German top adviser cautious about possible WTO case against US

Good morning from Berlin,

Filing a case against the US over its massive green subsidy push in the form of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) could ultimately do more harm than good, despite strong criticism that it violates WTO rules, Monika Schnitzer, head of the German Council of Economic Experts, told Euractiv. Read more.

PARIS

French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are ready fight climate change as long as there is no “regulatory tsunami”, the French Federation of SMEs warned ahead of introduction of the EU’s new extra-financial reporting requirements. Read more.

///

BERLIN

Germany banks on Kazakhstan, Central Asia to pressure Russia. Kazakhstan’s support is vital for enforcing sanctions against Russia and ending the war, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said as he met Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Berlin on Wednesday, as EU countries seek to win over Central Asia as a key geopolitical ally. Read more.

///

VIENNA

Austria pitches policy areas for ‘gradual’ Western Balkans integration. Austria has made a renewed push to support EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, naming possible policy areas for advancing ‘gradual integration’, according to a non-paper prepared for next week’s informal EU summit in Granada, seen by Euractiv. Read more.

///

BRUSSELS

Belgian Green MPs table abortion reform proposal. A bill to reform Belgium’s abortion laws, particularly by extending the legal period for abortion and decriminalising it, was tabled by two Ecolo-Green (EELV) MPs on Thursday. Read more.

///

THE HAGUE

Netherlands tops EU importers list for third country products linked to deforestation. The Netherlands is the EU’s largest importer of products with a high risk of deforestation from third countries, including soy, palm oil and cocoa, the country’s statistics agency CBS reported on Thursday. Read more.

Amsterdam: Falling child vaccination rates causes headaches. The declining rate of vaccinations for children in Amsterdam is causing concerns among policymakers, who are still puzzled as to whether this trend is related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.

The European Commission is pressing ahead with plans for a new law modelled on the US Foreign Agents Act in a bid to tackle Russian and Chinese influence amid warnings that the draft bill could end up hitting civil society groups more than foreign regimes. Read more.

HELSINKI | OSLO

To uphold sanctions against Russia, Finland has launched round-the-clock border checks to prevent Russian vehicles from entering its territory via the six cross-border roads from Norway. Read more.

///

STOCKHOLM

Sweden’s former PM open to using military to tackle gang violence. Magdalena Andersson, Sweden’s former prime minister and leader of the opposition Social Democrats, is open to using the military to combat gang violence, she said on Thursday, as the number of gang-related deaths in the country continues to rise. Read more.

///

VILNIUS

Lithuania ready to receive migrants from Italy. Lithuania is ready to take in migrants who have entered Italy illegally if the European Union’s solidarity mechanism is activated, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said on Thursday. Read more.

MADRID

Sánchez asks EU socialists to follow ‘Spanish example’ to stop far-right in June 2024. The European Socialists (S&D) are encouraged to follow the example Spain set in the 23 July snap general elections and stop the far-right in the June 2024 European elections, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said at a meeting with S&D in Madrid on Thursday. Read more.

///

ROME

Rome accepts Berlin’s compromise proposal for migration crisis, wants time to read it. Italy has asked for time to consider the compromise proposal put forward by Germany on the European Pact on migrants presented during the meeting of interior ministers in Brussels on Thursday. Read more.

///

VALLETTA

Malta MEP candidate warns von der Leyen over visit to ‘fakely’ refurbished school. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to visit Malta on Friday but has been warned not to fall prey to propaganda from the Maltese government after a trip to a hastily patched-up but still unfinished EU-funded primary school was announced. Read more.

BRATISLAVA

Slovakia is on the brink of a critical parliamentary election set for Saturday, with a campaign that underlined a stark divide between nationalist sentiments, represented by former socialist prime minister Robert Fico, and the forces of liberalism embodied by the Progressive Slovakia party. Read more.

Slovak government prevents majority of EU funds from going unspent. Slovakia’s government has significantly reduced the risk of unspent EU funds, cutting it from €800 million down to €100 million, having re-routed large portions to crisis management, according to Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor. Read more.

///

WARSAW

Tusk organises another opposition march ahead of elections. Opposition leader and former European Council President Donald Tusk has organised another anti-government Million Heart March – just two weeks ahead of the nation’s parliamentary elections – after at least 300,000 participants attended the last march in June. Read more.

///

PRAGUE

Changes in EU decision-making not possible before elections, says Czech expert. Countries opposing the EU reform but seeking Ukraine’s accession to the EU will soon realise that they have to agree with the adjustment of EU’s decision-making procedures as changes are not possible before the 2024 EU elections, Czech expert Jan Kovář, deputy director of research at the Institute of International Relations, told Euractiv.cz. Read more.

SOFIA

The Bulgarian parliament abandoned its intention to ban the import of Russian oil by the end of this year and decided that this should happen by the end of October 2024. Read more.

///

BUCHAREST

Romanians could travel visa-free to US by 2025, says ambassador. Romania is set to become a participant in the Visa Waiver program in 2025, says the Romanian ambassador to the US, Andrei Muraru, which was confirmed by Kathleen Kavalec, the US ambassador in Bucharest, who added that Romanians will enjoy visa-free travel to the US by 2025 ‘at the earliest’. Read more.

///

SARAJEVO

Bosnian Serb entity adopts ‘foreign agents’ law, denounced by EU. The National Assembly of the Serb half of Bosnia-Herzegovina adopted on Thursday a draft “foreign agents” law targeting NGOs funded from abroad, despite criticism from the opposition, civil society and the EU. Read more.

///

TIRANA

Albanian PM steps up EU criticism, intensifies calls for action on Serbia. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has joined in criticism of EU Envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak and Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell, calling on the EU Commission to act regarding the murder of a Kosovo policeman and the day of mourning called by Belgrade after the death of terrorist suspects. Read more.

***

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