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.
The Capitals are back from summer holidays. Before you start reading today’s edition, feel free to have a look at ‘Yes, the war is still on but Russia wants you to forget about it’, an op-ed by Anna Romandash, a Ukrainian journalist and writer.
In today’s news from the Capitals:
Albanian police formally charged with espionage on Sunday two Russian and one Ukrainian citizen, previously arrested for trying to enter a restricted military zone and then spraying military guards with apparent nerve paralysis spray.
Earlier that day, four people of Czech nationality were arrested for entering a defunct military factory in Polican in the country’s south.
The incidents come on the back of an ongoing dilemma of EU countries regarding whether to bend to Ukraine’s calls to bar Russian tourists from entering the bloc. Read more.
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BERLIN
East German parties ally with far-right to protest gas levy. Conservatives and the Left have teamed up with the far-right AfD in Eastern Germany to slam the federal government as local politicians warn of social unrest following soaring energy prices in a letter to Green energy minister Robert Habeck. Read more.
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PARIS
Paris to push private jet bans at EU ministers meeting. Minister of Transport Clément Beaune said he is ready to put banning private jet flights on the agenda of the European transport ministers meeting in October following public backlash from revelations regarding the private jet emissions of France’s wealthy. Read more.
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VIENNA
Austria to start marketing campaign to reduce refugee flows. The government aims to conduct “anti-marketing” campaigns in safe countries where refugees are suspected of migrating for economic reasons to counter promises made by people smugglers. Read more.
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THE HAGUE
Dutch airport continues to deal with chaos. The chaos at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam has lasted all summer as passengers continue to miss flights and staff shortages continue. Read more.
UK AND IRELAND
DUBLIN
Ireland receives first Ukrainian grain shipment since start of war. A shipment of 33,000 tonnes of grain that landed in Ireland from Ukraine this weekend was the first since the war broke out in February. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
HELSINKI
Finnish energy company to take Russia’s nuclear giant to court. Fennovoima, a Finnish energy company, announced it would launch ”several arbitrations and other proceedings against various Rosatom entities” on Saturday, following the collapse of a nuclear power plant project in Finland. Read more.
Debate on Finnish Prime Minister’s party video takes a political turn. The uproar following the leaked videos of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s private party has largely disappeared from the headlines as the debate widened from dance moves and rumoured illegal substances to the role of political leadership in a crisis. Read more.
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STOCKHOLM
Swedish opposition joins calls for restricting Russian tourist visas. After the Finnish Parliament made it considerably more difficult for Russian citizens to obtain visas last week, Swedish opposition parties are now demanding a similar measure to be adopted in Sweden. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
MADRID
Spain’s gasoline price sees highest rise in EU since start of Ukraine war. Gasoline prices have increased sharply since the start of the Russian invasion, reaching a peak at the end of June with a litre of gasoline and a litre of diesel exceeding €2.10, the highest price level in the EU, official data revealed. Read more.
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LISBON
Portugal in state of alert for fires until Tuesday as temperatures rise. Portugal entered a state of alert due to the “aggravation of the risk of rural fire” and an increase in temperature at midnight on Sunday after weeks of fires that destroyed more than 28,000 hectares in the Serra da Estrela mountains. Read more.
VISEGRAD
BRATISLAVA
Slovakia inches toward minority government as ultimatum demands loom large. The junior coalition party Freedom and Solidarity issued an ultimatum to Finance Minister Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) at the start of the summer: either he steps down by the end of August, or Freedom and Solidarity leaves the coalition, and the fall of the government is looking more likely than ever as the summer comes to an end. Read more.
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PRAGUE | BRATISLAVA
Ukraine war draws painful memories as Czechia, Slovakia commemorate Russian invasion. Czechia and Slovakia held events marking the 54th anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968 on Sunday as Prime Ministers Petr Fiala and Eduard Heger highlighted parallels with the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.
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WARSAW
Poland rejects German theory on river pollution as an ‘attack on farmers’. The theory put forward by a German laboratory that the pollution of the Oder River, which killed thousands of fish, was caused by pesticides in the water, was dismissed as fake news by Poland. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
Bulgaria refuses to buy large quantities of US liquefied gas. The Bulgarian government has decided to accept only one of the agreed seven liquefied gas supplies from the US company Cheniere, despite the price being almost €30 lower than that offered on European gas exchanges. Read more.
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BELGRADE
Vucic claims compromise sought while announcing institutional walkouts in Kosovo. Serbian President Aleksander Vucic said that Belgrade would continue to look for a solution to the license plate and ID document issue, however he also said Serbs working in Kosovo institutions would walk out due to their “persecution”. Read more.
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PRISTINA
Pristina to ban electric scooters. Electronic scooters, bicycles, and similar devices will be banned from squares, pavements, and all public spaces with pedestrian traffic as of Monday, according to the Municipality of Pristina. Read more.
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Agenda
- EU: EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell directs the course ‘Quo Vadis Europa’ at Menéndez Pelayo International University in Santander.
- Germany: FM Annalena Baerbock hosts Pakistan’s FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, press conference follows.
- Foreign minister Baerbock hosts her Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, for talks in Berlin.
- 30th anniversary of racist riots at Rostock, eastern Germany.
- Sweden: Trial of two journalists who filmed wreck of MS Estonia ferry begins.
- Greece: Opening of parliament to decide a debate on the phone-tapping scandal.
- Spain: Ryanair flight crew strike.
- Russia: FM Sergei Lavrov hosts Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin.
- United States: UN Security Council meeting on peacekeeping.
- Kenya: Deadline for any challenge to Supreme Court over 9 August election results.
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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Vlad Makszimov, Daniel Eck, Benjamin Fox, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Eleonora Vasques, Sofia Stuart Leeson]
Source: euractiv.com
