Author: staff

Our top priority must be to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. We need to deter the threat Russia poses to all of Europe. Aggressors can never be rewarded. No country should ever be tempted to invade its neighbors. We need to accelerate our support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia. The cooperation between the U.K.-led Interflex and the EU military mission for Ukraine has already been instrumental, training more than 120,000  Ukrainian soldiers between them.  NATO is the cornerstone of collective defense in Europe. | Markku Ulander/Getty Images In parallel, we must boost our defense spending…

The shooting of Paul Flores in Lima on Sunday morning comes amid a surge in violence. Peru’s President Dina Boluarte has declared a state of emergency in the capital Lima, shortly after a well-known singer was shot dead on a bus. The emergency decree, which was announced on Monday and which will last for 30 days, comes amid a surge in extortion attacks and killings. Under the measure, soldiers will be deployed to help police combat crime, and some rights, including the freedom of assembly, will be restricted. People can also be detained without a judicial order. Public outrage grew…

Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy present their guide to the day ahead in British politics. It’s a big day for more than one reason. We know the details of the government’s welfare reforms will finally come this afternoon. Before that, this morning, Kemi Badenoch will say the UK’s target of hitting net zero by 2050 is “impossible”. How will Labour make their arguments in response – and will that be a new test for the Keir Starmer-Ed Miliband dynamic? On welfare, Sam and Anne go through the new details we’ll hear today. And it sounds like changes…

The 1997 Ottawa Treaty has come under increasing pressure because of Moscow’s war on Ukraine, as frontline states are beefing up their borders with Russia. Today’s recommendation makes the withdrawal likely to happen. Earlier this month, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Poland would start taking steps to leave the treaty. The four countries had long mulled a withdrawal and wanted to make a joint, regional decision. It’s a political signal to Moscow rather than the reflection of an immediate military need. “Decisions regarding the Ottawa Convention should be made in solidarity and coordination within the region. At the same…

Death of the Swabian housewife Germany’s puritanical streak when it comes to accruing debt runs deep. After all, the German word for “debt,” Schuld, also means “guilt.” Germany’s debt brake, which restricts the federal deficit to 0.35 percent of GDP, was written into the constitution in 2009 during the reign of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel. Europe was at the time enmeshed in a spiraling debt crisis, and although Germany had the ability to borrow cheaply, Merkel and much of Germany’s political establishment believed it was more important to provide profligate borrowers in southern Europe with a moral paragon. Merkel invoked the frugal “Swabian…

– Zweite Sondersitzung und finale Abstimmung über milliardenschwere Schulden: Wie Merz die Bedenken seiner Fraktion beruhigt und klare Ansagen in Richtung SPD macht.– Im 200-Sekunden-Interview: Die grüne Co-Fraktionschefin Britta Haßelmann über ihre Erwartungen an die heutige Abstimmung.– Macron in Berlin: Was der französische Präsident mit Friedrich Merz besprechen wird und welche Hoffnungen in Paris mit dem voraussichtlich künftigen Kanzler verbunden sind.– Abschied im Atrium: Wie die FDP im Bundestag informell ihren Ausstand feiert.  Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es morgens um 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team bringen euch jeden Morgen auf den neuesten Stand in Sachen Politik…

Firstly, the bloc needs to act now, before a peace deal is negotiated, in order to lock in and protect accountability efforts in Ukraine. And this should include a swift establishment of the proposed Special International Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is the original crime that paved the way for all other international crimes committed in Ukraine. And unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, there’s no international tribunal that can prosecute the crime of aggression — which means an ad hoc tribunal does, indeed, need to be set up. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is the…

The signatory, a business owner who attended a roundtable with a Labour frontbencher ahead of the election, added: “You think you’ve met the people. They’ve looked you in the eye, and said they’re all for growth, these things are really important, and they’ve listened to you. Then the first thing that happens as soon as they come in is it’s the complete opposite.” Small business, big numbers Spying an opening, Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch has been using her weekly questions to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to highlight concerns about Labour’s “jobs tax.”  Meanwhile, Reform MP Richard Tice — deputy to…

“Pushbacks at the Poland-Belarus border are generalized and systemic,” said Egala Advocacy Lead Aleksandra Gulińska. “We continuously come across people in the forest who have been forcibly returned to Belarus by Polish authorities.” Despite such allegations, the European Commission in December allocated €52 million to bolster surveillance and infrastructure along Poland’s eastern border. In announcing the decision, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted that Poland and other border states are on the front lines of “hybrid threats” emanating from Belarus and Russia. Belarus has played a central role in steering migrants toward the European Union, allegedly to destabilize the…

The Israeli military said they fired towards Hamas targets. The strikes come as ceasefire agreement is in limbo. At least 50 Palestinians were killed, including several children, and more than 100 injured after Israel launched extensive airstrikes in Gaza early on Tuesday, Palestinian medics reported. Early Tuesday morning, Israel’s Prime Minister’s office said it instructed the army to strike Hamas across the Gaza strip.The statement said it was because Hamas repeatedly refused to release hostages and its rejection of the offers it received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and mediators. Israel promised to use ‘increasing military force’.Hamas condemned the…