💥 Germany and France have called for Ukraine to be granted just “symbolic” EU benefits in a semi-membership state that excludes farming subsidies and voting rights, dashing Kyiv’s hopes of fast-track accession to the bloc
w @paolatamma.bsky.social & @christopherjm.ft.com
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This is the dumbest fight and more evidence of NATO’s brain death. After all, NATO’s done such an amazing job not coordinating defense procurement.
Clearly NATO just wants to use the summit to promise arms deals to Trump.
“Nato can define what [weapons] we need. But when it comes to regulatory & financial tools to get there, they have very little to offer” said an EU official
A Nato diplomat said the EU should stick to areas of expertise: “Sign some good trade deals & stay out of the way of transatlantic security”
Nato in ‘turf war’ with EU over direction of the Europe's massive defence spending splurge, as Rutte and von der Leyen meet today to discuss defence-industrial policy and the future role of US weaponry in the continent's re-armament
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Whelan tells @bmoens.bsky.social that his work will not be influenced by “how much noise others make about what we do. When there is more noise, you have to be all the more vigilant about the fact that your cases are well grounded and defendable in court if that is where they would end up.”
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Brussels has begun “immediate engagement” with Péter Magyar after his landslide win in Hungary, seeking mended ties with Ukraine & overdue reforms to unlock €35bn in frozen EU funds
“The mindset is: let’s double down. If they deliver, we deliver,” said one EU official
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💥 Von der Leyen aide Anthony Whelan appointed to lead powerful EU competition directorate and become Europe’s antitrust chief
Story by @bmoens.bsky.social
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15 women were willing to come to testify in court on behalf of the FT.
That included 3 whose allegations had not previously been reported.
@paolatamma.bsky.social asked @ec.europa.eu if Hungary's fuel price cap is legal. The baffling reply:
"Several measures that have been taken by several governments & where the Commission has already had the opportunity to pronounce ourselves & that remains & we will also come back to it next week"
"It was a complete own-goal, without question,” said one senior Nato diplomat. “They are US military bases... for the US military to use."
How Europe's moves to stymie Trump's war against Iran split Nato - & undermined the alliance's core argument against a US withdrawal
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A surge in European stock markets and slump in energy prices this morning is a relief for EU leaders… But the true impact of the US-Iran war is stark:
EU officials are urging governments to avoid excessive support to offset surging energy prices, warning that the shock triggered by the Iran war could tip into a fiscal crisis.
Read the full story here: ft.trib.al/eHPxSAF
EU’s António Costa, @eucopresident.consilium.europa.eu, warns against “illegal” attacks on Iran’s power plants following Trump’s threat to bomb them, in Brussels’ strongest condemnation of the US President since the start of the war
www.ft.com/content/43f8...
Follow @financialtimes.com live blog
Happy Struggle To Make Kids Eat Anything Other Than Chocolate Day, to all who celebrate
“This will be a long crisis . . . energy prices will be higher for a very long time,” Dan Jørgensen told @financialtimes.com, warning that for more “critical” fuels “we expect it to be even worse in the weeks to come”
The EU is “preparing for the worst scenarios,” he said
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💥 Trump threatened to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine in order to pressure European Nato allies to join a “coalition of the willing” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Nato’s Rutte warned capitals Trump was “rather hysterical” about their refusal
w @lauramdubois.ft.com
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NEW: Russia close to completing phased shipment of drones, medicine and food to Iran, according to western intelligence. Talks between Russia and Iran began after U.S. and Israeli strikes.
W/ @henryjfoy.ft.com,
@maxseddon.bsky.social, and @nerizilber.bsky.social.
www.ft.com/content/d5d7...
Warsaw European Conversation: Andrzej Domański, Minister of Finance and Economy
#WEC2026 | Meet the Speaker
We are pleased to welcome @andrzej-domanski.bsky.social, Minister of Finance and Economy, to the Warsaw European Conversation 2026. He will join a fireside chat with @henryjfoy.ft.com, Brussels Bureau Chief, @financialtimes.com.
Talked to @mfilippino22.bsky.social on this morning's pod about how last year's deal for the EU to buy $750bn worth of energy from the US was initially viewed as blackmail by Europe... but now, due to the Middle East, is seen as a critical lifeline that needs to be used
www.ft.com/content/3584...
The EU must implement its trade deal with the US without amendments or risk losing “favourable” access to LNG supplies, Donald Trump’s ambassador has warned.
“The environment certainly won’t be as favourable. And . . . there are other buyers out there.”
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💥 EU capitals urged to lower gas storage targets and gradually begin filling their reserves in a bid to reduce demand, in response to the surge in energy prices cause by the war in Iran - in a letter from the European Commission seen by @iancjohnston.bsky.social & I
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Good article on what it would mean to escort ships through the strait of Hormuz
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Military briefing: the perils of the Hormuz escort plan
Commission president @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu says that the EU will not amend its plans to phase out Russia gas imports despite the conflict in the Middle East hitting prices and supply
“.. We were very worried this was going to go really wrong,” said one European official about Trump’s repeated threats over Greenland ..
@financialtimes.com
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“When this unfortunate situation in the Middle East is over, we need to have an open and frank conversation with the British government about the status and future of the British bases in Cyprus," the island nation's president Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday
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Our @financialtimes.com big read today with magnificent colleagues @chassnews.bsky.social & @barneyjopson.bsky.social
Europe's united rebuttal to Trump's demand to join his naval armada in the Gulf was swift, emphatic — and cathartic.
But while the coherent bonhomie sounds great, it masks deep divisions on the war's impacts & reality that the EU has almost no leverage over its outcome
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Young, liberal & blunt: new 🇳🇱 PM @robjetten.bsky.social tells @financialtimes.com the Dutch are back at the heart of the EU
“We’ve spent a lot of time complaining about what’s going on in the US, what’s going on around the world. But instead...maybe just do a better job?”
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Scoop: The People's Liberation Army will be in Brussels next week for talks with the EU and Nato on crunch security issues.
The meetings take place in the shadow of the war in Iran and what many see as a rewiring of the global security landscape
Brussels is planning to overhaul the EU’s merger rules to reduce the ability of national governments to block corporate takeovers - in a bid to help European companies build the scale to compete with US and Chinese rivals.
Great scoop from @bmoens.bsky.social
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