenian anti-graft watchdog has launched an investigation into Prime Minister Janez Janša over a suspected conflict of interest after a lawyer who has represented him and his party for over a decade was appointed to the board of the country’s ‘bad bank’. Read more.

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EU PRESIDENCY

Logar meets French counterpart to discuss EU presidency. Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Anže Logar met his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris on Thursday to present the achievements of the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU and to continue work on key European dossiers. France will take over the presidency from Slovenia on 1 January. Read more.

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EU INSTITUTIONS

CoFoE could cause disquiet in Commission over citizens’ wishes to change treaties. Changing the names of institutions, forming transnational lists, and questioning the unanimity vote were among 39 recommendations approved by the citizens’ panel on democracy at a Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) panel in Florence last weekend. But some of the recommendations headed for the Commission might be met with resistance. Read more.

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THE HAGUE

Dutch coalition to invest €500 million in nuclear. The government of The Netherlands plans to invest €500 million to complement other energy sources, according to the coalition agreement detailing the renewed coalition government’s goals for the 2021-2025 legislative period. Read more.

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BERLIN | PARIS

Scholz and Macron aim to show unity in Brussels. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron held their press conference after the last EU summit of the year together. Read more.

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BERLIN

Germany to buy vaccines from Poland, Portugal, Eastern Europe. Berlin wants to purchase vaccine doses from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Portugal to secure supply for its booster campaign. The European Commission has also approved the early delivery of 35 million Moderna doses to Germany, the new health minister told journalists on Thursday. Read more.

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VIENNA

Austrian chancellor on EU taxonomy: “we have won a battle today” According to Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer, the country’s opposition to the integration of nuclear energy in the EU’s green finance taxonomy has borne fruit, as the conclusions of the European Council summit do not make any reference to the controversial issue. Read more.

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PARIS

110,000 fake COVID-19 certificates circulating in France. Of the five million people who remain unvaccinated in France, 110,000 are using a fake COVID certificates, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told public TV channel France 2 on Thursday. Read more.

UK AND IRELAND

DUBLIN

‘Very significant wave’ of Omicron incoming, warns Taoiseach. A “very significant wave” of Omicron infections is coming to Ireland, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin has warned as the country’s National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) met on Thursday to consider new restrictions. Read more.

NORDICS AND BALTICS

STOCKHOLM

Nuclear debate follows Swedish PM to her first EU summit. As Sweden’s new Social Democrat Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson attended her first European Council summit on Thursday, a debate over the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU’s taxonomy dominated the Riksdag’s Committee on EU Affairs. Read more.

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TALLINN

Ukrainian crisis talks reminiscent of ‘Munich 1938’. Direct talks between the five biggest NATO members and Russia on the Ukrainian crisis are causing nervousness in Estonia. Negotiations over the heads of small nations are evoking memories of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Read more.

EUROPE’S SOUTH

MADRID

Spanish health workers test positive for COVID-19. Over 50 healthcare workers in Spanish hospitals have tested positive for COVID-19, and nearly 80 are in isolation after social events, health authorities announced on Thursday. Read more.

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LISBON

Scholz praises Portugal’s Costa, expresses ‘absolute confidence’ in re-election. Germany’s new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on Thursday praised Prime Minister António Costa’s work and expressed “absolute confidence” in his re-election in next month’s legislative elections. Read more.

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ROME

Italy named The Economist‘s country of the year. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy has been named 2021’s country of the year by The Economist. The paper praised his reforms and leadership qualities but feared that if he were to become president he “may be succeeded by a less competent prime minister”. Read more.

VISEGRAD

WARSAW

Against the EU ETS, Poland threatens to veto ‘Fit for 55’. Poland’s government “will take necessary legal steps” to block the elements of the Fit for 55 package “that would be incompatible with the nation’s interest and just transition,” said Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa at Thursday’s press conference in Brussels. Read more.

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PRAGUE

Help for child refugees after all? With the new centre-right government entering office on Friday, the Czech Republic may reconsider its negative stance on relocating child refugees from Greek hotspots. “I am a parent myself and the reluctance to help children from war zones is an incomprehensible and very sensitive matter for me,“ incoming interior minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) said to EURACTIV Czech Republic. Read more.

NEWS FROM THE BALKANS

SOFIA

Radev: North Macedonia must change its constitution. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev explained at length the reasons behind his country’s veto which prevents North Macedonia from starting EU accession negotiations and suggested the way forward to solve the issue, which includes a change in this country’s constitution. Watch the video here.

Bulgarian prosecutor’s office refuses to investigate new PM. The prosecutor’s office has refused to launch an investigation against Bulgaria’s new Prime Minister Kiril Petkov for making allegedly false statements about his citizenship in a declaration to the president in May before being appointed caretaker economy minister by the head of state Rumen Radev. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

President Iohannis opposes tax increases. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has expressed his support for the government’s activity so far and said that talks about new taxes or increasing existing ones are part of normal debate. Read more.

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ZAGREB | SARAJEVO

Croatian president attacks PM for not securing rights of Croats in BiH. President Zoran Milanović sent a letter to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stating dissatisfaction and opposition to the adopted Council conclusions on enlargement and stabilisation and association process because they do not guarantee the rights of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a constituent people. Read more.

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BELGRADE

Expert: Repeal of local spatial plan because of Rio Tinto lithium mine does not change anything. The Assembly of the city of Loznica in western Serbia on Thursday repealed its decision to adopt the Spatial Plan for the city which would allow the Rio Tinto company to open a lithium mine. Development and investment advisor Mahmud Bušatlija said the decision does not change the Republic Spatial Plan of special-purpose areas for opening such mines. Read more.

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SARAJEVO

Chinese companies to invest in BiH’s biggest wind park. The construction of the biggest wind park in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Chinese state companies plan to invest €130 million, began on Ivovik hill near Livno, in Herzegovina, close to Croatia. Read more.

US Treasury Department official arrives in Sarajevo. Paul Ahern, US Acting Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, arrived in Sarajevo as part of a visit to the region, where he met Security Minister Selmo Cikotić. Ahern is in the region to gain information about the threats that organised crime and corruption pose for the stability and prosperity of the Western Balkans.

Ahern and Cikotić exchanged views on more effective sanctioning of criminal groups and individuals, as well as the sanctions that the US Treasury Department recently imposed on certain companies and persons in the region due to destabilising and corrupt behaviour, according to the security ministry’s statement. (Željko Trkanjec | EURACTIV.hr)

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PRISTINA | COPENHAGEN

Denmark to send some of its prisoners to Kosovo. Kosovo will rent 300 of its prison cells to accommodate Danish prisoners, according to an agreement signed between the two states for which Denmark will pay €210 million over the next ten years.

Kosovo’s justice ministry said the Danish institutions assessed the situation in Kosovo prisons as positive. The agreement will be formally signed on 20 December when Danish Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup is set to visit Kosovo. Hekkerup said he was convinced that the human rights of prisoners would be respected in accordance with international standards. “The same rules will apply as in Denmark,” he told Danish media. (Željko Trkanjec | EURACTIV.hr)

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PRISTINA

European Parliament calls for visa liberalisation with Kosovo. The European Parliament has called on the European Council “to approve visa liberalisation for Kosovo without further delay.” Read more.

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TIRANA

Albanian men fail to share burden of responsibility, puts women at risk of poverty. Only 0.1% of Albanian men have chosen not to work in favour of staying at home to take over domestic responsibilities when compared to 11% of women, according to data from a collaborative study between INSTAT, UN Women, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the United Nations in Albania. Read more.

AGENDA:

Germany: German CDU to decide on leadership question / Charlemagne Prize for European unity winner announced in Aachen.
France: French and Austrian agriculture ministers in Paris present a joint initiative to develop plant proteins together / Ban on non-essential travel to and from UK enters force.
Austria: IAEA chief Grossi to hold press conference after Iran agrees to allow agency Karaj access.
Switzerland: UN Human Rights Council holds extraordinary meeting on Ethiopia, at EU’s request.
UK: Ryanair delists from London stock market over Brexit.
Czech Republic: President Milos Zeman appoints new centre-right government.
Croatia: The Bureau of Statistics releases data on consumer price indexes for November.
Bulgaria: Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov in Brussels.
Romania: Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca meets representatives of local and regional governments.