Good morning from Brussels.

Today is the deadline for member states to submit their national plans for the implementation of Europe’s much-discussed New Pact on Migration adopted last May and set to take full effect in June 2026. 

It’s not certain that all capitals will respect the deadline as some of them have requested an extension, Nicoletta Ionta reports.

A sensitive point is the burden-sharing mechanisms among member states, which will have to accept asylum seekers or contribute financially to migration management in first-line countries – the so-called “mandatory solidarity”.

All eyes are, therefore, on the national plans of Hungary and Poland, who both have refused to either accept asylum seekers or pay. Budapest currently holds the EU Presidency and in January will hand it over to Warsaw.

The plans won’t be public unless countries decide to publish them individually.

Meanwhile, with Russia’s games in mind, the Commission announced new measures paving the way for member states to “limit the right to asylum, but it has to happen in very strict conditions and legal limits”. 

But this entails risks for pushbacks and the rights of asylum seekers, writes Magnus Lund Nielsen. 

The European Parliament will elect a new ethics watchdog, the European Ombudsman, on Tuesday, who will be responsible for taking citizens' complaints and scrutinising the EU. Euractiv’s Nicholas Wallace interviewed all the candidates.

The European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents, the leadership body expected to approve mandates to elevate the subcommittees on defence and health to full standing committees and establish two new special committees on housing and the democracy shield,  postponed its decision on Wednesday evening.

The green light was expected to lead to a vote during the plenary session scheduled for 16- 19 December, but the postponement now raises the risk of further delays. 

Parliamentary sources told Euractiv that a written procedure could still occur early next week to maintain the original timeline for the vote.

Regarding the next EU long-term budget, the EU Parliament's co-lead negotiators warned on Wednesday that introducing a “vague” conditionality that ties EU funds to national structural reforms could undermine the “principle of solidarity” in the bloc’s cohesion policy.

Moreover, new documents on the EU-Mercosur trade deal clarify that the South American bloc will implement the EU's anti-deforestation regulation like other trading partners while still giving Mercosur an edge in the upcoming risk classification.

Lastly, the EU centre-right EPP urged the Commission to present a proposal on relieving the car industry from fines ‘as soon as possible”.

PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to pitch a European peacekeeping mission on Ukrainian territory to prevent Moscow from breaking any potential future ceasefire deal when he meets with his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, on Thursday. Read more. 

///

BERLIN

Scholz submits request to hold confidence vote, paves way for February elections. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz submitted a request to hold a vote of confidence on Wednesday, setting in motion the process for Germany to hold snap elections in February 2025, as planned. Read more.

ROME

Italian government divided over scrapping COVID-19 vaccine opponent fines. The Italian government's decision to scrap fines for those who refused to take the compulsory COVID-19 vaccine has sparked widespread controversy, drawing criticism from health professionals, opposition parties and even ruling coalition members. Read more.

///

MADRID

Puigdemont’s party urges Sánchez to pay ‘what he owes’ to Catalonia. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez should` support Catalonia in exchange for support for his government, said Miriam Nogueras, spokeswoman for Catalan separatist party JxCat, in parliament. Read more.

WARSAW

Poland will add private broadcasters TVN and Polsat to its list of strategic companies, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced after reports TVN could be bought by a company linked to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Read more.

///

PRAGUE

Czech EPP MEP says joining right bloc in EU Parliament is what 'voters want'. Czech EPP MEP Tomáš Zdechovský asked Socialist, Green and Liberal groups in the European Parliament to respect voters' will and side with the party amid criticism for voting alongside far-right MEPs. Read more.

///

BUDAPEST 

Ukraine-Russia war raised in Putin-Orbán call. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed his country's war in Ukraine in a phone call on Wednesday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is casting himself as a possible peacemaker. Read more.

///

BRATISLAVA

Slovak ombudsman and opposition to challenge information bill in Constitutional Court. Slovakia's Public Defender of Rights and the opposition will challenge a controversial amendment to the information law in the Constitutional Court after parliament overrode a presidential veto.  Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgaria, Greece fine-tune details to lift border controls. Bulgaria and Greece have agreed on the details on how to completely abolish border controls between them, according to a communique by the Bulgarian interior ministry published on Wednesday. Read more.

• EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council in its Home Affairs composition convenes to discuss Schengen, asylum and migration, internal security, and more;
• Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hosts World Economic Forum President Børge Brende; Meets with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte;
• Parliament President Roberta Metsola receives Belarusian democratic forces leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya; Addresses high level conference titled “Standing with the people of Belarus”;
• Trade and Economic Security Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency Commissioner Maros Šefčovič exchanges views with Parliament’s delegation to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly;
• Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra delivers opening speech at 4th EnerGreenDeal conference; Meets with Nepalese Foreign Affairs Minister Arzu Rana Deuba;
• Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy Commissioner Jessika Roswall participates in Soil Monitoring Law Trilogue.

***

[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor-Braçe]