Scholz is visiting Turkey in the wake of an EU summit focused on migration and amid an emotional debate on harsher asylum rules and increased deportations at home. Erdoğan, during a meeting which marks the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and Turkey, expressed a desire to move past prior difficulties in defense cooperation. … Read more
Enter Josep Borrell. The EU’s foreign policy chief will summon the ministers to a “formal” foreign affairs council at the same time as Orbán’s summit, according to three EU diplomats with direct knowledge of the plan and who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the move. It comes after Hungary’s envoy to the … Read more
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Acast Straight from the European Council summit, we bring you the latest news and analysis on a range of tough issues on the leaders’ agenda. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO colleagues Barbara Moens and Aitor Hernández-Morales to discuss how EU leaders agreed on who they want to lead … Read more
National leaders failed to agree on who should get the EU’s top jobs last week — so now it’s time for another high-stakes summit in Brussels. Since they were last here, six EU leaders from centrist parties announced that Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, Portugal’s António Costa, and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas should get the most senior positions … Read more
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has canceled part of his public agenda, nominating German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to hold the pen for him at this week’s European Council. Sánchez will not attend the Brussels summit, at which the EU’s 27 leaders are to sign off on the bloc’s three top jobs, due to the death of his … Read more
At a debate between candidates for the next Commission presidency on Thursday, von der Leyen voiced support for the leaders’ statement: “We have to have a common air defense shield for all of Europe, like it was proposed by Mitsotakis and Tusk,” she said. With the two-week countdown to the EU election on, von der … Read more
In this episode we unpack the EU’s new buzzword and the main point of discussion at this week’s European Council summit: competitiveness. We also bring you another new buzzword from Brussels this week: Bolshewokism. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO’s chief Brussels correspondent, Barbara Moens, to recap the leaders’ summit and their attempt to … Read more
But they disagreed on the bigger picture of a grand push for European financing of weapons to Ukraine, for example through defense bonds. The possibility of EU joint bonds is backed by France, Estonia, Poland and others but strongly opposed by the more frugal countries, such as Germany, The Netherlands and Austria. The discussion in … Read more
After a discussion on the Middle East at a summit in Brussels, EU leaders called for “an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire,” European Council President Charles Michel said. He added that “full & safe humanitarian access into Gaza is essential to provide the civilian population with life-saving assistance in a catastrophic situation … Read more
The current draft will be discussed by EU ambassadors Wednesday and by EU leaders Thursday. Several diplomats were optimistic the current language on Bosnia will ultimately be adopted by leaders. One diplomat from a country initially more skeptical of Bosnia’s progress to date, who was granted anonymity to discuss the topic candidly, said that the second … Read more
