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Russia’s nukes on Poland’s border, Macron and von der Leyen in China, Conservatives win Finland’s election, Italy blocks ChatGPT
European Circle in week 14, 2023
curated by Nina von Schweinitz

EUROPE

Finland officially joins NATO: In a statement, US President Joe Biden praised the addition of Finland to NATO, and pointed out it was the fastest ratification process in NATO’s modern history. „When Putin launched his brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine, he thought he could divide Europe and NATO,“ Biden said. „He was wrong. Today, we are more united than ever.“ German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers‘ meeting in Brussels that the alliance would become stronger with Finland. Other NATO countries as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj also welcomed the accession. Sweden is still waiting to join NATO. Hungary and Turkey – both NATO members – have resisted; Turkey accuses Sweden of harboring Kurdish separatists whom it regards as terrorists. npr.org, auswaertiges-amt.de

  • Czech Republic and Slovakia call on EU to implement sanctions against Russia.
  • First Polish fighter jets arrive in Ukraine.
  • Zelensky to visit Warsaw.

Russia to put nukes near Belarus’ western border: Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed close to Belarus’ borders with NATO neighbours, the Russian ambassador to Belarus said Sunday. Belarus shares a 1,250-kilometre border with NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Ambassador Boris Gryzlov’s comment followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent statement about plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Russia’s neighbor and ally. The announcement marked another attempt by the Russian leader to dangle the nuclear threat to discourage the West from supporting Ukraine. apnews.com

  • British Intelligence notes high levels of alcohol abuse contributing to Russian military losses in war with Ukraine. skynews.com.au

‘Vulkan files’ leak reveals Putin’s global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics: Russian intelligence agencies worked with a Moscow-based defence contractor to strengthen their ability to launch cyberattacks, sow disinformation and surveil sections of the internet, according to thousands of pages of confidential corporate documents. The documents detail a suite of computer programmes and databases that would allow Russia’s intelligence agencies and hacking groups to better find vulnerabilities, coordinate attacks and control online activity. washingtonpost.com

EU and US want to ensure energy security and accelerate green transition: The war in Ukraine and the rise on energy prices it triggered have deepened the EU’s energy relationship with the US. The EU-US Energy Council met in Brussels and discussed, in particular, the outlook for next winter, including the situation in Ukraine and Moldova. Participants discussed how to accelerate decarbonisation through clean-energy technologies and energy savings, while ensuring that the clean-energy transition is socially just. euronews.com

Macron and von der Leyen in China: French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are travelling to China on a three-day visit that begins this Wednesday. The visit will focus on the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and include difficult trade talks, as well as climate-related issues. Macron is expected to warn China against sending arms to Russia and to ask that the country use its influence to help peace efforts. dw.com

Von der Leyen calls for tougher policy on China: Europe needs to be bolder on China, which has become more repressive at home and more assertive abroad, according to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She warned Beijing not to side with Moscow in bringing compromised peace to Ukraine. “We have to recognise that the world and China have changed in the last three years — and we need to reassess CAI in light of our wider China strategy,” she said. politico.eu

Police raid EPP party’s Brussels office in German investigation: Belgian police and German investigators carried out a raid on Tuesday at the headquarters of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) as part of an investigation in Germany. According to German media, the raid was in relation to an ongoing corruption investigation into Mario Voigt, the leader of the Christian Democrats in the German state of Thuringia, over his role in the EPP’s digital election campaign in the 2019 European elections. The investigation centres around allegations that Voigt received kickbacks from an internet company that was awarded a contract during the campaign, a newspaper reported. reuters.com

Britain to join Indo-Pacific trade bloc in biggest trade deal since Brexit: The British government said it will join the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, unlocking access to a region with a total GDP of £11 trillion. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the deal and said it puts the UK at the centre of a dynamic and growing group of Pacific economies. The trade bloc spans Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, among others. The agreement is expected to be formally signed by year end, after final approval from Parliament and the 11 member states. cnbc.com

  • Poll: Britons have more confidence in EU than Westminster. theguardian.com

European court condemns Italy for degrading treatment of migrants in Lampedusa: Refugees from Tunisia had sued because of the conditions on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy must compensate the migrants. Among other things, Italy had violated the ban on inhuman or degrading treatment. The people had been virtually imprisoned without official order or time limit. In addition, their individual situation was not clarified before entry bans were imposed. This was in fact tantamount to a prohibited collective expulsion. zeit.de

EU’s exception from biomass sustainability rules raises eyebrows: The EU’s biomass sustainability rules will apply more loosely in overseas territories like French Guiana to promote economic development there, but the exception inserted in the bloc’s Renewable Energy Directive will lead to increased deforestation, environmentalists say. euractiv.com

Swiss prosecutors probe Credit Suisse ahead of UBS takeover: The Swiss attorney general’s office says it has opened a probe into the events surrounding embattled bank Credit Suisse, which is to be taken over by rival UBS. Switzerland’s government and financial regulators helped engineer the hastily arranged, $3.25 billion agreement that was aimed in part to help calm worries about the global financial system and will leave the country with a single huge global bank. apnews.com

Oil prices surge as OPEC cuts output: Gas prices are expected to jolt upward after Saudi Arabia and other major oil exporters significantly slashed production on Monday, ignoring demands from the White House. The pullback by the oil-producing bloc known as OPEC Plus was framed as a precautionary measure to ensure stability in the energy market and came despite earlier signals that it would make no further reductions this year. As a result, several top investment banks predicted that crude prices could again hit $100 a barrel. washingtonpost.com

Migration: Council of Europe calls on European governments to end pushbacks and prevent ill-treatment of foreign nationals at borders coe.int
European Commission denies President Ursula von der Leyen’s candidacy to lead NATO n-tv.de
Product safety: EU Parliament votes for stricter rules on internet purchases spiegel.de
Gender pay gap: Parliament adopts new rules on binding pay-transparency measures europarl.europa.eu

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

„The EU is ready to respond with further sanctions.“

According to official reports, Russia plans to station nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus by the summer – close to EU member state Poland. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has criticised the move as a threat to Europe. spiegel.de

NATION

Conservatives win tight vote in Finland: Finland’s main conservative party claimed victory in parliamentary elections Sunday in a tight three-way race that saw right-wing populists take second place, leaving Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic Party in third. The centre-right National Coalition Party claimed victory with all of the votes counted, coming out on top at 20.8%. They were followed by right-wing populist party The Finns with 20.1%, while the Social Democrats garnered 19.9%. With the top three parties each getting around 20% of the vote, no party is in position to form a government alone. apnews.com

Former prime minister Borissov wins Bulgaria vote: Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov won Bulgaria’s fifth election in two years, but his failure to secure a majority threatens to extend a political stalemate undermining EU unity over Russia’s war in Ukraine. A bloc led by Borissov’s Gerb party won 26.5%, according to official results with 93.4% of districts counted Monday. The bloc led by the arch-rival We Continue the Change party, led by former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, won 25%. The outcome contradicted earlier exit polls and pre-election surveys that showed Borissov would come in second. bloomberg.com

Montenegro’s new president says country firmly on EU path: Montenegro’s president-elect Jakov Milatovic is pledging to speed up the small country’s bid for membership to the European Union and to adhere to the bloc’s policy line toward Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, Milatovic says he will advocate for stronger ties with Serbia and other Balkan neighbours. apnews.com

France to increase military budget amid Ukraine war: Under France’s new defence budget, military spending is set to increase from €43.9 billion this year to €69 billion by 2030. Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the budget hike was aimed at helping France to respond better against a succession of threats that are all adding up. While speaking about France’s beefed-up defence budget, Lecornu revealed that the age limit for most reservists would be elevated to 70. Where certain specialist skills were needed, he added, it would be even higher. dw.com

  • Macron says France will prepare ‚end of life‘ bill this year. reuters.com
  • At least three people dead in the latest shooting in crime-plagued Marseille. euronews.com

Over 1,000 officers injured during protests against pension reform in France: In an interview with France’s Journal du Dimanche, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said since 16 March, „1093 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters have been injured.“ He added that there have also been „2,579 arson attacks and 316 attacks on public buildings.“ He did not reveal how many protesters have been injured but told the weekly newspaper that 36 officers were being probed on charges of excessive use of force. dw.com

Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters: Parisians have voted to ban rental electric scooters in their city, dealing a blow to scooter operators and a triumph for road safety campaigners. Almost 90% of votes cast on Sunday favoured a ban the battery-powered devices, official results showed. But under 8% of those eligible turned out to vote. bbc.com

Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport to ban night flights and private jets: Schiphol airport has announced plans to scrap all overnight flights by the end of 2025 in reaction to the noise disturbance caused to local residents. The transport hub said the move would significantly reduce the serious nuisance that people living in the area have to deal with. The airport’s authorities have also said they will eliminate all private jet flights that take off and land at Schiphol during certain times in a bid to reduce emissions. Schiphol will also prohibit noisy, outdated aircraft from using the airport. euronews.com

ChatGPT banned in Italy over privacy concerns: The Italian data-protection authority said it would ban and investigate OpenAI with immediate effect. “There appears to be no legal basis underpinning the massive collection and processing of personal data in order to ‘train’ the algorithms on which the platform relies,” the agency said. The Italian regulator also expressed concerns over the lack of age verification for ChatGPT users. It argued that this “exposes children to receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness.” bbc.com, cnn.com

TikTok is fined millions over misusing kids‘ data in the UK: Britain’s data protection authority issued a $15.9 million fine to TikTok, saying the platform had failed to abide by data protection rules intended to safeguard children online. The Information Commissioner’s Office said TikTok had inappropriately allowed up to 1.4 million children under the age of 13 to use the service in 2020, violating British data protection rules that require parental consent for organisations to use children’s personal information. nytimes.com

Former Kosovo president Thaci pleads not guilty to war crimes: Former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci on Monday pleaded innocent to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity as his trial began at a special court in The Hague. Thaci and three co-defendants face 10 charges of persecution, murder, torture and forced disappearance of people during and shortly after the 1998-99 insurgency that eventually brought Kosovo independence from Serbia and made him a hero among many compatriots at home and abroad. reuters.com

Italy again tries to build a bridge to Sicily: Italy’s infrastructure minister Matteo Salvini sought to rally international interest in Italy’s latest attempt to build a bridge linking Sicily to the Italian mainland, a dream since the times of ancient Rome which has been planned, discussed and designed by a succession of Italian governments and never gotten off the ground. Salvini vowed that the 10 billion euro project would create 100,000 jobs, accelerate transportation times, develop two long-neglected parts of southern Italy and result in the biggest public works project in Europe this century. apnews.com

  • Regional elections in Italy: Meloni’s governing alliance continues its victory march. faz.net
  • Italian government wants to ban English words. euronews.com

Burkina Faso expels two French journalists: Burkina Faso’s military junta has expelled two journalists working for French media without reason, said the outlets. Sophie Douce, a French correspondent for Le Monde, and Agnes Faivre, correspondent for Liberation, were given 24 hours to leave the West African country with no explanation, said articles by both newspapers on Sunday. The correspondents were each questioned separately about their work by state security on Friday. apnews.com

Germany: King Charles becomes first British monarch to address German parliament cnn.com
„Housing, a right for all“: Thousands protest in Portugal against housing shortage and rent extortion de.euronews.com
Spain adopts pension reform n-tv.de
Sweden: Police arrest 5 in anti-terror raids against Islamist suspects euronews.com

NUMBERS

EU legislators have agreed on a legally-binding target to raise the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030. euractiv.com

AT LAST

French minister under fire for Playboy magazine cover: French government minister Marlene Schiappa has come under fire from members of her own party after appearing on the front cover of Playboy magazine. Schiappa, who has been a government minister since 2017, appeared on the cover of the magazine to accompany a 12-page interview she did on women’s and LGBT rights. Schiappa, who is the current Minister for the Social Economy and French Associations, was photographed for the cover wearing a white dress. edition.cnn.com