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In today’s news from the Capitals:
BRATISLAVA | PRAGUE
The rising construction materials prices have meant ballooning budgets and delays, which has endangered projects co-funded by the EU’s longstanding structural investment scheme.
Yet the Commission is shirking responsibility, instead placing the duty to “analyse each case and determine the best course of action” on those managing the projects in member states. Read more.
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EU INSTITUTIONS
Lyon’s restaurant industry still reeling from COVID shock. Although foreign tourists are beginning to visit France again, a return to normal is not expected before 2023, so restaurant owners in tourist cities like Lyon are counting on other levers to limit losses, such as French tourists and takeaway sales. Read more.
Divided Parliament votes down EU carbon market reform. Lawmakers on the left and right wings of the Hemicycle traded accusations on Wednesday (8 June) as the European Parliament voted to reject a proposed reform of the EU carbon market, the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Read more.
Keep calm and carry on trading: Von der Leyen urges solidarity to fix food crisis. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for a show of global solidarity to cope with the food insecurity caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urging states to keep trade open while pledging EU support for the most vulnerable countries. Read more.
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BERLIN
Scholz and liberal finance minister clash over nuclear phase-out. Chancellor Olaf Sholz (Social Democrat) has nuked a possible proposal to prolong the phase-out of nuclear reactors, initially due to cease by the end of the year, put forward by Finance Minister Christian Linder (FDP). Read more.
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PARIS
Lyon’s restaurant industry still reeling from COVID shock. Although foreign tourists are beginning to visit France again, a return to normal is not expected before 2023, so restaurant owners in tourist cities like Lyon are counting on other levers to limit losses, such as French tourists and takeaway sales. Read more.
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THE HAGUE
Dutch to invest in entrepreneurs to fight organised crime. Entrepreneurs will receive funds to help fight against organised crime according to a new plan proposed by Justice and Security Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius. Read more.
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VIENNA
Calls for abandoning Austria’s ‘failed army reform’ grow louder. Confirmed media reports that Austrian defence state secretary general Dieter Kandlhofer will step down have prompted calls to abandon the “failed” army reform he spearheaded. Read more.
UK AND IRELAND
DUBLIN
Unilateral UK action on protocol would be ‘historic low point’, says Irish PM. Unilateral action by the UK to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol would mark a “historic low point”, Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin told MEPs in an address to the European Parliament on Wednesday. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
HELSINKI | DUBLIN
Finnish, Irish foreign ministers agree on NATO, Ukraine, Brexit. The foreign ministers of Finland and Ireland on Tuesday in Helsinki shared views on NATO, Ukraine, and Brexit and commented on French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on not humiliating Russia. Read more.
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STOCKHOLM
Swedish lawmakers criticise outgoing government in final session. The right-wing opposition accused the ruling Social Democrats of presiding over an ‘eight-year fiasco’ during the Riksdag’s final session ahead of the autumn elections. Read more.
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VILNIUS
Russian Duma questions Lithuania’s independence. A draft bill submitted to the Russian State Duma calls for repealing the Decree of the State Council of the USSR “On the Recognition of the Independence of the Republic of Lithuania.” Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
LISBON | MADRID
‘Climatic chaos’: activists furious as Brussels approves Iberian energy mechanism. The European Commission approved on Wednesday an €8.4 billion Spanish and Portuguese scheme aimed at reducing the wholesale electricity prices in the Iberian market by lowering the input costs of gas-fired power stations. Read more.
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ROME
Italy’s scramble for fuel risks ‘irreversible warming’. New planned LNG import facilities in the EU – especially in Germany, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands – could supply a quarter more gas to the EU than before, with Italy ramping up gas imports and production and deviating from climate objectives, a report from the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) has found. Read more.
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MADRID
Spain least affected by Ukraine war, says finance minister. Spain ranks among the least affected OECD countries by the war in Ukraine, with GDP growth of more than 4% forecast by the international organisation for 2022, Spanish Finance Minister Nadia Calviño said on Wednesday. Read more.
VISEGRAD
PRAGUE
Czech farmers protest new small farm subsidy policy. About 2,000 farmers gathered in Prague on Wednesday to protest against the Czech government’s new subsidy policy favouring small farmers, which they say will disrupt Czechia’s ability to produce food. Read more.
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WARSAW
Poland vows to modernise army with Ukrainian money. Poland will thoroughly modernise its army using the money it obtained from selling equipment to Ukraine according to a deal between both countries, government representatives have announced. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
North Macedonia issue triggers political earthquake in Bulgaria. Bulgaria risks early elections after the leader of one of the parties of the four-way coalition announced it was leaving the cabinet because of disagreements over the EU budget and plans by the prime minister to lift the veto on North Macedonia starting EU accession talks.
Slavi Trifonov, former showman and leader of the populist party “There are such a people”, announced in a TV appearance on Wednesday his departure from the coalition and the withdrawal of his four ministers from the cabinet. Read more.
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BUCHAREST
Romanian growth among EU’s highest in first quarter. Romania’s GDP rose 5.2% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the previous one making it one of the highest quarter-on-quarter GDP growth rates in the EU, according to data from the local statistics institute and Eurostat on Wednesday. Read more.
Leading Romanian MEP slams Commission’s EU budget proposal. The European Commission’s proposal for the EU’s budget of 2023 does not include clear answers on the war in Ukraine and the refugee crisis, Renew Europe Nicu Ștefănuță, the parliament’s chief negotiator for the EU budget, said after attending a presentation by Budget and Human Resources Commission Johannes Hahn. Read more.
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WESTERN BALKANS
Four deals and reputation management mark Open Balkan summit. The shadow of the war in Ukraine set the tone for the latest Open Balkan summit, which concluded with the leaders of North Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia signing a set of deals to deepen cooperation in the areas of education, tourism, culture, amid fresh controversy surrounding the initiative. Read more.
Agenda:
- EU: Justice, Home Affairs, and Competitiveness Council.
- Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas meets several Ukrainian ministers.
- European Parliament’s debate on Convention to revision of the Treaties.
- Germany: Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hold a press conference before talks.
- The Netherlands: ECB press conference on eurozone monetary policy.
- Latvia: National ban on all Russian-based TV channels comes into force.
- Italy: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and President Sergio Mattarella.
- Portugal: Parliament examines several bills on the decriminalisation of euthanasia.
- Romania: Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca meets the IMF delegation.
- Serbia: European Integration Minister Jadranka Joksimović, EU Delegation Chief Emanuele Giaufret, and Ambassador of Ukraine Volodymyr Tolkach to visit an information post for Ukrainian refugees in Belgrade.
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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Vlad Makszimov, Daniel Eck, Benjamin Fox, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Eleonora Vasques]
Source: euractiv.com
