The Commission briefed member states’ ambassadors on the plans for the 11th sanctions package against Russia over the weekend. Diplomats said the focus will be on closing gaps in the existing sanctions regime and preventing circumvention.The new EU sanctions coordinator, David O’Sullivan, is traveling through Central Asia and has already visited Turkey. On Wednesday, the […]
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs representative, does not want to raise great expectations this time ahead of the new round in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. He said that they would discuss the next steps in Brussels on Tuesday on how to implement the agreement on normalization between Serbia and Kosovo, including its […]
Sometimes things can move fast in the EU. Three weeks ago, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell first presented his plan for speeding up the delivery of artillery ammunition to Ukraine. On Monday, defense ministers approved the plan. The EU is providing €2 billion specifically for ammunition procurement, mainly for 155mm caliber rounds. The funds […]
During an informal Stockholm meeting, EU defense ministers welcomed a proposal by Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell to speed up ammunition procurement for Ukraine and member states with European funding. There had been general agreement, but some issues were still open, Borrell said. The Spaniard had presented a so-called non-paper to the roundtable with a […]
The window of opportunity for a deal between Switzerland and the EU is closing slowly but surely. Swiss State Secretary Livia Leu is coming to Brussels today for the eighth round of exploratory talks with the EU Commission. It is not likely to be the last. The talks are about a new basis for the […]
The pressure is enormous: Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti met in Brussels on Monday for a new round of the so-called Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. This time, the two adversaries were expected not just to talk, but to deliver. On the table: a ten-point plan that both sides should sign by March. […]
Jens Stoltenberg is visibly uncomfortable with questions about his own professional future. His focus is on his task as NATO Secretary General, he said before the meeting of Ministers of Defense on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels. His spokeswoman had denied reports over the weekend that the Norwegian had already agreed to become his own […]
It is rare for a guest to be so eagerly expected in Brussels that the European Quarter rolls out the red carpet and receives them with great fanfare. But when Volodymyr Zelenskiy made his appearance before the EU Parliament and later at the EU summit, it was clear that he was meant to feel right […]
A Russian submarine bears the name of its sponsor: the parastatal diamond producer Alrosa. Only recently, the Kilo-class fighter submarine returned to the main base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol after an elaborate modernization.Rarely is the connection between a company and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine as obvious as in the […]
Almost a year after the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, things have worked out after all: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and EU Council President Charles Michel signed a new declaration on cooperation at the military alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. The text builds […]