Poland says Europe will become ‘Lampedusa’, slams EU relocation scheme

Good morning from Warsaw,

The Polish government has adopted a special resolution on EU migration and asylum reform, condemning the bloc’s relocation system in light of the drastic increase in migrant arrivals on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Read more.

PARIS

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National says it has fully repaid a loan from a Russian company, hoping to put an end to accusations that it is close to Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime. Read more.

French energy and climate transition to receive €7 billion top-up in 2024. France will invest an additional €7 billion in the energy and climate transition next year compared to 2023, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Tuesday. Read more.

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BERLIN

EU elections: German far-right candidates allowed to run despite false resume claims. Far-right AfD candidates in the upcoming European elections will not be facing recalls despite an internal investigation finding that at least one of them had made false claims about their resume, the party’s leadership announced on Tuesday. Read more.

A recent Euractiv interview with the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) Secretary General Thanasis Bakolas, where he dismissed a post-election right coalition and backed dialogue between pro-EU forces, has caused a big stir in Brussels politics. Read more.

EU Parliament fumes as Council dodges financial scrutiny for 13 years. The European Parliament will likely reject the EU Council’s 2021 budget implementation on Wednesday, continuing a 13-year row that raises questions on democratic accountability and competency hoarding. Read more.

MADRID

The Spanish parliament approved the use of Catalan, Basque and Galician in all the institution’s working sessions on Tuesday, while EU representatives in Brussels decided to postpone the decision on their use in the bloc. Read more.

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ROME

Meloni to discuss migration emergency during her first UN General Assembly. The migrant emergency that has brought Italy’s first reception system to its knees will be among the issues that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will address – for the first time as prime minister – at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. Read more.

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ATHENS

EU left urges for unity in Greece’s Syriza after elections. Greece’s main opposition force, Syriza, must remain united after the internal elections on Sunday to be able to “take down” conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, an official of the EU Left told Euractiv amid growing internal tensions in the leftist Greek party. Read more.

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LISBON

Portugal willing to take in some Lampedusa migrants. Portugal has shown its willingness to take in some of the migrants arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa under the European Union’s solidarity mechanism to ease the “great pressure” on Italy, the Portuguese government announced on Tuesday. Read more.

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VALLETTA

Price of Maltese food soars by 11% amid EU deficit intervention. The price of food in Maltese supermarkets has risen by almost 11% during the last year, posing a significant problem for consumers, while general inflation has fallen, dipping below the eurozone average. Read more.

PRAGUE

The Czech Republic will supply weapons to Ukraine thanks to the financial support of Denmark and the Netherlands, according to a ‘Letter of Intent’ signed by the three countries on the sidelines of a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine at the US Ramstein airbase in Germany on Tuesday. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Slovak agri minister slams Ukraine’s WTO lawsuits, cites lack of legal basis. The lawsuits Ukraine has filed against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary before the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over their unilateral ban on Ukrainian agricultural goods have no legal basis since taking food in an uncontrolled way to an EU member state is probably not an argument, said Slovakia’s Agriculture Minister Jozef Bíreš on Tuesday. Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgaria will not allow the import of sunflower seeds from Ukraine for the time being, it was announced after four hours of tense negotiations between the government and protesting farmers, who entered a second day of blocking roads across the country and parked 600 tractors, combines and other farm machinery at the entrance to the capital. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Fiscal reform in Romania: Higher taxes for SMEs, IT, agriculture. The draft Law on Fiscal Budgetary Measures, which foresees several tax increases and the elimination of certain tax benefits to ensure Romania’s long-term fiscal sustainability, was published by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday. Read more.

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BELGRADE

Vucic: We will strongly protect Serbia’s position. The session of the United Nations General Assembly is an exceptional opportunity for the voice of the “Western Balkans to be heard stronger and better”, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić after the numerous meetings he had on his first day in New York. Read more.

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PRISTINA

EU warns Kosovo, Serbia of repercussions if normalisation deal not implemented. Kosovo and Serbia “risk losing opportunities for progressing on their European paths” if they do not implement the EU-brokered agreements, the EU warned on Tuesday, doubling down amid a diplomatic fallout of the latest round of talks. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson]