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In today’s news from the Capitals:
KYIV | WARSAW | PRAGUE | LJUBLJANA
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech counterpart Petr Fiala and Slovenia’s Janez Jansa, who travelled by train to war-torn Kyiv, were the first foreign leaders to visit Ukraine’s capital since Russia‘s invasion last month.
As EURACTIV.cz learnt, the three EU leaders want to discretely convey details of the visit to their counterparts at next week’s summit in Brussels. But the visit has also raised questions about the commitment of Europe and some particular leaders. Read more.
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BERLIN
German households will go cold without Russian gas. Halting Russian energy imports to Germany would have major ramifications for household heat supply this winter, the country’s biggest energy company, RWE, warned on Tuesday during the presentation of its annual report. Read more.
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PARIS
France offers asylum to journalist who protested on Russian TV. French President Emmanuel Macron has offered consular protection or asylum to Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who protested on Russian television on Monday. Read more.
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THE HAGUE
Netherlands relaxes COVID-19 rules despite rising infection rate. All COVID-19 restrictions in the Netherlands will become voluntary as of next Wednesday. Read more.
UK AND IRELAND
LONDON
Fracking off the agenda, confirms minister. The government appears to have ruled out shale gas exploration just days after hinting that it could be back on the agenda. Read more.
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DUBLIN
EU’s Russia sanctions ‘not enough’, Ukraine Ambassador to Ireland says. The EU’s sanctions against Russia are working, but they are “not enough”, Larysa Gerasko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Ireland, told lawmakers on Tuesday. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
STOCKHOLM | HELSINKI
Sweden and Finland to announce military cooperation. Sweden and Finland plan to present soon a plan enshrining deeper military cooperation, newspaper Aftonbladet reported. Read more.
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HELSINKI
Finnish universities fast-tracking Ukrainians angers other refugees. The warm reception offered by universities to Ukrainian refugees, including the allocation of 2,000 study spots, is causing bitterness among non-Ukrainian refugee communities who were not treated the same way when they reached the country. Read more.
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COPENHAGEN
Ukrainian refugees could cost Denmark over €268 million in 2022. Ukrainian refugees arriving in Denmark could cost DKK 2.2 billion (€268 million) this year and more in 2023, while the amount will fall to DKK 700 million (€94 million) in 2024, according to a Danish estimate. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
ROME
Italy sets new rules for its military amid Ukraine war. Italy’s defence ministry has established new rules for the deployment of soldiers, according to a leak in the Italian press on Tuesday. Read more.
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MADRID
Spain joins initiative to bring Putin before The Hague Court. Spain will join the initiative to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to hold him accountable for the “war crimes” committed by Russian forces during the Ukraine invasion, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported. Read more.
Sanchez to soon begin EU trip to build consensus on energy market reform. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will start a trip to eight EU countries on Wednesday in Bratislava to build a broad consensus on the need to reform energy markets and reduce Europe’s dependency on Russian gas. Read more.
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LISBON
Seven Portuguese ceramics companies forced to close due to energy crisis. Seven ceramics companies have stopped work due to rising energy prices, affecting about 1,000 workers, the president of the association that represents them told EURACTIV’s partner Lusa on Tuesday. Read more.
VISEGRAD
BUDAPEST
Ukraine dominates Hungarian national celebrations. High ranking Fidesz officials and pundits appeared unable to call Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “war” as the opposition demanded that the country choose between Europe and “the East” at Tuesday’s national celebrations. Read more.
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BRATISLAVA
Diplomatic visits to Slovakia increase amid war in Ukraine. US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin is set to visit Slovakia, marking it the first-ever US defence ministry official visit. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
Experts urge Bulgaria to ask NATO for help. Several military experts have called on the Bulgarian government to ask NATO for help over the encroaching state of war in neighbouring Ukraine. Read more.
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BUCHAREST | CHISINAU
Romanian plant forms JV to build armoured vehicles Piranha V in Bucharest. Uzina Mecanica Bucuresti (UMB) has partnered with General Dynamics European Land Systems and Mowag to assemble Piranha V infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) at its Bucharest plant. Read More.
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ZAGREB
Croatian anti-graft body opens probe into labour minister, mayor. The country’s anti-corruption office known as USKOK opened an investigation into Labour Minister Josip Aladrović and Županja Mayor Damir Juzbašić on charges of favouritism, USKOK reported on Tuesday. Read more.
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LJUBLJANA
Slovenia prepares to receive patients from Ukraine. Slovenia is prepared to receive Ukrainians needing medical treatment and supports the Polish proposal to transfer patients to EU member states other than those bordering Ukraine, Health Minister Janez Poklukar said Tuesday. Read more.
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BELGRADE
New US Ambassador to Serbia wants relations to advance quickly. The newly sworn-in US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill, said he wishes bilateral relations with Serbia to flourish in a special message tweeted Tuesday, adding that the US sees the country as “an important partner and friend”. Read more.
In the special message from the US Embassy, Hill said that he was happy that Belgrade would be home to him and his wife in the years to come and that he would be able to get to know Serbia and its people better.
He also said that a lot had changed since his last visit to Belgrade and the region, but that his suitcase “will not be burdened by the past” and that he was coming “with a fresh perspective for Serbia in 2022, a country that the US sees as an important partner and friend.”
(EURACTIV.rs | betabriefing.com)
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Bulgaria unlikely to stop gas deliveries via Balkan Stream Pipeline. The chances of Bulgaria halting the delivery of natural gas through the Balkan Stream Pipeline are slim, the general manager of the state-owned natural gas provider Srbijaga, Dušan Bajatović, said on Tuesday. Read more.
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ZAGREB | SARAJEVO
Croatian president calls BiH an aberration. Bosnia and Herzegovina has been an aberration and deviation for 25 years because of “European commissars”, Croatian President Zoran Milanović said while speaking to reporters during a visit to the Zemunik airbase, inland from the coastal city of Zadar, on Tuesday. Read more.
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TIRANA
Borrell complains about his electricity bill in Europe’s second-poorest country. Energy prices are increasing everywhere, said EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell during his visit to Europe’s second-poorest country Albania, adding that instead of paying €50 mWh for his electricity, he is now paying €500. Read more.
AGENDA:
- EU: College of Commissioners meets / Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski participates in European Parliament committee hearing on agriculture and rural development / Informal virtual meeting of EU education ministers on Ukraine crisis /
- NATO defence ministers are meeting in Brussels.
- Spain: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez begins his eight-EU-country-trip with Slovakia in an effort to build consensus on the need to reform energy markets and reduce Europe’s great dependency on Russian gas.
- Portugal: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola meets Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa.
- Bulgaria: EU’s chief prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi visits at invitation of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.
- Romania: President Klaus Iohannis visits the Republic of Moldova, where he will meet his counterpart, Maia Sandu.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell arrives for an official visit, due to meet separately with the chief commander of the EUFOR peacekeeping force and the members of the country’s state presidency.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses US Congress.
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[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski, Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Benjamin Fox, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson]
Source: euractiv.com
