Author: staff
“Halting gas transit via Ukraine will have a drastic impact on us all in the EU — but not on the Russian Federation,” Slovak Prime Minister Fico said in a New Year’s address posted on social media. Fico — who is friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting him in Moscow in a surprise visit over the Christmas holidays to discuss gas supplies — has previously argued that the end of the deal will drive up costs for the EU and hit the bloc’s competitiveness, as well as increasing energy prices in Slovakia. He has also threatened to take “reciprocal measures” against Ukraine if…
Speaking to POLITICO, Moldova’s national security advisor, Stanislav Secrieru, accused Russia of “weaponizing” its energy exports “to destabilize Moldova economically and socially, weaken the pro-reform government ahead of the elections, and manufacture political demand for the return of pro-Russian forces to power.” According to Secrieru, Moldova — which has been an ardent supporter of Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s invasion, and has secured EU candidate status — isn’t facing an “energy crisis — it’s a deliberately induced security crisis and a shaping operation ahead of the 2025 parliamentary elections.” Pro-Western President Maia Sandu and her government face another key…
The scuttled election between Georgescu — a pro-Russia, anti-EU and anti-NATO candidate — and Elena Lasconi, his center-right pro-EU challenger, was seen as pitting East against West in the country. Georgescu’s prior praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his threats to halt aid to Ukraine prompted fears that his victory would see Romania drawn deeper into the Kremlin’s orbit. Lasconi, on the other hand, pledged to keep Romania on a path aligned with the West. The Romanian government has yet to announce plans for a new election. In the meantime, incumbent President Klaus Iohannis has extended his term as potential candidates gear up…
“It was really crazy,” Brussels Fire Department Spokesperson Walter Derieuw told POLITICO. “We were there to help, and we were getting Molotov cocktails thrown at us.” At the stroke of midnight, fireworks crackled in the night sky despite a ban on pyrotechnics in the city. Flares and firecrackers continued to be let off in the city center in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and a motorcyclist lobbed a firework at passersby in Ixelles on at least one occasion. The disorder broke out despite a raft of measures by the authorities aimed at cracking down on New Year’s Eve crime.…
Britain’s new government spent most of the fall bogged down in questions over where it stands on EU demands for a youth mobility scheme — which Brussels sees as essential to the reset. The young Labour administration is worried the idea smells too much like EU migration, a difficult political issue in Britain. It hasn’t ruled the idea out, but the official line is that it has “no plans.” That hasn’t stopped the questions. “I’ve been clear from the get-go that freedom of movement is a red line for us, and no plans in relation to free movement on any…
OK, Europe will have to endure again presidential histrionics and needling all-caps tweets, along with threats to withdraw from NATO and impose tariffs, but doesn’t that present an opportunity? Might now European leaders screw up their courage and loosen the apron strings? For years they’ve waffled on about strategic autonomy and sharing the burden more of their own defense. Now they have the chance to determine their own destiny. OK, it’s all going to be a bit traumatic — growing up always is, like infants experiencing the arrival of baby teeth. But Trump back in the White House may be…
One of the most politically sensitive topics in Brussels, the €1.2 trillion budget governs spending on anything from support to Ukraine to film subsidies. Hawkish Eastern European and Nordic countries including Poland and Sweden are keen to boost EU spending on defense, while Southern ones such as Italy and Greece would like more cash to stem migrant departures from Africa. The Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator Act will fall under the remit of European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra. | Sean Gallup/Getty Images One of the big questions is how many hoops countries will need to jump through to access their cash. The…
Keir Starmer starts 2025 with his back to the wall — but he’s vowing to “fight for change” in the year ahead. In his message to Brits as the new year kicks off, the U.K. prime minister — elected in a landslide in the summer but currently tanking in the polls — talked up progress on wages, deportations and in turning around the country’s ailing health service as he tried to project confidence. But Starmer’s task is a tricky one, after a stumbling start to Britain’s first center-left Labour government in more than a decade saw the prime minister hit…
Meanwhile, Kyiv could replace the lost power with imports from Romania and Poland, Galushchenko said. Warsaw has already offered its support in case of a cutoff. If “the goal [is] to make Ukraine [in] pain,” he said, “it doesn’t work in this situation.” Slovakia and Hungary, led by the Russia-friendly Fico and Viktor Orbán, have been for months trying to convince Kyiv to renew the gas deal, which expires on Tuesday night. Although the gas supplies transiting Ukraine account for around 5 percent of the EU’s total imports, the two countries have argued an end to the deal would threaten…
“WHO’s international experts have repeatedly said that during their visit to China, they went to all the places they wanted to go and met all the people they wanted to see,” Mao added. China went into lockdown in January 2020, with countries around the world quickly following suit to curb the spread of the virus. Schools were closed, staff told to work from home, flights canceled, mask mandates introduced, and people urged to stay indoors as the virus, which killed 40,000 people per month in Europe at the height of infection, surged around the world. In 2023, genetic data gathered…