Ursula von der Leyen will be traveling to the Middle East alongside EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. The Commission President will first meet Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday, spokesperson Eric Mamer announced on X.The EU is planning a similar comprehensive memorandum of understanding with Egypt as with Tunisia. However, discussions on the […]
Josep Borrell will have to listen to some criticism when the foreign ministers and then the defense ministers meet in Brussels today and tomorrow. In March, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs promised Ukraine one million artillery shells by spring 2024. However, after the halfway point, the EU states have only delivered just under […]
As expected, the EU Commission has recommended the opening of accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova. The authority is more cautious in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Accession negotiations should only begin once the conditions for this have been met, said Ursula von der Leyen. Russia’s war of aggression and the prospect of Ukraine’s […]
When the EU Commission formally adopts the progress reports with the recommendations today, the focus should be entirely on Ukraine. However, yesterday’s discussions continued on a side stage until the very end. The heads of cabinet of the 27 EU Commissioners were also unable to agree on Tuesday whether Bosnia-Herzegovina should now also be given […]
After days of cacophony, a signal of unity is now to emanate from Brussels on the Middle East crisis, according to a diplomat ahead of the start of the two-day EU summit today. Whether it will work, however, is an open question. Until the very end, the Permanent Representatives Committee was struggling for words. The […]
Actually, Switzerland and the EU wanted to clear the way for a new start in the stalled bilateral relations before the end of the year. However, after Sunday’s parliamentary elections, which were quite a clear shift to the right by Swiss standards, the chances of a breakthrough have not increased – on the contrary. The […]
Mr. O’Sullivan, has the EU failed with its sanctions regime against Russia? Latest figures suggest that Vladimir Putin is getting what he needs for arms production…No, I don’t share that view. I think the sanctions are working. The three main objectives were, first, to weaken the technological capabilities of the Russian military; second, to deprive […]
The timing couldn’t have been better. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy unexpectedly attended the meeting of NATO defense ministers on Wednesday. After the escalation between Israel and Hamas, questions arose about whether the new focus on the Middle East could come at the expense of Western support for Ukraine. The gathering at the outset of the […]
After an emergency meeting of foreign ministers, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell clearly distanced himself from his Commission colleague Oliver Varhelyi and also sees the member states behind him: Yes, the Commission does plan to review financial support for the Palestinians. But the chief diplomat presented this as a formality. The point is to […]
The Commission announced it will launch a review of its support for Palestine following Hamas’ attack on Israel. EU Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell has called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the issue and the next steps, a Commission spokesman said Monday. And the EU is in no way funding the terrorist […]