EU’s reality ‘cheque’ to keep Trump happy

Good morning from Brussels.

Since his inauguration, Donald Trump has been sending a simple message to the Europeans: the time to pay up has come.

Trump essentially said yesterday that he loves Europe but not the EU. The latter is “unfair” because it has a high corporate tax, fines US tech firms, and runs a trade surplus in goods with the US. Its bureaucracy also poses obstacles to American investments.

Moreover, he wants the EU to buy more American LNG. NATO’s chief also wants the EU to pay for Ukraine's future US defence equipment.

The question is, who will pay for all this? Germany is facing recession for the third year in a row, while the Commission is struggling to ignore France’s ailing economy.

More EU integration due to Trump sounds like a bit too idealistic, if we see clearly Europe’s new political balances.

Becoming a de facto colony of the US is the more realistic scenario.

Lawmakers on the right have long held suspicions that Brussels-based environmental NGOs are being paid by 'green' departments of the European Commission to interfere in EU lawmaking.

In the field of tech, the Trump administration's plans for the agency that oversees US intelligence services' access to EU personal data could undermine the EU-US agreement on personal data transfers.

Lastly, in agriculture, EU farm chief Christophe Hansen doubled down on the need for stricter controls on EU food imports, hinting at a significant change in the Commission’s stance on trade.

BERLIN

With Germany’s Social Democrats struggling to resuscitate their sagging fortunes with just a month until election day, party leaders are getting desperate. Read more.

Chancellor hopeful Merz prepares Germany for era of ‘systemic conflict’. German election frontrunner Friedrich Merz on Thursday outlined his future foreign policy in stark contrast to the current government, promising a focus on fighting an axis of autocracies in a new era of systemic conflict. Read more.

Germany's central bank pushes for a U-turn on debt rules. Germany’s usually hawkish central bank President, Joachim Nagel, is getting more serious about reforming the country’s constitutional deficit rule, pushing beyond technical changes. Read more.

NUUK

If the chronically online MAGA disciples who descended upon Nuuk last week knew anything about Greenland before they landed, it was likely from Qupanuk Olsen’s TikTok videos. Read more.

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STOCKHOLM

The bumbling aide who embarrassed Sweden’s PM. Sweden's security apparatus is reeling from a series of blunders by National Security Adviser Henrik Landerholm, turning what should have been a boon into a political liability for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Read more.

LONDON

EU open to UK joining pan-European customs area. The EU is considering allowing the UK to join the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention, Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s new trade chief in charge of post-Brexit negotiations, said.

The Convention, an agreement from 2012 that allows goods to flow across borders tariff-free, could benefit the UK's food and farming industries. Šefčovič admitted there were no precise plans, but "the ball is in the UK's court", putting pressure on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to move forward on trade communications.

But UK Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said that the UK is not looking to be part of the scheme at the moment. (Bella Zielinski | Euractiv.com)

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DUBLIN

Micheál Martin becomes Irish prime minister for second time. Ireland's parliament, the Dáil, nominated Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin as prime minister for the second time on Thursday. Read more.

WARSAW

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk favours cutting benefits for refugees and migrants living and working in Poland, including Ukrainians - a proposal first put forward by the opposition PiS party. Read more.
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PRAGUE | BRATISLAVA

Czechia growls at Slovakia in wolf hunting row. Slovakia’s decision to reintroduce wolf hunting has outraged Czechia, who fear it could endanger the wolf population of the Beskid Mountains, which stretches from Czechia to Slovakia, as well as violate EU rules. Read more.

ROME

Italy-ICC row casts doubt on Meloni's 'war on traffickers'. Italy's release of ICC-indicted Libyan warlord Ossama al-Masri has sparked backlash from opposition and civil society, who accuse Meloni of hypocrisy for pledging to uphold the rule of law and fight global human trafficking. Read more.

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MADRID

Argentina’s Milei slams Sánchez’s push to regulate social media. Argentine President Javier Milei took aim at Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the World Economic Forum in Davos, criticising his latest proposal to regulate social media in the EU. Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgaria shies away from asking for final clearance to join eurozone. Bulgaria, which is on the verge of joining the eurozone, decided not to seek final approval from the European Central Bank in a surprise move that reflected divisions within the ruling coalition. Read more.

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