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Liberalisation is a way to increase the use of rail transport
The maximum use of the planned CPK’s HSR network will allow Poland to build a sustainable transport system in line with the EC’s Smart and Sustainable Mobility Strategy. As a step in this direction, CPK published a Report summarizing the best practices of EU countries in liberalising their railway markets.
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In today’s news from the Capitals:
BERLIN | PRAGUE
French President Emmanuel Macron’s renewed push to boost EU strategic autonomy and for the bloc to be less eager to sign up to US foreign policy goals has been met with stern criticism from German politicians, although the government has yet to comment.
In Prague, politicians went further, accusing Macron of undermining transatlantic relations. Read more.
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SPECIAL REPORT
Bulgarian healthcare suffers from severe dysfunction, lack of staff. Bulgarian health care is up against a number of challenges, including an imbalance in the types of staff leading to a nurse shortage and issues with funding, putting the health of citizens at risk. Read more.
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EU INSTITUTIONS
Left-wing lawmakers to prioritise waste prevention in new EU packaging law. Prioritising the most environmentally-friendly ways of dealing with waste, starting with prevention and reuse, should be central to Europe’s new packaging law, lawmakers working on the file told EURACTIV. Read more.
Cohesion funds increase inequality within EU regions, study finds. The EU’s cohesion policy, which aims at reducing regional disparities, benefits high-skilled, richer households more than low-income households and exacerbates inequality within EU regions, according to a recent study. Read more.
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PARIS
Macron visits Netherlands to push for massive EU investment plan. French President Emmanuel Macron is set to travel to the Netherlands on Tuesday to push for a massive EU investment plan in line with the Commission’s Net-Zero Industry Act alongside political and economic stakeholders. Read more.
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VIENNA
Too close to Belarus: Austrian centre-left politician stepped down. Deputy Mayor of Schwechat David Stockinger, a centre-left SPÖ politician, has stepped down after it was revealed that he had appeared in far-right magazines and donned Soviet uniforms in Belarus. Read more.
UK & IRELAND
LONDON
UK partners with South Korea on renewables, energy independence. The UK and South Korea will work towards a cleaner, more energy-secure future by focusing on renewable energy sources and energy independence, particularly from Russia, the governments announced in a joint statement on Monday. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
HELSINKI
Short-staffed Finnish children’s hospital asks Sweden, Denmark for help. Faced with healthcare staff shortages, the Helsinki University Hospital has asked parent if they would be prepared to have their children undergo surgery in Copenhagen or Gothenburg. Read more.
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COPENHAGEN
Defence Minister visits Odesa as Danish weapons proved efficient. The weapons systems donated by Copenhagen were praised by Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov during Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen’s trip to Odesa on Monday. Read more.
Danish biogas plants to be checked for methane leakage. Pipes and pumps at Denmark’s biogas plants will be checked starting this week to reduce the leakage at biogas plants reported to average 2.5% of the methane produced. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
MADRID
Spanish centre-right polling ahead of progressive forces. Spanish centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP) would likely win if a general election were held today, while the recent emergence of left-wing party Sumar may not be enough to boost the chances of all progressive forces, including the currently governing socialist PSOE and left-wing Unidas Podemos, to govern for four more years. Read more.
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ROME
Italian MP: Meloni’s government can’t manage national recovery plan. The implementation of the national recovery plan is being delayed as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government struggles to solve the age-old problem related to the Public Administration spending funds from Brussels, MP Piero De Luca (PD/S&D) told EURACTIV Italy. Read more.
VISEGRAD
BRATISLAVA
Former PM Fico’s party leads polls ahead of September election. The Smer-SD party of former prime minister Robert Fico has been leading opinion polls since March for the first time in years, and is followed by the Hlas-SD party belonging to former Smer-SD member Peter Pellegrini. Read more.
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WARSAW
Polish official: Medvedev’s Ukraine rhetoric ‘like a broken record’. The recent words of top Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev about nobody needing Ukraine and why it should no longer exist were harshly criticised by Polish Government Plenipotentiary for the Security of Information Space Stanisław Żaryn, who also called Medvedev “a bore.” Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
Bulgaria issues one passport to Russians every day. One Russian gets a Bulgarian passport daily, a total of 356 in 2022, according to EURACTIV Bulgaria’s partner Segabg.com, citing data from the president’s office. Read more.
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BELGRADE
Serbia clamps down e-cigarette sales to minors. Sellers of e-cigarettes and similar products will be fined around €430 for selling to minors, according to a recent amendment to the Law on Consumer Protection. Read more.
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TIRANA | BELGRADE
Ethnic Albanians in Serbia to receive literature donated by Albanian municipalities. Some 200 books in the Albanian language have been collected by local residents in the city of Pogradec in Albania, to send to ethnic Albanians living in Serbia who have expressed difficulties in accessing such literature in local libraries and schools. Read more.
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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Sofia Mandilara]
Source: euractiv.com
