EU26 becomes the 'new normal' at a predictable EU Summit. As European Council President António Costa had envisioned, this Summit was about strategic discussions, not squabbling over words or semantics.
But with that came a fair dose of unpredictability. Unlike two weeks ago, when leaders made last-minute changes, this time around the final set of conclusions on competitiveness, defence, and Ukraine largely remained unchanged.
Not even the deepening rift between Budapest and the other EU leaders seemed to be the elephant in the room.
As expected, the 26 EU leaders reached a consensus on Ukraine. While the text didn’t bring any new commitments, it reflected the ‘new normal’ of stronger statements even in the absence of full unity.
Costa simply framed it as Hungary having “a different position” on “how to support Ukraine in achieving peace.”
Read our full Summit report here. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [EPA-EFE/Lukasz Gagulski POLAND OUT] |
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Going alone in the Old Continent won’t be easy. Since realising the US might no longer be a reliable ally, Europeans have started eyeing their own coalition – not just of the willing, but of the able, write Aurélie Pugnet and Darius Kölsch.
Now Paris and London are leading efforts to form a coalition without Washington, with securing Ukraine – possibly with troops – as their primary goal. While the size of a deterrent force on Ukrainian territory is for now unknown, it is expected to be in the thousands to be credible. But is the new coalition up to the task?
Meanwhile, the EU investment bank is set to invest into defence gear in major policy overhaul – a total of 14 projects are expected to be approved for financing in the next few months.
Buying time. The European Union will delay imposing tariffs on US products – including bourbon whiskey and motorcycles – until mid-April to continue negotiations and avoid a trade war scenario, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said on Thursday, writes Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro.
Selling novel tobacco products in pharmacies? Such a move would backfire as “smokers who want to quit using a pharmaceutical route can already do so with nicotine replacement therapy,” the industry say, writes Sarantis Michalopoulos.
Friend and foe? The top US telecommunications regulator, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, has joined a growing number of Trump administration officials pushing to erode the EU's influence over global tech policy and regulation, writes Bella Zielinski.
Complex and fragmented. Meta launched AI features in Europe today, blaming the continent's "complex and fragmented regulatory environment" for nearly a year of negotiations and limiting the launch to text-only products, writes Jacob Wulff Wold.
Low-cost imports. MEPs from across the political spectrum in the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) have called on the Commission to take urgent action to tackle the surge in low-cost imports into the EU in a parliamentary report, writes Anupriya Datta.
Delays add up. Influential voices have come out against a planned 90% pollution reduction target by 2040 for the EU with the bloc’s executive yet to make a concrete legal proposal, writes Nikolaus J. Kurmayer.
The European Commission will not hesitate to respond to Hungarian legislation that bans gay pride marches and allows police to use facial recognition software to track down participants, Commission Spokesperson Thomas Regnier has said.
Meanwhile, Italian authorities arrested yesterday Lucia Simeone, assistant to EPP MEP Fulvio Martusciello, under a European arrest warrant issued by Belgian prosecutors, writes Nicoletta Ionta. It remains unclear whether the arrest is linked to the two cases allegedly involving Martusciello – one tied to the Huawei investigation and the other one to expenses fraud. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [Uli Deck/dpa] |
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| BERLIN As part of the deal over Germany's massive defence and infrastructure spending package, the Greens managed to write spending earmarks with a reference to climate neutrality into the country's constitution. Read more. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [Getty Images / George Pachantouris] |
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| ATHENS Greek Deputy Energy Minister Nikos Tsafos is under attack and his political future is being put to the test after social media postings in which he seemed to side with his country’s biggest neighbour Turkey. Read more.
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ROME US Tariffs: What’s at stake for Italy? Proposed US tariffs could cost Italy 50,000 jobs and up to €60 billion, warned Pierpaolo Bombardieri, leader of the UIL, one of Italy’s major trade unions. Speaking at an AI event in Milan on Thursday, he highlighted the serious risks to key industries, particularly the agro-food sector, which exports €8 billion annually, and the wine industry, which sends €2 billion worth of products to the U.S. alone. The concern is especially high for Italian wine producers, as Trump’s proposed tariffs could severely impact exports. Bombardieri called for a strong, unified EU response to protect these sectors and prevent a major economic setback. He urged both the Italian government and Brussels to take immediate diplomatic action. Meanwhile, Deputy PM Antonio Tajani was in Brussels, meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič. Tajani stressed that the EU must stand strong to avoid escalation and keep dialogue open with the U.S. He also laid out Italy's plan to ramp up exports to emerging markets, which he’ll unveil today at the Italian Senate. (Alessia Peretti | Euractiv.it)
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LISBON
Portugal: President dissolves parliament and calls early elections. Portugal's president has signed the decree dissolving parliament and scheduling early legislative elections for 18 May, making official the announcement he made on 13 March. Read more. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images] |
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| WARSAW The Polish Digital Ministry is working on potential tax on big-tech companies, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski (New Left, S&D) has told Euractiv, while, according to PM Donald Tusk, it is not yet sure whether or not Poland will introduce it. Read more.
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BUDAPEST
Commission 'will not hesitate' to act on Hungary's pride ban. The European Commission will not hesitate to respond to Hungarian legislation that bans gay pride marches and allows police to use facial recognition software to track down participants, Commission Spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Euractiv. Read more. |
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| SOFIA EU court sanctions Bulgaria for delayed directive. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has fined Bulgaria €1.59 million for delaying the transposition of the directive on clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles by 885 days. Sofia had tried to argue before the CJEU that it was objectively impossible for it to ensure the Directive's transposition. The country claimed that political instability and the Covid pandemic were the reasons for the delay, but the court did not accept these arguments. Old story. In September 2021, the European Commission officially notified Bulgaria that the deadline for transposing had passed. By April 2022, Bulgaria had still not notified Brussels and was given two months to comply. Twenty months after the deadline, the Commission determined that Bulgaria had not fully adopted or communicated the required measures, prompting legal action. Bulgaria finally completed the transposition on 5 January 2024. The Commission dropped its request for periodic penalty payments but maintained the one-off fine of €1.59 million. (Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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BUCHAREST
Romanian farmers urge interim president to ease EU neonicotinoid ban. Ramona Duminicioiu, president of EcoRuralis, one of the associations that sued the Romanian state over annual exemptions for neonicotinoids -substances banned in the EU since 2018- says the situation exposes “the disorder” in pesticide control. Read more. |
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- EU: Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maros Šefčovič hosts European Economic and Social Committee President Oliver Röpke;
- Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius delivers speech at “Ukraine and Us. Where do we go from here?” conference, in Berlin, Germany; Delivers speech at event on Future of European Defence White Paper;
- Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Commissioner Glenn Micallef meets with UN Under Secretary General for Policy Guy Ryder;
- Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy Commissioner Jessika Roswall meets with UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director General QU Dongyu, in Rome, Italy.
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| *** [Edited by Vas Panagiotopoulos, Charles Szumski, Daniel Eck, Sofia Mandilara] |
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