Good morning from Berlin,

BRUSSELS

Amid growing threats, Belgium will place a strong focus on ensuring the continuation of the European Green Deal and the protection of LGBTIQ+ rights during its EU Council presidency in the first half of next year, Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter told Euractiv in an exclusive interview. Read more.

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BERLIN

Weber’s CSU and EU influence at test in German regional elections. EPP party leader Manfred Weber is battling to prevent a likely loss of its long-held dominance in Bavaria’s regional elections on Sunday, with results predicted to dent its power in Germany and the EU. Read more.

Chinese cars far from ‘flooding’ Germany, despite political jitters. Chinese cars are far from flooding the German market: Their share of overall car sales in Germany remains low, but it is rising when it comes to electric cars, a matter of concern for politicians and European carmakers alike. Read more.

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PARIS

France launches joint surveillance of COVID, influenza and bronchiolitis. French national health agency Santé Publique France will monitor COVID-19, influenza and bronchiolitis, all three acute respiratory infections, at the same time, the health agency announced on Thursday, ahead of the rapidly approaching season of respiratory viruses. Read more.

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THE HAGUE

Rutte ‘very much disagrees’ with 2030 EU enlargement date. The prospect of EU enlargement by 2030 is “if” the countries are ready, insisted outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD/Renew), reacting to European Council President Charles Michel’s suggestion in September that candidate countries and the EU should be ready for enlargement by 2030. Read more.

STOCKHOLM

Sweden on quest to restore trust with Muslim countries. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström will soon hold new meetings in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Algeria to rebuild trust following this year’s multiple Quran burnings, Billström said on Thursday. Read more. 

ROME

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged support to Ukraine as long as necessary, including reconstruction, but warned of Italy’s limited resources and changing public sentiment after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Granada on Thursday. Read more.

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MADRID

Sánchez admits to  negotiating amnesty law to pardon Catalan separatists. Spain’s socialist PSOE party is “negotiating” with parliamentary groups the terms of a future amnesty law for those involved in the October 2017 secession attempt in Catalonia, acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez admitted on Thursday. Read more.

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LISBON

Zelenskyy accepts president’s invitation to visit Portugal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accepted an invitation from his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to visit the country, and teams are “still working on the date”, the Portuguese presidency said on Thursday. Read more.

WARSAW

President, PM united against ‘second Lampedusa’ in Poland. Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced their joint position on the EU’s proposed migration and asylum reform, reiterating their strong opposition to the proposed relocation scheme ahead of the upcoming informal summit of bloc leaders in Granada. Read more.

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PRAGUE  |  LONDON

Czechia, UK to boost cooperation on small nuclear modular reactor development. Czechia is ready to deepen its collaboration with the United Kingdom in nuclear energy, particularly for developing small modular reactors, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said after meeting his British counterpart Rishi Sunak in Granada. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Slovak president halts military aid to Ukraine amid coalition talks. President Zuzana Čaputová moved to prevent the technocratic interim government from sending a shipment of weapons to Ukraine at a time when Robert Fico, who promised not to send “one more bullet”, is trying to form a government. Read more.

TIRANA

Albania is hosting Western Balkan foreign ministers, several EU member states and EU enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhelyi in Tirana on Friday ahead of the Berlin summit, with calls for EU action against Serbia set to be high on the agenda. Read more. /// 

SOFIA

Bulgaria’s pro-European government will likely survive no-confidence vote. Bulgaria’s pro-European government will likely survive a no-confidence vote scheduled for 13 October tabled by the pro-Russian radical party Vazrazhdan and the populist ITN over plans to cut coal-fired power plants. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Council of Europe urges Romania to improve psychiatric hospital conditions. Romania must take immediate action to improve the living conditions and treatment of patients in psychiatric institutions and residential care centres the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) said on Thursday. Read more.

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PRISTINA

Osmani: No plans to meet Vucic in Spain. Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani refused to meet her Serbian counterpart in Spain until the West, including the European Union, takes measures against Belgrade following the terrorist attack in the north of Kosovo on 24 September. Read more.

• EU: Informal meeting of heads of state or government convenes to prepare the EU’s next strategic agenda, a five-year policy plan to equip the EU with general political guidelines and directions, in Granada, Spain; Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Parliament President Roberta Metsola attend;
• Commission Vice President Dubravka Šuica delivers keynote speech at event “Fit for the future? The demographic landscape - the price of inequalities”, organized by the Bulgarian members of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, in Sofia;
• Stella Kyriakides delivers keynote speech on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan at Pancyprian Federation of Women’s Organisations; Delivers keynote speech on the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe in Nicosia University, Cyprus;
• Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli delivers keynote speech at the 5th Diversity in Business conference;
• Russia: President Vladimir Putin hosts Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson]