- Ukraine crisis: EU and NATO go on the offensive
- Netherlands: new nuclear power plants next to windmills
- EPP deputies criticize taxonomy criteria
- Semiconductors: Industry demands massive subsidies
- Liese: no supply contracts for COVID drug Paxlovid
- Advertisers and publishers ask Commission to look into Google’s cookie blocking
- App store: Dutch market regulator fines Apple millions
- Aviation alliance calls for change in EU climate change rules
- Elodie Viau (ESA): Space is the key to our connected world
- Luxembourg and the art of public diplomacy
Tensions between the West and Russia continue to rise. NATO is on alert, said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and announced that allied troops’ presence in Eastern Europe will be increased. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine. The EU again showed its determination to respond quickly with sanctions in the event of a Russian attack. But Russia’s complete exclusion from the Swift international banking system is apparently no longer part of the discussion. Eric Bonse has details on the current situation.
Opposition to the Commission’s draft taxonomy is growing. Some member states have already made their rejection clear, and now criticism is also coming from the ranks of the EPP Group in the European Parliament. The planned conditions for gas-fired power plants are not appropriate and the classification of nuclear power as a transitional solution is generally questionable, according to a letter from the MEPs to Ursula von der Leyen. Read more about the criticisms in the News.
The government in the Netherlands, on the other hand, is likely to see its plans validated by the decision to classify nuclear power as sustainable. Two new nuclear power plants are to be built in the land of windmills, according to the coalition agreement of the new government under Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Unlike Germany, the country wants to move away from gas quickly. But a number of obstacles are likely to make the realization of the nuclear power plants massively more difficult, writes Stephan Israel in his Feature.
Sarah Schaefer
Feature
Ukraine crisis: EU and NATO go on the offensive
The EU and NATO want to massively increase the scope of their aid to Ukraine. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new aid package for Ukraine worth billions. She wants to provide €1.2 billion, the CDU politician said in Brussels. However, the EU states still have to agree. Germany has already signaled its agreement.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that allied troops in Eastern Europe are to be increased. In addition to the USA, Denmark, Spain, France, and the Netherlands are also involved. NATO is on alert, Stoltenberg said. He did not give a specific reason. The increase is taking place within the framework of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, a diplomat said.
Borrell: ‘Avoid nervous breakdown’
Russia nevertheless reacted indignantly. The deployment of NATO troops “is causing tension to grow”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow. He said it was not Russia that was at the root of the current tensions, but the “information campaign” and “hysteria” of the US and NATO. The US had announced that it was withdrawing some of its embassy staff in Kiev.
Continue reading now
… and get free access to this Professional Briefing for a month.
Are you already a guest at the Europe.Table? Log in now