Feil tidspunkt for å hedre norske institusjoner Det har vært jevnlig med varsler og reportasjer som burde ha fått alarmene til å gå helt siden 1996.

Against @aftenposten.no's editorial, I argue Norway’s Epstein scandal does not show “precisely that key institutions are working”, but in fact shows 30 years of neglect.

Now is not the time for Norway’s institutions to pat themselves on the back.

www.aftenposten.no/meninger/deb...

The scandal that shattered Norway’s image | Euractiv Norway’s Epstein scandal is testing whether the country’s global influence rested solely on moral authority – or on an elite long shielded from scrutiny

I think very few outside Norway have realised how bad the country’s spiralling Epstein scandal really is.

It strikes the very pillars of Norway's peace broker platform – the Oslo Accords, the Peace Prize, even the whole foreign ministry – and it's growing

www.euractiv.com/news/the-sca...

Berlin calls Macron's pitch for more EU debt a 'distraction' | Euractiv Disagreement comes just two days before EU leaders meet for an informal summit in Belgium

Already, Germany and France are clashing over EU debt www.euractiv.com/news/berlin-...

BUDGET BRIEF: Competitiveness weak | Euractiv Leaders' competitiveness summit, MEPs' budget positions, return hubs funding

◇ Countries are fighting over the option to fund return hubs for migrants via the EU budget

That, and more here: www.euractiv.com/news/budget-...

◇ Parliament’s political groups laid out there budget position, with S&D emerging as the main status quo defender

www.euractiv.com/news/in-numb...

BUDGET BRIEF: Competitiveness weak | Euractiv Leaders' competitiveness summit, MEPs' budget positions, return hubs funding

Weekly MFF update:
◇ EU leaders Thursday “competitiveness summit” will feed into the size and design of the €234 billion ECF and the budget at large

www.euractiv.com/news/budget-...

@nkurmayer.bsky.social

...And what did von der Leyen have to offer?

A "roadmap on the single market" and "targeted" initiatives, to pave way for changes later.

This isn't the first time leaders reach for a 'two-speed Europe' to find a way forward either

www.euractiv.com/news/von-der...

Why EU leaders won’t rescue Europe’s economy this week | Euractiv Big reforms remain either technically complex or politically untouchable, as governments resist ceding powers to Brussels

I wouldn't get too excited about this week's competitiveness push.

Europe's problems are well-known and hard to change
www.euractiv.com/news/why-eu-...

Starting point for EP's internal negotiations on the next EU budget (in constant 2025 euros and not counting covid loan repayments)

Find the agriculture-cohesion split and more here: www.euractiv.com/news/in-numb...

#EUBudget: Socialist MEPs want the old #EU budget back, by @wulffwold.bsky.social | Euractiv
www.euractiv.com/news/sociali...

MEPs unite to pitch taxing American tech companies | Euractiv But "as long as Trump is the US President, it will not come back”, according to Darvas from Bruegel

MEPs weapon of choice to finance the EU budget is a digital services tax, but Trump is a major political obstacle

www.euractiv.com/news/meps-un...

S&D wants separate budget lines for

- health (EU4HEALTH, €8.9bn)

- climate (LIFE, €6.2bn),

- social policy (ESF+, €125bn),

- regional development (ERDF, €227bn),

- the poorest regions (CF, €31bn)

- rural farmer subsidies (CAP P2, €83.8bn)

www.euractiv.com/news/sociali...

Here's a write-up of the financing part

www.euractiv.com/news/can-the...

◇ France is pitching ‘Buy European’ everywhere, including across the EU budget

◇ Coreper II moved a set of legal articles from the NRPPs to CAP, but kept their grip on key parts

That and much more in the above link

BUDGET BRIEF: The EU's pitch for its own resources | Euractiv 'Buy European', national and regional partnership plans, and more

Weekly MFF update:

◇ Countries, MEPs and EU auditors are debating how to finance the budget. I dissect the real political function of new EU own resources here www.euractiv.com/news/budget-...

...

UN rights chief to EU: Hands off human rights law 'It starts with migrants, but it can quickly go to other parts of the population as well'

UN rights chief to EU: Hands off human rights law

BUDGET BRIEF: Meloni in the middle | Euractiv Italy, competitiveness coordination tool, CAP legal articles

◇ Commission is “closely following” cohesion funds in Slovakia after the country made a constitutional amendment to prioritise national law over EU law

That and much more here: www.euractiv.com/news/budget-...

EU delays high-stakes industrial policy tool again, 'annoying' capitals | Euractiv The delay is irritating capitals and slowing their work on the EU’s next budget

◇ The competitiveness coordination tool was once again delayed, annoying capitals
www.euractiv.com/news/eu-dela...

◇ Decision on moving legal articles from NRPPs to CAP expected this week

BUDGET BRIEF: Meloni in the middle | Euractiv Italy, competitiveness coordination tool, CAP legal articles

Weekly MFF update:

◇ Italy’s Giorgia Meloni is emerging as a key power broker for the budget, showcased in her joint declaration with Merz last week

www.euractiv.com/news/budget-...

EU delays high-stakes industrial policy tool again, 'annoying' capitals | Euractiv The delay is irritating capitals and slowing their work on the EU’s next budget

The long-overdue Competitiveness Coordination tool is facing further delays, obstructing Council work on the new €234 billion European Competitiveness Fund and the €175 billion Horizon research programme

www.euractiv.com/news/eu-dela...

Nobel irony: Norway's moral authority meets the age of Trump | Euractiv Norway’s long-cherished independence has suddenly left the proud Nordic nation vulnerable to coercion, tariffs, and even threats to its €1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund

"It is becoming more difficult for us," Norway's Foregin Minister Espen Barth Eide told me.

Norway’s once-cherished independence leaves it vulnerable to coercion, tariffs and, in a worst-case scenario, interference with its sovereign wealth fund.

www.euractiv.com/news/nobel-i...

'Utter madness': ECR chief slams €2tn EU budget and new taxes | Euractiv Nicola Procaccini warned the proposed budget would create a European “superstate”

◇ ECR co-chair slam EU “super-budget” www.euractiv.com/news/utter-m...

The MEPs shaping the EU’s next budget | Euractiv Who is pulling the strings in the European Parliament as talks on the EU’s proposed €2 trillion budget are underway? Euractiv spoke to staffers to find out

◇ France and Germany favour ETS and CBAM, but offer no endorsement of CORE, TEDOR or e-waste own resources

◇ Parliament is finally organised afte half a year of infighting www.euractiv.com/news/the-mep...

Weekly MFF update 🧵

◇ MEPs had their first full NRPP debate yesterday, showing many are still in denial regarding the merge of farmer and regional subsidies www.euractiv.com/news/budget-...

The MEPs shaping the EU’s next budget | Euractiv Who is pulling the strings in the European Parliament as talks on the EU’s proposed €2 trillion budget are underway? Euractiv spoke to staffers to find out

#EUPolitics & #EUBudget: The #MEPs shaping the #EU’s next budget, by
@wulffwold.bsky.social | Euractiv
www.euractiv.com/news/the-mep...

And if there was any doubt, Meloni is claiming victory x.com/i/status/200...

Von der Leyen proposes to unlock €45 billion for farmers to secure support for Mercosur deal | Euractiv Italy and France have been pushing the Commission to grant more concessions on the agricultural policy budget

...And there it is! VDL proposes to give countries access "to up to two thirds of the amount normally available for the midterm review" – some €45bn – to boost farmers in 2028.

Mercosur unlocked?

@sofiamazzanaro.bsky.social

www.euractiv.com/news/von-der...

BUDGET BRIEF: A Mercosur bargain | Euractiv CAP, European Council, rebates, own resources

◇ Várhely doubles down on crititicised food tax

That and more here: www.euractiv.com/news/budget-...

France, Italy, Poland revolt against Danish budget rebates | Euractiv 'We could not have done it differently,' said Marie Bjerre, Danish minister for European affairs

◇ The EUCO week saw massive pushback over possible “rebates” for rich countries, but it did not go so far as to reject the current negotiating box as a basis for future work

www.euractiv.com/news/france-...