⊂ EUROPE ⊃
Scholz appointed as Germany’s new chancellor: Olaf Scholz has been sworn in as Germany’s new Chancellor on Wednesday, bringing to an end Angela Merkel’s four terms at the helm of Europe’s largest economy. Scholz won the secret vote in the parliament as expected, a culmination of months of negotiations following the SPD’s narrow victory in September’s federal elections. Following the ceremonial protocols, Scholz went to see German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who officially appointed him as the country’s new Chancellor. He was then sworn in at the Parliament.
cnn.com
Foreign leaders congratulate Scholz: From China, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang offered their congratulations to Scholz in a phone call. Chinese state television reported that Xi had called for an expansion in cooperation between their two countries to take relations „to a new level.“ Xi described China and Germany as „strategic partners“ who treated each other with mutual respect, while setting their differences aside, the report said. Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer also congratulated Scholz. The Austrian chancellor, who has only been in office since Monday, wrote on Twitter that he was looking forward to „our cooperation to further deepen the close relations between Austria and Germany“. Russia said it hopes for dialogue with the new German government.
dpa-international.com, zeit.de, tagesschau.de
Inaugural trips: Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz will already be embarking on a series of inaugural visits across Europe, accompanied by his foreign minister, Green co-leader Annalena Baerbock.
euractiv.com
EU Commission presents new tool to deter trade wars: The European Commission proposed a powerful new trade instrument on Wednesday that would give it more leeway to impose sanctions on third countries. The Commission put forward what it called an “anti-coercion instrument” relating to what it views as unfair trade pressure, arguing that new tools were necessary because of the “weaponisation of trade for other geopolitical purposes.” The proposed measures would give the commission wide-ranging powers to impose punitive sanctions on individuals, companies and countries. The proposal includes tariffs and quotas; the restriction of intellectual property rights; and limiting access to the bloc’s financial markets, public procurement and EU-funded research programmes.
euractiv.com, nytimes.com
- Tariff barriers: EU assures Lithuania of support in dispute with China handelsblatt.com
- Don’t suffocate recovery with austerity policies, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva warns Europe euronews.com
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EU police cooperation: Plans are underway for European police to work together more efficiently in order to fight criminal networks that are increasingly operating on a transnational level. The European Commission says that the pandemic has exposed the loopholes in cross-border police cooperation, with criminal networks often better organised than the police and the systems they have in place. Information exchange will be key to the new system, with the establishment of a central router where national databases will be harmonised in one database, replacing the many bilateral connections.
euronews.com
Khashoggi: French prosecutors have released a Saudi man held in connection with Jamal Khashoggi’s murder after concluding he was a victim of mistaken identity. bbc.com
Putin rejects accusation of planned invasion of Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin has reacted with displeasure to „provocative“ insinuations following his summit with US President Joe Biden. Russia is a „peace-loving state“, Putin said at a press conference in Sochi. It was therefore a „provocative question“ whether Russia would invade Ukraine. Putin described his negotiations with Biden as „open, factual and constructive“ – with the possibility of continuing the dialogue. The US said it is preparing „strong economic and other measures“ over fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden said, however, that he was not considering unilaterally sending US troops to Ukraine.
tagesspiegel.de, bbc.com, nbcnews.com
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: „I congratulate Olaf Scholz and the new German government on the start of their work! I am ready to work together on restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity, developing the energy partnership and our EU/NATO integration.“ twitter.com
- Scholz: „We have a very clear position: we want the inviolability of borders to be respected by everyone.“ faz.net
- UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss: “Together we will send a clear message that any incursion by Russia into Ukraine would be a strategic mistake. As President Biden said, there would be ‘very real costs’ to pay.“ independent.co.uk
- Why Turkey sells weapons to Kyiv sueddeutsche.de
Dyson loses EU case for £150m damages over vacuum cleaner labelling rules: Dyson has said it will appeal against a decision by an EU court after losing a legal battle for £150 million in damages over alleged losses due to energy labelling rules.
independent.co.uk
Olympic boycott: EU Parliament Vice-President Nicola Beer in favour of total boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics spiegel.de
Iranian nuclear programme: Tense nuclear talks with Iran to resume Thursday in Vienna abcnews.go.com
Brexit: Poll shows Anglo-French antipathy on rise amid post-Brexit bickering theguardian.com
Pandora Papers: Europol identifying leads to target organised crime dw.com
Digital Services Act: DSA parliamentary agreement set to hold in key committee vote euractiv.com
European Central Bank: Schnabel reaffirms ECB guidance for no hike while buying bonds bloomberg.com
⊂ QUOTE OF THE DAY ⊃
„Indeed, Greece has announced and is already implementing an ambitious plan to move away from lignite coal.“
Greece is transitioning away from coal, but investments in natural gas are “rational and unavoidable” because they are needed to support renewable energy, Alexandra Sdoukou, Secretary General for Energy at the Greek Ministry of Environment, told “Euractiv”.
euractiv.com
⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃
French minister resigns after being found guilty of hiding assets: French government minister delegate Alain Griset resigned Wednesday after a Paris court handed him a six-month suspended prison sentence and a three-year ineligibility sentence for failing to declare part of his assets and interests to the French authorities.
politico.eu
Fidesz politician resigns from state secretary post after allegations of graft: Following bribery allegations, Pál Völner has resigned as justice state secretary despite proclaiming innocence, Telex reported. On Tuesday, the Prosecutor General had initiated the suspension of the immunity of the Fidesz lawmaker and justice secretary of state, working under Justice Minister Judit Varga. Völner is accused of having received sums between €5,400 and €13,600 in return for looking at specific cases put forward by the president of the Hungarian Court Bailiff’s Chamber who executes claims appearing in court decisions.
euractiv.com
Poland says another migrant found dead near Belarus border: Polish soldiers found a body of a migrant in the border region with Belarus, a police spokesperson said Wednesday. The Czech government has approved the deployment of up to 150 soldiers to help Poland stop migrants entering from Belarus, amid on ongoing crisis on the EU’s eastern flank that the West has accused Minsk of orchestrating.
dw.com, rferl.org
Weekly Covid cases dip in Europe after weeks of gains: The World Health Organisation’s European region has recorded a slight drop in both COVID-19 cases and deaths last week after facing a string of weekly increases. The WHO said the weekly number of new cases in its 53-country European region fell 2% to more than 2.6 million new cases reported over the last week — with Germany and Britain recording the most — and 29,000 new deaths over the period — a decline of 3% from the previous week.
abcnews.go.com
- Denmark tightens up as Omicron spreads ‘extremely fast’ politico.eu
- Sanna Marin: Finland’s PM sorry for clubbing after Covid contact bbc.com
- Sweden is suddenly a Covid champion sueddeutsche.de
Greece: Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne started a European tour in Athens on Wednesday apnews.com
France: President Emmanuel Macron warns far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour against „manipulation“ of history theguardian.com
Burnt-out cathedral: Dispute over redesign of Paris Notre-Dame deutschlandfunk.de
Belgium: Deliveroo wins court battle on riders’ status euractiv.com
Malta: Family of murdered journalist ask EU not to fund gas pipeline linked to suspect euractiv.com
⊂ POLITJOBS ⊃
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⊂ LAST BUT NOT LEAST ⊃
Germany: Major nationwide raids target human smuggling ring: German authorities on Wednesday raided several premises allegedly linked to a suspected people-smuggling network, a police spokesperson said. The raids were linked to around 20 people suspected of organised crime, including forging official documents, human trafficking and illegal employment, according to the police. A network of temporary employment agencies in the Balkans and in Germany allegedly brought workers from non-EU countries, forged identity documents for them and placed them in large German logistics companies, the police statement said.
dw.com