Author: staff

Walter Salles’ ‘Im Still Here’ won Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. Brazilians roared at home and on the streets, where Carnival festivities have been ongoing since Saturday. And now, the ‘I’m Still Here’ house is to be transformed into a film museum… Another award season is over and as to be expected, people are complaining about the Oscars.Yes, there’s no doubt the ceremony is far too long and somthing needs to change for it to feel more palatable for viewers not willing to waste nearly four hours of their time. Host Conan O’Brien even made a joke…

But Vance — who has frequently criticized European leaders and publicly feuded with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last week — brusquely dismissed the suggestion in his Fox interview. Instead he talked up the as-yet-unsigned minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine which would see Kyiv pay 50 percent of the revenues from its state-owned natural resources into a fund that would invest in Ukraine. Trump has argued that having American workers in Ukraine would be enough to stop further encroachments by Russia. The vice president said: “If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually…

He also said France would look into setting up savings funds devoted to defense spending to “mobilize private actors” — but that he didn’t see the need for France’s most popular savings account, the Livret A, to fund arms manufacturers — despite repeated calls from lawmakers to do so.  France’s seven-year military planning law, adopted by parliament in 2023, foresees €413 billion for defense over the 2024-2030 period. This year’s defense budget is €50.5 billion.  In an interview with Le Figaro published over the weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron said that money wasn’t going to be enough to face Europe’s growing…

In a letter to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban obtained by Euronews, European Council President Antonio Costa acknowledged divergences on the path to achieve peace in Ukraine, but touted the need for the EU to contribute ‘strong security guarantees’ for the country. European Council President António Costa acknowledged divergences over the EU’s “peace through strength” approach to Ukraine but said that the bloc should prepare to take place in discussions and will need to contribute to strong security guarantees, in a 3 March letter to Viktor Orbán seen by Euronews.“On Ukraine, we all want to put an end to Russia’s…

British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said on “Good Morning Britain” that her boss Keir Starmer “won’t be derailed by announcements from the White House” because he is “laser-focused on getting peace.” “President Trump is a different politician to me and different to Keir [Starmer], but the one thing I have seen is that our prime minister, Keir, is able to have that constructive dialogue, and he will do that, and he has a huge amount of integrity, and he won’t do it on the airwaves,” she told broadcasters. Frans Timmermans, former EU climate chief and current leader of the…

This clause can be activated when “exceptional circumstances outside the control of the Member State lead to a major impact on the public finances” of a country, according to EU spending rules that were revamped last year. Von der Leyen, however, did not lay out the specific conditions she will attach to prevent rampant spending from highly indebted countries. As part of the plan, she also offered cheap loans for defense to EU countries in a further attempt to mobilize funding. The new instrument will be worth €150 billion and finance EU-wide defense capabilities including artillery, missiles, ammunition, drones and…

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. President Donald Trump has just pulled the plug on US military aid to Ukraine, leaving Sir Keir Starmer and European leaders scrambling to respond. Just yesterday, the prime minister was praised in the House of Commons for his diplomatic efforts. Will he now be forced to rethink his approach? In today’s episode, Sam and Anne unpack the decision, the ripple effects on European defence, and whether Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron can convince Mr Trump to reverse…

The mood music has also shifted in Paris, where a newfound admiration for Starmer has emerged after weeks of doubt over whether the Labour leader, whose party was seen as too close to Joe Biden’s former administration in the U.S., would be able to reboot the special relationship. “[Starmer] is doing a great job,” said a French official. “He was flawless with [Trump in the Oval Office], a very complicated man with polar-opposite values to his, and whose main allies [Elon Musk] were putting pressure and mounted an odious campaign against him.” “And he managed to remain true to himself”…

“Weakening the EU clean car rules rewards laggards and does little for Europe’s car industry except to leave it further behind China on electric vehicles,” William Todts, executive director of green NGO Transport & Environment, said in a statement. An economic slowdown in China is leading to a surge of exports as local EV companies look for new markets, prompting further hand-wringing in the European Union. | Pedro Pardo/Getty Images The amendment is part of the Commission’s broader automotive action plan. Ideas on how to pull the continent’s automakers out of a spiraling crisis brought on by the transition to…

– Sondervermögen: Merz macht Tempo, doch SPD, Linke und Grüne bremsen ihn und die Union offenbar aus.– Im 200-Sekunden-Interview: Maximilian Krah, der umstrittene AfD-Europaparlamentarier, wechselt in den Bundestag. Was will er dort erreichen und wie steht er zur Idee eines Dexit?– Staatliche Förderung: Wie sich die AfD mit den anderen Parteien und dem Bundestagspräsidium voraussichtlich weiter um Zuschüsse zu ihrer Desiderius-Erasmus-Stiftung streiten wird.  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 — kompakt, europäisch, hintergründig. Und für alle Hauptstadt-Profis:Unser Berlin Playbook-Newsletter…