Dutch minister calls for EU Defence Commissioner

Good morning from The Hague,

Outgoing Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren (D66/Renew) urged the next European Commission on Thursday to create a separate commissioner post for defence, stressing the need to boost arms procurement and military spending within the EU. Read more.

BERLIN

EU membership is strongly supported by an overwhelming 87% of Germans, with most far-right voters also in favour of remaining in the bloc, according to a new poll published on Thursday. Read more.

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PARIS

Macron calls for ceasefire, pledges increased aid to Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas for the first time at the Gaza aid conference in Paris on Thursday, adding that France will increase its financial support to Gaza. Read more.

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MADRID

Spain’s main opposition parties announced on Thursday that they were preparing massive “civil resistance” actions against the “key-to-rule” deal between the Spanish Socialist Party and Catalan separatists, which includes a controversial amnesty law for those involved in Catalonia’s 2017 separatist attempt. Read more.

Spanish Presidency mulls excluding finance from due diligence rules. The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council is leaning towards the exclusion of the financial sector from the EU corporate accountability rules, which are currently under inter-institutional negotiations, according to an internal document seen by Euractiv. Read more.

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LISBON

Portuguese parliamentary election set for March. Portugal will hold snap elections on 10 March, announced President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday evening as he said parties had agreed to the dissolution of parliament following the recent resignation of António Costa. Read more.

WARSAW

Warsaw sees ‘revenge’ behind waiving immunity of four Polish MEPs. The European Parliament’s decision to lift the immunity of four conservative Polish MEPs to allow their prosecution in Poland for inciting hatred against migrants online is “political” and “aimed at revenge”, a high-ranking government official has said. Read more.

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PRAGUE | BRATISLAVA

Czechia, Slovakia want V4 summit with Germany, Austria to talk border controls. Germany and Austria should be invited to the upcoming Visegrad Group summit at the end of November to discuss internal border controls and irregular migration, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) and his newly appointed Slovak counterpart Matúš Šutaj Eštok (HLAS) agreed in Prague on Thursday. Read more.

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BUDAPEST

Hungary’s president says Swedish officials must make their case for NATO accession. Sweden must prove they deserve accession to NATO, the President of Hungary, Katalin Novák, said on Wednesday as she urged national parliamentarians to sign off the country’s bid. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Slovakia wants excess profits of electricity producers redistributed. Electricity producers’ profits should be redistributed among consumers, while investments in low-carbon technologies need to be increased, the new Economy Minister Denisa Saková said in a joint statement on EU electricity market reform with French Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Read more.

TIRANA | ROME

Italy’s left-wing Democratic Party has called for Albania’s Socialist Party, led by Prime Minister Edi Rama, to be expelled from the European Socialist Party over the controversial deal he struck with conservative Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to process asylum seekers picked up from Italian waters in northern Albania. Read more.

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SOFIA

Lukoil Bulgaria claims it can legally export fuels to the EU. Some types of fuel made from Russian oil can be exported to the EU under current rules, Lukoil Bulgaria said on Thursday, denying accusations of violating international oil sanctions against Russia. Read more.

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LJUBLJANA

Slovenia doubles down on smoke flavourings, smoke-only lounges. The Slovenian government has toughened its anti-smoking legislation with a ban on smoking rooms and most flavourings in all heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes to prevent addiction among children and reduce related health costs. Read more.

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TIRANA

Cash injection will solve Western Balkan integration woes, says Albania’s EU ambassador. Socio-economic challenges in Western Balkan countries have been hampering their European Union integration path, but this will change with a new €6 billion cash injection for the region, the EU Ambassador to Tirana, Luigi Soreca, said on Thursday. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson]