Author: staff
Bayramov added that in order to seal the deal, Armenia must also dissolve the Minsk Group, a 1992 format created under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and co-headed by the U.S., Russia and France to resolve a conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh border region between the two countries. Meeting these demands can take some time, given that amending the constitution requires that a referendum be held. The Armenian PM called for a referendum on new constitution in February. Still, observers hailed the agreement as representing significant progress toward peace. “This is an unprecedented breakthrough in what was deadlocked…
After next week’s meeting, Economy and Finance Minister Éric Lombard and Lecornu are expected to unveil plans that will incentivize banks and private investors to help grow France’s defense sector. When it comes to unlocking capital, the economy ministry’s preferred option is to leverage the Public Investment Bank, or Bpifrance, and the state-funded Caisse des dépôts et consignations, three people with firsthand knowledge of the plans told POLITICO. French life insurance policies, a type of savings product, could also be used to channel funds into the defense industry, they said. “There are several avenues being explored, including strengthening Bpifrance’s instruments,…
EU to invest in critical raw materials processing in South Africa, and transport links to Democratic Republic of Congo, another key source of minerals essential to the energy and digital transitions. The European Commission is launching negotiations on what it hails as a first-of-a-kind Clean Trade and Investment Partnership, president Ursula von der Leyen has announced while on a diplomatic mission to Cape Town.“South Africa has everything to become a global leader,” von der Leyen said on the way into talks with president Cyril Ramaphosa, also attended by EU Council president António Costa.“You have clean energy in abundance from wind…
U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio said earlier of the Jeddah negotiations that “there was talk about territorial concessions,” but did not go into detail. Before the Tuesday meeting with Ukraine, Rubio had said Kyiv would need to cede territory to achieve peace because it doesn’t have the means to push Russian troops back to the country’s borders as they existed in 2014, when irregular Moscow forces first invaded. For Kyiv, which had previously demanded clear security guarantees and even NATO membership in return for a peace deal, agreeing a ceasefire without those conditions amounted to a painful but necessary compromise. “It is…
Belgian judicial authorities sealed two offices of parliamentary assistants on Thursday as part of the latest corruption investigation in the European Parliament. The offices of two parliamentary assistants from the European People’s Party and Renew Europe have been sealed by Belgian judicial authorities amid investigations on alledged bribes from Chinese tech company Huawei to influence EU decision-making. One belongs to the assistants of Marco Falcone (Italy/EPP), Paolo Campisi and Francesco Vasta. The other is the office of Adam Mouchtar, assistant to Nikola Minchev (Bulgaria/Renew Europe). Belgian authorities have accessed the offices of Falcone’s assistants around 17:00 CET, for over an hour. As…
To pass the package of three constitutional amendments, Merz needs to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament. When the newly elected Bundestag convenes March 25, the far-right, pro-Kremlin Alternative for Germany (AfD) and The Left — which opposes increased military spending — are likely to block the amendments. Merz must thus secure the Greens’ backing in the coming days. For them, ongoing negotiations with the CDU/CSU and the SPD present their final chance to secure policy concessions before moving into the opposition. To win the Greens over, Merz pledged that defense spending, of which debt limits above 1 percent of…
Les désaccords entre les deux pays sur des questions brûlantes, telles que les accords de libre-échange, ne disparaîtront probablement pas comme par enchantement, mais leurs responsables affirment qu’il est possible de trouver un terrain d’entente sur de nombreux sujets, en particulier sur le front de la défense. “Il y a eu une modification de leur perception du monde. Et là, pour le coup, on se rapproche vraiment de la nôtre”, commente Sylvain Maillard, député Ensemble pour la République et président du groupe d’amitié France-Allemagne à l’Assemblée nationale. L’effet Trump Merz et Macron avaient déjà probablement tout pour bien s’entendre. Tous…
Strong results from Italy’s Generali Group and British Deliveroo, as well as the declining profit of Hugo Boss, were shaping the European market landscape on Thursday. Italy’s top insurer Generali reported record profits for 2024 as Chief Executive Philippe Donnet prepares to face a key shareholder vote next month over his reappointment. The firm’s operating profit came in at a record €7.3 billion, 8.2% more than the previous year, mainly boosted by the strong performance of the Asset & Wealth Management division. The adjusted net result rose to €3.8bn, an increase of 5.4% and an all-time record for the Group, according…
Tech industry groups have rallied behind the Polish presidency’s proposal to extend the current framework for voluntary detection of child sexual abuse imagery online while safeguarding encrypted communication. Tech companies and platforms are calling on member states who continue in the EU Council to debate a new proposal aimed at combating online child sexual abuse to preserve the voluntary detection of illegal content. This would allow the continued use of technologies like CSAI Match and PhotoDNA, which automatically identify abusive images shared on online platforms.Currently, online companies are permitted to flag illegal images under a temporary exemption from the EU’s e-privacy…
Donald’s Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday night in Moscow as the White House pushes the Kremlin to accept a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine. “The meeting between Witkoff and President Vladimir Putin will take place in a closed format this evening,” Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said in response to a question from Russian state-owned news outlet Izvestia. Talks have ramped up in recent days, as Trump’s team seeks to quell fighting in Ukraine, which Russia launched a full-scale invasion of in February 2022.