The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, with on-the-ground reporting from EURACTIV’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
The European news you deserve to read. welcome to The capitals by EURACTIV.
Today’s edition is powered by META
Surgeons can practice in the metaverse
Millions of people are going blind due to lack of access to eye care. To help, FundamentalVR and Orbis International are rolling out cataract surgery training to the Metaverse. Surgeons can practice as many times as necessary before working with real patients.
In Capitals news today:
BERLIN
As tensions between Germany and Poland’s nationalist government continue to escalate, a senior official in Germany’s coalition government on Thursday blasted Warsaw for what he called a “shameful” plan to end deliveries of arms to Ukraine, attributing it to the electoral motivations of Poland’s ruling PiS party. Learn more.
BERLIN
The German Greens are turning against their French comrades in the debate on driving licenses. Germany’s Greens party has strongly distanced itself from a driving license proposal put forward by French Green MEP Karima Delli after politicians from Germany’s ruling and opposition parties sharply criticized the proposals. Learn more.
PARIS
French politicians criticize Borrell’s weak response to new Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. French politicians have criticized EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s reaction to Azerbaijan’s military operations against the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh, saying his remarks were inappropriate amid fears that economic interests and energy take over. Learn more.
///
VIENNA
The Austrian right attacks the plan to increase the national CO2 tax. Lower Austria’s far-right conservative government of the ÖVP and FPÖ opposes federal plans to raise the country’s CO2 tax, saying high inflation requires support, not additional charges. Learn more.
///
BRUSSELS
Belgium wants the EU migration plan to be adopted by the end of the Council presidency. Belgium wants a new pact on migration to be ratified before the end of its presidency of the EU Council, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Thursday in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. Learn more.
NORDIC AND BALTIC
COPENHAGEN
The Danish parliament allows Faroese Greenlandic without interpretation. The Danish parliament will allow the use of the minority languages Greenlandic and Faroese spoken in the Kingdom of Denmark, but those who wish to speak in their native language will have to translate their speeches into Danish themselves, the parliament announced on Thursday . Learn more.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
ATHENS
The “Tsipras miracle” happened once: the Greek left on the verge of collapse. The main left-wing opposition party, Syriza, is on the verge of collapse as internal elections to replace former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras as party leader have descended into an unprecedented toxic civil war.
The European left does not rule out a scenario of party splits, while MEP Stelios Kouloglou told Euractiv that the “Tsipras miracle happened once”, meaning that Tsipras’ success as leader ‘a small left-wing party in power will not easily reproduce itself. Learn more.
Greece under surveillance for not having applied the European directive on flooding. As central Greece begins to recover from deadly floods caused by Storm Daniel, authorities are under scrutiny for their lack of preparation and failure to implement European directives on flood management. Learn more.
///
ROME
Italian government begins discussions on clean nuclear power power. The Italian government has launched the National Platform for Sustainable Nuclear Energy, which will lead within nine months to the development of guidelines for a possible reintroduction of nuclear energy among national energy sources. Learn more.
///
MADRID
Sanchez’s leadership collapses over controversial amnesty law. The possible approval of an amnesty law for those involved in the illegal 2017 Catalan independence referendum, demanded by Catalan nationalist parties in exchange for the support Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez needs to form a government, created a division within the Spanish Socialist Party. Learn more.
///
LISBON
Portuguese company detects 961 pro-Russian cyberattacks in Western Europe. Portuguese company VisionWare detected 961 cyberattacks by pro-Russian hackers against Western countries and organizations between October 2022 and March 2023, according to an official report sent to Louise THURSDAY. Learn more.
EASTERN EUROPE
WARSAW
Poland is in talks with Germany over alleged illegal waste shipments. Poland and Germany held their first hearing with the European Commission on Wednesday, following a complaint from Warsaw that Germany shipped 35,000 tonnes of illegal waste into the country. Learn more.
///
PRAGUE
Czechia has difficulty financing weapons for Ukraine. The Czech Republic will continue to prioritize supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression by helping it finance its weapons despite its obvious difficulties in consolidating its public finances. Learn more.
///
BRATISLAVA
Ukraine ends legal proceedings against Slovakia over grain import drama. Legal proceedings against Slovakia, including before the World Trade Organization and the ban on imports of Slovak agricultural products to Ukraine, will be dropped after online negotiations during which the two countries agreed to establish a system of grain exchange based on the issuance and control of licenses. Learn more.
NEWS FROM THE BALKANS
SOFIA
High-ranking Russian priest expelled from Bulgaria. Bulgarian authorities on Thursday expelled the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, Archimandrite Vassian Zmeev, who was expelled from Skopje a week earlier over allegations that he was a Russian spy. Learn more.
///
BUCHAREST
The Romanian LGBTQ+ community wants equal rights, not special conditions. Same-sex couples married in other EU member states will not be recognized as spouses in Romania and will only be granted the right of residence, says a draft law approved by the government. Learn more.
///
LJUBLJANA
Slovenia declares amnesty for violators of COVID-related rules. Anyone fined for violating COVID-era restrictions, later declared unconstitutional, will be refunded and their offenses expunged from their record, under a bill passed by Slovenia’s parliament on Wednesday. Learn more.
///
BELGRADE
Vucic views the UN Charter as an obligation and casts shadow on Western states. Respecting the United Nations Charter is not a choice but an obligation, and its failure, especially in the case of Serbia, is a harbinger of the problems facing the world today, said Serbian Aleksandar Vučić during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Learn more
///
TIRANA
Albanian President demands equal rights for Albanians from Serbia and Kosovo at the UN Assembly. Albanian President Bajram Begaj addressed the administrative ethnic cleansing of Albanians living in southern Serbia at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he called for strengthening their rights, as Kosovo does with Serbs North. Learn more.
The Skavica hydroelectric project in Albania will be examined by the Constitutional Court. Albania’s controversial but yet-to-be-built Skavica mega-dam, which threatens some 41 villages in the country’s north, will be examined by the country’s highest court following a constitutional complaint filed by a coalition of NGOs energy and environmental. Learn more.
///
PRISTINE
Kosovo-Serbia relations are once again faltering because of Vucic’s visit and Serbian arrests. Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina rise again after the arrest of three ethnic Serbs in Kosovo and Serbian President Aleksander Vucic saying he would visit the country without permission, Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla claiming he would be arrested if he did so. Learn more.
AGENDA:
- EU: Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič participates in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ministerial consultations on financing modalities to respond to loss and damage, in New York, United States United ;
- Vice President Margaritis Schinas delivers a keynote speech during the opening session of the 6th Mediterranean of the Future Conference, in Marseille, France;
- Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, meets with Chinese Minister of Natural Resources, Wang Guanghua; Delivers opening remarks at the High-Level Dialogue on Ocean Governance, Shezehn, China;
- Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit participates in the conference “The Future of Work and Social Dialogue”, organized by the Spanish Presidency, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain;
- France: Press conference aboard the Ocean Viking ship in Marseille on the humanitarian situation in the Mediterranean;
***
(Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Sofia Mandilara)