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In today’s news from the Capitals:
The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is looking at a chance to regain an upper hand in the European Council in Sunday’s Swedish elections, where its majority may depend on cooperation with the “normalised” far-right Swedish Democrats. Read more.
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EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS
Commission to introduce cyber requirements for Internet of Things products. The proposal for a Cyber Resilience Act presented next week will mandate baseline cybersecurity standards for all connected devices and stricter conformity assessment procedures for critical products, according to a draft seen by EURACTIV. Read more.
EU plans ‘revenue cap’ on power firms, mandatory electricity savings at peak hours. A draft EU law for the first time introduces obligatory demand reduction targets for electricity consumption and places “a revenue limit” on power companies making windfall profits from the energy crisis, according to a leaked proposal seen by EURACTIV. Read more.
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EDITOR’S TAKE
Feeding a snake that will bite us. EURACTIV’s poll this week showed that most of our readers believe that a new trend of the EU centre-right (EPP) joining coalitions with far-right parties will ultimately result in the EPP adopting more extreme positions. Read the poll.
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VIENNA
Austria’s conservatives aim to exclude asylum seekers from climate bonuses. Conservatives want to change the law to prevent asylum seekers from being eligible to receive climate bonuses, a position that their Green coalition partner rejects. Read more.
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BERLIN
Share of German homes built with gas heating more than halved within two years. The share of German houses built with gas heating dropped by nine percentage points in the first half of this year, although Russia’s war on Ukraine did not accelerate the downwards trend. Read more.
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PARIS
EU institutions, Macron consider ‘social issues secondary’, says leading French trade unionist. Trade union leader Philippe Martinez calls for a European campaign for higher wages because for President Emmanuel Macron and the EU, it is “the market that comes first” and “social issues are secondary.” Read more.
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BRUSSELS
Price cap on Russian gas ‘insufficient’ for Belgium. Belgian Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten called for a “more decisive” EU approach to the energy crisis, saying on Thursday that Belgium will not be satisfied with a price cap for Russian gas only. Read more.
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THE HAGUE
Dutch leaders pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Dutch leaders have paid their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
HELSINKI
National Coalition Party extends its lead in Finland. The liberal-conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) has kept its leading position in the new poll and has widened the gap with the Social Democratic Party. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
ATHENS
Greece opposes Commission’s Russian gas price cap. The centre-right New Democracy government (EPP) will not support the European Commission’s proposal to cap Russian gas prices, a spokesperson said on Thursday. Read more.
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MADRID
Spanish Labour Minister suggests controlling prices of ‘basic food basket’. Spanish Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz (Unidas Podemos/GUE/NGL) will meet with the country’s large food distributors and consumer associations to discuss a proposal to limit the prices of some twenty or thirty articles of the ‘basic food basket’. Read more.
VISEGRAD
WARSAW
EPP: Polish plans for German war reparations resolution ‘contradictory’. The centre-right of the European Parliament has not received a draft of the conservative ECR’s plan to table a resolution concerning German WWII war reparations to Poland and finds the move “contradictory”, EURACTIV.pl has learned. Read more.
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BUDAPEST
Hungarian government to order 25% cut in gas usage at public institutions. The Hungarian executive will order a 25% reduction in gas usage at public institutions and supports keeping temperatures at 18 degrees Celsius in winter, except in hospitals and residential care institutions, the government announced on Thursday. Read more.
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PRAGUE
Czech minister calls for pressure on Turkey over migration. Pressure on Turkey must be exerted over the rising number of Syrian refugees coming to the EU from this country in the past months, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan said. Read more.
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BRATISLAVA
Slovak ice-hockey federation goes soft on Putin´s league. Slovak ice-hockey federation has decided that it will not ban players with contracts in Russia from playing for the national team, unlike its Czech counterpart. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
Bulgarian president lobbies Lukoil to lower fuel prices. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev hosted a meeting between representatives of his caretaker government and the head of Lukoil Bulgaria, Vadim Vorobyov, on Thursday, where fuel prices were discussed. At the same time, the Russian company expressed concern over the European embargo on Russian oil. Read more.
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ZAGREB
Croatia unveils plan to cap energy and food prices. The Croatian government presented on Thursday a crisis package for citizens and businesses, including a cap on prices of food staples and energy, calling it “strong, just, and comprehensive.” Read more.
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LJUBLJANA
Record expenditure planned in Slovenia’s revised budget. The Slovenian government has adopted a revised budget for 2022 as it increased revenue by about a billion euros to €12.54 billion and expenditure by around €600 million to a record €14.6 billion. Read more.
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BELGRADE
Lajčak, Ploetner, Bonne to boost momentum in Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. EU mediator Miroslav Lajcak and envoys of Berlin and Paris, Jens Ploetner and Emmanuel Bonne, are setting off on a visit to Pristina and Belgrade on Friday to “boost the momentum in the dialogue, generated by the agreement on personal documents.” Read more.
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TIRANA
Albania announces energy-saving measures and higher costs for big users. The Albanian government introduced its energy savings measures on Thursday, which include an 800 Kilowatt-hour (Kwh) limit per month for families who want to avoid paying a higher rate for electricity. Read more.
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Agenda
- EU: Eurogroup, Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Budget and Administration Commissioner Johannes Hahn participate
- Energy Council meeting, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson participates
- Informal ECOFIN meeting, Financial stability and Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness participates and meets German Finance Minister Christian Lindner
- Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson meets Finnish PM Sanna Marin
- EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell visits MozambiqueEuropean Parliament President Roberta Metsola visits Cyprus
- European Parliament pre-session briefing
- Germany: Chancellor Scholz meets with European Council President Charles Michel in Berlin, followed by a joint press conference.
- Serbia: Hungarian President Katalin Novak visiting Serbia.
- Kosovo/Serbia: EU special envoy for dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo Miroslav Lajčak and special advisors of the French president and the German chancellor, Emmanuel Bonne and Jens Ploetner respectively, visiting Pristina and Belgrade.
- Pakistan: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visits
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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
