Europe’s Easter illusions on Ukraine
Source: Euractiv
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In today’s news from The Capitals:
KYIV
Ukraine is bracing for a fourth Easter at war, as US President Donald Trump’s self-imposed peace deadline looms with no deal in sight, and signs mount that the Kremlin is preparing a fresh spring offensive. Read more.
WESTERN EUROPE
BERLIN
German defence contractor Rheinmetall expects €300 billion boost. Armin Papperger, CEO of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, expects that the EU’s efforts to rebuild defence capacity and ramp up military spending will reward his company with up to €300 billion in investment in the coming five years.
“The [defence] budget in Europe can even increase to up to €1 trillion by the year 2030,” Papperger said in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt.
A major expected boom in German military spending will help drive growth at Rheinmetall. The armaments boss said Rheinmetall currently holds a roughly 18% market share across Europe, which he expects to rise to around 25% as Germany’s defence budget grows.
German lawmakers recently amended the country’s constitution to exempt defence spending from balanced budget rules, which is expected to unleash hundreds of billions in additional military spending over the coming years.
Two years in, Germany’s flat-rate national transport ticket gets mixed marks. Germany’s nationwide unlimited €58 monthly transport pass, dubbed the Deutschlandticket, got a surprising lifeline from the country’s incoming conservative-led coalition government, who’ve agreed to keep the subsidies flowing for offer. Read more.
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PARIS
France to ease tensions between farmers and green police. The French government hopes to restore peace in the countryside by being more lenient with growers who breach environmental laws, after months of tensions. Read more.
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BRUSSELS
NATO’s war room in Wallonia to get €1 billion makeover. The Cold War-era complex hosting NATO’s top commanders and planners in Mons, Belgium, is expected to get a brand-new building by 2030. Read more.
UK & IRELAND
LONDON
UK plan for ‘zombie’ projects not a good fit for Europe’s grid, sector says. A new approach in the UK aimed at speeding up connection of new renewables, batteries, and would-be industrial consumers to the grid is not suitable for EU-wide application, a key lobby group has cautioned. Read more.
NORDICS & BALTICS
COPENHAGEN
Denmark’s life science strategy calls for EU focus on platform trials. Using platform trials, five Nordic hospitals hope to facilitate the introduction of new treatments while eliminating so-called ‘low-value care’. Read more.
EUROPE’S SOUTH
ROME
Trump, Meloni ‘fully expect’ EU-US trade deal. Donald Trump said he “fully expects” to reach a trade deal with the EU before suspended tariffs on the bloc’s goods are reinstated, a point echoed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during her much anticipated visit to Washington. Read more.
Italy moves to restore healthcare access for citizens abroad – but at a price. Italy is on the verge of passing a law that could restore healthcare access to its citizens living abroad – but only if they’re willing to pay for it. Read more.
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LISBON
Portugal: Defence minister calls for debt mutualisation to finance rearmament. Debt mutualisation at the European level could be “crucial for financing rearmament in the short term”, Portugal’s defence minister said Thursday, insisting on the need to “reduce bureaucracy” in public procurement rules in the sector.
“The mutualisation of debt … could be crucial for financing rearmament in the short term,” said Nuno Melo, speaking at the 3rd Draghi Report Conference – Security and Defence, organised by the newspaper Eco. “In urgent contexts, this type of investment justifies recourse to debt, with a positive impact on GDP…”
Debt mutualisation was one of the “three key ideas” in the recent report on Europe’s competitiveness, drawn up by former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi.
On defence, Melo said security and national interests must take precedence over competition and emphasised that the government wants to change public procurement rules to aid transparency, reduce bureaucracy and simplify procedures.
And he argued that increasing defence spending is not just the result of international commitments, but also affects 380 companies and 40,000 jobs, representing 2.5% of exports.
(Ana Raquel Lopes – edited by Pedro Sousa Carvalho | Lusa.pt)
EASTERN EUROPE
WARSAW
Poland boosts troop presence, eyes defence ties with Latvia. Poland plans to increase its military presence in Latvia and jointly invest in the defence industry, according to Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Read more.
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PRAGUE
Czechia ends imports of Russian oil. Czechia, once part of the Soviet bloc, has fully switched to crude oil flows from Western Europe for the first time in six decades, Prague announced today. Read more.
Why Czechia defends its big farm subsidies as EU demands reform. As the EU Commission considers a push to shift subsidies from big to small farms, Czechia is resisting, defending a post-socialist model that keeps money flowing to the largest players. Read more.
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[Edited by Vince Chadwick, Charles Szumski, Daniel Eck, Sofia Mandilara]
The original article: belongs to Euractiv .
