Strikes in Belgium, France, Greece as workers demand action

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In today’s news from the Capitals:

Paris is bracing for another in a series of multi-sector strikes on Thursday as France’s emerging protest movement gains ground, only a day after general strikes paralysed its northern neighbour Belgium, and Greece in a sign of increasing strain on Europe’s workers shouldering the continent’s cost-of-living crisis. Read more.

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MEP’s corner

MEP: Weber white-washes Greek PM in wiretapping scandal. The leader of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, is providing political cover to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the so-called “Greek Watergate”, Renew Europe MEP Georgios Kyrtsos told EURACTIV in an interview. Read more.

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VIENNA

Austrian summit fails to address refugee housing crisis. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, who met with the country’s nine state governors late on Wednesday, failed to come to an agreement on tackling the current refugee housing crisis in the country. Read more.

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BERLIN

Germany’s ruling parties pledge lasting support for Moldova’s EU candidacy. Germany’s three governing parties have pledged continued support for Moldova’s EU candidacy in a motion tabled in parliament on Tuesday, which also calls to improve the country’s accession process. Read more.

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THE HAGUE

Dutch parties divided over ‘cash-for-housing’ asylum bill. Dutch parties are divided over the government’s new asylum bill proposal, which, if adopted in its current form, would provide financial compensation to municipalities providing accommodation to asylum seekers. Read more.

NORDICS AND BALTICS

HELSINKI

Gaming industry produces Finland’s highest earners. The gaming industry is yet again a gold mine for entrepreneurs in Finland, income tax data revealed by the Tax Administration as part of Tax Day on Wednesday revealed. Read more.

EUROPE’S SOUTH

ROME

League Senator slams EU ‘moralists’ on migration. As NGO ships are arriving in Sicily loaded with migrants, Massimiliano Romeo, the leader of the far-right League in the Senate, took aim at EU ‘moralists’ who demand humanitarianism but rely on the ports of others when it comes to migration. Read more.

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MADRID

Spain to highlight Latin America’s importance during EU presidency stint. Spain will seek to highlight the importance of maintaining sound relations with Latin America when it takes up the EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2023, Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela, told EFE in an exclusive interview. Read more.

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LISBON

Portugal registered an increase in imports, mostly of fuel, this year. Portuguese imports increased by nearly 30% in September compared to the same month last year, with the imports of fuels and lubricants seeing a meteoric 51% rise, the government’s statistics institute INE said on Wednesday. Read more.

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VALETTA

Malta launches new mental health service amid growing concerns. The government has launched a mental health helpline that can be reached around the clock amid a 25% increase in mental health problems globally. Read more.

VISEGRAD

PRAGUE

Czech economy in “mild recession”. The economy has entered a “mild recession”, the Czech Finance Ministry admitted in its macroeconomic forecast for November, which also predicts stagnation and a high 9.5% inflation rate for 2023. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Slovak parliament chief blames Interior Ministry for migration debacle. National Council Speaker Boris Kollár took aim at the Interior Ministry, whose head currently faces a no-confidence motion, for the migrant tent situation at the Czecho-Slovak border, saying the country should have closed its borders a long time ago. Read more.

NEWS FROM THE BALKANS

SOFIA

Bulgarian government must urgently find non-Russian nuclear fuel. Parliament has obliged the caretaker government to speed up the procedure to close a deal for the supply of non-Russian nuclear fuel for the Kozloduy nuclear power plant’s two Soviet reactors which until now have only been supplied by Moscow. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romania to take $3 billion US loan to build two reactors. Romania plans to borrow more than $3 billion from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) to build two new reactors at the country’s sole nuclear power plant in Cernavoda. Read more.

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PRISTINA

Kurti could meet Vucic in Paris to discuss Western proposals. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti could be set to meet Serbian President Aleksander Vucic in Paris on Thursday amid simmering tensions and various plans which all seek to normalise relations and give crucial progress to the situation between the two countries. Read more.

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TIRANA

Albania postpones introduction of higher energy tariffs, again. The government has once again postponed the introduction of higher electricity tariffs for those that use more than 800-kilowatt hours (kWh) per month, Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Belinda Balluku has said. Read more.

AGENDA

EU: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Chisinau;
BusinessEurope CEOs Dialogue 2022 takes place in Brussels; Von der Leyen, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, and Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni participate;
Financial Stability Commissioner Mairead McGuinness meets with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem;
Dombrovskis holds a meeting with Georgian Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Levan Davitashvili;
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola receives Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno;
European Parliament’s plenary session debates racial justice, non-discrimination, anti-racism and cybersecurity issues in the EU;
REPowerEU chapters in recovery and resilience plans presented during Press Conference in Brussels; Metsola and the Rapporteurs MEPs Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D, ES), Siegfried Muresan (EPP, RO), Dragoş Pislaru (Renew, RO) attend;
FRA’s Fundamental Rights Platform holds its annual meeting themed “How can civil society help strengthen the rule of law in the European Union? And how can the rule of law help strengthen civil society?”; Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders participates via videoconference;
France: Sector-wide strikes demanding wage increases;
Germany: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Swedish counterpart Tobias Billstrom hold a press conference;
United Kingdom: British-Irish Council (BIC) summit takes place;
Italy: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hosts NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg;
Spain: European Space Agency (ESA) holds a press conference on astronaut geology training for a future mission to Moon, Mars;
UN: General Assembly discusses Afghanistan; UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi reports to UN Security Council;