Hello and happy Friday!
Owen Morgan here, deputy editor at Euractiv. This is this week's news: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – where you decide which is which.
Let's dive into a story that has featured all three of the above at various points this week:
Trump waives tariffs
You bought into the deep end? Why not? Donald literally told you.
Europe began the week the same way it ended the previous one: collectively scratching its head, unable to find a way out of the “difficult situation” in which the US has placed it.
A tit-for-tat trade war seemed inevitable – but Trump made the most dramatic about-face in modern political history after global markets collapsed under his tariffs.
“Reciprocal” tariffs on everyone except China were suspended – sort of (the general 10% tariff is still in place). Markets “reciprocated” and recovered. Then the EU put a “reciprocal” pause on its newly agreed retaliatory measures. The indefatigable Tom Moller-Nielsen of Euractiv raised the temperature in Europe when it woke up to the news on Thursday that the actual definition of “reciprocity” no longer mattered.
Next up: Negotiations. The EU's once-rejected zero-for-zero deal appears to be back on the table.
But the question remains: how can Europe reach out to Trump? He seems to be listening to the markets, but will he listen to Georgia “Il Ponte” Meloni when she visits Washington next week?
Europe's savers and spenders should get a break now. But the volatility of it all has our own Magnus Lund Nielsen wondering: is it now or never for Eurobonds?
“GroKo” is go-go
Another big news this week came from Germany: Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats have completed their coalition agreement with the Social Democrats.
That means Merz is set to become chancellor at the start of May. But his party will not be celebrating after the far-right AfD topped a major poll this week.
There is much to be said about what this deal means for the EU. Three important readings landed on my desk from Berlin this week:
Nick Alipour told you he saw the white smoke before anyone else in the English-language media, then told us about a coalition agreement notable for its modest ambitions, including for Europe.
Bryn Stole talks about who is up for the top jobs and what new faces we'll have to get used to here in Brussels.
And Matt Karnichnig asked a question we will no doubt tire of asking as Olaf Scholz's limping government limps on for another month: What is Germany waiting for?
European crisis response experts
Trump still expects Europe to eventually deploy a peacekeeping force to Ukraine. But as our chief diplomatic correspondent has learned, it will not be the boots of the EU's emerging crisis response force.
The bloc is building a 5,000-strong “rapid response capability,” a force that is on exercise this week. While it won't be heading to Ukraine anytime soon – for a variety of reasons – it's possible that one day it will be deployed to keep shipping lanes open in the Red Sea. Or to rid the Panama Canal of a MAGA volunteer brigade – who knows?
Alexandra Brzozowski filed the request from a military plane somewhere over central Hungary, where she was flying – escorted by a French Mirage fighter – to watch troops training. Her job is tough, but someone has to cover for her.
Read more.
This time Fico really succeeded.
I know it is not up to me to decide… but it would be possible to ascribe a few unpleasant epithets to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico without slander.
A Putin lover, a democratic apostate and – this week – a bear killer.
Two weeks ago, a man in his 50s was fatally shot by a grumpy grizzly. Fico's hyperbolic response was to order hundreds of bears killed – while doing nothing at all to stop the survivors from eating other forest dwellers.
Environmentalists are furious. Fico, as always, is going against EU law over the plan. Natalia Silenska in Bratislava explains it all.
Read more.
White gold
On a sunny evening last week, in a country restaurant in the Flemish hinterland, the waiter offered me three signature dishes: ” asperges, asperges, en asperges .”
I chose asperges – white asparagus, of course. But such luxuries are a spring staple for almost Belgian assistant editors. Apparently many Germans are not so lucky.
Jeremiah Lin has a fascinating article about why the Germans' favorite vegetable is so expensive, and why everyone except Merz will soon have to swap white for green.
Read more.
(bts)
Source: Source
