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In today's news from The Capitals :
BERLIN
Two German MEPs campaigned for a German Bundestag. Of the two, Damian Boeselager of Volt and Maximilian Krach of the far-right Alternative for Germany, only one was elected and will take part in today's inaugural session of the new German parliament. Read more.
WESTERN EUROPE
HAGUE
Dutch health researchers are advising that sustainability trade-offs should be taken into account when making pharmaceutical decisions. A consortium led by a researcher at the Dutch National Institute of Public Health (RIVM) has concluded that rather than ignoring or complaining about sustainability trade-offs, these dynamics should be accepted as an integral part of decision-making. Read more.
NORTHERN COUNTRIES AND THE BALTIC
HELSINKI
Nuclear power projects in Nordic countries need 'risk sharing', says Finnish utility. New nuclear power projects in the Nordic countries that are EU member states are currently not economically viable due to low prices and volatility, Finnish state energy company Fortum said today as it published a new feasibility study on nuclear power. Read more.
SOUTH OF EUROPE
ATHENS
Greece postpones meeting with Turkey over Imamoglu's arrest. The arrest and pretrial detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has shaken diplomatic relations between Turkey and Greece, with Athens announcing that a planned summit between the two leaders would be postponed.
“Given these developments, it becomes difficult to immediately organize a Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council,” said Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis.
The high-level council is a series of meetings to improve soft-policy relations, as progress on thorny issues such as territorial disputes remains limited.
(Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv)
Greece's Rule of Law Call with Commission Gets Heated During a recent video call between the European Commission and Greek media representatives, held as part of the data collection for the 2025 Rule of Law Report, the discussion became very heated.
During the discussions between the JUST Directorate General and journalists' associations, trade unions and independent media, a number of topics within the broader media freedom framework were discussed, including strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), the physical safety of journalists and access to information.
According to those present on the call, once the discussion turned to the work of the Task Force to Protect Journalists, set up by Mitsotakis' government in August 2022 in response to the country's poor rankings in the RSF World Press Freedom Index, the conversation turned sour.
Tick a box. Some Greek participants claimed that the group had made no progress, had no clear rules of governance and was created simply to “tick a box” in the Commission’s report – an accusation that predictably drew the ire of certain government-linked organisations.
Party politics aside, it is worth noting that more than two years after its creation, the task force has yet to adopt a single recommendation that has received full approval from all its members.
(Vas Panagiotopoulos | Euractiv)
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ROME
Italy is set to reopen repatriation centres in Albania. To prevent Albanian facilities from falling into disuse, Italy plans to convert them into return centres, an option that could become viable once Commissioner Magnus Brunner's plan comes into force. Read more.
EAST EUROPE
WARSAW
The Polish government is planning to overhaul the child benefit system, restricting access for Ukrainians. The government is preparing a bill, expected to be unveiled before the general election, that would link child benefit payments to parents' employment and tax contributions in Poland. The development follows a proposal by presidential candidate Rafał Trzaskowski on the issue. Read more.
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PRAGUE
Czech PM's aide: Holding 80% of territory is a major victory for Ukraine. Tomáš Pojar, the Czech prime minister's sherpa and national security coordinator, says a realistic outcome of a war in Ukraine would be for Kiev to control most of its territory, but not all of it.
“Let's wait and see whether Donald Trump manages to stop the war and whether Ukraine will rule 80% of its territory – which, by the way, would be a huge success. This is definitely not how Vladimir Putin imagined it three years ago,” Pojar told the Czech daily Deník N.
Strategic Defeat of Russia. He suggested that such a scenario, while not a complete victory, would still represent a strategic defeat for Russia and limit its ability to expand westward. Pozhar argued that early hopes for Russia’s collapse and the complete liberation of Ukraine were unrealistic and that the current situation should be viewed through a more pragmatic lens focused on stability and containment.
“I am deeply convinced that Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union. And for this he needs Ukraine. The Soviet Union without Ukraine is not the Soviet Union,” Poyar said.
(Aneta Zahova | Euractiv.cz)
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BRATISLAVA
Slovakia to ask Commission for compensation after foot-and-mouth disease outbreak Slovakia will prepare a detailed analysis of the damage caused by foot-and-mouth disease for the European Commission in order to request compensation, Slovakian Agriculture Minister Richard Takac said in Brussels on Monday.
Foot-and-mouth disease primarily affects cattle, sheep, goats and pigs and spreads quickly in herds. According to the government, the disease probably came to Slovakia via airborne transmission from Hungary. The country had been free of foot-and-mouth disease for almost 50 years.
According to Takács, the Commission has aid schemes and compensation funds for farmers in EU member states, which it applies in the event of climate crises or disease outbreaks. This was the case with African swine fever and bird flu, and is also the case with foot-and-mouth disease.
Additional funding: Additional funding for this sector may come from the agriculture and rural development programmes of the previous programming period, which are nearing completion.
The commission will pay compensation only after a final assessment of the damage caused to farmers and the national economy.
Takac told Slovakia's TASR news agency that the Agriculture Ministry currently estimates the losses at around €10 million – mainly due to culled animals and lost milk production. The total losses are expected to reach tens of millions of euros.
(Natalia Silenska | Euractiv.sk)
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
Bulgaria loses €600m in EU grants due to delays. The Bulgarian government has announced it will forgo €600m in EU grants for projects under the Recovery Plan, admitting it will not be able to make up for the delays and complete them by 2026. Read more.
AGENDAS:
- EU : Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets European Council President António Costa and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić; hosts members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of Member States (COREPER) for a working lunch;
- Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera receives Eurometaux President Evangelos Mytilinos;
- Vice-President Henna Virkkunen speaking at the event “Supporting Europe's AI Ambitions”; speaking at the fact-checking conference “Democracy Matters – Facts Matter”;
- Vice-President Raffaele Fitto meets with EUROCITIES President and Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung; meets with the organisers of the European Citizens' Initiative “Cohesion Policy for Regional Equality and the Sustainability of Regional Cultures”.
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[Edited by Vas Panagiotopoulos, Charles Shumsky, Daniel Ek, Sofia Mandilar]
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