Last Tuesday, Ukrainian units broke through Russian defense lines for the first time near Balakliia and they rapidly conquered large parts of the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine over the weekend. Russian forces are retreating in an unsorted fashion from key logistics hubs such as Izium, leaving masses of war materiel behind. Meanwhile, the Kremlin […]
After months of hesitation in Europe, the price cap on Russian gas is coming after all – and quickly. Yesterday, ahead of Friday’s meeting of energy ministers, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen outlined the contingency plan against high energy costs. “We must reduce Russia’s revenues, which Putin is using to finance his cruel war […]
France’s President Emmanuel Macron urged Europe to stand united in Paris yesterday. “We must not let Europe be divided by this war. European unity is key. The division of Europe was one of Russia’s aim of the war.” At the same time, he defended his willingness to maintain contact with Vladimir Putin: France will continue […]
with the Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI), the EU Commission intends to learn the lessons taught by the pandemic. The emergency instrument enables the Commission to make deep interventions in the single market in the event of a crisis. “We don’t want a planned economy,” said the responsible commissioner, Thierry Breton, when presenting the proposal. […]
Late yesterday, the Bureau of the European Parliament elected a new Secretary General. Parliament President Roberta Metsola’s wish was fulfilled: Her head of cabinet, Alessandro Chiocchetti (53), has prevailed over his three competitors, as Markus Grabitz has learned.The Commission is picking up the pace on energy pricing. After working through the weekend, a new draft […]
The European party families are not in a particularly good financial position. Additionally, their chairmanship has always been an honorary office. This has always been the case when the party leader was also a European Parliament member and thus had tenure security. With Manfred Weber from Lower Bavaria, elected head of the EPP in May, […]
Yesterday, EU foreign ministers discussed new sanctions against Russia on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York – a formal proposal is expected next week. It is already clear that reaching an agreement will be difficult, because Hungary is pulling in the completely opposite direction.Is Social Taxonomy still coming? My colleague Leonie […]
“The Russian invasion has failed” – at least that is what European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Liz Truss said after a meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. President Vladimir Putin’s decision to order a partial Russian mobilization for the fight in Ukraine was […]
It’s no surprise since the ruling is in line with previous case law: Yesterday, the ECJ confirmed that EU law precludes general and indiscriminate data retention of its citizens. Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) reacted enthusiastically to the ruling – and referred to Quick Freeze as an alternative. However, the issue is far from […]
Last night, the EU Commission sent its analysis on how to curb gas prices to the member states. At their last meeting three weeks ago, the energy ministers had explicitly asked for proposals. But now, the Commission drastically shows the consequences of a general gas price cap. To ensure gas flows between member states, a […]