Good morning from Paris and Strasbourg.
Emmanuel Macron and chiefs of staff from countries willing to send troops to Ukraine will attempt today to figure out the details of a potential peacekeeping force – including how many troops might be needed, writes Laurent Geslin.
The French President appears determined to examine the operational aspects of a Western military deployment, as peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow remain beyond European influence, as a Ukrainian delegation is set to meet US envoys in Saudi Arabia today.
Marking the 35th anniversary of the assertion of state continuity by Baltic countries, President Metsola said as she opened the EP plenary yesterday: “These anniversaries remind us again of the sacrifice of so many for the liberty that we enjoy today, and underscore our determination never to allow another generation of Europeans to be lost behind an iron curtain.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Dow fell by almost 900 points in market rout after Trump says he won’t rule out a recession. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [EU Council] |
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Nothing changes. Despite recent pledges to boost defence investment, Eurozone countries remain committed to cutting net government expenditure senior EU officials said yesterday, writes Thomas Moller-Nielsen.
Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe told reporters that the single currency area’s “overall fiscal stance” this year is still expected to be “slightly contractionary”, as previously agreed by eurozone ministers in December.
Controversial and hotly debated. In a new legislation set to be unveiled today in Strasbourg, the Commission is “aiming to make it possible” for member states to explore innovative ideas, including the so-called “return hubs,” i.e. dedicated deportation centres outside the EU, writes Nicoletta Ionta.
Take back control. The Commission is set to unveil its Critical Medicines Act (CMA) in Strasbourg today, as politicians and patient organisations eagerly await Ursula von der Leyen's plan to gain control in this sensitive and strategic area. The future legislation, published exclusively by Euractiv yesterday, aims to address critical medicines, whose availability is essential for the treatment of severe diseases and which are at high risk of shortages, such as antibiotics and cancer treatments, writes Thomas Mangin.
In the closet. Euractiv’s Nicholas Wallace sat down with one of Europe’s most influential Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, who warned of a “culture of appeasement” of radical Islam on the continent and closeted antisemitism on the political left.
Technical officials of Council of the EU are expected to propose solutions on how to fix the EU cloud's oligopolistic structure, high resources consumption, and slow permit processes, a Council document dated 25 February and seen by Euractiv reads, writes Théophane Hartmann.
Finally, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is to lend €400 million to French nuclear fuel giant Orano for the expansion of a uranium enrichment plant in France, the institution has announced, writes Stefano Porciello. |
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| Go with carton. The pack that protects.
Is it possible to produce a package that protects food, benefits people and uses mostly renewable resources? Yes, with carton. Discover how they make an impact in three key areas: food protection, carbon footprint and recycling. Find out more. |
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| BERLIN Future German coalition's climate pledge is firm but unspecific. In their preliminary agreement, Berlin’s potential government coalition partners commit to both national and EU net-zero targets, but the actual policies paint an ambiguous pathway. Read more. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [EPA-EFE/Mads Claus Rasmussen] |
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| NUUK Greenlanders head to the polls today, but while the world fixates on US interest in the Arctic island, voters are more concerned with relations with Copenhagen than geopolitical drama. Read more. /// TALLINN Social Democrats leave Estonian government. The Estonian Social Democrats have been ousted from the government, Reuters reports, citing Estonian public broadcaster ERR. In addition to the Social Democratic Party, the government consisted of the liberal Reform Party and the Estonia 200 Party, which still hold a majority in the country's parliament. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told news website Delfi that the Social Democrats were forced to leave the government because they disagreed with their now former liberal partners on tax reform plans, namely the abolition of corporate tax. (Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com) /// STOCKHOLM Iran summons Sweden's ambassador after ‘inappropriate statements’ by minister. Iran has summoned Sweden's ambassador to Tehran, Mathias Otterstedt, after what it called "inappropriate statements" by Swedish Education Minister Johan Pehrsson, writes Aftonbladet. The newspaper quoted Iranian news agency Isna as saying that the education minister had made "baseless and interventionist accusations [...] against the Islamic Republic of Iran". It is unclear what the statement is, but at the end of February Pehrson wrote on X that "hawk eyes are needed on Iran's agents in Sweden" after it was revealed that a doctoral student at Lund University had previously worked for the Iranian intelligence service. According to Iranian media, the country's authorities also want to discuss the school shooting in Örebro with the Swedish ambassador. The media report that an Iranian woman was killed in the shooting and that Iran wants Swedish police to be involved in the ongoing investigation. (Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com) /// COPENHAGEN Denmark ready to contribute to European presence in Ukraine. In the event of a ceasefire or peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, "Denmark is ready to contribute to a European presence in Ukraine", said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, according to TV2. Løkke met with the Danish Foreign Policy Committee, where members expressed support for a European presence "if the circumstances are right" and if it is included in security guarantees for Ukraine. "It is important that we in Europe send the right signals to Putin and Washington. We are doing that today. If it comes to the point where a ceasefire or peace agreement requires a European presence, Denmark is ready for it", he added. (Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com) |
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| ROME Italian government's strategy on tariffs. Italy has a plan in place to protect its businesses should the United States impose tariffs and on Monday sent a delegation to Washington to discuss the tariffs. Read more. /// LISBON Portugal: Parliament to vote on confidence motion that should lead to government dismissal on Tuesday. The Portuguese parliament will be debating and voting today on a motion of confidence in the government, which has been announced as ‘’defeated‘’ and is expected to lead to the dismissal of the executive, just one year and one day after the coalition Democratic Alliance's victory in the early parliamentary elections. The motion, entitled ‘Effective stability, with a sense of responsibility’, was announced by the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, on 5 March, at the opening of the debate on the Communist Party (PCP) motion of censure on the PSD/CDS-PP (the Democratic Alliance coalition parties) minority executive. The debate, scheduled for 3pm, will start with a 12-minute speech by the government, followed by the debate, and a closing by the executive, lasting a total of 151 minutes. At the end, if the motion is not withdrawn (a hypothesis already ruled out by the government), the vote will immediately follow. In addition to PSD and CDS-PP, only the Liberal Initiative Party (IL) has announced that it will vote in favour, with the Socialist Party (PS), the right wing Chega Party, PCP, Left Bloc (BE) and the Livre Party guaranteeing that the document will be ‘’rejected‘’. (Sara Madeira – edited by Pedro Sousa Carvalho | Lusa.pt) |
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| WARSAW Tusk disciplines Washington, cites “respect for allies.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented on the spat between Elon Musk and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, citing the need to respect allied countries regardless of their size. On Sunday, Musk threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to the Starlink network. Sikorski responded that the Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Ministry of Digitalisation, and if SpaceX turns out to be an unreliable provider, Poland will look for other suppliers. “Be quiet, small man,” Musk addressed Sikorski in his next post on X, adding that Warsaw paid “a tiny fraction of the cost.” “True leadership means respect for partners and allies. Even for the smaller and weaker ones. Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it,” Tusk wrote on Monday, referring to Musk's invective against Sikorski. He also addressed members of the opposition PiS (ECR), which he wrote “by attacking Sikorski, who calmly explains Poland's raison d'état to foreign politicians, [...] is losing the last vestiges of national dignity.” (Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl) /// PRAGUE Czechia to ban animal transport from Hungary and Slovakia. Czechia is banning the transport of all animals from Hungary and Slovakia into the country as of tomorrow due to foot-and-mouth disease. Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný announced the measure today in response to last week's outbreak of the disease in north-west Hungary. (Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz) |
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| SARAJEVO NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited Sarajevo yesterday to highlight the Alliance's unwavering support for the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina amid escalating political tensions, media report. The visit follows the recent conviction of pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who was sentenced to one year in prison and banned from politics for six years for defying the decisions of the High Representative, the international official responsible for overseeing the country’s post-war peace agreement. In retaliation, Dodik's Republika Srpska parliament passed laws restricting Bosnia's central judicial and police powers on its territory, escalating secessionist threats.Members of the tripartite Presidency showed deep divisions during Rutte's visit. Serb member Željka Cvijanović criticised the role of the international envoy, while Bosniak member Denis Bećirović called the Serb moves a "brutal attack on the constitutional order" and warned that destabilisation would benefit Moscow. /// SOFIA Bulgaria fears Russian attack on NATO and EU countries. Russia is a major threat to Bulgaria’s security, and NATO and the EU are guarantors of the effective protection of its national interests, claims the country’s new defense strategy, which has already been adopted by the government in Sofia. “Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine violated the principles and norms of international law, seriously undermined the European security architecture and changed the factors that contributed to a stable and predictable security environment in Europe. Increased global and interconnected risks and threats do not exclude the possibility of aggression and violations of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a NATO and EU member state,” the strategy states. According to the Bulgarian government, regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia will keep its ambitious goals of maintaining military parity with Western countries, and the danger of nuclear escalation is also increasing. “The danger of global military and nuclear escalation is increasing, with the possibility of political-economic and conventional confrontation with the West and an acceleration of the arms race,” the strategic document states. Bulgaria warns that despite the loss of influence, Russia views the post-Soviet space as a buffer with the West. (Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg) /// BUCHAREST Romanian prosecutors open criminal case over far-right leader’s incitement remarks. The Romanian Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Monday that it had opened a criminal case, following remarks made by extremist leader George Simion after the electoral commission’s decision to bar Călin Georgescu from running for president. The Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice stated that it launched the investigation after Simion, an MP and leader of the far-right AUR party, made “a series of statements inciting violence” on the evening of March 9. “Those who staged the coup should be skinned alive in the public square for what they did,” Simion declared in a video posted on social media on Sunday evening, shortly after the BEC rejected Georgescu’s candidacy and his supporters violently protested in central Bucharest. At least four AUR MPs participated in the protests but denied rumors that they coordinated the violence, which left 13 gendarmes injured. On Monday, Simion defended his remarks in a press conference, claiming they were meant metaphorically. (Catalina Mihai | Euractiv.ro) Meanwhile, the European Commission has refused to comment on the Romanian authorities' decision to ban Georgescu: “Let us be very clear here: elections are a national competence and the Commission does not comment on the Romanian electoral process, which is a matter for the Romanian authorities and, ultimately, the Romanian people," a spokesperson for the EU executive said on Monday. On Sunday, Romania's electoral bureau barred Georgescu from the upcoming elections due to his “failure to comply with the electoral regulations", sparking clashes between Georgescu's supporters and police in Bucharest. |
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- EU: Economic and Financial Affairs Council convenes to discuss competitiveness, taxation, Recovery and Resilience Facility, and more;
- Commission President Ursula von der Leyen participates in Parliament’s joint debate on European Council meetings and European Security; Hosts Co-Chairs of Greens/EFA Group Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout;
- High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas meets with UN Secretary General António Guterres; Participates in Security Council briefing session on EU-UN cooperation;
- Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera presents Commission’s Statement on Clean Industrial Deal to Parliament; Attends One-Year Anniversary of Digital Markets Act;
- Vice President Roxana Mînzatu participates in Parliament’s session on Roadmap for Women's rights;
- Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos in Parliament’s Working Group on Enlargement East and Türkiye;
- Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen meets US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright;
- Parliament’s plenary session debates proposal on Critical Medicines Act, proposal on a new common approach on returns, future of European defence, situation in Gaza & Syria, and more;
- Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola delivers remarks on EU Remembrance Day for Victims of Terrorism event; Meets with leader of the Belarusian democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya; Hosts Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset.
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| *** [Edited by Vas Panagiotopoulos, Charles Szumski, Daniel Eck, Sofia Mandilara] |
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