Putin waits for Trump to negotiate Ukraine without EU

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In today’s news from the Capitals:

PRAGUE | HELSINKI

Russian President Vladimir Putin is waiting for the 2024 US elections, hoping to negotiate on the future of the Russia-Ukraine war with Donald Trump without the involvement of any European state, Czech President Petr Pavel has said.

Meanwhile, Finland, whose NATO membership has been strongly criticised by Moscow, has granted the US military unrestricted access to military facilities close to the Finnish-Russian border. Read more.

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EU INSTITUTIONS

Santa’s naughty MEP list for 2023. Apart from the Qatargate usuals, twenty-seven members of the European Parliament are set to receive coal from Santa Claus this Christmas, according to 2023’s ‘Naughty List’, seen by Euractiv. From fraud and kickbacks to harassment and the spreading of fake news, no political group has been spared. Read more.

Aubry barred from EU Left’s lead candidate race amid rift fears, plays down role. Manon Aubry, the co-chief of the Left political group, will not be the European Left’s lead candidate in next year’s EU elections to avoid infighting between her La France Insoumise and the French communists, the European Left’s party President Walter Baier told Euractiv. Read more. 

EU leaders set for February summit on special budget, Ukraine support. EU leaders are expected to convene for an emergency summit on 1 February to have another go at agreeing on the bloc’s budget and financial aid to Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel announced on Monday. Read more.

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BERLIN

Farmers’ pushback stands to derail German budget compromise. The German government’s delicately constructed new federal budget risks being toppled by pushback, including from inside the governing coalition, against planned cuts to diesel tax breaks for farmers. Read more.

Germany pens EU’s largest single funding for AI brain data research. German start-up Zander Laboratories signed a €30m funding deal with the German government’s cybersecurity innovation agency on Friday, making it the largest single investment by an EU government in AI research. Read more.

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PARIS

French left unites against national immigration bill, EU migration pact. Over 380 Green Party members called for overhauling the French government’s immigration bill and the EU migration pact, echoing other left-wing forces in the country, in an op-ed published on Monday. Read more.

EUROPE’S SOUTH

ROME

Italy sees drop in birth rate. The Italian population has decreased by almost 33,000 people, and the average age in the country has risen to 46.4 years, according to the 2022 census of the National Institute of Statistics (Istat). Read more.

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MADRID

Catalan separatists to ‘shield’ amnesty law before EU, Spanish courts. The two main Catalan separatist forces Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is relying on for government stability is trying to legally “shield” the amnesty law for those involved in the 2017 secessionist attempt in Catalonia and prevent it from being overturned by the EU Court of Justice, Spanish media reported on Monday. Read more.

EASTERN EUROPE

BRATISLAVA

Slovaks protest Fico’s plans to protect corruption. Opposition to the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico is growing as it seeks to pass legislation that would dissolve the special prosecutor’s office that oversees high-profile corruption cases, reduce penalties for corruption and weaken whistleblower protection. Read more.

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WARSAW

Tusk disappointed with slow progress in public broadcaster’s upgrades. Newly-appointed Prime Minister Donald Tusk is not satisfied with the insufficient efforts by the Culture Ministry to reverse the controversial changes in public broadcasting that made it dependent on the previous nationalist PiS government, according to local media. Read more.

NEWS FROM THE BALKANS

BELGRADE

Germany: Serbia vote fraud ‘unacceptable’ for a candidate to join the EU. A team of international observers on Monday (18 December) slammed Serbian elections over a string of “irregularities”, including “vote buying” and “ballot box stuffing”, after the opposition accused the ruling party of committing voter fraud. Read more.

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SOFIA

Pro-Russian, left parties fuel anti-semitic violence following Hamas attack. The extreme left and pro-Russian parties are fuelling an anti-Semetic rhetoric in Bulgaria, particularly since the attack by the terrorist group Hamas against Israel on 7 October, the organisation of the Jews in Bulgaria Shalom and B’nai B’rith told Euractiv Bulgaria. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romanian right-wing parties to run on joint EU election list. Romania’s right-wing parties USR, Forța Dreptei, and PMP have decided to form the United Right Alliance and present a joint EU election list to challenge PSD-PNL in June’s upcoming EU elections, the parties announced Monday despite all being quite low in the latest polls. Read more.

AGENDA:

• EU: Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Energy) seeks political agreement to extend application period of emergency measures, in order to enhance solidarity between member states, accelerate deployment of renewable energy and protect EU’s citizens from excessively high energy prices;
• Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni participates in virtual G7 finance ministers and central bank governors’ meeting;
• Germany: Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Slovak PM Robert Fico;

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

Read more with Euractiv