Debt trap. The support of Europe’s centre-right leaders for defence bonds at the European Council has caused confusion and disgruntlement among the party family’s frugal members, Euractiv’s Nick Alipour and Sarantis Michalopoulos have learnt.
Leaders from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), Europe’s most powerful party family, stunned observers at last week’s European Council summit, when they threw their weight behind a push for new EU common debt.
It seemed all the more surprising that the EPP would actively advocate for joint debt given the party is dominated by the German Christian Democrats, who are due to lead a new government within the next month.
However, the Germans themselves appeared to have been surprised by the outcome, which was not received well in Berlin.
Euractiv has learnt that the Germans reportedly did not support the conclusion on joint debt in the paper, which had been drafted by the team of Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images] |
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Is the EU doing enough in the Red Sea? Trump officials have lashed out at European allies for not pulling their fair share in protecting shipping in the Red Sea. Alexandra Brzozowski asks whether they are right.
“Up against the wall.” The EU chemical industry lobby Cefic pitched a 10-point rescue plan to the Commission at a meeting with the bloc’s industry chief Stephane Séjourné and the EU environmental boss Jessika Roswall on Tuesday, writes Stefano Porciello.
Why Signal? The Atlantic's editor-in-chief recently landed in the middle of a Signal chat between senior Trump administration officials over bombing Yemen. But why were they using Signal in the first place and not WhatsApp or another messaging service, write Anupriya Datta and Chris Powers
End informal seed exchanges. The Polish council presidency is proposing to end informal farmer-to-farmer seed exchanges in a new EU regulation on plant reproductive material (PRM), according to a draft document seen by Euractiv that will be discussed today, writes Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro.
Will copyright enforcement be undermined? News publishers are angered by Google's claims that news content does not drive ad revenue, and accuse Google of attempting to undermine copyright claims and to pre-empt arguments against fair remuneration for AI, writes Claudie Moreau.
Alarm raised. Key negotiators of the AI Act have signed a public letter to Henna Virkkunen, warning of fundamental rights neglect in the third draft of the general-purpose AI (GPAI) Code of Practice, writes Jacob Wulff Wold. |
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| BERLIN Axel Springer, Politico‘s German parent, said late Tuesday it would part ways with longtime board member Martín Varsavsky, just days after he characterised the outlet’s editorial staff as “woke” and dismissed an article they published about Gaza as “one-sided Hamas support”. Read more.
Germany’s newly elected parliament convenes for the first time. The 630 MPs elected in Germany’s February election came together in the Reichstag on Tuesday for the new parliament’s first official session.
Germany’s elected chamber, the Bundestag, is required to convene up to 30 days after an election, independent of the process of government formation, which is still ongoing. The outgoing parliament remained in session until the inaugural meeting. On their first day, lawmakers focused on the election of Christian Democrat Julia Klöckner as president of the assembly, the second-highest office in Germany, which is usually claimed by the largest party group. Significantly smaller: The new parliament is significantly smaller than the outgoing parliament. The previous government reduced its size after the Bundestag had grown to some 730 MPs over the years, which made it the largest democratically elected second chamber in the world. (Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de)
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PARIS
François Bayrou, 100 days in the hot seat. François Bayrou has just celebrated 100 days at the head of the executive, but the clouds are gathering again over the prime minister's head, weakened by the divisions within his government and a growing discontent on the opposition benches. Read more. |
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| [Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images] |
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| COPENHAGEN Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has slammed a planned visit to Greenland by top U.S. officials, calling it "unacceptable pressure" from President Donald Trump, who she said is serious about acquiring the territory. The delegation, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President J.D. Vance, is due to attend a dog sled race on Thursday. Frederiksen told Danish media TV 2 and DR that the visit, described by the White House as unofficial, cannot be separated from Trump's repeated claims on Greenland since January. Frederiksen stressed Denmark's alliance with the US, but insisted on respect for sovereignty, backed by strong support from Nordic and EU allies. |
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| ROME Sicily made patients wait months for life-or-death diagnoses. In recent months, the city of Trapani, Sicily, has been at the centre of a major healthcare scandal concerning severe delays in the processing of histological test results, which analyse tissue samples to diagnose cancer. Read more.
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MADRID
Spaniards least concerned about defence in the EU, new study reveals. Spanish citizens are the least concerned about the challenge of boosting Europe's defence following the US' likely gradual withdrawal from NATO's defence ‘umbrella’ over Europe, a new Eurobarometer survey by the European Parliament revealed on Tuesday. Spain currently spends 1.8% of its GDP on defence, although Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recently pledged to increase military spending to 2% by 2029, or earlier if possible. Sánchez's desire to increase the country’s military budget has provoked a new clash with his junior coalition partner, the left-wing platform Sumar, which vehemently opposes the move. Diverging priorities. According to the European Parliament survey conducted in January, the priorities of Spaniards are education and research, the two areas where they think the EU should put more emphasis. Only 20% think the EU's priority should be defence. According to the study, 36% of Europeans point to security and defence as their main concern. Sánchez recently argued that future EU defence funding and subsidies should go to the countries geographically closest to Russia: the Baltic states and Scandinavia. (Fernando Heller | Euractiv.es)
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LISBON
Portuguese Foreign minister stresses China's importance for economy. Portugal's foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, emphasised the "important role" of Chinese investment in the Portuguese economy during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the Chinese authorities The head of Portuguese diplomacy invited “more Chinese companies to invest and prosper in Portugal” and indicated that Lisbon “is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in the fields of economy and trade, energy, health, finance, infrastructure and ecological transformation.” Rangel said that Portugal and China "have a long history of interaction" and that relations between the two countries "have been developing well", according to the press release issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Beijing and Lisbon “set an example to the world” by resolving the Macau issue peacefully, it added. Quoted in the same statement, Wang Yi emphasised the "good tradition of mutual respect and support" between the two countries. “Portugal is one of the countries in the European Union that receives the most Chinese investment ‘per capita’,” said the head of Chinese diplomacy, who called for “broadening cooperation in the fields of investment in projects, ecological transformation, digital economy, innovation and research and development, information and communication.” In the last decade, China has become Portugal's fourth largest foreign direct investor. Chinese companies, both state-owned and private, have a global position valued at €11.2 billion in the Portuguese economy, according to the Bank of Portugal (BdP). The investments cover the areas of energy, banking, insurance and health. (João Pimenta, edited by Cristina Cardoso | Lusa.pt) |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images] |
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| PRAGUE
For the first time, the Czech government has blocked foreign investment, citing national security concerns. Read more.
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WARSAW
Kaczyński calls for mass march as PiS presidential candidate struggles in polls. PiS (ECR) leader Jarosław Kaczyński has announced a massive march in Warsaw as the party’s candidate, Karol Nawrocki, struggles in the polls and faces the risk of failing to reach the second round of the May election. Two major anniversaries: The event is officially tied to two major historical anniversaries: the 1000th anniversary of the coronation of Poland’s first king and the 500th anniversary of the so-called Prussian Homage, in which the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order - Poland’s longtime adversary - swore allegiance to the Polish crown. “There are many reasons today to demonstrate that we - people who love Poland - are here,” Kaczyński wrote on social media, calling on "all patriots" to join the march on 12 April. Meanwhile, Nawrocki’s campaign struggles, trailing far behind PO’s Rafał Trzaskowski and only narrowly leading far-right Sławomir Mentzen. PO and PiS faced off in the last four presidential runoffs (2005–2020), with PO winning only in 2010. (Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)
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BRATISLAVA
Slovakia declares state of emergency over foot-and-mouth disease. Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč (Smer-SD/NI) confirmed on Tuesday morning a fourth case of foot-and-mouth disease in a livestock farm in the Slovak village of Lúč na Ostrove. Read more. |
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| SOFIA Bulgaria calls for independent probe into killing of UN staffer in Gaza. Bulgaria has called for an independent investigation into the killing of a Bulgarian UN staff member in Gaza, the country’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday in response to questions from Euractiv. Earlier, UN Secretary-General António Guterres' spokesman said the Bulgarian staff member, Marin Marinov, had been killed by Israeli tank fire. The Bulgarian government is demanding irrefutable evidence in the case. Not us. Israel has denied responsibility for the explosion, which came a day after it ended a two-month truce in Gaza with renewed airstrikes. According to the UN, Israeli military strikes killed the Bulgarian UN worker and severely wounded six others. The injured include staff from France, Moldova, North Macedonia, Palestine and the UK. (Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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BUCHAREST
EU backs €615 million investment in Romania’s strategic mineral resources. The European Commission will invest €615 million in three strategic projects aimed at strengthening Romania's economy, focusing on the extraction of graphite, magnesium, and copper in the country, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Tuesday. Reduce dependency on copper imports: Economy Minister Bogdan Ivan explained that the largest of the three projects, valued at €300 million, focuses on the extraction and refining of copper and gold in Hunedoara County. This initiative is expected to reduce Romania's dependency on copper imports from non-EU countries. “We will boost European copper production by 2.3%, a crucial development for industries such as microelectronics, automotive, aerospace, and defence,” Ivan said. An additional €200 million has been earmarked for a graphite development project that is expected to produce 15,000 tonnes of graphite per year. This resource will play an important role in the automotive, defence and energy storage sectors, among others. The remaining €115 million will be invested in the extraction of magnesium, a critical material essential to the aeronautical industry and with potential applications in the pharmaceutical sector. “Romania is the only EU country set to exploit this extremely valuable resource,” Ivan added. (Cătălina Mihai | Euractiv.ro) |
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| EU: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen President of the Republic of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam; Meets with CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti; Hosts the 20 Years European Civil Service Medals Ceremony; High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas meets with Foreign Affairs Minister of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien; Hosts Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege; Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera delivers keynote speech at SolarPower Summit 2025 opening; Meets with UN Under-Secretary-General and Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen; Vice President Roxana Mînzatu presents the Preparedness Union Strategy; Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Commissioner Michael McGrath attends second trilogue on Commission’s proposal for a directive on combating corruption; Parliament President Roberta Metsola meets with Commission Former President Romano Prodi; Hosts Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and Czech Chamber of Deputies Vice Speaker Jan Skopeček; Parliament President Roberta Metsola greets the Duchess of Edinburgh, Her Royal Highness, Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones. |
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| *** [Edited by Vas Panagiotopoulos, Charles Szumski, Daniel Eck, Sofia Mandilara] |
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