EU’s flagship nature laws in jeopardy: The EU is facing a cliffhanger vote next month that will test its global climate and environmental credentials, after the EU Parliament was again deadlocked on pushing a nature restoration bill onwards. The legislature’s environment committee emerged deadlocked at 44-44 on the plan to beef up the restoration of nature. The centre-right European People’s party (EPP) is calling for a delay until a “solid impact assessment” on the consequences for food production and biodiversity in farming. apnews.com, theguardian.com

• European airlines accused of greenwashing. airwaysmag.com
• Spanish weather service sounds alarm over heatwave. reuters.com
• Millions of homes in France barely habitable in the heat. spiegel.de
• Poland plans new mega airport in Warsaw, rails at green ‘hypocrisy’. euractiv.com

EU auditors see 2030 climate and energy targets at risk: The European Union’s auditing agency warned Monday that there might not be sufficient financing available to meet the bloc’s ambitious climate targets. The auditors also found a lack of transparency regarding the way EU member states reached their national binding targets through flexible arrangements: some EU countries did not contribute as expected and used other means to achieve their targets, such as buying emissions allocations or renewable energy shares from other member states that had exceeded their targets. apnews.com, eca.europa.eu

Paris climate finance summit delivers few results: Developing nations called for a “transformation” of the world’s financial system at French President Emmanuel Macron’s Summit for a New Global Financing Pact. Western countries offered tweaks. However, the two-day summit — which sought to turbocharge reform efforts aimed at unlocking the trillions of dollars required to tackle climate change — did deliver a sense of growing momentum. politico.eu

No majority for reforms for 2024 European Parliament election: There has been no agreement among EU countries on the European Parliament’s proposals on how to revamp the European elections before voters go to the ballot boxes a year from now. As expected, most member states have remained sceptical about the proposals to introduce transnational lists in the European elections, under which the most successful European political family get to choose the next EU Commission president. euobserver.com

New trade deal between EU and New Zealand: The free trade agreement will liberalise and facilitate trade and investment, as well as promote a closer economic relationship, which will open significant economic opportunities for companies and consumers on both sides. The EU is New Zealand’s third-biggest trade partner. Bilateral trade in goods between the two partners has risen steadily in recent years, reaching almost €9,1bn in 2022. consilium.europa.eu

ECB likely to hike rates in July, says Lagarde: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the bank would likely raise interest rates in July and keep them high for some time, signalling that the ECB still has a way to go to tame high inflation. Speaking at the ECB’s annual conference in Portugal, Lagarde warned that recent economic shocks were still working their way through Europe’s economy, “making the decline in inflation slower and the inflation process more persistent.” wsj.com

Prigozhin arrives in Belarus: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed on Tuesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the mercenary Wagner Group, has arrived in Belarus after a short-lived armed mutiny in Russia. Lukashenko also said that the rebellion was the result of a breakdown in relations between Wagner and the Russian army. Earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to his army, which he said had prevented a „civil war“ during last weekend’s Wagner uprising. euronews.com

• Poland’s President Andrzej Duda worried about the transfer of the „Wagners“ to Belarus.
• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban: Ukraine no longer sovereign state.
• Meeting of EU foreign ministers: „Putin should turn back – like Prigozhin“. tagesschau.de
• For Ukraine and other countries: EU increases funding for arms deliveries. zdf.de
• Informal peace meeting held in Copenhagen. spiegel.de

Baerbock urges South Africa to help end war in Ukraine: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the short-lived uprising in Russia makes it clear once again that Russia’s illegal war of aggression is not just an attack on Ukraine but that Putin is destroying his own country. Russia’s war in Ukraine played a central role in Baerbock’s meeting with her South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, in Pretoria. Though the ministers both stressed the importance of the relations between their two countries, differences about their stances on the war were clear. dw.com

• Czechs supply Ukraine with weapons. n-tv.de
• Latvia suspends new visas for Russians. kyivpost.com
• Swiss say dozens of Russian spies disguised as diplomats are active in the Alpine nation. abcnews.go.com

Germany ready to put 4,000 soldiers permanently in Lithuania: Germany is preparing to permanently deploy 4,000 soldiers to Lithuania, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Monday in Vilnius. Infrastructure and training facilities need to be constructed, but Pistorius said that Berlin would be putting a “robust brigade” in the Baltic country. politico.eu

Zalando sues EU Commission over online content rules: Europe’s biggest online fashion retailer has made the first legal challenge to new EU content rules, suing the European Commission for putting it in the same category as Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms. Zalando contested the labelling methodology and took its case to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union. The company said the EU Commission had failed to take into account the hybrid nature of its business model and the fact it does not present a systemic risk of disseminating harmful or illegal content from third parties. reuters.com

Council gives final green light to creation of EU drugs agency: The Council of the EU adopted a legislative act which will replace the existing European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) with a European Union Drugs Agency. The agency will play a key role in the EU’s response to new health and security challenges posed by illicit drugs. The regulation will also strenghthen the role of the agency in the area of international cooperation. It tasks the agency to actively seek cooperation with international organisations. The agency will also be able to involve third countries in its work. consilium.europa.eu

Tunisia pact a blueprint for new deals: The EU should make its recently-agreed ‘cash for migrant control’ deal with Tunisia a model for similar deals with other countries, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a letter to EU leaders ahead of a Brussels summit on Thursday. “Our aim should be for our current initiative with Tunisia to act as a blueprint for similar partnerships in the future,” wrote Von der Leyen, adding that the Commission will seek new comprehensive partnerships with third countries. euractiv.com