03/05/24View in Browser
Today's top stories

Good morning from Athens,

The EU Prosecutor is doing a good job in investigating rule of law cases as Greek citizens mistrust domestic justice and the conservative New Democracy government (EPP), Greece’s main opposition Syriza party (EU Left) leader Stefanos Kasselakis told Euractiv’s Sarantis Michalopoulos in an interview in Athens.

Kasselakis, often described as representing a “meta-politics” phenomenon and who replaced former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Syriza’s leadership in September 2023, referred to several cases where the investigation remains either long unsolved or allegedly hindered.

On the economic front, he called on Europe’s north to invest in the south to have convergence in the EU single market, while on a political level, he said the EU Left, the Social Democrats and the Greens should come together and form an alternative governance model to right-wing neoliberal policies.  

Read the full interview here

Meanwhile, Greece fared worst in the EU for the third year, according to the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2024. Overall, the report suggests that politicians are the main threat to media freedom in Europe, writes Alice Taylor. 

Alice will dig deeper into the matter in Euractiv’s Brief newsletter later in the afternoon.

Net Zero Industry Act and the future of green industrial strategy

EU countries generally agree that green technologies are a crucial piece of the puzzle to meet climate targets and stay competitive in the renewable energy market. They agree less on how to boost their competitiveness vis-à-vis the United States and China. Listen here.
Bubbling in Brussels

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday €1 billion in financial aid to Lebanon, disbursed over three years, to support the country’s economy and address the challenges of refugees and migration. Read more.

On the politics front, key figures from Spain’s liberal party Ciudadanos (Renew) switching to the right-wing Partido Popular (EPP) have cast doubt on the future of southern Europe’s liberal parties. 

Last but not least, the Happy Planet Index (HPI) says it has found that higher levels of consumption are not translating into higher levels of well-being. 

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Western Europe
Click on the picture to read the story | Photo by [EPA-EFE/XINHUA/Huang Jingwen]

PARIS

With France set to host on Monday China’s President Xi Jinping on his first state visit to Europe in five years, Paris and Brussels are trying to find the right balance between taking an offensive stance against Beijing and attracting new investments. Read more.

France: Europe’s highest tax burden for pharma industry, lobby warns. France is the European country with the highest tax burden for pharmaceutical companies, according to a study published on Thursday by Entreprises du Médicament en France (Leem), an association of French pharmaceutical companies. Read more.

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BERLIN

Germany’s CDU favours left over right in post-EU election alliance. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s conservative CDU party prefers a deal with left-wing rather than right-wing forces to support her second mandate in an investiture vote, the party’s delegation leader Daniel Caspary said on Thursday, adding, however, that it depends on whether left-wing parties are reliable. Read more.

UK

LONDON

Cameron, in Kyiv, says Ukraine can use UK weapons for strikes inside Russia. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron promised three billion pounds (€3.5 billion) of annual military aid for Ukraine for “as long as it takes” on Thursday, adding that London had no objection to the weapons being used inside Russia. Read more.

Europe's south

ROME 

Italy OKs decree to speed up EU funds spending amid concerns from economists. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has approved a decree to ensure strategic coherence in the spending of all EU funds received by Italy, while economists remain cautious about its potential impact. Read more

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MADRID

Sánchez partners ‘weakened’ by resignation scare, Catalan president warns. The resignation scare Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez gave the whole country last week has “weakened” and undermined the unity of his separatist and left-wing partners who ensure his government’s stability, the regional president of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, said on Thursday. Read more.

 Eastern Europe

WARSAW

Poland to deport suspects in attack on Navalny ally to Lithuania. Poland will deport two men who were arrested in Poland in early April on suspicion of assaulting Russian opposition figure Leonid Volkov in Vilnius, the spokesperson for Lithuania’s prosecution service, Gintarė Vitkauskaite-Satkauskiene announced on Thursday. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Controversies linked to Russia piling up in Slovakia. Slovakia has become increasingly embroiled in controversies over its relations with Russia, with the US recently extending Russia sanctions to a Slovak company, the Interior Ministry granting protection to a pro-Russian actor, and a parliament official giving an interview to Russian television and spreading pro-Kremlin narratives. Read more.

The Balkans

SOFIA

Bulgarian court stops largest EU-funded environmental project, citing health risks. On Thursday, Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court stopped the controversial project to build a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) waste incinerator in the centre of Sofia, which would have used EU funding to turn the capital’s waste into heat and electricity. Read more.

Agenda
  • EU: Commission Vice President Dubravka Suica participates in online event on “Why Demography Matters. Population and Policy in the 21st Century”, organized by Population Europe and German Ministry of the Interior;
  • Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Head of United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya sign Letter of Intent on enhancing relations between EU Parliament and democratic forces and civil society of Belarus;
  • Gambia: Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit;

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

The Capitals is brought to you by Sarantis MichalopoulosAlice Taylor, Liene Lūsīte, Daniel Eck and Charles Szumski
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