The Brief
14 March 2025

Huawei is not the issue

By Matthew Karnitschnig

Brussels was all atwitter at the end of its work week (read Thursday) on news that Huawei, the Chinese purveyor of telecom networks, was suspected of paying bribes to more than a dozen MEPs.

The reaction was predictable: feigned shock, calls for swift action and plenty of righteous finger-wagging from the media.

The scandal was such an effective diversion that one could be forgiven for thinking that Viktor Orbán was behind the whole thing.

For while the press corps was churning out breathless reports about sealed offices and “blue and white police tape on doors of European Parliament offices,” the real steal was happening behind closed doors elsewhere in Brussels, far beyond the jurisdiction of the gendarmes.

Not for the first time – and likely not for the the last – Orbán managed to hold Europe hostage with his veto on renewing sanctions against thousands of Russians and entities for another six months.

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The Roundup

Sanctions – Hungary on Fridaylifted its objection to the EU's renewal of sanctions on Russian individuals and entities after several names were taken off the list.

Energy– Europe’s strict hydrogen production rules createregulatory barriers to the market ramp-up of the clean-burning gas, four EU countries argue.

Health – Life expectancy in the European Unionreached 81.4 years in 2023, the highest value ever recorded by Eurostat.

Agriculture – EU ambassadors on Fridaygreenlit a proposal for higher tariffs on Russian fertilisers and a further increase in tariffs on agri-food products from Russia and Belarus as well, with hopes of approval by the summer.

Across Europe

Germany– Germany's two main centrist partiesstruck a deal with the Greens on Friday to pass a massive infrastructure and defence spending package that marks a major turning point in the country's normally cautious fiscal policy.

Greece – Greek centre-right Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakisdecided today to reshuffle the cabinet as his New Democracy party’s free fall in polls continues.

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