Good morning from Paris.
A convicted felon and Trump's family insider turned US ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, will soon land in Paris – not to sip French wine, but to do business, writes Laurent Geslin.
Kushner’s name is already infamous in the US. In 2005, he was sentenced to two years in a federal prisonin Alabama on multiple charges, including tax fraud and witness tampering.
He admitted at the time to having hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, who was cooperating in a federal investigation into campaign financing.
Fifteen years later, Trump granted him a full pardon in the final month of his presidency. Kushner expressed his gratitude by donating $1 million in 2023 to Trump’s Make America Great Again Inc. super PAC.
Now, with the Senate’s confirmation on 19 May, the father of Trump’s son-in-law is taking on one of the US most visible diplomatic roles.
Trump's instructions for his man in Paris are very clear: “greater balance” in Franco-American economic relations and “combat harmful regulations that target American companies.”
That mission is unlikely to go down with French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged major French companies in early April to “suspend” their investments across the Atlantic following the announcement of increased US tariffs.
Kushner has also pledged to press Paris to increase its military budget well beyond NATO's current 2% of GDP target, as the country “spends far too little on its own defence." |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [Thierry Monasse/Getty Images] |
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Missing out. Firm political commitments from the EU aren't enough to justify major new investments in semiconductor production facilities by Taiwanese chip-makers, the country's ambassador to the EU Roy Chun Lee told Euractiv’s Claudie Moreau in an interview.
One request dropped. Belgian prosecutors have withdrawn a request to the European Parliament to lift the immunity of an Italian centre-right MEP under investigation in connection with the Huawei cash-for-influence probe, writes Nicoletta Ionta.
€150 billion. Requests for cash from the EU's soon-to-be-launched €150 billion joint defence procurement pot will be due in November, European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said Thursday, in the first indication of just how fast the money could be spent, writes Aurélie Pugnet.
Meanwhile, the European Investment Fund (EIF) will put €40 million into "early stage" defence tech companies through a venture capital fund, in the first defence-related investments from the decades-old EIF.
Protection of minors online. The EU will coordinate its policy on the protection of minors online and e-commerce platforms with the US, a senior European Commission official has said, writes Anupriya Datta.
New pharma deadline. While member states failed to reach an agreement on the pharma package on Wednesday, the Polish Presidency is going all out to secure a deal and is already planning to bring the issue back onto the agenda, writes Thomas Mangin.
CO2 injection rules. The European Commission has named 44 large oil and gas producers that must help deliver the EU’s goal of injecting 50 million tonnes of CO2 underground annually by 2030, writes Stefano Porciello.
Deregulation drive. The European Commission's push for a market-based approach to nature restoration could be at odds with its drive to relieve companies of the burden of sustainability reporting, analysts suggest, writes Bárbara Machado.
Two-thirds. Ukraine and the EU will revert to pre-war tariff quotas on agricultural exports after 5 June, when the current duty-free trade regime expires, following EU member states approval on Thursday, writes Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro.
Scores of anti-facist protesters, as well as uniformed police, showed up outside a hotel in the heart of Brussels' EU neighbourhood on Wednesday, as an event organised by the conservative think tank MCC Brussels took place inside, writes Magnus Lund Nielsen. |
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| BERLIN
Germany shows signs of ending anti-nuclear stance. Germany's new energy minister, Katherina Reiche, has endorsed the allocation of EU budget funds to developing small modular reactor (SMR) technology, reversing Berlin's long-standing scepticism towards atomic power. Read more.
Gene-edited crops spark debate in Berlin as Brussels advances new rules. In only the second plenary week of the Bundestag, the Greens proposed a debate on crops obtained with new genomic techniques (NGTs), making the split in the government on this issue visible. Read more. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [EPA-EFE/TOMS KALNINS] |
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| VILNIUS Germany has inaugurated its first permanent foreign military deployment in Lithuania since World War II, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz calling it “the beginning of a new era." Read more.
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STOCKHOLM Bankrupt EU battery champion Northvolt to cease production. Production lines at the EU-backed Northvolt battery megafactory in Sweden will grind to a halt in June, bankruptcy trustee Mikael Kubu said in a staff meeting. Read more. |
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| Click on the picture to read the story | [Palestinian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images] |
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| MADRID
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will travel to Turkey on Friday to reinforce his shared stance with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Gaza, in a bid to ramp up pressure on Israel. Read more.
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ROME
Italy courts clash with government line on LGBTQ+ parenthood rights. Two landmark rulings on Thursday by Italian courts have reignited debate over LGBTQ+ parenthood, challenging the country’s restrictive laws and drawing sharp criticism from the Meloni government. Read more.
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LISBON
Portugal: Minister condemns killing of Israeli embassy staff. Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel condemned on Thursday the murder on Wednesday night of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, calling it an act based on growing anti-Semitism. "We strongly condemn" the attack, said the minister, adding that Portugal's position had already been conveyed to the Israeli authorities."It is unacceptable. On the one hand, because it is an anti-Semitic act and, on the other, because it violates the Vienna Convention" protecting diplomats, he said. For Paulo Rangel, the attack shows that "hatred is increasing on both sides" due to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "Anti-Semitism, which already existed before 7 October [2003, when Hamas attacked Israeli territory, starting the war], has been growing clearly in Europe and the West," he acknowledged. The attack prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order increased security measures at Israeli diplomatic missions around the world. (Patrícia Cunha - edited by Cristina Cardoso | Lusa.pt) |
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| WARSAW
PiS’s Nawrocki seeks far-right Mentzen’s backing ahead of Polish presidential runoff. PiS-backed presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki signed a declaration drafted by far-right first-round candidate Sławomir Mentzen – a condition for receiving Mentzen's support in the second round. Read more.
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PRAGUE
Czech support of Israel holds, but Netanyahu faces sharp criticism over Gaza. Czechia remains one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe, but several top officials are increasingly distancing themselves from the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Gaza. Czech President Petr Pavel said after a meeting of constitutional officials on Thursday that Netanyahu’s actions do not align with how Czechia envisions resolving the situation. Speaking earlier this week in Brussels, Pavel warned that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is becoming unsustainable and requires a very urgent solution.” While reaffirming Czechia’s long-standing support for Israel, he emphasised the need to separate that from approval of Netanyahu’s policies. According to the Czech president, Czechia should distinguish its general support for Israel from support for specific actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS, ECR) maintained his government’s long-standing support for Israel, without criticising Netanyahu directly. “We do not support any specific Israeli government. We have long supported the State of Israel as a country, regardless of who currently governs it,” he said. Fiala also stressed that Czechia consistently supports Israel’s right to exist and to self-defence. The sharpest statement came from the Czech Government Commissioner for Human Rights Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková. “The actions of the Israeli government towards civilians in Gaza are entirely unacceptable and immoral.” (Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz)
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BRATISLAVA
Slovakia rejects special tribunal on Russia without explanation. Slovakia remains silent on why – as one of only two EU members – it did not back a tribunal to prosecute Russia for aggression, despite its frequent calls that international law must be upheld, prompting criticism from legal experts and the opposition. Read more. |
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| BUCHAREST
Romanian court strikes down far-right Simion's appeal of election loss. Romania’s Constitutional Court on Thursday unanimously rejected the appeal filed by far-right leader George Simion challenging the results of the country's presidential election. Read more. |
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| EU: Competitiveness Council in its research and space composition convenes to discuss Horizon Europe, artificial intelligence in science, use of satellite data, and more; Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen holds video conference with White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios, and White House Office of Science Principal Deputy Director Lynne Parker; Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maros Šefčovič hosts Minister of Commerce and Industry of India Piyush Goyal; Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen delivers keynote speech at BusinessEurope Council of Representatives, in Copenhagen, Denmark; Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola participates in NATO Parliamentary Assembly, in Ohio, United States. *** |
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| [Edited by Vas Panagiotopoulos, Charles Szumski, Daniel Eck, Sofia Mandilara] |
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