A police officer walks at entrance at the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, is treated in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.

Good morning from Bratislava, 

The assassination attempt against Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico three weeks before the EU elections has caused shockwaves across Europe.

Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC this morning that Fico “is not in a life-threatening situation at this moment”, while Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said last night that the attack was “politically motivated”.

Several sources in Brussels described to Euractiv a “very worrying” situation, expressing fears that it is still unknown what impact the attack will have on the debate ahead of the EU elections on 9 June. 

“There are numerous elements still unknown before we draw a conclusion […] nothing can be excluded”, noted a source, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, adding that the worst-case scenarios could also point to the involvement of external, non-EU factors.

Others have also pointed to the possibility of hardliners exploiting the incident for political gain.

In Bulgaria, the leader of the far-right pro-Russian party "Vazrazhdane" (Identity and Democracy), Kostadin Kostadinov, who is fighting for second place in the upcoming elections, wondered who would have an interest in killing Fico. 

He recalled that Fico has repeatedly opposed military aid to Ukraine, he was against the country joining NATO and feared escalating or encouraging the military conflict.

“In this situation, every normal European should ask himself two questions: Who has an interest in the death of a Slovak politician? Who will be next?” Kostadinov commented. 

Others projected the opposite: that the harsh rhetoric would decrease given that all EU leaders quickly and strongly condemned the attack.

But in Bratislava, tensions between the government and the opposition have already escalated, confirming the deep divisions in Slovak society and leading the Interior Ministry to call for calm. 

Charles Szumski from Brussels and Natália Silenská from Bratislava have the full story.

Meanwhile, take a look at the latest Europe Elects mid-May projections for Euractiv here.

The EU said in a watered-down statement on Wednesday that Georgia’s controversial Kremlin-style “foreign agent” law hampers the country’s progress on its EU accession path and should be withdrawn. The country’s president vowed to veto the law.

Euractiv’s Alexandra Brzozowski is reporting on the ground, took a video yesterday night of a massive demonstration in Tbilisi, where foreign ministers from the Baltics and Iceland addressed the crowd.

In Brussels, EU ambassadors on Wednesday decided to add four Russian state media outlets to the EU's blacklist.

On the economy front, the US increase in tariffs on China’s electric vehicles (EVs) and other products is splitting the EU’s centre-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D) along the lines of a Franco-German divide on whether Europe should follow up with a similar measure, writes Jonathan Packroff. 

Last but not least, as supporters rally for Nature Restoration Law with no sign of movement in the EU Council, a study has found that the food sector is among the winners of a ‘Buy European’ approach.

PARIS

The French Socialist Party is going into the EU elections with a manifesto based on the war in Ukraine, a green transition, social justice and institutional reform, the party’s EU election list leader Raphaël Glucksmann, who has recently been rising in the polls, unveiled at a press conference Wednesday. Read more.

///

BERLIN

Top German government advisors warn of a longer-lasting economic malaise. Germany’s top economic advisory body, the Council of Economic Experts, on Wednesday slashed its growth forecast for 2024, as the country is once again expected to be among the worst-performing economies in the EU. Read more.

Merz in the driving seat in von der Leyen’s campaign. In her first term as Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen was largely free to push through her agenda without having to worry about backlash from her party. If she gets a second mandate, however, this is bound to change, with her conservative CDU party taking a much more prominent role. Read more.

///

THE HAGUE

Dutch parties reach deal to form government. Six months after Geert Wilders won a stunning election victory, squabbling politicians finally clinched an agreement Wednesday on a coalition government, said the Dutch far-right leader, who will not be prime minister. Read more.

LONDON

After UK ban on live animal exports, NGOs step up pressure on the European Commission. Following the UK Parliament’s approval of a ban on the export of live animals on Tuesday, European NGOs are welcoming this “historic” move and urging the EU to follow suit. Read more.

Baltic states in ‘final phase of work’ to desynchronise electricity grids from Moscow. In the context of the war in Ukraine, the three Baltic states want to accelerate the desynchronisation of their electricity grids from Russia and Belarus and complete it by February 2025 at the latest. Read more.

ROME

Poverty in Italy rises to unprecedented levels in a decade. Absolute poverty indicators for Italy have reached levels not seen in the last decade, despite Italy’s GDP having returned to pre-2007-crisis levels, the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) said in its annual report published on Wednesday. Read more.

///

MADRID

Sanchez’s PSOE aims to beat the far-right that wants to dismantle the EU from within. Spain’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D) wants to defeat the far-right and those who want to break up the EU from within, the party’s lead candidate in the EU elections, Teresa Ribera, said on Wednesday, despite polls favouring right-wing forces. Read more.

Spain, UK meet in Brussels in last ditch effort to finalise deal on Gibraltar. Spain’s diplomacy chief is due to meet with his UK counterpart and European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels on Thursday to try to hammer out the final details of a long-awaited agreement on the future status of Gibraltar, Madrid’s diplomatic sources said on Wednesday. Read more.

///

LISBON

Portuguese president concerned about escalation in Ukraine. Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has expressed concern over the escalation of the war in Ukraine, following the cancellation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to southern Europe – which the Portuguese leader said had never been confirmed. Read more.

WARSAW

Unknown farmers’ organisation goes on hunger strike at Polish parliament. As Polish farmers continue to occupy the country’s parliament building, an organisation no one has ever heard of has launched a hunger strike, leading some to wonder if it really has anything to do with farmers or just the opposition PiS party’s EU election campaign. Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgarian governments that have been in power since 2020 are to blame for the lack of a real political effort to join the eurozone, says the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Governor Dimitar Radev, while stating that joining the eurozone in 2025 remains realistic. Read more. 

• EU: Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas participates in 133rd session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe;
• Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides participates in global ministerial panel at “The World Together Solving the Antibiotic Emergency” event hosted by the UK Government, in London;
• Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni participates in Brussels Economic Forum (BEF) debate on “The green transition in election times: fair policies for people and the climate”;
• Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli, together with Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo delivers keynote speech at “Pride Alliances and Policy: Towards a Union of Equality” conference, organised by the Belgian Presidency;
• Internal Market Commissioner Thiery Breton meets with Chair of the Defense Committee in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, in Berlin, Germany;
• France: Ceremony marking 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe;
• Bahrain: Arab League summit takes place;
• UN: Security Council meets on Iraq;

***

[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Liene Lūsīte, Alice Taylor]