Author: staff

Am zweiten Tag des NATO-Gipfels in Den Haag geht es um die zentralen Streitpunkte: Die Finanzierung der europäischen Sicherheit, das auch von Kanzler Friedrich Merz vorangetriebene 5-Prozent-Ziel, eine gemeinsame Haltung gegenüber den USA und wie die Ukraine bei diesem Gipfel teils zurückstehen muss. Gordon Repinski und Rixa Fürsen analysieren aus Den Haag die Debatten vor Ort und die Machtverhältnisse.Im 200-Sekunden-Interview verteidigt Österreichs Kanzler Christian Stocker die Neutralität seines Landes. Er erklärt, warum sie aus seiner Sicht auch in einem sicherheitspolitisch veränderten Europa nicht zur Disposition steht – und wie Österreich trotzdem Teil der europäischen Verteidigungspolitik ist. Außerdem: Der Abschlussbericht zur…

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While CISAF is the latest of these frameworks, it may not be the last. The Commission can expand its state aid policy objectives virtually indefinitely as long as they serve the Union’s interest, said Adina Claici, an economist at Berkeley research Group and a former official at the competition directorate’s chief economist team.  But the Commission’s latest framework is, as always, a careful balancing act between the desperate need for a Union-wide industrial policy and the rules that form the very basis of its single market.  While the framework aims to simplify and accelerate the approval of support for clean…

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Meanwhile, one of the biggest obstacles to Israel’s efforts to thwart the regime’s nuclear ambitions — its air defenses — was lifted too. Israel’s airstrikes on Iran in October 2024 and the current conflict have given it air dominance over Tehran.Altogether, this is what led to the Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran, which have badly damaged the country’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile program and air defenses. They’ve also shown the Iranian people that the regime’s costly projects could be challenged, potentially laying the groundwork for other forces in Iran to overthrow the ayatollahs. | Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA The Iranian nuclear…

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Published on 25/06/2025 – 3:38 GMT+2102 French citizens arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday aboard a French military aircraft after evacuation from Israel. The French Ambassador to Cyprus, Clélia Chevrier Kolačko said the plane flew from Tel Aviv to Larnaca.“I really need to thank them very much (Cypriot authorities), we are offering them shelter here in Larnaca. And tomorrow they will go back to Paris,” said Kolačko.France’s Foreign Ministry arranged the flight out and more are expected to arrive to Cyprus on Wednesday, according to the ambassador.Jeremie Khiat said he arrived in Israel 15 days ago for a vacation with friends…

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Festlicher Empfang in Den Haag – doch hinter den Kulissen herrscht Nervosität: Beim NATO-Gipfel wird um nichts Geringeres gerungen als um ein gemeinsames Verteidigungsversprechen von 5 Prozent BIP. Friedrich Merz will liefern, Donald Trump könnte alles zum Kippen bringen, Spanien stört – und Wolodymyr Selenskyj gerät zur Randfigur. Im Gespräch: Benedikt Franke, CEO und Stellvertretender Vorsitzender der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz über die neue Rolle Deutschlands, den Zwiespalt zwischen strategischer Eigenständigkeit und Trump-Beschwichtigung – und warum „kreative Verteidigungsausgaben“ nicht ausreichen, um echte Resilienz zu erreichen. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es morgens um 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team bringen…

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the NATO Public Forum that it wasn’t “fair” for leaders whose country is further from Russia to seek exemptions. “It’s a question of being united, of defending Europe, not Poland or the Czech Republic. I disagree with the idea of an opt-out for a country,” she said, without specifically naming Spain Poland, which this year aims to spend 4.7 percent of GDP on defense, the highest in NATO, also isn’t thrilled with Spain trying to get out of the alliance’s spending boost. “We believe that any deviation from this principle by any member country…

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However, the most obvious single step that would instantly make the euro more attractive to world investors is one that leaders have fallen out over many times before and are likely to again: large-scale joint borrowing. “If Europe is going to offer investors an alternative, it needs to increase the size of the Eurobond market dramatically,” former International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard and Ángel Ubide, economist at Citadel, wrote last month in a joint paper, which has drawn much admiring commentary, including from senior figures at the ECB. The paper revives a proposal first made in 2010 to divide…

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The public outcry from the Socialists and the liberals, who accused von der Leyen of yielding to the political demands of her own European People’s Party, as well as, crucially, forces from the far right who have always hated the law, triggered a frenzy of phone calls over the weekend. Those twists and turns ultimately led to the Commission’s officially backtracking on Monday. “If microenterprises are exempted from the scope of the directive, we will not withdraw it,” Berestecki said. On Tuesday officials also let it be known that von der Leyen never wanted the law canceled in the first…

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Meanwhile, the recent conflict between Israel and Iran has complicated Ukraine’s position, with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump moving to the Middle East some of the unmanned aerial defense systems it had given Ukraine to counter Russia’s air assaults. Moscow’s attack on Dnipro came only a day after it killed 9 people and wounded more than 30 in a deadly attack on the capital Kyiv.  In the Dnipro attack, Russian missiles damaged more than 40 schools and kindergartens along with a cathedral, a music hall, a sports arena, eight medical centers and hospitals and many residential buildings. A…

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Zelenskyy on Tuesday insisted that his country is still looking to join the alliance. While flanked by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, he said: “This direction is not changing.” The alliance chief emphasized the organization was also working on “building that bridge” for Ukraine, while highlighting that European and Canadian members have pledged €35 billion in aid for Kyiv so far this year. The U.S. under Trump has not requested any new military aid for Ukraine. Zalenskyy also underlined that Ukraine’s accession was a “mutual opportunity” for the alliance, arguing his country now has the capacity to produce 8 million drones…

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