for Timothy Garton Ash, things are clear: “believe that the only adequate response to the truly heroic defense of European values being made by Ukraine at the moment is to make Ukraine a candidate for membership of the EU,” the British historian said yesterday at our Europe.Decisions conference. He very much hopes that the European […]
The war in Ukraine continues to drive the global food crisis. Up to 20 million tons of wheat are currently stuck there and cannot be exported due to Russian port blockades. The European Commission has therefore launched an action plan to get the urgently needed goods out of the country by truck and rail. But […]
The municipal waste management sector is to become part of the European emissions trading system from 2026; the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment had voted in favor of this. Germany, however, has other plans and wants to include emissions from waste incineration in national law. Leonie Düngefeld and Lukas Scheid analyze why German associations are calling for […]
EU heads of state and government negotiated late into the night at the extraordinary summit and agreed in principle on the EU Commission’s compromise proposal for an oil embargo. Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, however, insisted on guarantees that still need to be worked out in detail over the next few days, as Stephan […]
An embargo on oil imports by ship, but not via pipelines – that is the compromise proposal of the EU Commission on the planned oil embargo against Russia. However, this proposal has not yet led to a breakthrough with Hungary’s resistance getting in the way of a consensus on the sixth sanctions package. The EU […]
Hungary’s head of government Viktor Orbán got his way: Patriarch Kirill is no longer on the sanctions list. As a result, the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including a partial embargo on oil, is expected to enter into force today, Friday, if no other country lodges an objection by 9 am. Although an embargo […]
After a long and bitter dispute, the EU Commission and the Polish government have agreed on a plan for the disbursement of billions of euros in COVID-19 aid. Today, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected in Warsaw, where she will present the details of the agreement. Anna Lührmann, Minister of State for […]
It hardly comes as a surprise that Manfred Weber will head the EPP in the future considering he was the only candidate in the running. Last night, he was elected president of Europe’s largest party family. Weber says about himself that he is European “through and through”. However, there is speculation as to whether the […]
The failure of ETS reform – “a bad day for Parliament”? Not everyone sees it that way. Ismail Ertug, for example, one of the Social Democrats who voted against his own party’s recommendation to phase out free emissions allowances for industry, disagrees. Ertug hopes that the renegotiations can lead to an improvement of the climate […]
Yesterday was a tumultuous day in the EU Parliament. The ETS reform, the introduction of the CBAM, and a social climate fund were supposed to open the door to the trilogue negotiations for three key parts of the Fit for 55 package. But instead, Peter Liese’s ETS report was rejected outright and referred back to […]