Author: staff

De la fraude au népotisme en passant par les portes tournantes entre les secteurs public et privé, l’odeur de l’impunité est omniprésente. By MARI ECCLESin Brussels Illustrations de Daniel Forero pour POLITICO Dans les salles de conférence des hôtels chics et les cafés du quartier européen de Bruxelles, l’indignation était palpable : pourquoi le pauvre Henrik avait-il été montré du doigt ? Henrik Hololei, un Estonien sympathique qui avait atteint les sommets de la fonction publique européenne en tant que directeur général, s’est fait prendre en train d’accepter des cadeaux de la part du gouvernement du Qatar, alors que son…

The package contains no unexpected measures but brings back 62 highlights from the coalition agreement — which the government wants to bring on track before the mid-July parliamentary summer break.  This was the first coalition committee meeting between Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union party and Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil’s Social Democrats, and lasted just a few hours. They agreed to hold such meetings as a regular fixture. It was considered a good start by observers. Meetings of the previous government, led by Olaf Scholz, often lasted until the early hours of the morning and became more of a crisis instrument. Scholz’s government…

Russia has stepped up its bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks, despite a successful prisoner swap conducted late last week. Trump, who has previously been an open admirer of Putin, has become more critical of the Russian president amid the drone and missile attacks, calling him “CRAZY” and opining that he is “playing with fire.” When asked about his decision to not impose new sanctions on Russia, he said: “If I think I’m close to getting a deal I don’t want to screw it up by doing that, let me tell you, I’m a lot tougher than the people you’re…

The CPS confirmed that Andrew Tate, 38, faces 10 charges, including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain, relating to three women. His brother Tristan, 36, faces 11 charges relating to one woman. They include rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking. Both have previously denied wrongdoing and said any sexual activity was consensual. A CPS spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday: “We can confirm that we have authorised charges against Andrew and Tristan Tate for offences including rape, human trafficking, controlling prostitution and actual bodily harm against three women. “These charging decisions followed receipt of…

To “avoid an emotional, angry divorce,” Andrius Kubilius said, Europeans must change their mindset. | Leszek Szymanski/EPA He said that at its summit next month in The Hague, NATO “will likely ask alliance members to raise their military capability targets by 30 percent. But allies are already 30 percent behind in delivering on existing capability targets.” To achieve the new target, Europe must ramp up industrial production and strengthen “strategic enablers,” such as space intelligence, command and control centers, and heavy airlift capabilities — areas where the continent is heavily dependent on the U.S. “Definitely, it will cost a lot…

“The attacks followed a regular pattern and the same modus operandi, demonstrating that they were planned, directed, and organized … There is no information suggesting that Russian military and civilian authorities have taken any steps to prevent or stop the commission of the crimes,” the U.N. commission said, adding that nearly 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured in the mentioned area. Victims were mostly men, but also women and children. Civilians were targeted in various circumstances, often as they stepped out to do daily activities, whether on foot or in vehicles, the commission added. Ukraine’s foreign ministry…

Wolodymyr Selenskyj besucht erneut Berlin – und Friedrich Merz präsentiert einen neuen Fünf-Punkte-Plan zur deutsch-ukrainischen Zusammenarbeit. Rixa Fürsen bespricht mit Hans von der Burchard diese Punkte. Beide schätzen auch ein, was die demonstrative Nähe von Merz und Selenskyj signalisieren soll – und wie es dem Kanzler zugleich wichtig ist, mehr strategische Ambiguität zu demonstrieren als noch sein Vorgänger Scholz. 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 liefert jeden Morgen die…

By Cynthia Kroet & Peggy Corlin Published on 28/05/2025 – 15:21 GMT+2The European Commission launched a strategy designed to foster and grow small tech start-up companies on Wednesday as part of a broader Choose Europe initiative aimed at competing with China and the US.The document sets out key actions to help companies set up and grow in the EU, including easier access to finance and infrastructure and reducing administrative burdens.Currently, some 8% of the start-ups throughout the world are based in Europe.A report by former Italian premier Mario Draghi published last year found that 61% of global funding for AI companies goes to US-based companies, 17%…

This autumn, Deutsche Bahn (DB), Germany’s national railway company, will begin rolling out a new digital infrastructure that it says will streamline international rail bookings. The move is part of a long-awaited push to simplify travel across Europe’s patchwork of national railway networks.“[You will] be able to book an international journey just as easily as a domestic one,” Michael Peterson, DB’s board member for long-distance transport, told German press agency DPA. “This brings us closer to a major goal,” he continued: seamless cross-border rail travel across Europe, powered by a unified digital system and regulations backed by the EU.What’s changing, and when?Starting…

Speaking on Monday at the WDR Europaforum, Merz said: “There are no more range limitations for weapons delivered to Ukraine. Neither from the Brits, nor the French, nor from us. Not from the Americans either.” He emphasized Ukraine’s right to hit military infrastructure on Russian territory. The change could pave the way for Berlin to deliver the long-requested Taurus cruise missiles, a step repeatedly blocked by the previous government led by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz over fears it would lead to escalation of the war. The Taurus system, with a range of over 500 kilometers, would enable high-precision strikes deep…