Portuguese socialists face plummeting polls as elections loom

Good morning from Lisbon,

Portugal could be headed for snap elections after Prime Minister António Costa’s resignation on Tuesday amid a high-level corruption probe, while polls reveal Costa’s socialist PSD party has lost 11.4% of voting intention since the 2022 parliamentary election. Read more.

THE HAGUE

Revelations that the Netherlands continues to send spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel after the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian war, despite warnings from Foreign Ministry officials, have landed the Dutch cabinet in hot water, with lawmakers and academics condemning the move. Read more.

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BERLIN

German exporters fume over failed EU-Australia trade deal. After the surprise failure of the year-long negotiations between the EU and Australia for a free-trade agreement, representatives of Germany’s export-oriented industries strongly criticised the disproportionate influence of agricultural interests on trade deals. Read more.

German economy minister slams country’s ‘strict’ immigration authorities. German immigration authorities may be too hostile to foreigners, making it harder for the country to tackle looming labour shortages, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Tuesday, as Germany, like other European countries, desperately needs skilled workers. Read more.

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PARIS

Storm Ciaran: The human, material and financial costs on France. Storm Ciaran, which broke wind records across France and the rest of Western Europe, has hit the Atlantic coast hard and left significant human, material and financial damages. Read more.

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BRUSSELS

Belgium’s EU presidency to ‘firmly’ focus on critical medicine shortages. Proposals to address critical medicine shortages will be given firm attention during Belgium’s stint as Presidency of the European Council, which starts in January 2024, a Belgian official told Euractiv. Read more.

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ROME

Forza Italia joins opposition, psychologists’ order, in demand to up mental health support. Funding for a measure that allows Italian residents with a certain income to have state coverage for their psychotherapy sessions should be increased next year, according to an amendment put forward by coalition partner Forza Italia, echoing calls from the Socialists and the Order of Psychologists, who point to an ineffective system amid rising self-harm and suicide cases, particularly among youth. Read more.

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MADRID

Sánchez’s hopes for swift renewal dashed as amnesty law talks drag on. Negotiators from acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE (S&D) and the Catalan separatist formation JxCat have dashed hopes of Sanchez securing a renewed mandate this week, as the negotiating parties said they needed more time to work out the final details of the amnesty law. Read more.

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VALLETTA

Union takes legal action as Malta drags heels over pledges made to receive EU funds. Promised reform to the appointing and governing of specialised tribunals made by the Maltese government under the EU’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) has not borne fruit, and now a case has been filed against Industrial Tribunal members over lack of independence with the government adding fuel to the fire as it promises to cover their legal fees. Read more.

WARSAW

The Ukrainian government called on Poland to stop truckers protesting against their government’s inaction over the loss of business to foreign competitors during Russia’s war on Ukraine by blocking roads to three border crossings with Ukraine. Read more.

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PRAGUE

Czech party nominates EU Parliament Quaestor Kolaja for next EU Commissioner. The Czech Pirate Party has selected former EU Parliament vice-president and current Quaestor of the European Parliament Marcel Kolaja as its nominee for the post of European Commissioner via intra-party voting. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Slovakia wants to reroute money from NGOs to pensioners. Prime Minister Robert Fico’s war on NGOs continues with a change to the tax code, which will give citizens the option to provide a portion of their taxes to their parents rather than NGOs, Labour Minister Erik Tomáš announced. Read more.

BELGRADE

While Belgrade has made some progress in the judiciary, limited progress was made in the rule of law, the fight against corruption, organised crime, and freedom of expression, according to Serbia’s 2023 report, which the EU Commission will officially release on Wednesday. Read more.

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SOFIA

Pro-Russian party to file vote of no confidence against Bulgarian government. The pro-Russian party Vazrazhdane will file a vote of no confidence against the Bulgarian government because of its defence policy, party leader Kostadin Kostadinov announced in a Facebook post. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romania to ask Commission to rethink methane emissions reduction proposal. Bucharest intends to ask the European Commission to revise the proposed legislation to reduce methane emissions because Romania would face high costs compared to other member states, as Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja announced on Tuesday. Read more.

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LJUBLJANA

Slovenia’s party financing inquiry finds alleged smoking gun. A parliamentary inquiry into unlawful financing of political parties appears to have found evidence showing that Slovenia’s largest opposition party, The Democrats (SDS), has built a parallel financing system by enticing companies to advertise in party-owned media in exchange for lucrative state deals. Read more.

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TIRANA

Albania publishes details of Italy migrant deal as citizens remain divided. The Albanian Media and Information Agency has published more details of the agreement between Albania and Italy that would see the creation of asylum seeker processing centres in the country, facilitating the applications of up to 36,000 individuals annually. Read more.

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