Welcome to The Capitals, with me, Eddy Wax. As we revamp this newsletter, we want your feedback. And don’t hesitate to send us story ideas for what we should be covering.
In today’s edition: - An exclusive interview with Henna Virkkunen
- MAGA weighs into the Polish presidential election
- The Commission talks tough on Hungary’s civil society crackdown
- A Russia-friendly ECR MEP faces expulsion
- Spain reels after a Catalan language fail
- … and our handy summary from around the bloc.
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TECH
The EU’s top tech official told Euractiv that American digital giants are in fact removing more online content from their platforms under their own terms and conditions than the EU does.
The remarks from EU Tech Sovereignty Commissioner Henna Virkkunen are an attempt to reframe the debate in the face of massive criticism from American tech moguls and officials across the Atlantic who have branded the EU’s digital laws a threat to freedom of speech.
“Often in the US, platforms have more strict rules with content,” Virkkunen told my colleague Anupriya Datta in an exclusive interview. Read it in full here.
MAGA STORMS POLISH ELECTION
A senior US Republican lawmaker has written to Ursula von der Leyen to demand answers about the integrity of Poland’s ongoing presidential election.
In a letter shared with The Capitals, Florida Congressman Brian Mast, who chairs the House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs, demanded that von der Leyen provide answers to a slate of allegations about the campaign funding of Rafał Trzaskowski, the center-right candidate from Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party in the presidential run-off on Sunday.
Mast cites media reports alleging Trzaskowski benefited from illegal campaign ads, some financed by liberal donor George Soros, who is frequently vilified by the far right. The letter, signed by five other Republicans, accuses the EU of turning a blind eye to rule of law problems under Tusk’s government.
MAGA-aligned US group CPAC held an event in Poland Tuesday, with speakers backing Trzaskowski’s rival Karol Nawrocki, from the Euroskeptic Law & Justice party.
COMMISSION CONFRONTS HUNGARY
EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath threatened pre-emptive legal action if Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government doesn’t drop plans for a Russia-style bill that would allow Budapest to crack down on foreign-funded media and NGOs.
“We won’t hesitate to take the necessary steps … we are not ruling out seeking interim measures,” McGrath told reporters last night. Interim measures could mean asking the Court of Justice to suspend the “Transparency of Public Life” bill immediately.
The Commission is already suing Budapest over its “child protection law”, which McGrath described as the progenitor of another new law cracking down on gatherings like the upcoming Gay Pride festival. “The right to peaceful assembly is not a threat to children,” said McGrath.
The tough rhetoric came after ministers grilled Hungary’s Europe Minister János Bóka about the rule of law. McGrath told The Capitals the mood in the room was “serious, sober but professional”.
The Commission also denied Euractiv’s reporting that von der Leyen had instructed her commissioners to not attend Budapest Pride next month – four days after Euractiv initially requested a comment. McGrath is “not in a position” to attend Pride himself, he said.
Martin Dvořák, Czechia’s Europe minister, told Czech reporters yesterday that “the number of ministers expressing growing concern is increasing” but that the prospect of suspending Hungary’s EU-level voting rights is still far off.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Luxembourgish MEP Fernand Kartheiser is facing almost certain expulsion from the hard right, pro-Ukraine European Conservatives and Reformists group after meeting senior politicians in Moscow this week. The ECR group will convene on 4 June to vote him out, a move which would leave him as a non-attached member of parliament.
ECR Co-Chairmen Nicola Procaccini and Patryk Jaki wrote in a statement: "By travelling to Putin’s Russia, Fernand Kartheiser has crossed a red line for the ECR Group. We will take decisive action to terminate his Group membership as soon as possible."
“I personally see no cause for excluding me and believe that my diplomatic initiative is both timely and necessary,” Kartheiser told The Capitals via a spokesman. “As politicians, we have a responsibility to act as peacemakers and negotiators.”
LANGUAGES
Spain failed to get Catalan, Galician and Basque recognized as official EU languages at a ministerial meeting Tuesday.
Around ten countries raised legal and financial concerns, following a particularly stinging report from the Council of the EU’s in-house lawyers who raised the prospect that treaty changes might even be required.
With no clear majority in favour or against, the Polish chair Adam Szłapka postponed the discussion, in another setback for Madrid’s two-year push. |
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| POLAND
Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki has submitted to drug tests. And he wants you to know he's clean.
During last Friday's televised debate, Nawrocki was seen covering the lower part of his face with one hand and placing something into his mouth or nose with the other. His campaign manager explained Nawrocki was using snus “to stay awake during his opponent's tirades”.
Seeking to put allegations of drug use to rest, however, Nawrocki then submitted himself to a test, which he passed. Nawrocki suggested his rival, Rafał Trzaskowski from Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform, do the same. No response from Trzaskowski so far. Read more ahead of Sunday's second round.
GERMANY
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Berlin today to hold talks with new Chancellor Friedrich Merz. All eyes will be on whether Merz reverses longstanding German policy and provides long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
FRANCE
The French left is savaging a proposal by Prime Minister François Bayrou to rescue the country’s health care system by imposing a “social VAT”.
The National Assembly also passed a major “help to die” reform last night, despite opposition from the right.
ITALY
Media are focusing on the Italian government’s refusal to sign a declaration of 20 EU countries criticising Hungary’s crackdown on LGBTQ people. (Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovakia also didn’t sign and Poland refrained as it is chairing EU meetings).
SPAIN
Political parties rounded on each other after Madrid failed to get unanimous support for Catalan, Basque and Galician in Brussels. Both independence leader Carles Puigdemont and Catalonia’s ruling Socialist President Salvador Illa accused the opposition People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo (an EPP member) of obstructing progress in Brussels. Feijóo said the “atypical” situation of Castilian Spanish in Catalonia should be solved and that it would require treaty changes when the EU tries to simplify legislation.
IRELAND
Dublin wants EU countries to follow its lead in banning imports from Palestinian territories that are illegally occupied by Israel, the Irish Times reports. Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris is drafting the legislation.
DENMARK
Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke’s rap at a political festival has caused a rift with local fishermen. “Our friends in the fishing industry have been destroying the Danish sea for decades,” Heunicke rapped, attacking trawler fishing in local waters. Heunicke has since had to backtrack. “It wasn't to upset anyone,” he told TV2. |
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| PRIZE FOR HUNGARIAN YOUTH: An English-language Hungarian news website called Forum Europaeum won the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, worth €7500. The Charlemagne Foundation and the European Parliament award the prize annually.
GUESS WHO’S BACK: France’s former Europe Minister Clément Beaune was spotted at the Brussels bar L’Athenée on Monday night, a Euractiv spy writes in to report. |
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- Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets with Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez
- Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera receives wind industry CEOs
- Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maros Šefčovič participates in the EU- United Arab Emirates high level Investment Roundtable
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| Contributing reporters: Magnus Lund Nielsen, Alexandra Brzozowski, Inés Fernández-Pontes, and Anupriya Datta.
Editors: Vince Chadwick and Sofia Mandilara
Main picture credit: EPA-EFE/RONALD WITTEK |
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