| Middle East
EPP-Socialist divide in Brussels: The two EU presidents have built a tradition of releasing joint statements, synchronising their positions word-for-word and projecting harmony. But after the US bombed Iran on Sunday, Ursula von der Leyen (an EPP Christian Democrat) and António Costa (a Socialist) were not singing from exactly the same hymn sheet.
While von der Leyen said that “Iran must never acquire the bomb” in the first line of her statement, Costa emphasised he was “deeply alarmed,” called for “restraint” and talked about civilian victims.
There was an even more blunt statement from the Commission’s most senior Socialist commissioner, Spain’s Teresa Ribera, who wrote the following ominous line on BlueSky: “Decades to build an international order based on the UN charter, human rights and the rule of law.” She later re-posted an FT op-ed that argued Trump’s intervention makes the world a more dangerous place.
Israel on the agenda: EU foreign ministers will today talk about the Iran conflict, and a recent internal review that found “indications” Israel is breaching the terms of its EU trade deal due to its conduct in Gaza. There’s little-to-no expectation that the EU will actually cut trade ties, but a growing list of potential EU responses is putting pressure on Israel.
Euractiv’s Alexandra Brzozowski reports that Israel has responded to the internal review, calling it “outrageous and indecent”.
O Canada
Europe’s favourite North American, Canadian PM Mark Carney, is in Brussels for an EU summit today aimed at “deepening the relationship across all sectors”, including greater access to the single market, according to his office. Ahead of the talks, EU officials were joking that the joint declaration reads “a bit like an enlargement document”.
Maple-shield cooperation: A key objective will be a new EU-Canada security and defence agreement, marking the first step for Canada to participate in SAFE, the EU’s €150 billion programme to bolster joint defence procurement. An EU official said a bilateral agreement – a pre-requisite for Canadian firms to begin bidding – could follow soon after, paving the way for both sides to seize procurement opportunities.
Trump 2.0 hits Europe
New analysis from the European Council on Foreign Relations makes for interesting reading on Trump’s influence on the European political landscape.
“Europe’s far-right forces are transforming from self-styled defenders of national sovereignty into the continental vanguard of a transnational revolutionary movement – aligning themselves with Trump’s bid to remake global order,” authors Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard argue. Meanwhile, mainstream parties are “the new European sovereigntists”.
Polling published by the think tank shows that Romanians (30%), Hungarians (29%) and Poles (25%) are the Europeans most likely to think Trump’s second term is good for their country. | 