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In today’s news from the Capitals:
PRAGUE
Czech President Petr Pavel has called for a joint and balanced strategy between the US, Europe and other democracies to address China’s increasing economic, political, and financial power while avoiding divisive lines between them. Read more.
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EU INSTITUTIONS
Centrist MEP fumes after EU Parliament scraps rule of law debate. The European Parliament’s leaders bowed to the pressure of governments and avoided a debate over the rule of law in Greece, Spain and Malta, commented Dutch Renew Europe MEP Sophie in´t Veld (D66). Read more.
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EU to give itself means to sanction Russian proxies in Moldova. EU foreign ministers on Monday are expected to give their political green light to create a new sanctions framework able to target people responsible for the destabilisation of Moldova, in a move to show support to the EU candidate country. Read more.
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BERLIN
German conservatives query EU green reporting rules in call to cut bureaucracy. EU environmental reporting rules cause an administrative burden for companies and should be measured against the burden they would cause each time they are adopted, a plan to curb costs and bureaucracy for companies presented by German conservatives reads. Read more.
German liberals renew call for higher fuel prices. The liberal FDP party (Renew) has renewed its call for a higher carbon surcharge on fossil fuels at a party convention this weekend to stop a proposed ban on new gas and oil boilers as of 2024. Read more.
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VIENNA
Austrian communist party stages major comeback. The communist party KPÖplus made huge gains and secured a solid fourth place in its best supralocal election result since at least World War II in the Salzburg state elections on Sunday. Read more.
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THE HAGUE
Mayors call for citizens to hang Dutch flags properly on Remembrance Day. Dutch mayors and the families of fallen soldiers asked citizens to hang Dutch flags for Remembrance Day properly and not upside down amid ongoing protests against the country’s nitrogen policy. Read more.
UK & IRELAND
THE HAGUE | LONDON
Netherlands, UK to announce major new power link to boost energy security. Plans for a new power line to link both countries and offshore wind turbines in the North Sea, to increase energy security and boost renewable power will be announced by the Netherlands and the UK on Monday. Read more.
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LONDON
UK MPs to debate e-petition’s call for public Brexit inquiry. MPs will debate a public petition calling the government to hold a public inquiry into the impact of Brexit on Monday. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
HELSINKI
Finland’s government hopefuls divided over labour shortage response. The two biggest parties likely to form a right-wing government remain divided on immigration despite this being a possible answer to the current labour shortage that negatively affects the health sector and growth. Read more.
PARIS | VILNIUS | RIGA | TALLINN
Baltics call for EU debate after China’s envoy questions post-Soviet nations’ sovereignty. Anger in Eastern Europe and Ukraine is expected to boil over into an EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday (24 April) after China’s ambassador to France drew a rebuke for questioning the sovereignty of post-Soviet countries. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
ROME
Italy makes birth control pills free despite birth rate drop. Oral contraception may soon become free in Italy, but pro-natal associations argue that the government should instead invest the funds in family support as the country is facing declining birth rates. Read more.
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MADRID
Spanish PM pledges more education, healthcare to help rural areas. Every Spaniard will have a doctor and a school within 30 minutes of their home if ruling socialist party PSOE is elected in December, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a new election bid to bridge the gap between urban and underpopulated rural areas. Read more.
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LISBON
Portuguese government launches tender for storing police bodycam images. The government has launched a public tender worth €1.48 million to purchase a platform that will manage and store information collected by bodycams and municipal video surveillance systems. Read more.
VISEGRAD
WARSAW
Polish ruling party head slams EU’s Fit for 55 plans, says only richest states benefit. The EU’s Fit for 55 Agenda only benefits the richest member states and is imposed by a European Parliament led by a “Green communism” agenda, ruling party leader Jarosław Kaczyński said in a letter quoted at a rally by Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk on Sunday. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
BELGRADE | PRISTINA
North Kosovo elections trigger harsh words, criticisms from Belgrade. Elections that took place in the north of Kosovo in four municipalities with a Serb majority registered the lowest turnout ever in the country’s history at just 3.47%, sparking harsh words from Serbian President Aleksander Vucic and scathing criticism of the EU and US from Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. Read more.
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SOFIA
Bulgarian government ‘must do its job’ to enter Schengen in 2023, says minister. The country can join Schengen with a caretaker or stable government, but the parliament must do its job, commented the Caretaker Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev on Sunday. Read more.
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BUCHAREST
Romanian anti-deficit bill misses EU milestone on special pensions. Reform of special pension systems, one of the milestones the European Commission set so that Romania can obtain allocated EU recovery funds, is not included in the draft emergency bill aimed at reducing the already excessive deficit situation in the country. Read more.
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LJUBLJANA
Slovenia lobbies to tone down EU pesticide plans. Faced with mounting anger from farmers, the government has launched an effort to tone down the European Commission’s proposal to halve the use of chemicals and more dangerous phytopharmaceuticals by 50% by 2030. Read more.
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SARAJEVO
Bosnian Serb leader Dodik invokes merging of Serb entity with Serbia proper. Milorad Dodik, the increasingly rebellious Bosnian Serb leader, floated on Sunday the idea of merging the Serb half of Bosnia with neighbouring Serbia, taking his separatist, West-defying rhetoric to new levels. Read more.
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TIRANA
Albanian court upholds state confiscation of media channels, businesses. The Tirana Special Court of Appeal for Corruption and Organised Crime has upheld the decision in the first instance for the confiscation of the majority of assets belonging to Albanian businessman Ylli Ndroqi, including popular TV station Ora News. Read more.
AGENDA
- EU: Foreign Affairs Council convenes to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine and its geopolitical consequences; The Council meets with Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, Foreign Affairs Minister of Iceland Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, and Foreign Affairs Minister of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili;
- The 17th EU-Uzbekistan Cooperation Council takes place in Luxembourg to exchange views on internal and constitutional reforms, home affairs, rule of law, trade, and more;
- Commission President Ursula von der Leyen participates in the Leaders’ Summit on offshore wind in the North Sea, hosted by Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo;
- Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis participates in the event of European Central Bank and Bruegel titled “Integration, multilateralism and sovereignty: building a Europe fit for new global dynamics”; Receives Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao;
- Vice President Maroš Šefčovič chairs an online meeting of the EU Energy Platform Steering Board;
- Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton hosts Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Kris Peeters;
- Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides participates in a structural dialogue with the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
- Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi meets Foreign Affairs Minister of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili;
- European Parliament President Roberta Metsola participates in conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments; Intervenes at session on “Russian aggression against Ukraine and the EU response in a broader geopolitical context”;
- UN: Security Council meeting on ‘defending the UN charter’, chaired by Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov;
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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Sofia Mandilara]
More on the same topic…
Albanian court upholds state confiscation of media channels, businesses
Source: euractiv.com
