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In today’s news from the Capitals:
Because of his thirst for political “revenge”, France’s radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been sending inconsistent messages regarding Russia’s aggression in Ukraine unlike President Emmanuel Macron, who has been clear since day one that Russia is guilty, French EU minister Clément Beaune told EURACTIV France in an exclusive interview.
Beaune also believes that Mélenchon’s real intention is not to become a prime minister – as he has declared – in the next legislative election but to “crush the left and kill the Socialist Party and the Greens for the benefit of Jean-Luc Mélenchon alone”. Read more.
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BERLIN
Germany could let failed asylum seekers stay based on merit. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is reportedly preparing to table a draft law to help rejected asylum seekers remain in the country while making it easier to deport criminals. Read more.
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VIENNA
Ruling Austrian conservatives’ top dog branded ‘racist’ over asylum seeker tweets. Members of the Green party, the coalition partner of the ruling ÖVP called the party’s secretary-general “inhuman” and “racist” for her statements about Austria “suffering” from a high number of asylum applications. Read more.
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THE HAGUE
Dutch ministry shuns German help for hospitals struggling post-COVID. The Dutch health ministry is sceptical of the German offer to relieve the long waiting lists for hospital care which have been exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although some 300 German hospitals could receive Dutch patients, NL Times reported. Read more.
UK AND IRELAND
LONDON
Johnson survives confidence vote but faces long goodbye. Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote triggered by his own party on Monday evening that may well have left his leadership fatally undermined. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
HELSINKI
Finland postpones implementing EU ‘whistleblower’ directive, again. Finland has delayed passing the law implementing the EU Whistleblower Directive for a second time, the justice ministry informed on Friday. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
MADRID
Spain mulls sending tanks, missiles, more heavy weapons to Ukraine. The idea of sending new heavy weapons to Ukraine, including tanks and missiles, has not yet been ruled out, Defence Minister Margarita Robles told Telecinco on Monday. Read more.
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ROME
Italy summons Russian ambassador over media criticism. Russia’s Ambassador to Italy, Sergey Razov, has been summoned by the Italian foreign ministry for comments criticising domestic media’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.
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LISBON
Portuguese president warns of ‘extremely complex, unpredictable’ global situation. The war in Ukraine requires “enormous” care, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said Monday, warning of an unpredictable international situation. Read more.
VISEGRAD
PRAGUE
Czech president ditches Putin, calls for prosecution. Vladimir Putin should be prosecuted by an international tribunal for the atrocities committed in Ukraine, said President Miloš Zeman in an attempt to downplay his former support for the Russian president, saying that “circumstances had changed”. Read more.
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BUDAPEST
Hungary, Ukraine step up war of words. Budapest and Kyiv have traded harsh accusations in the last few days in the latest sign of a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the neighbours over Hungary’s stance on Russia. Read more.
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WARSAW
Powerful PiS leader to resign from government post. The influential leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, will soon leave the cabinet and his post as deputy prime minister, government spokesman Michał Dworczyk announced. Read more.
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BRATISLAVA
Nuclear energy limits renewables growth, says Slovak ministry. The high share of nuclear power in Slovakia’s energy mix, the capacity of the transmission network and the negative perception of the population, are the main reasons for the slow development of renewable energies in Slovakia, an analysis published by the environment ministry shows. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
BELGRADE | MOSCOW
NATO, EU aim for ‘closed Balkans’, Lavrov says. Following the scuppering of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia due to Western Balkan countries refusing to let him fly over their airspace, he took a swipe at the EU and NATO and possibly showed support for the Open Balkan initiative. Read more.
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SOFIA
Ukraine asks Bulgaria for heavy weapons. Ukraine has requested the Bulgarian government to provide the country with heavy weapons to counter the Russian offensive in Donbas, according to a diplomatic note sent by Ukrainian Ambassador to Bulgaria Vitaly Moskalenko on Friday made public on Monday. Read more.
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BUCHAREST
Romania wants another €3 billion from EU recovery plan in October. The government plans to ask the European Commission for the disbursement of €3 billion from its recovery and resilience plan in October. Read more.
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ZAGREB
New road safety law could wreak havoc, warn Croatian doctors. Thousands of Croatian citizens could lose their driving licences under a proposed new road safety bill, the Coordination of Croatian Family Doctors (KoHOM) warned on Monday. Read more.
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LJUBLJANA | VIENNA
Austria insists on police checks at Slovenian border. Passport controls at Austria’s internal Schengen border with Slovenia topped the agenda during talks between Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon and her Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, the first foreign official to visit the country since the new government took office. Read more.
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BELGRADE
Vucic admits Serbia only country that will not make EU progress in June. Serbia is the only country that will not advance on its EU path in June despite progress in that direction being in the country’s best interest, President Aleksandar Vučić said on Monday evening. Read more.
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SARAJEVO
US administration sanctions senior Bosnian Serb and Croat politicians. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has put two high-ranking politicians from Bosnia-Herzegovina on the sanctions list for undermining the country’s 1995 peace agreement and democratic progress, N1 reported. Read more.
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PRISTINA
Kosovo Veterans protest minimum wage proposal, clash with police. Veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) clashed with police on Monday in Pristina as they protested an unsuccessful bill increasing the minimum wage without foreseeing a similar increase for their pensions as provided by the Constitution. Read more.
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TIRANA
Albania second-worst regionally for COVID and inflation support. The Albanian government provided the second-lowest amount of COVID-19 support to the needy in the region, according to the World Bank. Read more.
Agenda
- EU: Commissioners College meeting.
- European Commission proposes a plan for international ocean governance.
- EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell participates in OECD 2022 Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris.
- Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius meets OSCE Secretary General Helga M. Schmid.
- European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg.
- Germany: Ex-chancellor Angela Merkel gives her first public interview since stepping down.
- France: President Emmanuel Macron hosts Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
- Senate President Gerard Larcher and Ukrainian parliament President Ruslan Stefanchuk hold a press conference.
- Lithuania: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Baltic leaders.
- Spain: Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez to explain the conclusions of the last European Council and the new Spanish policy on Western Sahara before parliament on Wednesday.
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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
