Romania, Bulgaria could scrap borders in event of Schengen ‘no’

Good morning from Sofia, Bucharest

Bulgaria and Romania should abolish border control if both countries are not accepted into the Schengen area by Christmas, Bulgarian MEP Andrey Novakov (EPP) said, as Austria, which has been blocking the two countries’ path toward the EU border-free zone, insists on its position. Read more.

SLAPPs: 2022 record year for number of abusive lawsuits filed – report. Some 161 abusive lawsuits were filed in European countries in 2022, the highest number mapped in a single year according to a report published on Wednesday by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE). Read more.

PARIS

France’s military operations in the Sahel have been a success as they have prevented the creation of a caliphate, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with French weekly Le Point published online Wednesday evening. Read more.

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BERLIN

German government OKs simplifying gender change. The German government approved a proposal, which, if adopted, would make name and gender change easier by removing the 1980s requirement of two psychological assessments. Read more.

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VIENNA

Austria plans to cut welfare benefits for immigrants. Immigrants who have been in Austria for less than five years should have their social benefits reduced, said conservative Integration Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP), amid backlash from her Green coalition partner. Read more.

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BRUSSELS

Belgium wants to help asylum seekers find work. Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers launched a call for projects to put asylum seekers at work, State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor announced on Wednesday. Read more.

HELSINKI

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted at the construction of Finnish armoured vehicles in Ukraine as Finland’s new Prime Minister, Peter Orpo, visited Kyiv on Wednesday. Read more.

ROME

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has criticised the European Central Bank’s decision to raise rates and asked it to do the exact opposite to encourage growth. Read more.

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MADRID

Spain’s right-wing PM hopeful given a month ahead of first investiture debate. The parliamentary debate on the investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the centre-right Partido Popular, will be held on 26 and 27 September, an extra month for the conservative politician to try to gather enough support to become Spain’s next prime minister. Read more.

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LISBON

Portuguese president: future of Ukraine talks without mention of Crimea is ‘noise’. Any discussion on the future of Ukraine that excludes the issue of the Crimean peninsula is noise disguised as support for the people of the invaded country, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sous argued on Wednesday. Read more.

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ATHENS

Blazes rage on in Greece during country’s worst summer for fires. Powerful winds, high temperatures and dry weather continue to fuel Greek wildfires, destroying properties and natural habitats, while political questions are being raised over the effectiveness of fire prevention and mitigation measures. Read more.

PRAGUE

The Czech government approved a request for a loan from the EU’s recovery fund – the Next Generation EU – which is significantly lower than initially proposed. Read more.

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WARSAW

Ruling Polish PiS MP accuses Weber of spreading ‘Hitler-like’ propaganda. Statements by the leader of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, about Poland’s ruling camp are nothing more than the spreading of propaganda reminiscent of Hitler’s time, according to the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) MP Tadeusz Szymański. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Slovakia has seven months to spend a quarter of its EU funds. Slovakia has just seven months left to spend the €3.4 billion in EU funds available since 2014 – no easy task, despite the bureaucratic government’s recently increasing efficiency regarding EU spending. Read more.

TIRANA

A delegation of Albanian firefighters and civil defence equipment were reportedly sent back from the Greek border on Wednesday, but conflicting versions of events and the number of personnel involved have diverged between Athens and Tirana, leading to confusion amid a challenging time for bilateral relations. Read more.

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LJUBLJANA

Slovenia sees continued rise in irregular migration. Slovenia is seeing a rapid increase in irregular entries on its territory, with numbers from January to July increasing by more than 150% compared to the same period last year. Read more.

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BELGRADE

Serbia’s ex-People’s Party vice-chief forms new People’s Movement. Miroslav Aleksić, until recently vice-president of the conservative right-wing People’s Party and representatives of several city and municipal committees, left the party and decided to establish a new party called the People’s Movement of Serbia. Read more.

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