Von der Leyen opens the door to Europe’s hard right – POLITICO

The choice In her campaign pitch on Monday night, she told the audience, which included people tuning in to the livestream online and via about 100 “watch parties” around the world, she wanted to fight for a strong Europe for the sake of her children and grandchildren. Von der Leyen portrayed herself as a unifying … Read more

Italy can do without Russian gas, says energy minister – POLITICO

This G7 will need to look for innovative models to accelerate investments, including private-public partnerships, Pichetto Fratin said. “We certainly need to revise the financial system, to find mechanisms that overcome the current voluntary system,” he said.   While Italy, which currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, is in a leadership position at this weekend’s … Read more

Salvini’s last hope rests on building a bridge to Sicily – POLITICO

Salvini is pushing to launch the project by June, when European elections will be held that could make or break his leadership of the League.  The timing will be critical. As electoral support for the League shrinks, Salvini’s party colleagues are running out of patience. All 15 members of one local party association in Lombardy, … Read more

France, Germany ask their citizens to quit Iran amid growing risk of military escalation in Mideast – POLITICO

It also restated that French citizens should “absolutely refrain from traveling to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.”  Meanwhile, German airline Lufthansa on Sunday announced it won’t be conducting any flights to Amman, Erbil and Tel Aviv until Tuesday and flights to Beirut and Tehran until Thursday at the soonest. The announcement comes after the airline … Read more

Occupy Brussels! Viktor Orbán’s plan for Europe – POLITICO

Leading the country’s ideological assault is the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (commonly referred to as MCC), an Orbán-backed think tank. The government-affiliated organization opened a branch in Brussels in 2022, offering an unapologetically conservative take on EU affairs as it seeks to disrupt the Brussels think tank circuit. The Brussels branch, with a staff of about … Read more

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni called to testify in deepfake porn case – POLITICO

The lawsuit is meant to “send a message to women who are victims of this kind of abuse of power not to be afraid to press charges,” the lawyer added. A deepfake is an image or video that has been digitally manipulated to superimpose a person’s face onto another body. The technology has become increasingly … Read more

EU leaders flock to Egypt to ink €7.4B economic aid, migration deal – POLITICO

The EU-Egypt deal coincides with an uptick in irregular migration to the bloc of wealthy countries. Following a lull in 2022, the EU faced a surge in migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea during 2023 and numbers are climbing again in 2024, according to the EU official. A deal inked with Tunisia last July and … Read more

If Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine, Hamas wouldn’t have attacked Israel – POLITICO

Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine two years ago was the precursor to the Hamas militant group’s attack on Israel last October, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in an interview published on Saturday. “If Russia had not invaded Ukraine, in all likelihood Hamas would not have launched such an attack against Israel,” Meloni told Italy’s … Read more

Von der Leyen in Kyiv to mark Ukraine war anniversary – POLITICO

Von der Leyen is accompanied other officials, including Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose country currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also is in Kyiv and she will conduct a G7 videoconference from there later Saturday. The G7 call … Read more

Zelenskyy calls for urgent talks to end Polish border crisis – POLITICO

In addition to blockading border crossings, Polish farmers have dumped grain bound for Germany, while one tractor carried a placard proclaiming support for Putin and his invasion. “Putin, bring order to Ukraine and Brussels — and to our own rulers,” the message proclaimed in red and black capital letters daubed on cardboard. “We are now witnessing … Read more