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In today’s news from the Capitals:
Turkey’s move to pressure Sweden and Finland into extraditing alleged “terrorists” they harbour is a method Ankara used for several years against countries in the Western Balkans, including EU candidate countries, under the idle gaze of Brussels.
While Turkey wields investment and aid as a sword of Damocles over the heads of poorer, less powerful countries, when it comes to the Nordic duo, it is their NATO application filed in May that hangs in the balance.
Meanwhile, the similarities between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, particularly in terms of “crude blackmail tactics” are being noted, as is the need to protect EU borders from revisionist and violent threats from whichever neighbour. Read more.
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BERLIN
German rail overcrowded after €9 ticket launch. Germany’s trains and railway stations were plagued with crowds following the launch on 1 June of the €9 universal travel pass meant to help consumers battle rising prices. Read more.
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PARIS
‘Submission to Russia’: Macron slams challengers ahead of June elections. French President Emmanuel Macron criticised his opponents, leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon and far-right Marine Le Pen, labelling their political projects as being about “disorder and submission,” in his first press interview since his re-election on Friday. Read more.
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VIENNA
Austria releases oil stocks after refinery malfunction. A technical issue at oil giant OMV’s Schwechat refinery on Saturday forced the government to release strategic gasoline stocks while OMV considers what to do about its investments in Russia. Read more.
UK AND IRELAND
DUBLIN
War paves way for new EU ‘defence format’, Ukraine’s deputy PM says. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna has called for an ambitious agenda that could include “a new security and defence policy of the EU”. Read more.
NORDICS AND BALTICS
STOCKHOLM
Erdogan wants Swedish PM to fire defence minister. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson should dismiss Defence Minister Peter Hullqvist, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the newspaper Expressen reported on Saturday. Read more.
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HELSINKI
Finnish government lends helping hand to transport companies. According to a proposal for a new temporary act announced by the government on Friday, a fixed-term fuel subsidy could be given to transport companies struggling with rising fuel prices. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
ROME
Italy’s ruling parties divided over minimum wage. Ruling parties are divided over introducing a statutory minimum wage in response to rising inflation as negotiations on the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages enter the final round. Read more.
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MADRID
Spain to welcome 2,000 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova. Spain is willing to accommodate 2,000 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said during a visit to Chişinău. Read more.
VISEGRAD
BRATISLAVA
Slovak refiner Slovnaft warns of impending fuel shortage in Central Europe. Slovak oil refiner Slovnaft says it cannot guarantee fuel supplies to its traditional export destinations in Central Europe under the terms of the EU’s new Russia sanction package, the company has said. Read more.
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PRAGUE
Czech capital demands relocation of refugees to other regions. Even though the number of Ukrainian refugees registering with Czech immigration police or requesting temporary protection is falling, some regions are overburdened. Read more.
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WARSAW
Polish motorists block petrol station in protest of high fuel prices. Protests began in Poland as fuel prices reached historical highs, and experts predict further rises due to the EU oil embargo on Russia, local media report. Read more.
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BUDAPEST
Government bars Hungarian municipalities, SMEs from energy price cap. Municipalities and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) will no longer be able to enjoy the capped utility bills now exclusively available to households, Minister of Economic Development Márton Nagy announced Sunday morning on the public radio. Read more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA | SKOPJE
Sofia condemns burning of Bulgarian cultural centre in North Macedonia. Bulgarian authorities condemned what they have called the deliberate burning of a Bulgarian cultural centre in North Macedonia on Saturday morning. Read more.
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BUCHAREST
Romanian businesses call for country’s ‘total territorial reorganisation’. Romania urgently needs a total territorial reorganisation to reduce budget expenditures, according to the conclusions of the Chamber of Commerce following a work meeting with employers and professional organisations. Read more.
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ZAGREB
Sunken Adriatic platform leaks gas, Greenpeace Croatia warns. A gas rig that sank in the northern Adriatic in 2020 may be leaking gas, possibly methane, Greenpeace Croatia warned over the weekend. Read more.
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BELGRADE
Serbia, Russia agree to gas deal in principle, Lavrov says. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Russian President Vladimir Putin have discussed the terms of gas supply arrangements and reached an agreement in principle, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Bosnian Serb entity TV on Sunday in an interview. Read more.
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EU sanctions fallout: Serbia to stop receiving Russian oil via Adriatic pipeline. Oil company Naftna industrija Srbije (NIS), of which 56.15% of the share capital is owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft, will no longer receive Russian crude oil from the Adriatic oil pipeline JANAF following the EU’s latest set of Russia sanctions, the energy ministry announced Sunday. Read more.
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SARAJEVO
Bosnian Serb leader plans to meet Lavrov, Putin. Secessionist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik plans to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Belgrade on Tuesday and President Vladimir Putin on 17 June in Moscow, istraga.ba reported. Read more.
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TIRANA
Albania elects ex-military chief of staff as president. Bajram Begaj, the former chief of staff of the Armed Forces, will be Albania’s next president – the seventh following the fall of Communism – after 78 MPs voted in his favour Saturday afternoon. Read more.
Agenda
- EU: Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas meets UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Washington.
- European Parliament plenary session begins.
- Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski addresses the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg for the 60th anniversary of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
- European Parliament President Roberta Metsola meets European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.
- Germany: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visits Islamabad.
- Austria: UN nuclear watchdog IAEA holds the quarterly Board of Governors meeting.
- Serbia: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Belgrade.
- Slovenia: Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will be in Slovenia as the first foreign senior official to visit after the new government was sworn in.
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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
