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In today’s news from the Capitals:
STOCKHOLM
The Russian Embassy in Stockholm has threatened Sweden and Finland with military retaliation if the two countries join the NATO alliance, pointing to the increasing number of Swedes expressing solidarity with Russia and shunning Stockholm’s ‘transatlantic ambitions’. Read more.
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EU INSTITUTIONS
EPP chief fails to convince that Greece’s rule of law not an EU issue. The leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, said on Wednesday that the rule of Law in Greece is a national matter and not a European issue to be discussed in the European Parliament, triggering a strong reaction from other political groups. Read more.
Cocaine trade expanding rapidly in Europe, especially France. While the cocaine market continues to grow around the world, a new report by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) found that consumption has been steadily increasing across Europe and especially in France. Read more.
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VIENNA
Far-right says Zelenskyy’s parliament invite risks Austrian neutrality. The far-right FPÖ party criticised the parliament’s invitation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time via video on Thursday, calling it an ‘attack on Austria’s neutrality’. Read more.
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BERLIN
Berlin under fire for climate law ‘catastrophe’. Opposition members and green campaigners in Germany have criticised the government for weakening the country’s climate law after it reached compromises on key contentious issues after days and nights of negotiations. Read more.
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PARIS
EU lawmakers won’t debate police violence in France. French left-wing delegations in the European Parliament wanted to open a debate on police violence and the “repression” of demonstrations in France, but without success, as EU lawmakers refused to address purely national issues. Read more.
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THE HAGUE
Dutch outlaw 100 substances linked to drug production. To crack down on crime and improve public health, the Netherlands will ban the possession, transport and sale of more than 100 chemical materials linked to the production of hard drugs, Justice and Security Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and Health, Welfare and Sports Minister Ernst Kuipers announced on Wednesday. Read more.
UK AND IRELAND
LONDON
UK deputy PM: Nothing off the table to reduce asylum housing. Nothing is off the table regarding limiting and reducing the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, which reportedly costs over £6 million daily, said Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab on Wednesday. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
STOCKHOLM
Swedish right-wing government puts the country on ‘wrong’ climate path. Sweden has increased its greenhouse gas emissions while other EU member states are reducing them since the new right-wing government, in office for five months, changed its tack on climate policy. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
ROME
Italian parties clash over same-sex adoption. Italian parties are divided on same-sex couples adopting children as the decision to ban the automatic registration of same-sex couple’s children in the civil registry has polarised the debate, with the Italian Left standing firm in support of civil rights. Read more.
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MADRID
Spain to send first shipment of Leopard tanks to Kyiv after Easter. Spain will send the first shipment of six Leopard battle tanks it had promised to Kyiv right after Easter, with four other tanks currently being overhauled for the same purpose, Defence Minister Margarita Robles confirmed on Wednesday. Read more.
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LISBON
Portugal’s Ishmaelite centre attack ruled as ‘psychotic’ breakdown, not terrorism. Tuesday’s attack on the Ishmaelite Centre was a terrorist act that resulted from a ‘psychotic breakdown by the attacker’, not an act of terrorism, the National Director of Portugal’s criminal investigation police agency, Luís Neves, said on Wednesday. Read more.
VISEGRAD
WARSAW
Polish PM demands EU takes action over cheap Ukrainian grain influx. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will send a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for immediate steps to remedy Polish farmers’ problems since the EU allowed cheap grain imports from Ukraine. Read more.
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PRAGUE
Eight European leaders urge big tech to fight disinformation more effectively. The CEOs of the largest social media companies must fight disinformation more effectively, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS, ECR), along with seven other European prime ministers, wrote in an open letter that warns against using platforms to incite riots, violence, and spread propaganda. Read more.
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BRATISLAVA
Slovak support for combustion engine ban deemed unconstitutional. The Environment Ministry’s voting in favour of the EU’s de facto combustion engine ban in Tuesday’s Council meeting was unconstitutional as it effectively bypassed the National Council’s European affairs committee previously opposing the ban, the opposition Freedom and Solidarity Party said. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
WESTERN BALKANS
Four EU hopefuls, except Serbia, create group to align with EU security policy. Four Western Balkan countries, but not Serbia, on Wednesday, launched the new Western Balkans QUAD- 100% Alignment with EU Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) platform aimed at ensuring full alignment with the EU acquis on security and foreign policy matters. Read more.
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BUCHAREST
Romania takes a step closer to €3 billion Recovery Fund tranche. Romania took a step closer to getting the much-awaited third €3 billion tranche from the Recovery Fund after the Senate greenlit a government’s bill on the so-called “special pensions”, an EU prerequisite to unlock funds. Read more.
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SOFIA
Bulgaria will vote with little hope after two years of political crisis. Bulgarians will vote on 2 April for the fifth general elections in two years, but the odds of forming a stable government after that are not high. Read more.
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LJUBLJANA
Slovenia eases conditions for hiring foreign workers. The Slovenian parliament has passed two bills that simplify procedures to make it easier for employers to recruit workers from non-EU countries, and there will also be less red tape for third-country nationals. Read more.
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BELGRADE
Response to imprisoned child case causes uproar in Serbia. A father who kept his eight-year-old daughter imprisoned in Belgrade has been arrested, but the family court has not taken his conservatorship away, leading to the public condemning the response of institutions in this case. Read more.
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TIRANA
Popular, unpopular economic policies on the eve of Albania’s local elections. Prime Minister Edi Rama has promised the average salary of Albanians will reach around €900, or 102,000 lek, more than double what it was a decade ago, just over two months before local elections. Read more.
AGENDA
- EU: President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen delivers speech on EU-China relations to the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the European Policy Centre;
- Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis hosts International Special Envoy for the Implementation of EU Sanctions David O’Sullivan;
- Vice President Frans Timmermans delivers keynote speech at the 8th Clean Energy Summit in Brussels; Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean delivers speech too;
- Vice President Margrethe Vestager meets with Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar; Delivers keynote speech in the 2023 Summit for Democracy, organised by the US Department of State; Participates in the EU-US Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue;
- Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski receives Vladimir Joković, Jelena Tanasković, Ljupco Nikolovski, and Frida Krifca, Ministers for Agriculture of Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania;
- Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič visits Lebanon; Holds meetings with Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Caretaker Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar;
- Financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union Commissioner Mairead McGuinness meets with Ambassador of the USA to the EU Mark Gitenstein;
- Cohesion and Reforms Commissioner Elisa Ferreira gives keynote speech at the Conference of the Smart Specialisation Strategies’ Community of Practice;
- Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Commissioner Mariya Gabriel participates via videoconference in the “Expert group on well-being at school”;
- European Parliament plenary session votes on 2022 Rule of Law Report, strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women; Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides participates in a structural dialogue with the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety; Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli addresses the plenary session;
- Parliament President Roberta Metsola on official visit in Netherlands; Meets with President of the Parliament Vera Bergkamp and President of the Senate Jan Anthonie Bruijn;
- Netherlands: International Court of Justice rules on Iran bid to release assets frozen by US;
- Spain: Parliament votes on pension reform;
- Poland: Foreign ministers from Bucharest Nine (B9), US, Spain, Sweden, Finland, NATO delegates hold meeting;
- China: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on official visit;
- UN: Security Council meeting on security in Africa;
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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Sofia Mandilara]
Source: euractiv.com
