Newsletter
Newsletter
EUROPE
EU to ban internal combustion engine cars from 2035: Member states gave their final approval to a regulation that will ban the sale of carbon-emitting cars and vans after 2035. The vote ensures that currently dominant combustion engine technology will be replaced mainly with electric vehicles in the coming decades, slashing the carbon footprint of Europe’s roads. Under the regulation, new cars must achieve 55% CO2 emission reductions from 2030 to 2034 compared to 2021, while vans must achieve a 50% reduction. The controversial regulation was scheduled to be formally approved by members of the EU Parliament in February but was postponed after several member states, including the EU’s most populous nation, Germany, signalled that they would no longer support the regulation. euractiv.com
EU to boost charging infrastructure for clean vehicles: The EU Parliament and EU ministers reached a provisional agreement on the Alternative Fuels and Infrastructure Regulation, a key part of the EU’s so-called Fit for 55 climate laws package. Under the agreement, charging stations for electric cars will be placed every 60 km along the EU’s main highways by 2026. Higher-powered chargers for trucks and buses must be rolled out on at least half of the EU’s core network every 120 km by 2028, while hydrogen refuelling stations will be installed at least every 200 km by 2031. euractiv.com
Nuclear row threatens EU deal on renewable energy goals: EU countries are split over whether to allow nuclear energy to contribute to meeting their renewable energy targets, a dispute threatening to delay one of the EU’s main climate policies. Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament hold their final scheduled round of negotiations this Wednesday, to set more ambitious EU goals to expand renewable energy this decade. reuters.com
EU extends its voluntary 15% gas reduction plan: The Council of the EU reached a political agreement on a proposal to extend the member states’ voluntary 15% gas demand reduction target, for one year. The regulation maintains the possibility for the Council to trigger a ‘Union alert’ on security of supply, in which case the gas demand reduction would become mandatory. The unprecedented plan was agreed last summer at the peak of the energy crisis, when gas prices were on a seemingly unstoppable upward trend and the Kremlin was actively manipulating pipeline flows. consilium.europa.eu, euronews.com
European lawmakers back tighter screening of migrants: The new rules seek to speed up the return of migrants who entered Europe without permission and to prevent these migrants from travelling to other countries within Europe. With Tuesday’s vote in the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, the EU inched closer to completion of the Migration and Asylum Pact. The pact is expected to be adopted before the end of Parliament’s term in 2024, and has yet to be scrutinized by EU member states. politico.eu
Russia deploys nuclear weapons in Belarus, West reacts calmly: Russian President Vladimir Putin said the move would not violate nuclear non-proliferation agreements and compared it to the US stationing its weapons in Europe. The US said it did not believe Russia was preparing to use the nuclear weapons after the announcement. „We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture,“ the US Defense Department said in a statement. A top security adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia’s plans are a „step towards internal destabilisation“ of Belarus and predicted anti-Russian sentiment in the country would grow. „The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage,“ Oleksiy Danilov wrote on Twitter. bbc.com
- Belarus accuses Poland of causing long delays at EU border. reuters.com
- Poland detains man for spying for Russia. apnews.com
- Hungarian parliament approves Finland’s bid to join NATO. pbs.org
- Hungary says it would not arrest Putin if he entered the country. cnn.com
EU Commission threatens withdrawal of arms procurement fund proposal: The Commission is mulling a possible withdrawal of its proposal for a €500 million short-term joint defence procurement incentive for Ukraine, citing delayed negotiations and a lack of legal ground, „Euractiv“ reported. The initiative was proposed by the EU executive in July and seeks to incentivise urgent joint procurement of weapons for Ukraine while ramping up the European defence industry, prioritising investment in Europe over third-country participation. euractiv.com
- EU leaders endorse joint ammo purchases for Ukraine. apnews.com
- Lavrov spokesperson accuses EU of abusing Ukrainian children – Brussels reacts: Moscow wants to divert attention from itself“ with „most absurd statements“. fr.de
- France to double munitions supplies to Ukraine. reuters.com
- Slovak opposition files criminal charges over MiG fighter jet transfer to Ukraine. zdf.de
- Charles Michel says Moldova has EU’s full support following pro-Russian protests in Chisinau. euronews.com
- Moldova holds military drills with NATO countries.
- French National Assembly classifies „Holodomor“ as genocide.
- Russian hackers strike French National Assembly website. politico.eu
EU agrees on anti-coercion instrument to fight foreign interference: Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states agreed on a common text for an anti-coercion instrument to help the bloc fight off attempts of economic coercion from third countries. The instrument enables the EU to take countermeasures like import tariffs, trade restrictions, or public procurement measures against third countries that try to pressure EU member states or institutions to do their bidding. euractiv.com
Commissioner: Von der Leyen not involved in vaccine contract talks: EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides insisted EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen didn’t have any role whatsoever in negotiating COVID vaccine contracts, during a heated hearing before the European Parliament’s Special Committee on COVID-19 on Monday. Following revelations by the „New York Times“ in April 2021, von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla came under suspicion of having directly negotiated a €1.8 billion contract extension for additional doses to EU countries via text messages. euractiv.com
After Credit Suisse’s demise: EU leaders insist eurozone is ‚resilient‘ and ‚in good shape‘ euronews.com
Climate: EU plans to cut CO2 emissions from ships by 2050 tagesschau.de
UN 2023 Water Conference: Humanity’s survival depends on finding new ways to manage water, says UN chief euronews.com
Fighting money laundering: EU Parliament wants to further lower cash limit faz.net
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Ukrainian refugees are becoming key witnesses that the imperialism of Russian President Vladimir Putin is an aberration and doesn’t belong in the 21st century. tagesschau.de
NATION
Clashes during protests against French pension reform: Hundreds of thousands of people took part in street protests and strikes across France as demonstrations continue over President Emmanuel Macron’s use of constitutional executive powers to push through an unpopular raise of the pension age. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said 13,000 police had been deployed, 5,500 of them in Paris alone. Black-clad groups set fire to garbage cans and threw projectiles at police in Paris, who charged at them and threw teargas. Clashes also erupted on Tuesday at similar rallies in other cities including Rennes, Bordeaux and Toulouse, with a bank branch and cars set ablaze in Nantes. theguardian.com, reuters.com
- Rolling strikes in the transport, aviation and energy sectors continued to disrupt travel.
- Paris trash collectors to suspend strike this Wednesday.
Turkey protests hosting of Syria Kurds in France: Turkey’s foreign ministry summoned the French ambassador to strongly condemn the French senate’s decision to host Syrian Kurdish groups that Ankara considers to be terrorists, the Turkish state-run news agency reported Monday. Pierre Laurent, vice-president of the French Senate, announced on Twitter Saturday that he hosted a delegation from northeast Syria last week to discuss the situation in the region. apnews.com
Two dead in knife attack at Islamic centre in Lisbon: An attacker armed with a knife killed two women on Tuesday at an Islamic centre in the Portuguese capital Lisbon before being shot and wounded by police, authorities said. Prime Minister Antonio Costa said it was premature to make any interpretation of this criminal act. „Everything points to this being an isolated incident,“ he told reporters. france24.com
Belgian police arrest eight people on suspicion of terrorism: Police officers in Belgium have arrested eight people during counterterrorism raids across the country as part of operations aimed at thwarting possible attacks, the federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday. Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that the Brussels and Antwerp cases initially focused on two young adults suspected of violent radicalism and that investigations revealed links between the two, with potentially dangerous individuals gravitating in their entourage. apnews.com
Britain raises domestic threat level for Northern Ireland: The terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland has been raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. The move, based on an MI5 intelligence assessment, follows a rise in dissident republican activity, including a recent gun attack on a police officer. An off-duty officer was left seriously injured last month following a gun attack that police said was carried out by the new IRA, a much smaller group than the Irish Republican Army, which disarmed following the Good Friday accord. bbc.com, reuters.com
Humza Yousaf elected as new Scottish leader: SNP leader Humza Yousaf has been voted in by MSPs as Scotland’s youngest First Minister and the first from a minority ethnic background. The 37-year-old succeeds Nicola Sturgeon, who formally tendered her resignation to the King on Tuesday morning after announcing her intention to stand down last month after more than eight years in the post. bloomberg.com
- Kate Forbes to quit Scottish government after leadership defeat. ft.com
Hundreds of refugees reach Italian coast in fishing boat: The 30-metre long and overloaded boat arrived in the southern town of Roccella Ionica, the Ansa news agency reported. According to the report, the people had set off from Libya and had been travelling for five days. The occupants were all men from Syria, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh. Thousands of refugees also arrived in Italy last weekend. Numerous others died in the attempt or are missing because their boats capsized. zeit.de
UN says EU aided and abetted crimes in Libya: Brussels insisted on Tuesday that it is not handing „physical money“ to Libyan entities after a UN fact-finding mission found that the EU „aided and abetted“ the commission of crimes against migrants in the conflict-torn country. The UN report released on Monday and based on hundreds of interviews conducted over a three-year fact-finding mission concluded that there is evidence that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants stuck in the country. euronews.com
- EU Commission will listen to Libyan version of Ocean Viking incident. euractiv.com
Germany and the Netherlands to cooperate more closely on energy and defence: In view of a commitment made for the acceleration of the rollout of offshore wind, the two countries will jointly develop a regional vision for the necessary offshore grid development including hybrid interconnection projects. The two governments are also – together with TenneT – in the process of exploring and negotiating a potential full sale/acquisition of TenneT Germany (onshore and offshore). bundesregierung.de
- Punishment for Putin’s war crimes: Germany and the Netherlands are considering their own tribunal. rnd.de
Catalan separatist MEP Clara Ponsatí released after arrest in Spain: Clara Ponsatí, a Catalan separatist and MEP, was released after being detained for several hours Tuesday in Barcelona, following years of evading an arrest warrant from the Spanish Supreme Court over a failed independence push. Ponsatí immediately challenged the legality of her arrest. Local media later reported that she was released, but was told to attend a hearing on April 24. politico.eu
Portugal abolishes VAT on basic food products spiegel.de
Greeks to vote in parliamentary elections in May as PM’s popularity slides reuters.com
Austria: Chancellor rejects speculation about early elections rnd.de
Finnish leadership condemns attack on veteran lawmaker washingtonpost.com
The era of ‘mega forest fires’ has begun in Spain: Is climate change to blame? euronews.com
Croatia lifts air borders for Schengen zone countries euronews.com
NUMBERS
Women are deciding to have children at an increasingly advanced age, according to 2021 statistics published by Eurostat. Female EU citizens were on average 29.7 years old when giving birth to their first child. This figure has risen consistently since 2013 when the average age of a first-time mother was 28.8. brusselstimes.com
AT LAST
Matt Hancock asked for £1,500-an-hour to work for fake company: Two top Tory MPs unwittingly asked to be paid £10,000 a day to work for a fake company, according to an investigation. Former UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng also agreed to work for ‘£10,000 a day’ for the phoney firm in February. Matt Hancock, meanwhile, asked for £1,500 an hour to act as a consultant for a mock South Korean company set up by Led by Donkeys the following month. metro.co.uk