Grasp the pattern, read the trend

No. 2, February/2023

Brought to you by CPG

Supported by KAS

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the second issue of Europe in Review in 2023, where we report on the key events impacting the continent and provide insights that we hope cultivate a better understanding of an increasingly complicated world.

The past month has proven to be as interesting – and disturbing – as we expected, with instability weighing on global confidence. Borge Brende, the World Economic Forum’s president, said in Davos that the annual summit was “happening against one of the most complicated geopolitical and geoeconomic landscapes that we have seen for decades.”

In this issue, we bring you the latest on the war in Ukraine, with Germany and the United States finally deciding to provide Kyiv with modern tanks, and report on how top Ukrainian officials have either quit or been dismissed from the government amid corruption allegations. 

We write about Russia’s crackdown on human rights, symbolised by the ongoing detention of leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny, and examine why Turkey remains a thorn in the side of NATO with its resistance to Sweden joining the military alliance, even as Ankara pushes for Washington to supply it with F-16 fighter jets. 

We also delve into the major scandal that has damaged the reputation of the European Parliament, which is trying to shake itself free of a corrupt web of influence-peddling.

As usual, we also bring you a thorough briefing on fresh developments in constitutional affairs, domestic politics, international relations, geopolitics, defence, collective security and human rights across Europe.

Kind wishes,

Glen Carey

Deputy Editor in Chief

Webpage: www.cpg-online.de, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CPGTU

Main Sections

• Top Stories - Editors’ Pick

• Constitutional Law and Politics in Western Europe

• Constitutional Law and Politics in Eastern Europe

• Constitutional Law and Politics in Southeastern Europe

• Constitutional Law and Politics in Southern Europe 

• Constitutional Law and Politics in Central Europe

• Constitutional Law and Politics in Northern Europe

• International Relations/Geopolitics/EU Governance

Top Stories - Editors’ Pick

War in Europe: Ukraine reinforced with modern tanks as Russia closes in on Bakhmut

Start of 2023 sees the breaking of a taboo, a victory for Moscow, and further devastation in Ukraine’s east

Germany and the United States have, after weeks of deliberation, public spats, and threats from Moscow, finally decided to give Ukraine the Western tanks it has been asking for since it was invaded by Russia. Pledges have come from a number of countries in a short space of time, leaving Ukraine’s dream of receiving long-range missiles and fighter aircraft looking much less impossible.

The news on the tanks came as a morale boost for Ukraine as it mourned the death of 14 people – including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky – who were killed in a helicopter crash in Kyiv, and 46 more killed in a Russian missile strike on the central-eastern city of Dnipro.

Russia, for its part, has scored its first major victory in months by capturing the town of Soledar. Moscow’s success complicates Ukraine’s defence of nearby Bakhmut, the Kremlin’s main target in the eastern Donbas region since last August. Russia has also declared the start of a new offensive on the southern front, which has been in stalemate for most of the war.

Leopards from Germany, Abrams from US

The United States continued its support for Ukraine by pledging 31 Abrams tanks, while Germany and a string of other European nations have promised to transfer a number of German-made Leopard 2s – but the path to this point was far from straight.

Ukraine’s largest provider of tanks and spare parts has been the Russian army, as the Ukrainians have captured hundreds of such machines in various states of repair in battles around Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Ukraine’s eastern European allies have already provided it with old Soviet tanks from their stockpiles, largely to plug the gap left by battlefield losses after Kyiv in September launched offensives to retake Kharkiv in the north-east and Lyman in the east. Ukraine’s tank fleet is not only diminished, but also makes use of Soviet-era pieces that lag far behind their modernised Russian counterparts.

However, the notion of Ukraine receiving newer, more advanced Western tanks was rejected by the West for most of the war – though not out of fear of escalating tensions with Russia. The Americans rejected the idea in September, with one US official saying that the fuel and training requirements of the Abrams tank were too much for Ukraine. The Germans, meanwhile, refused to send Leopards to Ukraine unless other states did the same.

The result was a sort of taboo on supplying modern tanks to Ukraine. While nations like Spain and Poland were open to the idea at an early stage, they faced resistance from Germany. As the manufacturer and exporter of the Leopards, Germany had to give permission before any transfer could take place. [Politico Europe] [Reuters] [Guardian] [Forbes]

Upping the ante

France broke the unspoken taboo on January 4, when it pledged a number of AMX-10 vehicles.

The AMX-10 is a six-wheeled vehicle with light armour, and descriptions of it as a “tank” have been a point of debate. However, as one French veteran interviewed by Politico predicted, the move would have an “incitement effect”. Germany responded by pledging similar hardware, the Marder infantry fighting vehicle.

Days later, on January 6, the US pledged to deliver a large number of Bradley armoured fighting vehicles. The United Kingdom upped the ante, pledging to transfer a small number of Challenger 2s to Ukraine – a vehicle that is indisputably a tank. In doing so, the UK became the first nation to openly pledge to equip Ukraine with modern, Western tanks.

These public promises led to increased pressure on Germany to provide Ukraine with its Leopard 2 machines, or at least to allow other Leopard 2 operators such as Poland to do so. The result was a public spat which cast Germany as an obstacle to Ukraine getting the support it was requesting. [Politico Europe] [Euractiv] [Business Insider] [BBC News] [Associated Press]

As a January 20 Ramstein summit of Ukraine’s backers loomed, it seemed that Germany might have finally caved in.

While the summit resulted in one of the largest pledges of military aid to Ukraine since the war began, the gathering ended with no agreement on tanks. Sources claimed that Germany had refused to send its tanks to Ukraine unless the US did the same. Berlin said that the countries which were trying to send their Leopards to Ukraine, the most vocal of which was Poland, had not submitted an official request for permission – which soon followed.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accurately predicted what would happen next: “First they say ‘no,’ then they fiercely defend their decision, only to say ‘yes’ in the end”. [Politico Europe] [RTÉ] [Guardian] [Euractiv]

That ‘yes’ eventually came on January 24 and 25, when Germany and the US separately announced their intention to supply Ukraine with tanks.

Direct talks between US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took place before and after the Ramstein summit. According to US and German sources, it was Biden’s decision to commit to supplying Abrams tanks that persuaded Scholz to send Leopards to Ukraine. So far, a total of 80 Leopards, 31 Abrams and 14 Challengers have been pledged to Ukraine. It remains to be seen how quickly these can reach the frontline and make a difference.

While the tanks represent a milestone in Western support for Ukraine, they have overshadowed the other substantial pledges made at Ramstein. Ukraine walked away with promises of 149 US-made Stryker and Bradley armoured fighting vehicles, dozens of self-propelled artillery pieces, anti-air and anti-missile defence systems, and hundreds of thousands of much-needed artillery shells. [Associated Press] [Politico Europe] [BBC News] [Guardian] [Wall Street Journal] [Foreign Policy] [New York Times]

Russia turns up the heat on Bakhmut

On the battlefield, Russia achieved its largest territorial gain since the capture of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in July last year.

On January 11, Russian forces captured the city of Soledar, a mining settlement with a pre-war population of around 10,000, after months of fighting. Ukraine confirmed the withdrawal of its troops two weeks later.

Ukrainian and Russian sources reported a surge in Russian attacks during the last week of December 2022 and the first week of the New Year. Fierce artillery strikes reduced most of the city to rubble, while Russian troops attempted to encircle the Ukrainian defenders. However, Ukrainian forces avoided encirclement and conducted a fighting withdrawal covered by their own artillery, taking up positions outside of Soledar.

In the following weeks, Russian forces drove the Ukrainians back even further, taking the settlements of Blahodatne and Sil. The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary company, played a prominent role in the taking of the city. These advances have given Russian forces fire control over the T-05-13 highway, which supplies Bakhmut from the north. [Reuters] [Politico Europe] [BBC News] [Euronews] [Associated Press]

While Russia has likely taken immense casualties in its offensive, the loss of Soledar and nearby settlements makes Ukraine’s defence of Bakhmut much more difficult.

Combined with Russian attacks against settlements to the south of the city, Moscow’s latest advances are likely to force Ukraine into making difficult choices as to whether the defence of the Bakhmut is worth maintaining.

As it stands, the western H-32 highway remains under Ukrainian control, allowing Bakhmut to be supplied and reinforced. Russia has launched attacks aimed at cutting this vital artery, but does not appear to have had a breakthrough. Despite this, the fall of Soledar may mark the beginning of the end of a battle that has raged for around six months.

Soledar has been almost entirely razed by the fighting, much like other cities in the region that Russia has taken. Moscow, which claims that its operations are aimed at protecting the people of the Donbas, faces the expensive task of rebuilding the region if it can hold it. [Kyiv Independent] [Associated Press] [Institute for the Study of War] [Guardian]

Fighting erupts on southern front

While the bulk of Russia’s fighting has been in Donbas in the east, its forces have launched several probing attacks against Ukrainian lines in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

The town of Vulhedar has become the target of Russia’s efforts on this front, but attacks do not appear to have seriously threatened the Ukrainian defenders. The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based defence think-tank, argued that this offensive may be aimed at pulling Ukrainian reserves away from the defence of Bakhmut and its surrounding settlements to enable a broader Russian breakthrough in the Donbas.

While Russia has not found any success on this southern front, its efforts may indicate Moscow’s determination to recapture the initiative in the war ahead of a larger offensive in the spring. [Euronews] [Guardian] [Institute for the Study of War]

Reshuffle in Russian command

Further command reshuffles have been seen within the Russian military, hinting at continuing dissatisfaction in the Kremlin at the state of play in Ukraine.

General Sergei Surovikin, whose appointment in October as leader of Russia’s forces in Ukraine heralded a switch to bombing Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, has been demoted. Surovikin, who enjoys the support of the Kremlin’s ultranationalist courtiers like Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was replaced in his role by the chief of staff of Russia’s armed forces, Valery Gerasimov.

Gerasimov, together with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, has been a target of criticism from Prigozhin and Kadyrov. Experts have expressed surprise at the reshuffle, with Mick Ryan, a fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, describing the move as being born of either “palace politics” between the Wagner Group and Russia’s military command, or as a check on the influence of Surovikin relative to Gerasimov.

Either way, this is the latest in a series of reshuffles in the Russian military since the war began. While most of these have occurred following Ukrainian victories, this latest change may herald a new Russian offensive. [BBC News] [RFE/RL] [Forbes] [Al Jazeera] [New York Times]

Entrenched for a long war

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war are now a distant memory as the conflict intensifies in scope and scale.

Infighting, a reliance on mercenaries, and constant command reshuffles suggest that the Russian military has still not sorted out the many issues that saw it strangled outside Kyiv, beaten at Kharkiv, and driven out of Kherson. However, Russia still commands immense military resources, with deep reserves of tanks, missiles, fighting vehicles and manpower. It remains capable of unleashing vast destruction and making advances against even the most determined of defenders.

Ukraine, paradoxically, has found its army strengthened over the course of the war. Despite losses, perennial ammunition shortages, and the devastation of its economy, the country’s military continues to be improved and strengthened by Western supporters who have become increasingly sceptical of the possibility of negotiating with Russia.

As the conflict approaches its first anniversary, all parties seem to have abandoned the notion of a quick war or a negotiated settlement in the near term. In the first months of 2023, offensives will be launched, villages and towns will change hands, and thousands more will die. After 11 months, it is as uncertain as ever how the conflict will end.

(wb/pk)

Hungarian headache for EU

The European Union appears to have avoided a Hungarian veto on the bloc’s most recent tranche of financial support for Ukraine and on EU sanctions against Russia.

Hungary had been withholding its consent to a EUR 500 million package of military support for Kyiv, but had given no official explanation. Budapest has also vowed to block EU sanctions aimed at Russian nuclear energy.

Hungary’s premier, Viktor Orban, has made no secret of his dislike of the European Union, his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his suspicion of Ukraine. Orban’s government maintains ties with Russia and Russian business, and in response to the transfer of Western tanks to Ukraine, Orban criticised Hungary’s fellow NATO members, saying they were “on the side of war”. (See separate story in this issue)

However, on January 23, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto declared that media reports that his country would veto military support were “lies” and added that while Budapest did not support the aid for Kyiv, it would not block it. On January 24, the EU Council passed the additional aid without issue.

While Hungarian opposition was overcome this time, Budapest is likely to push back hard against further sanctions on Russia as it copes with soaring inflation.

In December, Hungary blocked an earlier EUR 18 billion aid package for Ukraine. Budapest seemed to be attempting to link its support for that measure with relaxation of EU penalties against Hungary for its increasingly compromised judicial system and problems with the rule of law.

Eventually, a deal was reached that saw the EU reduce the amount of funds it was withholding from Hungary in exchange for the country dropping its veto. [Associated Press] [Irish Times] [Euronews] [Euractiv] [POLITICO Europe] [Financial Times] [Reuters] [Budapest Times]

(wb/pk)

Sweden’s NATO bid in jeopardy as tensions with Turkey escalate 

Sweden’s effort to join NATO is in jeopardy after tensions with Turkey, which must approve the bid, escalated over protests in Stockholm during which a copy of the Koran was burned and an effigy of Turkish President Recep Erdogan was hanged. 

Erdogan said Stockholm should not expect his country to support Sweden’s attempt to join the Western military alliance. He suggested that Turkey could greenlight Finland’s NATO bid even while holding off on a decision about Sweden.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden – along with its neighbour Finland – applied for NATO membership last May, heralding a tectonic shift in European security and geopolitics. [Europe Monthly June 2022] 

All 30 NATO countries must approve an applicant’s bid. Turkey and Hungary are the only members of the alliance that have not yet done so.

Turkey asking too much: Swedish PM 

In early January, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that Ankara was asking Stockholm for more than it could give in return for Turkish support of the Nordic country’s NATO application. Kristersson said on January 7 that “Turkey both confirms that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot or do not want to give them”. [Reuters]. 

As an example of moves that Stockholm could not undertake, Kristersson cited Ankara’s insistence that Sweden extradites individuals including Turkish journalist Bulent Kenes. Ankara wants Kenes to be remanded into custody in Turkey over a 2016 coup attempt in that country. [Deutsche Welle] [Reuters] [Europe Monthly January 2023] 

Relations between Turkey and Sweden nosedived on January 11, when images were published of protesters hanging an effigy of Erdogan near Stockholm City Hall. The demonstrators were linked to Kurdish groups that Turkey identifies as terrorist organisations. [Reuters] [BBC] 

Act of ‘sabotage’ 

Kristersson said the protesters were attempting to “sabotage” Sweden’s NATO bid. However, prosecutors decided that the demonstrators did not violate Swedish law and would not be prosecuted. [Reuters] [BBC] 

Following the incident, Ibrahim Kalin, a senior aide to Erdogan, told reporters that Ankara would not move to ratify the NATO bids of Sweden and Finland until after Turkey holds its national elections, which are expected in May. (See our story in this issue on Turkish elections)  

The opposition in Turkey “will ask all kinds of questions, and we cannot risk our political capital as we go into elections in the next three or four months,” Kalin said. [Politico] [The Guardian] 

On January 16, Erdogan made another call for Sweden to extradite around 130 people whom Turkey considers to be terrorists. The extraditions are a condition for Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s NATO membership, Erdogan said. [Politico] 

Bilateral tensions escalated further when far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21. Paludan spoke for around an hour denouncing Islam before burning the religion’s holy book. [Financial Times] [The Guardian] 

Erdogan condemns ‘blasphemy’ 

Paludan was allowed to protest because Sweden has liberal laws on freedom of speech, though Kristersson condemned the burning of the Koran.  

Erdogan reacted by saying: “Those who allow such blasphemy in front of our embassy can no longer expect our support for their NATO membership.” [Reuters]  

Ankara cancelled a visit by the Swedish defence minister, Tobias Billstrom, who had been expected to arrive in Turkey on January 27. Turkey also cancelled a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland scheduled to take place in Brussels in February. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that holding the meeting would be “meaningless”.

Erdogan hinted on January 29 that Turkey could support Finland’s NATO bid while holding off on a decision about Sweden, saying: “If needed, we could give a different message about Finland.”

What next?

Analysts are pessimistic about Sweden’s chances of entering NATO in the short term, if at all. Four Nordic and Turkish experts writing a joint article for the Washington Post said: “It’s hard to see a way out of the impasse for now.”

Meanwhile, Paul T. Levin, director of Stockholm University’s Institute for Turkish Studies, said: “At this point I fail to see how the situation could get even worse.” [The Independent]

Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish Research Program and the Washington Institute think tank, said: “Turkey is probably going to sit on this approval process.” He added: "I think Sweden is definitely stuck.” [Politico]

In an opinion column for Bloomberg, former NATO commander James Stavridis urged cooperation between all parties, saying: “NATO needs Turkey to continue being an active and positive member. It also needs to add Finland and Sweden. No one wants to have to choose between them. It’s up to Erdogan to ensure that doesn’t have to happen.”

Turkey’s stance is also impacting Ankara’s own foreign policy. Turkey has requested 40 advanced F-16 fighter jets from the United States, a sale which requires congressional approval. Bob Menedez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has opposed the sale, citing concerns including Turkey’s position on the pending NATO bids. [VOA]

(ef/pk) 

Qatargate: Self-confessed corruption ring leader vows to tell all in major EU scandal 

Former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri has confessed to being one of the leaders of a corruption scheme that is thought to have enabled Qatar and Morocco to pay European lawmakers and aides hundreds of thousands of euros in exchange for influence and information. 

Panzeri was charged along with three others in December with participating in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption, after police seized EUR 1.5 million in a series of raids. The scandal, dubbed “Qatargate” by the media, has been described as one of the biggest to hit the European Union. [Reuters] [Europe Monthly January 2023] 

Qatar and Morocco strongly deny all allegations of misconduct. 

The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office announced on January 17 that Panzeri, who is suspected of having organised a flow of cash from Qatar and Morocco to EU lawmakers through the Fight Impunity NGO he headed, has agreed to cooperate with investigators fully. [Euronews] [France 24] 

Panzeri’s lawyer told Euronews that the former three-term Socialists and Democrats MEP had confessed “to having actively participated in acts of corruption in connection with Qatar and in connection with Morocco and therefore to having been corrupted and to having corrupted others.”

Panzeri will share details on the cash-for-influence scheme, including the identity of people he admits to having bribed, in exchange for a shortened prison sentence. [The Washington Post] 

According to his lawyer, Panzeri would serve one year in jail followed by a five-year suspended sentence and pay a EUR 80,000 fine, along with the confiscation of EUR 1 million police seized from him. Also, Belgian authorities have withdrawn their request to extradite the former lawmaker’s wife and daughter from Italy after he signed a plea agreement. [Politico] 

‘Repentance agreement’ 

Panzeri will be only the second person in Belgian legal history to enter a “repentance agreement” under the “peniti law”, inspired by Italian legislation for repentant mafia members who collaborated with prosecutors. [Euronews]  

Among those charged in December and imprisoned while awaiting trial is Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who after the scandal erupted was removed from her post as one of 14 European Parliament vice presidents.

Prosecutors allege that Kaili, Panzeri and others received bribes from Qatar to vote in key parliamentary human rights resolutions, reducing criticism of the Gulf state’s treatment of migrant workers who built infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. [FT] 

Kaili's partner Francesco Giorgi, who was arrested a few hours before her, confessed to being involved and has tried to shift all blame away from the Greek MEP. Kaili has insisted she is innocent. [France 24] 

Giorgi, who is a former aide to Panzeri, also named two other MEPs from the Socialists and Democrats whom he claimed were part of Panzeri’s scheme: Belgian Marc Tarabella and Italian Andrea Cozzolino. The European Parliament has begun procedures to waive their immunity after a request from Belgian prosecutors. [Reuters] [Euronews] [Politico] 

Both Tarabella and Cozzolino have denied any wrongdoing and said through their lawyers that they were in favour of their immunity being lifted so they could answer investigators’ questions. [Euractiv] [Politico] 

Secrets and foreign services 

The probe into the cash-for-influence scheme began when, according to German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, “the secret service of an allied country” tipped off the Belgian authorities about a criminal organisation trying to assert Moroccan interests in Brussels with the help of EU lawmakers. 

In April 2022, Belgian authorities believed the threat was serious enough to warrant exceptional measures, including the surveillance of suspects in their homes. 

The investigation revealed that the corruption scheme, which had been running for years, was “shockingly amateurish”, according to Der Spiegel journalists who accessed hundreds of documents relating to the investigation. 

The suspects received cash payments that they would store in private apartments, made hundreds of phone calls using unencrypted lines and held a clandestine meeting arranging the graft with the Qatari labour minister in a hotel filled with security cameras, Der Spiegel reported.

The investigation began by looking into Morocco’s attempts to influence EU decisions through Panzeri’s group, notably on a fishing rights deal with the bloc and recognition of its sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, two officials related to the probe told the Financial Times. [BBC]

Evidence suggests that Yassine Mansouri, the head of Morocco’s foreign intelligence service, known as the DGED, met with Cozzolino and perhaps Panzeri himself, Der Spiegel reported. Panzeri was also a “dear friend” of the Moroccan ambassador to Poland, Abderrahim Atmoun, according to a 2014 Facebook post from the diplomat. [Euronews] 

Wider web of influence peddling? 

The network of influence Panzeri established inside the European Parliament could be used in favour of other countries such as Mauritania and potentially Saudi Arabia, Giorgi claimed when he was questioned. 

German Green Party MEP Viola von Cramon told Der Spiegel she found it difficult to believe that Panzeri’s ring was the only one to peddle influence for foreign actors. “There are a number of countries that have systematically purchased influence over an extended period,” she claimed, naming Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

European Council President Charles Michel said in an interview in December that the corruption scandal was “dramatic and damaging for the credibility of the European Union” and that it was “making it even more difficult for us to focus on the economic and energy crises that impact the lives of European citizens right now”.

“We first need to learn lessons from this and come up with a package of measures to avoid such things — to prevent corruption in the future,” he added. [Politico]

Three weeks after Michel’s comments, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola unveiled a 14-point plan of reforms on January 12. These include making it mandatory for all lawmakers and their staff to publicly report their meetings, and implementing a “cooling-off” period during which former lawmakers cannot immediately begin working for lobbies. [Euractiv] [EU Observer] [Times of Malta] 

Stephane Sejourne, leader of the liberal Renew group in the European Parliament, told the Financial Times that the assembly had “fallen behind many national parliaments on transparency and anti-corruption rules.” Reforms were needed quickly, he added.

(qv/pk) 

Top Ukrainian officials quit amid anti-corruption drive

Top Ukrainian officials have either quit or been dismissed from the government amid corruption allegations as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, appears to be adopting a zero-tolerance approach to the issue. 

According to reports, 15 officials, including the deputy defence minister, deputy infrastructure minister and two heads of state agencies, have exited from the Ukrainian government in response to corruption allegations. Authorities have seen bribery claims, reports of officials buying food at inflated prices, and one figure accused of living a lavish lifestyle. [The Guardian]

Senior aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskyy was responding to a "key public demand" that justice should apply to everyone. Ukraine has a history of corruption, although Zelenskyy was brought in under the promise of reform and has frequently delivered on this front. [Euronews]

The president has already banned state officials from leaving the country unless on authorised business. 

The first to resign was Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the president's deputy head of office, who oversaw regional policy and had earlier worked on Zelensky's election campaign. Deputy Defence Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, following reports he oversaw the purchase of military food supplies at inflated prices from a relatively unknown firm. The department called this a "technical mistake" and claimed no money had changed hands.[BBC] [The Guardian][Politico]

Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has been under scrutiny for the same reason.  A host of other top officials were dismissed, including:

●      Deputy Prosecutor General Oleskiy Symonenko

●      Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Ivan Lukerya

●      Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Vyacheslav Negoda

●      Deputy Minister for Social Policy Vitaliy Muzychenko

●      And the regional governors of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Sumy and Kherson

Global corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked Ukraine at 122 out of 180 in its assessment of nations’ levels of corruption in 2021, indicating serious corruption problems.” [BBC] [Transparency International]

Zelenskyy’s promise

The latest bout of corruption charges and how they are dealt with in the coming months are important, particularly as Ukraine becomes increasingly reliant on Western aid and continues to gun for European Union (EU) membership. . The EU has said Ukraine must meet anti-corruption standards before it can become a member. [Euronews] [BBC] [Reuters] 

Zelenskyy promised there would be "no return to what used to be in the past, to the way various people close to state institutions" used to live. He also said that there would be “decisions” made on the issue of corruption this week, without specifying what they would be.[Euronews] [BBC] [Reuters][The Guardian]

Zelenskyy made his comments shortly after the arrest of Ukraine's Deputy Infrastructure Minister Vasyl Lozinskyi for allegedly accepting a bribe worth over USD 350,000 for electricity generators. He has denied the charges.

David Arakhamia, the head of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, said that corrupt officials could face jail. "Officials at all levels have been constantly warned through official and unofficial channels: focus on the war, help the victims, reduce bureaucracy and stop doing dubious business,” he said. 

(mg/gc)

British Chancellor of Exchequer dismisses claims of national economic decline

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt dismissed claims that the United Kingdom’s economy was in decline, saying that “some of the gloom is based on statistics that do not reflect the whole picture” and that growth was slower like every G-7 nation in the years after the global financial crisis. [Gov.Uk]

“Since 2010, the UK has grown faster than France, Japan and Italy. Not at the bottom, but right in the middle of the pack,” Hunt said during a speech at Bloomberg News in London. “Since the Brexit referendum, we have grown at about the same rate as Germany.”[Gov.Uk]

British columnists from both left and the right have talked about an “existential crisis,” “Britain teetering on the edge” and that “all we can hope for…is that things don’t get worse.” [Gov.Uk] 

The British economy has struggled with high inflation and rising borrowing costs. In the three months to November, the economy fell by 0.3 percent compared with the previous three months. It avoided a recession after growing 0.1 percent in November, in a shift that defied expectations. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a 0.2 per cent contraction. [Gov.Uk][FT]

November’s GDP growth could signify that the UK economy avoided a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarterly contractions, at the end of 2022. Output fell for the third quarter of last year. 

Thomas Pugh, economist at consulting firm RSM UK, said a recession in the UK was “delayed, not cancelled”, since consumer spending was likely to falter as the squeeze on household real incomes intensified. [FT]

The British government plans to halve inflation this year, grow the economy and reduce the country’s debt, Hunt said. He called on businesses to invest in the UK and promised long-term thinking to make the UK the next Silicon Valley. [Gov.Uk]

“So the best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation,” Hunt said.[Gov.Uk] 

Bigger ambitions

The British government has “bigger ambitions for the years beyond,” including attracting “world-beating enterprises to make Britain the world’s next Silicon Valley,” Hunt said. The country is aiming for an ” education system where world-class skills sit alongside world-class degrees’ and for “Employment opportunities that tap into the potential of every single person so businesses can build the motivated teams they need.” [Gov.Uk]

Hunt called on businesses in the key growth sectors of Digital Technology, Green Industries, Life Sciences, Advanced Manufacturing and Creative Industries to increase their investment in the UK, with the Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance already leading work on how the UK should change regulation to better support safe and fast introduction of new emerging technologies.[Gov.Uk]

“If anyone is thinking of starting or investing in an innovation or technology-centred business, I want them to do it in the UK,”Hunt said. “I want the world’s tech entrepreneurs, life science innovators, and clean energy companies to come to the UK because it offers the best possible place to make their vision happen.”[Gov.Uk]

Tax cuts dismissed

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Hunt dismissed calls for tax cuts and pushed back against green energy subsidies, warning that “sound money must come first” as he argued that Brexit will drive UK economic growth. [Bloomberg]

Hunt said: “At the moment, we don’t have the headroom for major cuts. Businesses want that, who wouldn’t? But what businesses want even more is stability.” 

Hunt made it clear that fiscal constraints will make it hard to find space for business tax cuts to boost investment in the upcoming budget on March 15. That would be his priority if the Treasury finds any headroom, Hunt said.

The Chancellor said the country’s aim is to increase enterprise, supporting businesses “by using our new-found Brexit freedoms” to review regulations in key growth sectors to make it easier for companies to innovate, alongside the importance of competitive business taxation. [Gov.Uk]

(gc)

Constitutional Law and Politics in Western Europe

Belgium: Politicians call for military to help fight drug war in port city

The mayor of Antwerp and a federal minister in Belgium called on the country’s military to be deployed in the port city to assist in the battle against  the drug trade.  

Antwerp Mayor Bart de Wever and Federal Minister David Clarinval made their requests in separate statements after Belgian and Dutch customs agencies announced on January 10 that 110 tons of cocaine were confiscated at the Port of Antwerp in 2022.  

Justice Minister Vincent van Quickenborne said that the military’s exclusive role should be surveillance missions. [BrusselsTimes] [RTS]

While this is the first year that cocaine confiscation has surpassed 100 tons, quantities seized have increased annually since 2013. As a result, the Port of Antwerp has become the principal point of entry for drugs into Europe, while the country faces recession predictions for 2023 and a rejected EU recovery package.  [RTBF] [BrusselsTimes] [BrusselsTimes]

There are growing concerns over the normalisation of drug-use in Belgium, corruption amongst dockers and customs agents, mafia-related activity, and even secondary crimes, such as shootings, related to the drug trade.  [RTBF] [RTL] [BrusselsTimes] 

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Belgium: Lawmaker proposes recommendations to save Congo commission efforts

Flemish Green lawmaker Wouter De Vriendt presented a resolution with other recommendations from the Belgian parliamentary select committee after they were unable to reach an agreement on an apology and reparation payment for their colonial period in the Congo. 

De Vriendt said that there had been a growing consensus in the committee over an apology until “the leaderships of the liberal parties and several ministers’ offices intervened.”  [VRTNews]

Recommendations that are still being considered include: the establishment of a knowledge centre on the country’s colonial past, the earlier opening up of colonial archives, and a monument to Patrice Lumumba, the first Congolese prime minister. He also recommended that the Belgian government recognise and honour the Métis group, who are the children of Belgian fathers and African mothers removed from their mothers and brought to Belgium. [VRTNews]

De Vriendt said that he hopes the Belgian parliament will soon approve his resolution, which goes further than the regret that King Filip expressed in June 2022 about the country’s colonial past during his visit to Congo.  [VRTNews]

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Belgium: General inspectorate reports rise in court cases against police 

Belgium’s general inspectorate released on January 5 its annual report on court cases against police officers in 2021. It showed a 6 percent increase in cases brought against the police from 2020. [BrusselsTimes]

The general inspectorate independently supervises the local and federal police services in Belgium, as well as handles and transfers complaints against police officers. If police officers abuse their powers, they will be tried in court and the case will be tracked by the general inspectorate. [BrusselsTimes]

The general inspectorate reported that in 2020 far fewer trials took place due to Covid-19 and lockdowns, a reduction that led to "pandemic-related working arrangements between the police and judicial authorities" and under-provisioning for the independent body. [BrusselsTimes]

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Belgium: Government agrees to extend operations of two nuclear reactors by 10 years

Belgium has reached an agreement with French utility company Engie to extend the life of two nuclear reactors by 10 years. The initial plan was to exit nuclear power in 2025, but the Doel 4 and Tihange 3 reactors – the newest of Belgium's seven reactors – will now restart in November 2026 after necessary work. [Reuters] [BrusselsTimes] [EuroNews]

"The extension of these two nuclear reactors is crucial to guarantee our energy security," said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Belgium's electricity network operator has warned that Belgium would face a significant shortage in the winter of 2026 to 2027 without the nuclear extension. [Reuters] [BrusselsTimes]

De Croo said that not all details about the nuclear extension have been finalised. The price of the reactors' electricity will be based on a UK-style "Contract for Difference", details of which are to be discussed with Engie. Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten said that the reactors will be operated by a joint company in which Engie and the Belgian state would be equal shareholders. [Reuters] [BrusselsTimes]

Another point will be how to share responsibility  for nuclear waste management costs between the Belgian state and Engie: an agreement has been reached to cap them. The cost of the future dismantling of the Belgian reactors will be Engie's responsibility. [Reuters] [BrusselsTimes]

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Belgium: Parliamentary committee urges government to negotiate release of aid worker in Iran 

Belgian parliamentarians unanimously supported a resolution urging the government to use “all diplomatic means” to secure the immediate release of Olivier Vandecasteele, an aid worker convicted of espionage in Iran. [BrusselsTimes] [BrusselsMorning]

The members of the Foreign Relations Committee in parliament have asked the federal government to raise the issue on the agenda of the next European summit. The Belgian government has asked Iran to release  Vandecasteelde and improve his conditions in prison.  The Belgian aid worker has been detained in Iran for almost a year. 

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France: Government plans to improve hunting security

France will introduce plans to reduce shooting accidents by criminalising hunting under the influence of alcohol and drugs, the country’s State Secretary for Ecology Bérangère Couillard said on January 9. 

Hunting with more than 0.5 grams of alcohol in the blood is now a criminal offence and could result in the revocation of permits. A digital platform showing the times and places of hunting activities will be created, to better inform hikers and residents. [Le Parisien] [France TV info]

The government’s plan to create a hunting-free day, however, did not materialise, due to the fear of too much resistance from the hunters. [Le Monde]

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France: Paris wants to reduce waiting times for passports,  identity cards

France will spend EUR 20 million this year to reduce the waiting time for passports and identity cards to 50 days, Minister for Territorial Communities Dominique Faure said on January 13.  [Le Monde]

The government will open 500 new mobile counters to maximise efficiency . Since the end of 2021, France had an increase in demand for identity cards, which was connected to the recovery of Covid-19. This led to prolonged waiting times for French citizens, sometimes surpassing 100 days. [Service-public]

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France: Paris raises retirement age by two years to 64

France raised the retirement age to 64 from 62 as part of its system reform plan. Starting September, the retirement age will be progressively lifted until 2030, France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said during a press conference on January 10. [Le Monde][Liberation]

The announcement of the highly debated reform was originally scheduled to take place on December 15  but it was postponed so that the government could discuss key elements of the changes with party and union leaders. [Europe Monthly Jan 2023]

The reform bill will be presented to the Council of Ministers on January 23 and a draft bill to the parliament in the spring of 2023. The Communist party as well as the left-wing party coalition New Ecological and Social People’s Union (NUPES) announced strikes on January 21 and 23. [le Parisien] [France TV Info] [Public Senat]

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France: Hottest average annual temperature on record registered in 2022

France experienced its hottest average annual temperature on record since the country started measuring it in 1900 and had its lowest rainfall level since 1989, the National Weather Office Meteo France said on January 6.  [Meteofrance]

The average temperature was 14.5 degrees Celsius last year, compared with the previous record of 14.07 in 2020. The rainfall was 25 percent lower than the long-term average, and the lowest since 1989, the second-driest year ever registered in the country since the beginning of rainfall measurement in 1959. All the months have been hotter than usual, except for the months of January and April. [France 24] [Francetvinfo]

On a global level, the past eight years were the warmest ever measured, according to the World Meteorological Organization. [WMO][UN]

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France: Thousands of people attend funeral for Kurds shot in attack

Thousands of people attended the funeral of three Kurds shot in a terrorist attack in the Parisian suburb Villiers-le-Bel on January 3. Abdurrahman Kizil, Mir Perwer and Emine Kara were killed by a gunman on December 23, in an attack that sparked protests.  [France 24] [Le Monde]

The ceremony was politically charged. Coffins were wrapped in the flags of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Kurdish-controlled Rojava territory in northern Syria. People from the Kurdish community came from all over Europe to participate in the ceremony. [Le Monde]

The 69-year-old gunman, named William M. in the French media, was a white, French national, who was previously charged with racially-motivated murder threats and weapons offences. [France 24] [France 24]

The attack took place in the Kurdish cultural “Centre Ahmet Kaya”, which the Kurdish Democratic Council of France (CDK-F) uses as its headquarters. The CDK-F called the shooting a “terror attack”. [Le Parisien]

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France: Activists demand exclusion of left-wing politician from party

More than a thousand activists demanded the suspension of French politician Adrien Quatennes from the left-wing party coalition La France Insoumise- New Ecological and Social People’s Union (LFI-NUPES) in a statement published in one of France’s major newspapers, Le Monde, on December 26. [Le Monde]

Quatennes was suspended from his party for four months after a French court convicted him of domestic violence. More than a million activists criticised the four-month suspension and demanded that Quatennes be permanently suspended from the party. [Le Parisien]

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Germany: Defence Minister resigns amid criticism 

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on January 16 after a series of mistakes, including failing to  increase military spending pledged by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, made her position untenable. [Politico Europe] [Reuters]

Lambrecht was criticised for taking her son on a helicopter flight during a private vacation, after celebrating the delivery of 5,000 helmets to Ukraine as a “clear signal of support” and for her awkward New Year’s Eve message. During the video, her comments were muffled by the sound of exploding fireworks. She associated the war in Ukraine with “many encounters with interesting, great people.” [Reuters]

Boris Pistorius, a member of the country’s biggest coalition party, the Social Democrats (SPD), was appointed as Germany’s new Defence Minister on January 17. The 62-year-old had been the Interior Minister of the federal state of Lower Saxony since 2013. He is popular in the central German state, where he has gained a reputation for implementing promised policies . [AP] [DW] [Tagesschau]

"I am delighted that Boris Pistorius, an outstanding politician of our country, will be the new Minister of Defense," Scholz said in a tweet. "With his experience, competence and assertiveness, as well as his big heart, he is exactly the right person for the Bundeswehr in this turning of the times." [DW]

Underpressure

Lambrecht’s resignation dealt a blow to Scholz at a time when Germany was under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv, and Germany's defence capabilities had been called into question after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a recent military drill. [Reuters]

Lambrecht made headlines in December when she put the purchase of the new Puma infantry fighting vehicles on hold, after a firing exercise left all 18 of the vehicles with technical defects. It has since emerged that most of the Puma's problems were minor, and 17 of them were swiftly repaired. [DW]

In a written statement, Lambrecht said that the media attention on her “hardly allows for objective reporting and discussion about the servicemen and women, the Bundeswehr and security policy decisions in the interest of the citizens of Germany.” [Politico Europe]

Pistorius Priorities 

One of Pistorius’ first responsibilities was to represent Germany at an international conference of allies at the US military base in Ramstein on January 20. Ukraine and international allies had wanted Germany to send “Leopard 2” tanks to support the country against Russian forces and allow other countries to send their own German-made tanks.

US officials announced that they would supply 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks, hours after an agreement from Germany to provide 14 ‘Leopard 2’ tanks. Western allies praised the decision, with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki describing the move as a “big step towards stopping Russia”. Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, claimed the agreement was a “blatant provocation” against Russia. [inews]

Prior to the US announcement, Pistorius said at the conference that there was still no decision. The German army will review “the availability” of Leopard 2 tanks “as soon as a decision is made,” he said. [Politico Europe] [Tagesschau] [Reuters]

Pistorius’s other challenge in office will be administering the special EUR 100-billion fund that Scholz promised the German armed forces in February. According to military analysts, at least EUR 20 billion is needed to fill up stocks of ammunition alone. 

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Germany: Foreign Minister supports war crimes tribunal for Russian leaders in Ukraine war

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on January 16 that she supported the idea of establishing a special tribunal to prosecute the Russian regime over the war in Ukraine. [Reuters] [DW] [ZDF]

The tribunal would have to be separate from the International Criminal Court (ICC), since Russia doesn’t accept the court’s jurisdiction and could, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, veto a move to bring the case to the ICC, Baerbock said. [Politico Europe]

The tribunal could derive its jurisdiction from Ukrainian law and should take place outside Ukraine with prosecutors and judges from several different countries,  Baerbock said, adding that “accountability matters” and that “Putin must now know that his aggression will not remain without consequences.” [Politico Europe][DW] [ZDF] [Reuters]

Ukraine, the European Union and the Netherlands have backed the idea of a tribunal. [Reuters]

Karim Khan, ICC chief prosecutor, said that  the ICC is the best place to address such cases and warned of potential legal fragmentation. [Reuters] [DW]

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Germany: Interior Minister wants stricter gun laws

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has presented a draft law that would impose stricter gun rules after a group of people, some  armed and suspected of planning a violent coup to overthrow the German government, were arrested in December  in response to shootings on New Year’s Eve. [EURACTIV] [Tagesschau] [FAZ] [Europe Monthly January 2023]

Faeser wants to ban private ownership of semi-automatic rifles and make blank guns and crossbows only available with a firearms licence, according to the draft. Additionally, anyone planning to buy a weapon would have to show a medical and psychological certificate, a rule that currently only applies to people under the age of 25. [EURACTIV] [Tagesschau] [Süddeutsche] [Spiegel]

The draft is intended to reduce the availability of these weapons because they are “particularly attractive to certain groups of people and perpetrators” and for terrorist acts, Faeser said. [Tagesschau] [EURACTIV]

The liberal coalition partner Free Democratic Party opposes stricter gun controls. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said that there are “strict weapon laws in Germany” but that “even the strictest weapon laws do not really help if people acquire weapons illegally.” [EURACTIV] [Tagesschau]

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Germany: Climate activists clash with police over RWE coal mine

Climate activists clashed with police in the west German village of Luetzerath over energy company RWEs plans to start an open-air coal mine, which the energy company says is needed to help meet the country’s energy demands. [EURACTIV] [AP]

RWE has owned the village, which lies west of Cologne next to the vast Garzweiler coal mine, since the village’s last farmer sold his property to the company last year after losing his lawsuit against the company. RWE will demolish the village to open the coal mine. 

Climate activists have occupied houses in the village for two years, hoping to stop the demolition. They argue that RWEs decision to open the mine is against Germany’s climate targets and its obligations under the Paris Agreement. [DW] [AP]

Police from 14 federal states were tasked with evicting the activist from Luetzerath on January 10, but around 15,000 people travelled to the village to protest the eviction on January 14, according to the police. The protestors were joined by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunber.[Tagesschau] [Politico Europe] [Reuters]

Luka Scott, spokesperson for the organisers of the protests, said that they “will fight for every tree, for every house, for every metre in this village,” and that “whoever attacks Luetzerath, attacks our future.” [AP]

During the protests, the police were armed with riot gear, pepper spray, and batons. The activists built barricades and threw stones and firecrackers at police officers. Both sides said that the other let the protests escalate, resulting in many injuries. [Tagesschau]

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that protestors who attacked police officers would be prosecuted. But claims of police violence will also be investigated, she added. [AP]

The police said they evicted the last climate activists on January 16 and that village is “officially cleared.” [AP] [ZDF]

RWE wants the climate activists to compensate for damages, saying on January 21 that there was “substantial property damage.” RWE spokesperson Guide Steffen said he was unable to name a sum, as the extent of damages wasn’t clear yet. [Tagesschau] [DW]

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Germany: Europe’s biggest economy misses 2022 climate emission target

Germany missed its climate target in 2022 for the second consecutive year, despite a rise in renewable energy sources, as Europe’s largest economy burned more oil and coal due to disruptions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [EURACTIV] [Reuters] [AP] [ZDF]

Renewable energy use reached a record high in Germany last year, with it comprising 46 percent of the country’s electricity mix, compared to 42.7 percent the previous year. But the increased use of coal and oil “nullified the reductions in emissions,” climate think tank Agora Energiewende said. Electricity produced by coal increased by more than 20 percent in 2022 from the previous year. [EURACTIV] [Reuters] [Tagesschau][Reuters] [Tagesschau]

Germany aims to be carbon-neutral by 2045 and to cut emissions by 65 percent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. This will be a “challenge,” the German government has said.

Greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, measured at 761 million tonnes, exceeded the 756 million tonnes target for the year, with the transportation and building sectors exceeding their targets in particular. Agora’s Director Simon Muller said this was an “alarm signal.” [EURACTIV] [Reuters] [ZDF] [Reuters] [AP] [Tagesschau] [EURACTIV]

Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck said that the numbers show “how important it is to work to save energy” and that the government is negotiating a new energy efficiency law. Germany is currently not on track to reach its 2030 climate goals, said Agora’s Muller. [ZDF][Reuters]

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Germany: Police arrest Iranian national suspected of planning attack

The German police on January 8 arrested an Iranian man suspected of planning a chemical terrorist attack in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, near the city of Dortmund.

The man was “suspected of having prepared a serious act of violence that endangers the state by procuring cyanide and ricin to commit an Islamist-motivated attack,” the prosecutors said. Ricin is classified as a biological weapon. [DW] [Politico Europe] [Bloomberg] [Tagesschau]

The suspect’s brother, convicted of attempted murder in 2019, was also arrested. The police searched the suspect’s property but didn’t find any toxins. They confiscated electronic storage devices. [Reuters] [DW] [FAZ]

The Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, said there was “a serious tip-off that prompted the police to intervene.” The tip-off was said to have come from the United States. [Reuters] [Bloomberg] [FAZ]

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement that security services “take any information about Islamist terror threats very seriously, and act.” Since 2000, 21 Islamist attacks have been prevented, she said. [Reuters] [Bloomberg] [Süddeutsche]

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Ireland: Anti-immigration protest erupts in Dublin amid housing crisis

An anti-immigration protest erupted in Dublin as the Irish government struggled to accommodate asylum seekers, particularly Ukrainians fleeing the war. [The Guardian] 

About 350 protesters said that the government was prioritising migrants over Irish people. They also said that they felt unsafe in areas that host “unvetted” refugees and criticised Sinn Fein, an opposition party with working-class roots, for welcoming immigrants. [The Guardian] 

Across the street a counter-protest of around 300 people formed, with many people holding placards containing slogans about the importance of diversity and solidarity. The two groups exchanged taunts, and police stood between them for the duration of the protest. [The Guardian][The Guardian]

Since the beginning of last year, Ireland has tried to accommodate 54,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war and 19,000 international protection applicants, in comparison to a total of 7,500 migrants the year before. 

The Citywest Transit Hub - a centre in Dublin where new arrivals are processed - reached its capacity on January 24. It stopped receiving applicants for at least four days due to its inability to provide emergency overflow accommodation. The International Protection Accommodation Service will still provide accommodation to families with children. [Irish Times] [gov.ie][Irish Times] [gov.ie

Due to the shortage of space, refugees seeking asylum in Ireland have been told to postpone their travel plans. [Irish Times] [gov.ie][Irish Times] [gov.ie]

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Netherlands: Constitutional amendment will ban discrimination based on sexual orientation

Article one of the Dutch constitution will be amended to prohibit the discrimination against people because of their disability or their sexual orientation. 

The first article of the Dutch constitution already points out that any discrimination on any ground should not be permitted and makes reference specifically to “religion, belief, political opinion, race, and sex.” The list will now be expanded with the addition of disability and sexual orientation

The initiative was proposed by the coalition of the D66 (in government) and the left-wing opposition Labour Party (PvdA) and GroenLinks. The Tweede Kamer and the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch lower and upper houses, have to vote in favour of the initiative. After that, the law must be voted for again after the elections, in this case, a two-thirds majority is needed. Then, the law needs to be signed by King Willem-Alexander and the responsible minister. [NL Times]

The final vote had been scheduled for December. It was postponed to the new year after the opposition Party for Freedom (PVV) requested a roll call vote which was not feasible because of the absence of many senators. Many factions reacted angrily to this strategy calling it a “very ugly state of affairs” or even a “shameful display.” 

PVV member Alexander van Hattem said that the debate should not have been held in a “half-empty” room when dealing with something as important as the constitution. [NL Times]

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Netherlands: Public trust in Prime Minister’s government sinks to 20%

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is suffering from a trust issue one year into his term of office, with only 20 percent of the public having confidence in his government, according to a recent poll. This is even less than the 28 percent who trusted the new Cabinet when it was sworn in last January.

The public has lost faith in the government's ability to make clear decisions and to move forward with them. Its response to the war in Ukraine, higher energy  prices, housing scarcity, an asylum and housing crisis, and  farmers’ protests have weighed on public sentiment. [1V][NL Times]

Only a third of voters think that Rutte’s fourth cabinet will last until 2025, with 40 percent predicting its collapse in the coming year, EenVandaag reports based on its own poll.

His third cabinet was forced to resign because of a scandal regarding childcare allowance during which families were falsely accused of fraud and ordered to repay the childcare benefits. When they resigned, the public had hoped Rutte would form a government with new appointees. 

Instead, Rutte appointed almost all the same ministers after negotiations that lasted 271 days. It was formed with a coalition of four parties. [NL Times]

Rutte's centre-right VVD, the centre-left D66, the centre-right CDA and centrist ChristenUnie (conservatives) came to an agreement and ended the negotiations, putting an end to the longest period that the Netherlands ever experienced without a government, 225 days. [Euronews]

Ombudsman criticises government

National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen was strongly critical about the government’s capacity in an interview with the newspaper De Telegraaf. The Ombudsman is an independent and impartial institution which assesses complaints about all aspects of public administration, defends the interests of the citizen and monitors the quality of public services in the Netherlands. [DeTelegraaf] [NLTimes] [National Ombudsman] 

Van Zutphen had previously given the government a score of six out of ten. Looking back over 2022, the government rating did not improve “because they have failed, and they simply do not keep their promises," he told the newspaper. [DeTelegraaf] [NLTimes]

In the upcoming year, he is most concerned about people’s mistrust in the government: "I also understand after all the misery it has caused. They feel as though the government is really sitting opposite of them instead of next to them. It is a bad development,” Van Zutphen said. [DeTelegraaf] [NLTimes]

He also said he  does not feel supported by the Tweede Kamer either, which appointed Van Zutphen to the role. "Yes, then you sometimes become despondent and you wonder why parliament has actually appointed you and asks you for advice. In any case, there is still little sign of that new administrative culture,” he said. [DeTelegraaf] [NLTimes]

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Netherlands: Climate activists occupy University of Amsterdam building

Dozens of climate activists occupied a building owned by the University of Amsterdam (UoA) to protest the academic institution’s collaboration with the fossil fuel industry, according to a university spokesperson. With oil company Royal Dutch Shell sponsoring various environmental research projects with UoA, the university contributes to the oil company’s “greenwashing,” demonstrators said. [NLTimes]

"Collaboration with external parties is always on our terms, with academic freedom, and independence and integrity are never compromised," the UoA said in a statement. The police arrested 30 protesters a day after they occupied the UoA building. [NLTimes]

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Netherlands: National Archives publishes 1,300 pages of documents from World War II

The National Archives of the Netherlands on January 3 published about 1,300 pages of documents about World War II, abuse in internment camps, and minutes from Cabinet minister meetings. [NLTimes]

The National Archives published documents related to a committee investigating abuse in internment camps by Dutch people suspected of collaborating with the German occupiers during the War and personal files from the Ministry of War’s Intelligence Bureau. It also released files related to the former Dutch East Indies and Indonesia’s fight for independence. Weekly meetings from the Council of Ministers will be published from the year 1997. [NLTimes]

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Netherlands: Syrian ISIS suspect arrested 

A 37-year-old man suspected of holding a senior leadership role in the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra was arrested in Arkel, Zuid-Holland, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced. The suspect applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 2019. [NLTimes]

“It is suspected that from his position at IS, he also contributed to war crimes that the organisation committed in Syria”  that occurred between 2013 and 2018, the prosecution service said.  [NLTimes]

The investigation and his arrest revealed that he helped lead Islamic State’s security from 2015 to 2018. “Before that, he supposedly held the same position for two years at another terrorist organisation: Jabhat al-Nusra. He is said to have held both positions in and around the Yarmouk refugee camp in the south of the Syrian capital Damascus,” the OM said. [NLTimes]

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Switzerland: Parliamentary panel recommends waiving ban on reexporting weapons

A Swiss parliamentary panel recommended on January 24 waiving the country’s legal ban on re-exportation of war materials to countries involved in international conflicts, specifically regarding Ukraine. After a 14-11 vote in Switzerland’s lower house of parliament, the Security Policy Committee suggested an amendment to exclude cases of force violating international law, much like Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. [APNews]

In June, the federal government had decided to uphold its ban on arms re-exportation in the case of Ukraine, citing neutrality. As a result, Germany was blocked from re-exporting Swiss-made ammunition intended to supply Ukrainian anti-aircraft vehicles, and Denmark from re-exporting 22 military tanks to Ukraine, with the Spanish government’s request to re-export two anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine still outstanding. [SwissInfo] [LaLibre] [APNews]

Swiss President Alain Berset spoke out against the panel’s recommendation, stating that “it is not time to change the rules of re-export…and neutrality.” The president’s speech came only a week after he received a letter from The Order of Lawyers of Geneva requesting the sanctions banning lawyers from representing Russian clients be lifted. On January 25,  Bern announced that it will impose the EUs ninth sanctions package.  [BNN] [RTS] [TheFederalCouncil]

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Switzerland: President calls on Swiss to remain optimistic despite challenges

Switzerland’s President Alain Berset called on his nation to remain optimistic about their future despite the difficulty the country has faced due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Swiss institutions “have learned a lot from the crisis it has had to manage,” Berset said during a speech on New Year’s Eve. The country “owes its culture of dialogue” to the constitution, he said. The government and its institutions are committed to the values of the constitution, he added. [Twitter]

Towards the end of the speech, he sent a message of hope saying that “there are many problems. But there are also countless people – in Switzerland and all over the world – who tackle these problems. That's why we can look to the future with confidence.” [20 minuten]

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Switzerland: Lower house votes against EU ban on diesel and gasoline-powered cars by 2035

Switzerland has rejected the European Union’s resolution to ban diesel and gasoline-powered cars by 2035 to replace them with electric vehicles. The Swiss Transport Commission of the National Council - Switzerland's lower house voted 14 to 11 against the initiative to follow the ban made by the EU. 

The majority of the National Council Commission said that in order to achieve climate policy goals additional measures must be taken to achieve them other than banning gasoline-powered cars. The Swiss Auto Trade Association agrees with this assessment, saying that all alternative fuels should be used, such as  synthetic fuels. [Switzerland Times]

The EU climate neutrality goal aims at tackling climate change by 2050. An important step in the process is the ban on diesel and petrol cars by 2035 to ensure that by 2050 the transportation sector will be carbon-neutral. This ban will not affect already existing cars. It will rather aim at registering in the EU only emission-free cars and light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tons. [European Parliament]

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Switzerland: Activists accuse Swiss bank of hurting climate with energy investments 

The National Bank of Switzerland has slowed progress on climate sustainability through some of its investments, according to the Climate Alliance, the largest European city climate network with nearly 2,000 members. 

Climate Alliance published details for the first time of the Swiss bank’s investments in the oil and gas producers, such as Shell and Repsol. According to the Swiss activist group Campax, SNB invests billions in fossil fuel companies, such as Shell, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies.  If it were a member of the G20, SNB would rank 11th in Green Central Banking’s Scorecard, above the United States but far behind the Bank of England, European Central Bank, and several EU-member banks, according to the Green Central Banking’s Scorecard. [Switzerland Times][Green Central Banking]

The oil producers, such as Shell and Repsol, have been accused by environmental groups of causing environmental damage and violating human rights in Nigeria and Peru. In Peru, Spanish oil-firm Respol is being sued because of a huge oil spill which blackened beaches off the coast of Lima in January last year. [Switzerland Times] [Climate Alliance]

Numerous protests were held against the companies’ investment. SNB has been accused of violating its own investment policies because the bank’s policies prohibit it from investing in companies that “massively violate human rights” or “systematically cause serious environmental damage”. [Green Central Banking]

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United Kingdom: Home Secretary will strengthen police vetting after serial rapist caught among ranks

The United Kingdom’s Home Secretary has set out steps to strengthen vetting of police officers after a serial rapist and violent sexual predator went undetected in its ranks for about 20 years. [Gov.Uk]

The government will do whatever it takes to root out misogyny and predatory behaviour from the ranks of the police, the Home Office said in a statement on January 18. David Carrick, the serial rapist and violent sexual offender, admitted 49 charges relating to 12 victims during his period on the police force.  [Gov.Uk][BBC]

The government,  working with police chiefs across the country, is taking immediate action to ensure that the system is effective at removing officers who are simply not fit to wear the uniform, the Home Office said. It described Carrick's crimes as “appalling” and acknowledged the failures within the Metropolitan Police that allowed such a despicable criminal to serve the public.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has confirmed that it will ask all police forces to check their officers and staff against national police databases. This will help identify anyone who has slipped through the net before vetting standards were toughened and ensure those who are unfit to serve can be rooted out. The Home Secretary has also asked the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for police vetting, making the obligations all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer. This will make a raft of guidance a legal requirement for all police forces.  [Gov.Uk]

“We are taking immediate steps to ensure predatory individuals are not only rooted out of the force, but that vetting and standards are strengthened to ensure they cannot join the police in the first place,” Home Secretary Suella Braverman said. 

For 20 years, Carrick wore a police uniform and, for much of that time, carried a gun. In his private life, he told his victims: "You are my slave," as he controlled and abused them, subjecting them to appalling acts of degradation. “They would never be believed as it would be their word against that of a serving officer,” Carrick told them. [BBC]

Carrick was finally stopped when one woman did decide to report him. In October 2021, after publicity about disgraced Met Police officer PC Wayne Couzens, she contacted police in Hertfordshire, where Carrick lived and committed many of his crimes. [BBC]

(gc)

United Kingdom: Government introduces new laws on strikes

The UK government announced the introduction of new anti-strike legislation, which will require the enforcement of “minimum service levels” in key public sectors, including the National Health Service and schools [The Guardian].  [Gov.UK].  

If passed, the legislation would set minimum service levels for fire, ambulance and rail services while reserving the power to also impose minimum service levels in health, education and nuclear [The Guardian].

“While we hope that voluntary agreements can continue to be made in most cases, introducing minimum safety levels – the minimum levels of service we expect to be provided – will restore the balance between those seeking to strike and protecting the public from disproportionate disruption,” said Business secretary, Grant Shapps [The Guardian].. 

Leader of the opposition Labour party, Keir Starmer said that he would repeal the legislation if Labour formed the next government[The Guardian]. (JN)

(jn/gc)

United Kingdom: Controversial Northern Ireland Truth and Reconciliation bill to become law

A controversial Truth and Reconciliation bill concerning ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland is set to be introduced amid controversy that it will “let people off with murder, torture and other serious crimes, according to Amnesty Internationational. [Amnesty International]

The bill will  grant immunity to those who fought during the conflict if they participate in an information exchange in the hopes of establishing a credible historical record of The Troubles. The bill has come under fire from the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Victim’s Commissioner for its inability to offer genuine closure to victims of the conflict [BBC]

The Troubles is a prominent part of contemporary Irish history. It was a bloody conflict sustained by religious, political and colonial tension resulting in over 3,500 deaths in its 1968 to 1998 duration. [The Washington Post]

The bill is viewed by human rights groups and parliamentary committees as being controversial because it was undertaken unilaterally, violates legal obligations to the Irish government and because it is opposed by every Northern Irish political party, according to an opinion piece by the Washington Post. Although the bill is set to enter law, the Human Rights Committee finds that if it were passed, it will be unlikely to be compatible with human rights legislation. [Human Rights Committee][The Washington Post]

(mg/gc)

United Kingdom: Space Agency allocates GBP 50 million for satellite communications 

The United Kingdom Space Agency has allocated GBP 50 million to “supercharge” the country’s satellite communications industry in projects such as developing new satellite constellations, the ground systems needed to access them, or whole end-to-end systems delivering new services to customers, according to a statement by the agency. [Gov.uk]

These could include integrating 5G systems to unlock connectivity for people and machines through upgrading infrastructure to enable new markets and services such as drones or driverless haulage, creating space-based networks to rival cable-based terrestrial ones, and helping UK space operators to use disruptive new technologies and business models to enable global operations. The funding is part of the European Space Agency Advanced Research in Telecommunications Services programme.  [Gov.uk]

(gc)

Constitutional Law and Politics in Eastern Europe

Azerbaijan's non-oil exports increase by more than 10% in 2022

Azerbaijan’s total exports reached 38.1 billion in 2022, with non-oil exports climbing 10 percent on the previous year to USD 3 billion. Non-oil exports included chemical industry products, which increased 58 percent, ferrous metals and products were up 18 percent, aluminium and its products  up 15 percent, and tea  rose 36 percent. [APA]

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Russia: Prominent actor under investigation for anti-war comments

A famous Russian actor is now under investigation over criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a statement made by the Investigative Committee of Russia (SLEDCOM) on Telegram. [Telegram]

Artur Smolyaninov said during an interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe, a newspaper banned in Russia, that if he had to participate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, he would fight for Ukraine and not for his home country.

“It’s not even on the side of Ukraine for me,” he told Novaya Gazeta Europe. “It’s on the side of my brothers who have been attacked by my other brothers for nothing.” [Twitter]

After his comments, Russian lawmakers urged SLEDCOM to open an investigation against the actor. Lawmaker  Biysultan Khamzaev said that “such actors should immediately have all their state contracts cancelled”. [Meduza]

Smolyaninov, 39, rose to popularity in 2005 starring in the movie “The 9th Company” portraying a Soviet Union soldier during the Afghan War. In 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the movie for being “close to life.”

After Smolyaninov’s interview, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the president “does not think anything good about this actor’s words.” 

This is not the first time that the actor has made  critical public remarks about the war between Russia. In April, he spoke out and was charged with discrediting the Russian military and was fined some EUR 400. [Moscow Times]

Since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, many artists have fled Russia fearing the new laws on spreading “misinformation” about the war. [Euronews]

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Russia: Authorities use war-time censorship law to crackdown on media

Russian authorities have been blocking or prosecuting those who violate the country’s wartime censorship laws imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The non-governmental organisation Roskomsvoboda recently said that the Prosecutor General’s Office subjected 138,000 internet resources to military censorship. [Telegram]

The head of the Alliance of Independent Regional Publishers, Sergei Lapenkov, said that small fines imposed against media companies can be dangerous for publishers trying to survive during these difficult times. “For a regional news outlet, a fine of 1.5 million rubles (EUR 20,000) is basically a death sentence,” said Lapenkov. [The Moscow Times]

Russia-based independent media outlets, such as Zvezda, are taking great risk publishing news about war on the front pages of their publications, the Moscow Times said. Zvezda’s website and its page on popular Russia social media network VKontakte were blocked in March, leading to a collapse in advertising revenue.  Many others, such as Znak.com, have avoided the risks by shutting down their activity. 

(ava/gc)

Russia: Putin bill terminates membership in Council of Europe anti-corruption body

Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a bill in the country’s lower house of parliament, or Duma, that terminated the country’s membership in the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) and denounced the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, an agreement signed by Council of Europe and the other states to pursue a common criminal policy aimed at the protection of society against corruption. [Tass]

Putin’s decision to denounce the convention and terminate Moscow’s membership was taken because GRECO, the Group of States Against Corruption, decided to halt Russia’s voting rights within the body, although its obligations would remain the same. The bill described this as a discriminatory action against Russia.

“Russia’s GRECO membership is terminated based on this decision, with the exception of cases of GRECO monitoring our country’s implementation of its obligations under the convention, while Russia is deprived of the right to take part in discussing and adopting reports, as well as of the right to vote," the explanatory notes said. [Tass]

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow was either forced out of international organisations or withdrew from them. Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Bologna higher-education framework, and the European Convention on Human Rights. [Meduza]

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the withdrawal of its membership does not mean that Russia will cease to work on the implementation of measures against corruption. Transparency International ranked Russia in 2021 high on its Corruption Perceptions Index, at 136/180. [Transparency International]

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Russia: Former commander in Wagner Group seeks asylum in Norway

A former commander of a unit in the Wagner Group managed to escape from Russia and to seek asylum in Norway after crossing the border from the Siberian region of Tomsk.

Andrei Medvedev was detained by the Norwegian police for illegally entering the country. After explaining his situation, and together with the help of his lawyer, who confirmed his identity as Medvedev, he was sent to a migrant centre in Oslo. During his time at the facility, he will testify against Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and about alleged killings. [The Moscow Times] 

Prigozhin founded the Wagner Group as a private military group, which has taken part in military operations in Syria, Ukraine and North Africa. The  St.Petersburg businessman is also known for being close to Putin and is called “Putin’s chef.” 

Medvedev signed a contract with the Wagner Group in July 2022 and served as a commander of one of the many units.  He witnessed the killings of at least 10 fellow officers who refused to take part in combat or who tried to escape in Ukraine. In an interview, he said that the MED - a branch of the Wagner Group - is responsible for “neutralisation” - the killing of officers either publicly or not. 

Medvedev contacted  the human rights group Gulagu.net and asked for help after the public killing of Yevgeny Nuzhin, a convicted Russian murderer who enlisted in the Wagner Group in 2022 to fight in Ukraine. Nuzhin was killed with a sledgehammer after reportedly being repatriated during a prisoner exchange, The organisation then published a video addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Medvedev asked him to stop the killings of officers. [Meduza]

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Russia: Regional officials are informally restricted from travelling abroad 

Russian governors and party leaders in several regions have informally restricted local officials from travelling abroad following controversy over civil servants’ wartime visits to luxury resorts overseas, the Kommersant daily reported. 

According to Kommersant, the scandals prompted governors and the ruling United Russia party in at least seven Russian regions to issue “strong recommendations” for local officials to avoid foreign trips.  [The Moscow Times]

Two regional deputies faced public backlash, including from a top official at Russia’s ruling party, after footage of their New Year’s holidays in Mexico and Dubai circulated online. While in Dubai, one of them was spotted with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's daughter Ksenia Shoigu, whose holiday abroad did not draw any criticism.  [Kommersant]

(ava/gc)

Russia: New educational program with military training starts

Russia started implementing a new educational program this year that requires all students  from elementary school to high school to sing the national anthem and to learn elements of initial military training, including how to fire an AK-74 Kalashnikov and to throw grenades.  [Il messaggero][Il messaggero][MSN]

Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov approved the new federal education program, which will be mandatory for all students. In October, the Russian Duma approved the new law for so-called “humanitarian studies” for which students of all ages have to be educated by war veterans on the use of weapons and on first aid. 

At the start of each week, the first lecture on Monday will focus solely on the current situation between Russia and Ukraine. The programme includes history lessons focusing on topics such as the coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, the annexation of Crimea, and Russia’s support to the Republics of Donbas and Lugansk.

Russian politician Sergei Mironov, who was chairman of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, from 2001 to 2011, said that the program will help the citizens prepare for any eventual attack and also to help people find jobs. From January 1, teachers at each school will receive military training.[MSN]

Many regions have also adapted to the Defence Minister’s request to give students the time to send letters to the soldiers that are currently fighting on the front. 

(ava/gc)

Russia: Fiscal deficit hits pre-Soviet bloc high

Russia’s fiscal deficit reached 3.3 trillion rubles (EUR 44 billion) in 2022, or about 2.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the second highest Russian deficit recorded since the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc, as revenues plunged amid restrictions on oil exports and spending on the invasion of Ukraine grew.[New York Times] [Bloomberg][Gov.Ru]

The fiscal gap reached a record 3.9 trillion rubles in December, according to Bloomberg calculations based on preliminary government data released. Russia’s fiscal position remains strong, thanks to years of strict policies leading up to the invasion. The deficit this year is forecast at 2 percent of GDP, roughly in line with the 2022 level. 

“If we factor in the amounts we offset for state extra-budgetary funds by postponing social security contributions, and if we subtract this amount from the total spending, this leaves us with a deficit of 1.8 percent of GDP, which means below the 2 percent threshold, just as we had planned,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that “the figures are not bad.” [Bloomberg][Gov.Ru

Some economists said that despite the numbers, the Russian economy is performing much better than expected heading into the first quarter. Despite economic pressure due to European sanctions,, the Russian economy had remained resilient. [The Economist]

Russia exceeded its plans in 2022 as far as revenue was concerned, Siluanov said. The country generated almost 28 trillion rubles in revenue, up by 2.8 trillion compared to our initial projections. 

“This was attributable to oil and gas revenue, thanks to higher energy prices, as well as growing non-oil and gas revenue, which is due, among other things, to an increase in value added tax proceeds driven by spikes in demand during specific periods in 2022,” Siluanov said. “We used these proceeds as an additional resource for funding our spending.”

Russia has relied heavily on oil in 2022. About 39 percent of total revenues came from Gazprom alone for example. [The Moscow Times] [Reuters]

This may be changing. Prices for Russian oil collapsed after the Group of Seven nations imposed a cap aimed at limiting the Kremlin’s earnings. The government has already started reducing or delaying non-war spending and is discussing higher taxes for some big companies to help cover the shortfall. [Bloomberg]

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Russia: Moscow plans to add new troops to counter NATO expansion

Russia will increase the size of its military to 1.5 million personnel from 1 million in response to the expansion of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the “collective west,” Russia’s top commander General Valery Gerasimov said. [The Moscow Times]

“Today, the new threats are NATO’s aspirations to expand at the expense of Finland and Sweden, as well as the use of Ukraine as a tool for hybrid warfare against our country,” Gerasimov said. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu recently appointed him to oversee the Ukraine campaign.  [Reuters][AP][The Moscow Times]

Shoigu said separately that the plan was to increase the number of units “to guarantee the fulfilment of tasks to ensure Russia’s security.” [Reuters][AP][The Moscow Times]

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Russia prosecutors declare US-based Sakharov foundation as ‘undesirable’

Russian prosecutors have declared as “undesirable” the US-based foundation that preserves the legacy of Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov.. [The Moscow Times]

“It has been established that its activities pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation,” a statement from the Prosecutor’s General Office said. [Prosecutor’s General Office]

Former Soviet defence hero Andrei Sakharov received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 after his work against nuclear weapons. He was not permitted to leave the country to accept the award. The Andrei Sakharov Foundation says its goal is to support peace efforts and anti-war behaviours. [Andrei Sakharov Foundation] [The Moscow Times]

(ava/gc)

Ukraine: Russian nuclear sector should be included in next round of EU sanctions, official says

The Ukrainian government wants the Russian nuclear sector to be included in the next round of European Union (EU) sanctions against Moscow, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in talks with European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans on January 9.

Russian state energy company Rosatom “in particular” should be included in the tenth package of sanctions, Shmyhal said. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, was put under control of Rosatom in October 2022.

The meeting with Timmermans covered the “demilitarisation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, supply of electrical equipment, opportunities to import electricity from the EU, and sanctions against Russia,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram. [EURACTIV] [Reuters]

(mb/gc)

Ukraine: Power grid operator Ukrenergo wants citizens to save electricity

Ukraine’s power grid operator on January 6 said it wants citizens to save electricity in response to falling temperatures and rising energy consumption.

Ukrenergo, state-run energy company and grid operator, wrote in a statement on Telegram that it expects a “significant drop in temperature,” leading “to a rapid increase in consumption.”

Damage and occupation after Russia’s invasion in February last year strain the country’s energy grid. The Ukrainian energy infrastructure has been the target of Russian missile attacks since October 2022, causing blackouts and energy shortages. [Reuters]

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a government meeting on January 6 that there will be scheduled shutdowns in some areas because of higher energy consumption. He also expects attacks on the energy system to continue, adding that the country “must be ready to resume emergency shutdowns.” [Ukrainian Government]

(mb/gc)

Ukraine: Russian invasions causes biggest economic fall in decades

Ukraine had its biggest economic decline in decades in 2022 due to Russia’s invasion in February, according to preliminary data shared by the country’s economy ministry on January 5.

Gross domestic product fell by 30.4 percent in 2022, the data showed. It’s the biggest fall since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said, adding that the drop was less than expected. [Reuters]

(mb/gc)

Ukraine: Prime Minister says half of 2023 budget to go to defence

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on January 3 that in 2023 “half of the budget” of the government will be allocated “to provide everything our armed forces need.”

Shmyhal said the government wants to create a security infrastructure, including modern equipped shelters in public buildings, such as hospitals and educational institutions.

The integration into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are also priorities for the Ukrainian government, said Shmyhal, adding that Ukraine has started preparing for the next NATO meeting in July in Vilnius, Lithuania. [Ukrainian Government]

(mb/gc)

Constitutional Law and Politics in Southeastern Europe

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Chechens fleeing Russia conscription enter country seeking asylum

Chechens have fled their country to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia to avoid being conscripted by the Russian army to fight in Ukraine,  seeking asylum in Europe. [The Times]

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ministry of Security has estimated that 50 Russians, mostly coming from Chechnya, have entered the country. They are currently staying at the Maljevac border crossing between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Some of them are staying in hotels, while others are sleeping outside at the border. They entered the country legally using a 30-day visa-free travel agreement between Bosnia and Russia. [Balkan Insight]

Russians have fled their home country in  droves since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilisation of 300,000 men for the Ukrainian conflict. 

(ava/gc)

Bulgaria: Government postpones coal phase-out

Bulgaria’s parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of maintaining operations at the country’s coal-fired power plant, which provides 45 percent of the country’s energy, until 2038 after more than 1,500 employees of coal-fired power plants and coal mines demonstrated in front of parliament out of concern for Bulgarian energy security and their job security. [Globe Echo]

In a 187-11 vote, lawmakers across the political spectrum agreed that the interim government should start talks with the European Commission and backtrack from its commitment to cut energy sector greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 2019 levels by the end of 2025. [Reuters]

"These thermal power plants are giving us energy independence and security. We need to save them," former energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova told the chamber, as reported by Reuters. Bulgaria set the climate goal as well as a gradual framework for the coal phase out last year as part of its national plan to tap over EUR 6 billion in European Union (EU) recovery funds.

Faced with the prospect of new elections and high energy costs following the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, lawmakers, eager to appease voters, said that the plan should be re-negotiated to protect the small and open economy, even if it meant losing some of the EU aid. [Reuters]

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Bulgaria: Prosecutors launch probe into Crypto lender Nexo

Bulgarian prosecutors have initiated an investigation into alleged illegal activities conducted by cryptocurrency lender ‘Nexo’. 

Siyka Mileva, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors’ office, released a statement saying that “active steps are being carried out as part of a pre-trial investigation aimed at neutralising illegal criminal activity” of Nexo. [Reuters]

The co-founder of Nexo, Antoni Trentchev, who was also a former MP of the centre-right “Citizens Movement Bulgaria” party, expressed his displeasure of the probe: “The actions of the Bulgarian authorities are absurd, unnecessary and a large part of them – illegal.” He went on to further explain his plans to sue the Bulgarian government for damages, which he claims, are “estimated at more than one billion [US] dollars”. [Novinite]

(jk/gc)

Greece wants air links with China to increase

Greece is committed to raising the number of Chinese tourist arrivals now that Beijing has lifted its zero-Covid-19 policy, Ioanna Papadopoulou, Athens International Airport’s director of communications and marketing, said. 

The airport is “firmly committed to continuously work” with China to return the number of Chinese arrivals to pre-pandemic levels, Papadopoulou said.[Greek City Times]

In 2017, Air China launched a direct flight between Athens and Beijing, which incrementally increased in frequency to register a record-high 217,600 Chinese arrivals in 2019 – a figure significantly higher than the 70,373 Chinese arrivals in 2021. [ekathimerini]

After a two-year hiatus of travel between the nations, a flight between Shanghai and Greece resumed in December. Xiao Junzheng, China’s Ambassador to Greece, said this was “an important step” toward fulfilling the goals of the ‘Joint Action Program’ that aims at strengthening cooperation between the two nations.

China lifted in December its most severe Covid-19 policies - including forcing people into quarantine camps - just a week after landmark protests against the strict controls. People no longer need to show tests for most venues, and can travel more freely inside the country. [BBC]

(jk/gc)

Greece: Athens will expand border wall with Turkey

Greek Citizen Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos announced on January 8 to Skai TV that his ministry is ready to proceed with a gradual expansion of the Evros border fence with Turkey. The plan includes an extension of the fence by 35 kilometres on top of a reinforcement to the pre-existing 42-kilometres already in place. [Daily Sabah]

Theodorikakos confirmed the decision to ambassadors from Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU). The project will cost around EUR 100 million and will be financed by the Greek government. [Greek City Times]

He urged the EU to contribute their ‘fair share’ towards the external border and highlighted the need for the project, claiming that over 260,000 migrants attempting to reach Greece were stopped last year. [Schengenvisanews]

(jk/gc)

Greece: OECD praises economic recovery

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) praised Greece for policies that helped the country’s economy recover from the COVID-19 crisis. [Greek Reporter]

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said that continued policy reforms have left the Greek economy more robust and helped gross domestic product return to pre-pandemic levels. He made his comments alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as he presented an OECD survey on the country’s economy. [Greek Reporter]

OECD said in the survey that employment growth has been strong, which has led to improved investor and consumer confidence. OECD warned that economic growth is likely to slow to just 1.1 percent this year from the 5.1 percent in 2022 due to uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine and soaring energy costs. [Greek Reporter]

Government spokesperson Yiannis Economou said that Greece withstood the pressures of the difficult global environment and “was able to make significant progress in the economy.” He added that “in 2023, the positive results of our policies will become even more apparent because the difficult part of dealing with crises and institutional preparation is behind us.” [Tornos News] 

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Greece: Dutch rescue worker on trial for human trafficking

A Dutch rescue worker has been put on trial with 23 other co-suspects for alleged human smuggling, espionage, and revealing state secrets. Pieter Wittenberg and the other defendants countered the accusations, saying that the alleged suspects were only rescuing asylum seekers at sea in 2018. [NLTimes]

Wittenberg is on the Greek island of Lesbos for the trial, though he is permitted to return to the Netherlands since he is also no longer being prosecuted for certain violations, such as espionage. The judge put aside that charge partly because of procedural errors, such as insufficient translation of prosecution documents, and a lack of access to interpreters for the defendants. 

The ruling came immediately after the United Nations called for the charges to be dropped. The trial had initially been scheduled to begin in November 2021 but was delayed because of the court’s lack of jurisdiction. [NLTimes] [NetherlandsPostsen][Peninsula]

Human Rights Watch has accused Greek authorities of using criminal investigations to harass and intimidate groups that investigate abuses against migrants at its border. International organisations, NGOs and media outlets have documented multiple incidents in which Greek Coast Guard personnel, sometimes accompanied by armed masked men, have abandoned migrants at sea, violently transferring people from Greek islands or from other boats to motorless rafts before leaving them adrift near Turkish waters.

On January 17, the Turkish Coast Guard said it rescued 194 migrants who were denied entry into waters. All migrants were taken to the provincial migration offices after rescue. [Anadolu Agency]

Athens has repeatedly accused Turkey of weaponising the plight of migrants, encouraging them to cross the border to put pressure on Greece and the rest of the European Union and effectively cooperating with people traffickers. Greece says it prevented around 260,000 migrants from crossing its border with Turkey in 2022.  [Euronews]

Greece’s government denies the allegations concerning its treatment of migrants.

(gt-at/gc)

Kosovo: Authorities seek 18 suspects involved in 1999 Racak Massacre

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced that 18 suspects were being sought for their participation in the Racak Massacre against Kosovar Albanians in 1999. He made his comments on the 24^th anniversary of the massacre.[Balkan Insight]

Through the United Nations Kosovo mission UNMIK, Pristina has requested that Interpol issue ‘red notices’ calling on states to arrest the suspects. The suspects were being sought on the basis of evidence produced before the Hague Tribunal, including statements from 63 witnesses. [Balkan Insight]

On the morning of January 15, 1999, Serbian forces surrounded the Kosovar Albanian village of  Racak before entering the village and raiding homes individually. Locals who tried to hide were beaten and shot. 45 villagers were killed [Balkan Insight].

Serbia claimed that those killed were fighters in the Kosovo Liberation Army. The chief of the UN ceasefire mission in Kosovo visited the village the following day and said that the victims were civilians and that it was a “crime against humanity” [Balkan Insight].

The massacre is considered a key factor in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s decision to intervene in Yugoslavia and begin its bombing campaign against Serbia. [Balkan Insight].

Kurti also condemned Serbian Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic’s previous denial that the massacre had ever occurred.  [Euractiv].

“Three years ago, the president of Serbia declared that the massacre in Racak was fabrication and forgery. Two years later, the head of intelligence of the Serbian state, on the day of universal rights of December 10, repeated what the president said. Those who deny the genocide dream of its repetition” [Euractiv].

Serbian officials, including Slobodan Milosevic and Milan Milutinovic were subsequently indicted by The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for the massacre [Euractiv]. (JN)

(jn/gc)

North Macedonia: Four officers arrested over convict’s escape

Authorities in North Macedonia said on January 14 that four prison officers have been arrested for allegedly helping a prisoner escape while being transferred to a hospital.

The prosecutor’s office said that the commander of external security and three officers at Idrizovo prison in Skopje “helped and enabled the convict Bekim Memeti to escape.” They are charged with “illegal release of a person deprived of liberty.”[AP News]

According to the statement, Memeti followed instructions set out by the police commander to cut the palm of his hand in order to be sent to an emergency treatment centre instead of being treated in the prison’s infirmary. The injured prisoner was subsequently sent without an escort, breaching the prison security protocols. [Washington Post]

North Macedonian authorities have ordered that three of the prison officers be placed in custody for eight days, while the remaining officer was banned from leaving the country. A warrant has been issued in search of the escapee who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a murder committed in 2016.[AP News]

(jk/gc)

Romania: World Bank revises downward economic growth by 1.1 percentage points 

The World Bank (WB) has decreased Romania’s predicted economic growth for 2023 from 3.7 percent to 2.6 percent as energy supply disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine curb economic growth in the country. 

The WB also cited tight financing conditions – with the offshoot of increased inflation, despite wages already lagging behind inflation by 2.7 percent, the lowest since 2009. [SeeNews][RomaniaInsider][RomaniaInsider]

The WB forecast comes five weeks after Austria and the Netherlands voted against Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen Area at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on December 8, 2022. 

Despite economic and corruption concerns for the two nations, Greece pledged support for their admissions in an ambassadorial visit to Austria after Romania recalled its ambassador from Vienna. 

Other member states have also called for another vote, arguing that Romania has fulfilled all necessary criteria. While a revote has not been scheduled and Romania continues to face economic obstacles to Schengen accession, the nation has since returned its ambassador to the Austrian capital. [SchengenVisaInfo][RomaniaInsider][EmergingEurope][Etias] [Vindobona]

(sw/gc)

Serbia: Vucic vows to bolster ranks of special forces 

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced in a speech on January 4 that the government will expand the number of army special force units to 5,000 members from the current 1,600.  [Balkan Insight]

“The salaries will be huge,” Vucic said, starting from EUR 2,000 basic and rising to almost EUR 3,000 when overtime is factored in. He added that the special units responsible from the intelligence service BIA and the interior ministry will be strengthened. [B92]

Vucic said  the decision to increase the country’s special unit force capacities was initiated due to tensions in northern Kosovo.

(lc/gc)

Serbia: Investigative report identifies 300 buildings built in Belgrade without permits 

Satellite images documented by BIRN, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, showed hundreds of buildings that were built without permits in the past seven years in Belgrade. [Balkan Insight]

More than 450,000 square metres of residential properties, or about 300 buildings in total, have been built without permits since 2015. BIRN put the value of the buildings at more than EUR 1 billion.  [BIRN]

(lc/gc)

Erdogan pushes Turkish election ahead by a month

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that upcoming presidential and general elections will be on May 14, a month earlier than initially scheduled. [Reuters][Euronews] 

Erdogan added during a youth conference in the northwestern province of Bursa that he will make the formal announcement on March 10 after which Turkey's Supreme Election Council would prepare for the elections. In a video of the event, Erdogan can be heard saying: "I thank God that we are destined to share our path with you, our valued youth, who will vote for the first time in the elections that will be held on May 14." [Euronews][BBC]

Erdogan has been in office since 2003 -- first as prime minister and then as president since 2014. This year, he is expected to face a difficult election as the country struggles with rising inflation and a troubled economy. Erdogan needs to win more than 50 percent of the votes for a first-round presidential victory to avoid a run-off two weeks later. [Bloomberg]

The 68 year-old leader is trying to manage an economy that grew at the slowest pace in the third quarter since a contraction at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, TurkStat data showed on November 30.  Inflation — including food prices — has soared, aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [Yahoo]

Erdogan has pushed the central bank to lower its benchmark interest rate to encourage cheap loans, a move intended to unlock investment and production. This policy has caused the Turkish Lira to weaken.Yahoo]

Erdogan trailing

The country’s economic situation is hurting Erdogan’s popularity. Opinion polls show him trailing against some potential challengers. 

In a recent survey by Turkish pollster Yoneylem, some 63 percent of those who responded said that Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was ruling Turkey badly. A further 58 percent said that under no circumstances would they vote for Erdogan in the next election.

“The economy is eating into his base,” said Berk Esen, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University. [MSN]

Erdogan has been attacking the opposition head of the polls. 

He has focused his ire on the Table of Six political bloc, which formed officially in February last year.  The bloc includes the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), the nationalist Good Party, the conservative Islamist Felicity Party, the Future Party, the Democracy and Progress Party, and the Democrat Party, which has been around for decades but hasn't made much impact over the past few years. [Altılı Masa][Sözcü][DW]

“They set up a table,” Erdogan said. “There are six people around and there is another one making seven who is invisible,” he said referring to the Kurdish majority party – Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – who will announce their independent candidate without being a part of any coalition. [Hürriyet Daily News]

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the CHP, is considered the favourite in the presidential election and he has signalled that he would be willing to take on the role.[DW] 

Table of Six

The Table of Six alliance was formed to counter the yearslong dominance of AKP. 

It  wants to bring the country back to a parliamentary system rather than the presidential one that has been imposed on it by Erdogan. In the Yoneylem poll, 65 percent of all respondents wanted to see the return to a parliamentary system while only around 30 percent wanted to stick with the presidential system. [DW] 

Erdogan has also gone on the offensive against international  media after the London-based weekly The Economist called on outsiders to pay attention to Turkey's upcoming elections. The magazine claimed that the country is "on the brink of disaster" under Erdogan, who responded by saying the British magazine “cannot determine” the fate of Turkey. [TRT]

“International media organisations, which do not even properly deal with the elections in their own countries, follow the election process in Türkiye every day,” Erdogan said at an event in the western Denizli province. “They even go beyond following them and try to guide the public with their despicable headlines and sneaky articles they publish."

Second-largest party

The country's second largest opposition party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was officially excluded. Involving any Kurdish affiliated political party remains controversial in Turkey. In the past, there have been attempts to outlaw the HDP because of alleged ties to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK. 

Turkey's Constitutional Court has rejected a call by the second largest opposition party, the HDP, to postpone until after this summer's elections a case which could see  the HDP party closed. The decision has fuelled fears Erdogan is using the judiciary to undermine the opposition. [MSN]

The Constitutional Court has already frozen the organisation's state funding and is considering a case against the HDP for alleged links to Kurdish rebels of the PKK. A decision against the party could lead to the suspension of the HDP. In a further blow, the court this week rejected a call to delay the case until after parliamentary and presidential elections that must be held by June.  [MSN]

"The biggest legal problem is the cloud of suspicion hanging over the party's legal existence. Will it be able to enter the elections or not," wondered Ertugrul Kurkcu, honorary president of the HDP. [MSN]

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Turkey: Government drops age requirements for retirement 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eliminated a retirement age requirement for people who started working before September 1999, a move that will allow more than 2 million workers to retire immediately, less than six months before an election. [Anadolu Agency][Reuters]

Erdogan made the announcement during a press conference  about a week after Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party increased minimum wage in December.  The previous age requirement for retirement was set at 58 years for women and 60 years for men. With the change, citizens will be able to retire without waiting to reach the required age limit.  [Sözcü]

Labour and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin said the new system would cost more than 100 billion Turkish Lira (EUR 4.9 billion). "We don't know how much more than 100 billion lira the new system will cost, because we don't know how many people will immediately decide to get retired under the new system," Bilgin said on state broadcaster TRT Haber. [Reuters]

The requirement will be eligible for citizens who have completed 20-25 years of social security-registered working life.  Erdogan said 2.25 million people were eligible to retire immediately. There are currently 13.9 million pensioners in Turkey. [Reuters]

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Turkey: Black Sea natural gas pipeline completed

Turkey has completed a 36-kilometre natural gas pipeline, and measurement station with a daily storage capacity of 50 million cubic metres, from the Black Sea to the national system. Turkish Minister of Natural Resources, Fatih Donmez, announced the completion of the pipeline on Twitter  [Reuters]

The pipeline is expected to open in March this year. Natural gas discovered 170 kilometres offshore will be transferred to the Filyos Natural Gas Processing Facility through pipes laid on the seabed. [NTV]

BOTAS, the country’s major importer and distributor of natural gas, will test the pipeline. 

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Constitutional Law and Politics in Southern Europe 

Italy: Charities accuse government of putting migrant lives at risk

Charities in Italy have condemned a new move by the recently installed hard-right government to tighten rules on migrant rescues, a measure which NGOs say could threaten lives at sea. 

The criticism comes after the government in December issued a decree that prohibits ships from remaining at sea and searching for other migrant boats after a rescue operation. 

A breach of the rules could result in aid organisations paying EUR 50,000 in fines and having their vessels impounded. [Europe Monthly January 2023] [Reuters] [Al Jazeera]

Seventeen non-governmental organisations voiced concerns in a joint statement released on January 5. [The Local] [Reuters]

“The Italian decree law contradicts international maritime, human rights and European law,” the organisations said, adding: “NGOs are already overstretched due to the absence of a state-run SAR (search and rescue) operation, and the decreased presence of rescue ships will inevitably result in more people tragically drowning at sea.” [The Local] [France 24] [Euro News]

The decree states that aid vessels should be assigned ports to sail to after a rescue operation instead of staying at sea to look for more migrant boats. These ports are located far from search and rescue areas. [The Local] [Reuters]

NGOs have said that such measures are “designed to keep SAR vessels out of the rescue area for prolonged periods and reduce their ability to assist people in distress.” Among the groups that signed the joint statement were the NGOs Doctors Without Borders (MSF), SOS Humanity and Sea-Eye. [Reuters] [France 24]

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that such NGOs make life easier for human traffickers, a claim that aid organisations have denied. [Reuters]

According to Italian interior ministry figures, 10 percent of migrants who arrived in the country in 2022 were brought ashore by NGO boats. [Al Jazeera]

Since Meloni’s coalition government assumed power in October 2022, it has introduced tougher rules aimed at cutting illegal migration. [ABC News] [Politico] [CGTN]

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Italy: Deal struck on sale of Lukoil refinery in Sicily

Russian energy company Lukoil has reached a deal for the sale of its Italian oil refinery in the southern region of Sicily after a European embargo on Russian oil sparked fears that workers at the plant would lose their jobs.

Following an embargo on Russian seaborne oil that came into effect on December 5 and protests against the potential closure of the ISAB plant, the Italian government in December approved a plan to prevent a shutdown. [Europe Monthly December 2022]

On January 9, Lukoil announced it had reached an agreement for the sale of the refinery to Cypriot private equity firm GOI Energy, which is backed by Geneva-based international oil trader Trafigura. [AP News]

In a statement, Italy’s ministry of economic development said: “The government will ask for commitments in terms of conversion of the plant to green energy and industrial revitalization.” [Euractiv]

Industry Minister Adolfo Urso added that the Italian government would ensure jobs are protected and environmental standards are maintained at the refinery, which employs over 3,000 people and refines a fifth of Italy’s crude. [Reuters] [Euronews]

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Italy: Ruling party seeks to stop EU energy-efficiency rules

Italy’s ruling hard-right coalition led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party filed a motion in parliament on January 13 to stop the EU Green Homes directive that aims to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. 

The directive would affect around nine million Italian householders, who would be required to improve their homes’ energy efficiency by 2030.

Tommaso Foti, who leads the Brothers of Italy party in the chamber, said: “Brothers of Italy is guarding against the European Union’s attempt to foist on Italy, with the directive on boosting energy efficiency, a camouflaged property tax that damages the rights of owners.” [ANSA]

Riccardo Molinari of the right-wing League party, a junior partner in the ruling coalition, voiced concern about the proposal’s cost to homeowners, saying that the move would be “a blow to Italians”.

The EU directive will be discussed in the European Parliament’s industry committee in February and at a plenary session in March. [La Repubblica] [Corriere]

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Italy wants transparent fuel prices after cancelling cut in excise duties

The cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved a decree on January 10 designed to promote transparency in petrol and diesel prices, shortly after scrapping a cut in excise duties on fuel introduced by the previous government. 

Meloni and her right-wing cabinet took office in October 2022, replacing the government of Mario Draghi. [Europe Monthly October 2022] At the end of 2022, Meloni’s administration cancelled a move to combat high prices by the previous authorities, which had cut fuel taxes by 18 eurocents per litre.

Meloni defended her decision, saying: “We wouldn’t have been able to increase the health fund, or the number of families eligible for aid to pay their utility bills, or [tax] credits for SMEs” if her government had maintained the reduced fuel duties. [ANSA 2] [Corriere] [Reuters]

On January 25, petrol station operators across the country staged a strike in protest at the government refusing to reinstate the duties cut. [Reuters 2] 

Plans to hold the strike for a second day were shelved. Petrol station groups Fegica and Figisc Confcommercio said that decision was taken to help “motorists and certainly not the government”. [ANSA]

Under the new decree, petrol stations will be required to show the average national price of fuel next to their own prices. Repeat offenders violating the decree could be ordered to suspend business for up to 90 days. [Euractiv]

There will also be a cap on the price of fuel at petrol stations located on motorways. [ANSA 1] [La Repubblica]

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Italy: New Treasury head appointed, economy ministry shake-up planned

The Italian government appointed the country’s chief economist, Riccardo Barbieri, as the head of the Treasury on January 19. The move is seen by many as a victory for recently-installed hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was looking to replace the previous Treasury chief. [Ministry of Economy and Finance] [Bloomberg Twitter] 

Government sources claimed that Meloni was critical of the way former Treasury director general Alessandro Rivera dealt with Italy’s main financial dossiers, the most notable one being Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the country’s fifth largest bank. [Reuters]

In December, Meloni remarked that MPS, 64 percent of which is owned by the Treasury after a bailout that cost billions in taxpayer money, was “very badly handled.” Some politicians saw the comment as directed at Rivera. [Reuters] [Euronews]

The announcement of Barbieri’s appointment comes amid a shake-up in the economy ministry. Italy’s Economy and Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti has proposed splitting his department into two units – one that would specialise in macroeconomic policies and international relations, and another that would manage state-controlled firms and public assets. [Reuters]

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Italy: Arrest of mafia boss ‘a great victory’, says PM

Italy’s most-wanted mafia boss was detained in Sicily on January 16 after being on the run for 30 years. Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro was a “great victory” in the country’s war against organised crime.

Meloni, who travelled to Sicily to congratulate police, said: “We have not won the war, we have not defeated the mafia, but this battle was a key battle to win, and it is a heavy blow to organised crime.”

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said that the arrest of an “extremely dangerous fugitive” was “an extraordinary day for the state.” [Reuters] [The Local]

Denaro faces a life sentence for his involvement in 1993 bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan that killed 10 people. As the boss of the Cosa Nostra mafia, he is also accused of killing two anti-mafia prosecutors in 1992 and the murder of a 12-year-old boy in 1993.

The boy was kidnapped to put pressure on his father not to submit evidence against the mafia. The child was held captive for two years before he was strangled, and his body was dissolved in acid. [Reuters] [The Local] [BBC] [Politico] [Al Jazeera]

Denaro was arrested at a private hospital in Sicily where he was being treated for cancer. [Reuters] [BBC] [Politico]

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Italy: Education minister criticised for suggesting teacher salaries may vary by region 

Italy’s education minister, Giuseppe Valditara, has suggested that reforms could be carried out that would see teachers’ salaries varying between regions of the country, sparking outrage from unions and opposition parties. 

Valditara said on January 26: “The state school system needs new forms of funding, including for teachers’ salaries, which may become differentiated on a regional basis.” He later claimed that his words had been misunderstood.

Peppe Provenzano, a member of the centre-left opposition Democratic Party, said that varying teachers’ salaries by region would “definitively split” Italy. 

But Mario Rusconi, the leader of the Rome section of the ANP, an association of school principals, said that it would be “sensible” to raise teachers’ salaries in northern regions, where the cost of living is higher. [Rainews]

Valditara also suggested that reforms could be made to secure private funding for state schools, adding: “It’s necessary to find new roads, including experimental ones, of synergy between the industrial system, civil society and schools in order to finance education”. [ANSA] [Repubblica]

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Portugal: Gov’t launches new vetting system after wave of scandals

Following a series of scandals, Portugal’s socialist government on January 12 announced a new vetting system to check future officials’ backgrounds before they are appointed. [Reuters]

The decision comes after the administration faced a string of controversies in late December and early January, with four top officials including ministers and secretaries of state stepping down in little more than a week. [Euronews]

The crisis started with the resignation of Secretary of State for the Treasury Alexandra Reis on December 29, after it emerged that she had received EUR 500,000 compensation when she was dismissed from the board of state-owned airline TAP last year. [Euronews] [Politico]

Amid a public outcry, Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos, whose responsibilities included oversight of TAP, resigned the day after, along with his deputy, Hugo Santos Mendes. [The Portugal News]

The case, dubbed the “TAP golden handshake” affair, prompted the opposition Liberal Initiative party to call a motion of no-confidence in the government, which was rejected in parliament on January 5. [Reuters] [El Periodico]

On the same day, Carla Alves Pereira stepped down as secretary of state for agriculture, just 24 hours after being appointed. [Euronews] Pereira allegedly had her bank accounts seized amid a corruption investigation into her husband, a former mayor. [Reuters]

The Socialist Party, which has been in power with an absolute majority for ten months, has seen 13 resignations since its election victory in March 2022. [El Pais]

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Portugal: President halts legalisation of euthanasia for third time

Portugal’s conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on January 4 again blocked the legalisation of euthanasia by sending a bill approved in parliament to the country’s constitutional court. [CNN Portugal]

Portuguese lawmakers voted in December to make medically assisted death legal under certain conditions, in the third attempt to decriminalise the practice in two years. [Europe Monthly January 2022]

De Sousa sent an earlier bill on euthanasia to the constitutional court in 2021, saying it contained “excessively undefined concepts”, and the judges upheld his concerns. Later that year, he vetoed the parliament’s amended version. [Reuters] [Europe Monthly January 2022]

This time, the president said in a statement that he aimed to ensure that the latest version of the bill “corresponds to the requirements formulated in 2021” by the constitutional court.

Judges will now have to rule again on whether the measure complies with the Portuguese constitution.

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Portugal: Thousands of teachers strike over pay and working conditions

Portuguese teachers on January 16 launched a wave of strikes over pay and working conditions. Walkouts began in Lisbon and spread across the whole country. [El Periódico]

According to unions, over 90 percent of teachers in the capital joined the walkout. [Lusa] 

Thousands of teachers and school staff took to the streets of Lisbon the weekend before the strikes started, urging Education Minister Joao Costa to resign. [Reuters]

Educators then gathered in front of the ministry of education in Lisbon on January 20, where talks between the government and unions were taking place. [Lusa]

Costa described the strikes as “atypical, disproportionate and radical in the middle of a negotiation process.” [DW]

There has been a string of partial strikes in the country since the beginning of December, causing some schools to shut. [DW] [Reuters] [TPN/Lusa]

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Portugal: First offshore wind auction planned

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has said that an offshore wind power auction will be launched by the end of September. It will be the first auction of its kind in the country. [Jornal de Negocios]

“Portugal's goal is to reach 10 GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030”, said Costa on January 23 during a visit to Cape Verde. [Reuters]

Costa announced the opening of a public hearing about proposals for the delimitation of zones for wind farms off the country’s Atlantic coast. 

Portugal already hosts the first offshore wind farm in continental Europe – the Windfloat Atlantic, a commercial project located in the western coastal city of Viana do Castelo that has been operating since 2020. [Jornal de Negocios]

Sixty percent of the country’s electricity comes from renewable sources, one of the highest figures in Europe. Portugal aims to increase this to 80 percent by 2026. [Jornal de Negocios] [Reuters]

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Spain: Thousands of anti-government protesters stage rightist rally in Madrid

Tens of thousands of Spanish anti-government protesters staged a rally in Madrid on January 21, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in a demonstration backed by right-wing groups. [Reuters] [DW News] [The Local] [France24/AFP]

The protest, which came after recent reforms of the law on sedition, was attended by around 700,000 people, according to organisers. The central government’s delegation in the Spanish capital put the figure at 30,000. Demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall waved Spanish flags and called Sanchez a “traitor.” [Reuters] [DW News] [The Local] [France24/AFP]

Under changes approved in December that were proposed by the ruling left-wing Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and its leftist junior coalition partner Unidas Podemos, sedition was replaced with a lesser crime of aggravated public disorder. [Europe Monthly January 2023]

The reforms took effect on January 12, and on the same day, Spain’s supreme court dropped sedition charges against former Catalan president and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, although he still faces charges of disobedience and embezzlement. [AP News]

Separatist leaders declared the independence of the north-eastern Catalonia region from Spain in October 2017 after a contested referendum. The vote was deemed illegal by the national government, and the independence movement’s leaders were convicted for sedition and rebellion, imprisoned or forced to flee abroad. [BBC] [The Guardian]

In 2019, Prime Minister Sanchez pardoned nine Catalan separatists, saying he wanted to “open a new stage of dialogue and reconciliation” to end division. Right-wing leaders accused Sanchez of betraying Spain. [The Guardian]

At the January 21 protest in Madrid, Santiago Abascal, head of the far-right opposition Vox party, denounced the Sanchez-led administration, calling it the “worst government in history” and one that had “divided Spaniards”. Referring to Catalan separatists, Abascal said that the government had freed “coup leaders”. [France24/AFP]

Puigdemont fled to Belgium in 2017 and now serves as a member of the European Parliament. Spain has been attempting to extradite him, but these attempts have failed so far. Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena said on January 12 that he planned to submit a new extradition request to Belgian authorities so that Puigdemont could face trial for his lesser alleged crimes.

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Spain: Medical workers demonstrate against healthcare cuts

Around 30,000 medical workers held a march in Madrid on January 15 protesting at healthcare cuts by the regional conservative government.

The protesters, who demanded better public medical services as well as an end to cutbacks and privatisation, held placards and were dressed in white coats. Some signs read: “Healthcare cuts are a criminal act.” [Reuters] [The Local] [Euronews] [Firstpost] [The Independent]

Ana Encinas, a doctor who works in primary healthcare in Madrid, told Reuters that medical professionals are unable to give proper care to patients as they have “40 or 50 patients per day and can give them about six minutes each.” [Reuters] [Euronews] [Firstpost]

Protesters at the rally also called for the resignation of Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the leader of Madrid’s regional government. Ayuso, who belongs to the conservative People’s Party – which is in opposition at the national level, has denied allegations that her administration is undermining the public health sector in a move to privatise medical care. [Reuters] [The Local] [Euronews] [Firstpost]

She claimed that the protests were organised by left-wing parties ahead of municipal elections. [Reuters] [The Local] [Euronews] [Firstpost]

In November, thousands of protesters gathered in Madrid to call for better working conditions for healthcare workers. [Europe Monthly December 2022] [Reuters] [Euronews]

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Spain: Farmers protest at plans to reduce irrigation supply 

Thousands of farmers protested in Madrid on January 11 in response to Spain’s plan to reduce the amount of water taken from the Tagus river to irrigate agricultural areas in the south-eastern part of the country.

In 2022, Spain experienced its hottest year on record and a drought that left reservoirs with low water levels. [AP News] [El Mundo]

The country’s environment minister, Teresa Ribera, said that the move to cut the amount of water taken from the Tagus river was needed to prepare Spain for the effects of climate change.

The government plans come after the supreme court in Spain ruled that the Tagus river must have an “ecological” water flow. Farmers protesting against the plan argue that it will hit food production in south-eastern Spain and cause job losses. 

The reduction of water from the river is set to take effect over the next five years. Meanwhile, the government aims to invest EUR 8 billion into encouraging the recycling and desalination of water for irrigation. [Reuters] [El Pais]

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Spain: Contested ‘pro-life’ measure abandoned by regional gov’t

The head of Spain’s autonomous north-western Castilla y Leon region has announced that it will not put into force a contested plan to encourage women to listen to the heartbeat of a foetus before an abortion.

The coalition government in the region led by Alfonso Fernandez Manueco, the local president of the conservative centre-right People’s Party had, along with the right-wing Vox Party, proposed “pro-life” measures whereby doctors would be encouraged to offer so-called four-dimensional ultrasound scans to women seeking termination of their pregnancies. [The Local] [The Guardian] [Spanish News Today] [ABC News]

Juan Garcia-Gallardo of the Vox Party said that the protocol, which was due to take effect on January 16, “would be worth it if even just one baby who was due to be aborted is born.” Gallardo praised a similar measure that was carried out by the right-wing government in Hungary. [The Guardian]

However, Gallardo’s assertion that the measure would be “mandatory” was contradicted by Manueco, who said that doctors and women who wanted to abort a pregnancy would not be “forced to do anything.”

The centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, which governs at the national level, had asked the regional government to drop “any actions that would infringe laws on sexual and reproductive health and the voluntary interruption of a pregnancy.” [The Guardian] [Spanish News Today] [The Local]

The plan was also opposed by medical professionals. In a statement, the Spanish Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics said that 4D scans were not typically recommended in the first trimester of pregnancy as they posed potential risks to a foetus.

The statement added that doctors have to respect women’s right to seek abortions, and requested the government of Castilla y Leon to reconsider. [The Guardian]

Under the country’s devolved system, each Spanish region handles public health services but national laws for healthcare must be adhered to. [ABC News]

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Spain: Police raid illegal factories accused of exploiting Ukrainian refugees 

Spanish police announced on January 22 that they have busted a gang which operated three illegal tobacco factories where Ukrainian refugees were forced to work in poor conditions.

The authorities arrested 27 people and seized millions of cigarettes. The gang is suspected to have sold counterfeit cigarettes both in Spain and neighbouring countries. [The Independent] [NBC News]

The first factory was in a chicken shed near Seville, in the south of Spain. This led to the discovery of two other operations, in the eastern region of Valencia, and in La Rioja in the north. [BBC] [Info Migrants] [EuroNews]

Civil Guard Captain Carlos Carrasco said that the gang took advantage of refugees’ vulnerability, offering them low pay, making them work long hours and live in unsanitary conditions. “The restrooms were filthy, mattresses piled on the floor, very little hygiene,” said Carrasco, who oversaw the raid in La Rioja. [AP News] [NBC News]

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, nearly eight million Ukrainians have fled to countries across Europe. Over 160,000 Ukrainian refugees live in Spain. [BBC] [In Spain News]

Last November, the European Parliament declared that measures must be taken to prevent the exploitation of refugees amid reports of human trafficking and of Ukrainians performing underpaid labour. [Euractiv] [BBC]

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Spain: Tobacco firms told to pay for clean-up of discarded cigarettes

Tobacco companies will be responsible for financing the clean-up of cigarette butts on streets and beaches in Spain under a series of environmental regulations that came into force on January 6.

The move is part of an EU directive that also aims to reduce waste by measures such as a ban on single-use plastic cutlery and plastic straws. [BBC]

In addition to financing the clean-up of cigarette waste, tobacco companies will also have to encourage Spanish customers to not throw away cigarettes in public areas.

The cost of the clean-up initiative has not been determined. It is also unclear whether the cost will be transferred to the consumer with a rise in the price of cigarettes. [Euronews]

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Spain: Clergyman killed, several injured, in machete attack at churches

Spanish authorities have said that they are investigating a possible Islamist terror attack after a clergyman was murdered and another injured by a machete-wielding assailant who entered two churches.

The suspect, who has been identified as a 25-year-old man of Moroccan origin, carried out the attacks in the southern Spanish city of Algeciras on January 25, police said. [CBS News] [Reuters] [The Washington Post] 

The man first went into the church of San Isidro, where he severely injured a priest. He then entered the Nuestra Senora de La Palma church, where he killed its sexton. [Reuters] At least four people suffered injuries, according to local news outlets. [Politico] [CBS News]

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered his condolences in a tweet to the family of the sexton and said he hoped those who were injured would make a swift recovery. [Politico] [Reuters] [CBS News] [France24]

The mayor of Algeciras, Jose Landaluce, said that the attacks have “filled us with pain.” He added: “Algeciras has always been a city where concord and tolerance reign, despite incidents like this that create an image that does not correspond to reality.” [CBS News]

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Spain to scrap mandatory mask rule on public transport

Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias has announced that a requirement to wear masks on public transport will soon be scrapped.

Darias said that “the epidemiological situation is getting better and better” and that health officials have supported easing the rule. However, masks will remain mandatory in health facilities. [Reuters] [The Local]

Darias added that she would propose ending the compulsory use of masks on public transport at a cabinet meeting on February 7. [The Local]

Health experts who have observed the Covid pandemic in Spain over the past few years said in January that such a decision should come after analysing coronavirus cases in China. [The Local] [Canarian Weekly]

China recently did away with its strict “zero Covid” policy following widespread protests in the country. The move has led to a surge in coronavirus cases. [The Local] [BBC]

The Spanish government last April scrapped rules on wearing masks indoors. [Reuters] [The Local]

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Vatican City: Thousands mourn former pope Benedict XVI

The funeral of former Pope Benedict XVI took place in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican City on January 5 in a ceremony attended by around 50,000 people.

Joining tributes from world leaders, Pope Francis, who led the funeral, described his predecessor as a kind man who was a “gift to the church.” [CNN] [BBC] [Reuters]

Benedict XVI died on December 31 at the age of 95. He was elected as pontiff in 2005. In 2013, suffering ill health, he became the first pope to resign in 600 years. [BBC] [CNN]

His death sparked tributes from leaders including US President Joe Biden who said: “He will be remembered as a renowned theologian, with a lifetime of devotion to the Church, guided by his principles and faith.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Benedict “worked with all his soul and intelligence for a more fraternal world”. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that he was “a great figure that history will never forget.” [Sky News] [BBC] [Politico]

Aside from religious issues, Benedict announced during his papacy that the Vatican would be the first carbon-neutral state by taking eco-friendly measures such as installing solar panels and planting a forest.

Meanwhile, Benedict was criticised for failing to act against priests who were accused of child sexual abuse at a time when evidence of widespread abuse by clergy was being uncovered. [New York Times] [The Guardian] [NBC]

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Vatican opens probe into teen girl’s 1983 disappearance

In a break with its previous stance, the Vatican has decided to open an inquiry into the disappearance of a teenage girl 40 years ago following the release of a Netflix docuseries which explores various theories around the case.

Fifteen-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of an employee of the papal household, went missing when returning from a music lesson in central Rome in 1983. The case has gripped the public’s imagination. [CNN] [The Local] [ABC News]

Pope Francis ordered an investigation after the death of former Pope Benedict XVI in December. According to Tommaso Nelli, an Italian investigative journalist who wrote a book on Orlandi’s disappearance, with his decision Pope Francis has distanced himself from his predecessors.

Nelli was cited by Euronews as saying: “He’s the first pope to allow an internal investigation into this Vatican citizen’s disappearance. Something Ratzinger (former Pope Benedict XVI) and Wojtyla (former Pope John Paul II) never did." Nelli added that Francis’s pontificate “will go down in history as a more transparent and open one, at least on paper.”

The Netflix series about the case, “Vatican Girl”, features Orlandi’s childhood friend. The friend, whose identity was obscured, claimed that Orlandi was sexually assaulted by a member of the clergy a few days before she went missing. [The Guardian] [Euronews] [The Telegraph]

In 2017, a leaked document that listed papal expenses was seen by some as pointing to a Vatican cover-up and indicating that Orlandi may have been transferred to various locations. But this was later disproved. [The Local] [Euronews]

The case has triggered various other theories, a prominent one being that Orlandi was kidnapped by a gang linked to Mehmet Ali Agca, who was at the time in prison for attempting to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. [The Local] [The Guardian] [CNN]

An Italian parliamentary inquiry has been demanded by Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist opposition Action Party, who claimed that the Vatican knows more than it is letting on. Calenda added that the Holy See’s position of not having any information is “hardly credible.” [Euronews] [Europe Monthly January 2023] 

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Constitutional Law and Politics in Central Europe

Austria: Support for far-right rises amid discontent over migration and inflation

Over one in four citizens would vote for Austria’s far-right opposition Freedom Party (FPO), which would likely make it the largest grouping in parliament, a poll in January found, amid discontent over migration and inflation.

The poll found that 28 percent of voters would vote for the FPO, up from 25 percent in November 2022 and 11 percent in the summer of 2020. This compares to 25 percent support for the left-wing opposition Social Democrats, 21 percent for the centre-right Austria People’s party (OVP), and 10 percent for the Green party. The OVP and Green party govern Austria as a coalition.  [FT] [New Statesman]

Support for the far-right has risen amid a cost-of-living crisis which has seen inflation climb from 5 percent in January 2022 to 10.2 percent in December 2022. Meanwhile, there are signs of growing discontent over immigration. [New Statesman] [TE] 

Austria has a reputation for welcoming refugees, but this has always been paralleled by opposition from far-right political groups, which have become more mainstream in recent years. The Freedom Party formed a coalition government with the OVP in 2017, though the coalition eventually collapsed in 2019. [Guardian] [New Statesman]

There has been a steady increase in immigration over the last five years, with a rise of 7.54 percent in 2021 compared to 2020. Many recent refugees have come from Ukraine but others have also arrived from Syria, India, and Afghanistan. [infomigrants] [macrotrends] 

Marcus How, head of research at political risk consultancy VE Insight, said that a lot of Austrian voters are “very, very bad-tempered at the moment”. He added: “The landscape is ripe for populists to take advantage of.” [FT]

Austria is scheduled to have a general election by the end of 2024. [FT]

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Austria: Former far-right leader acquitted of corruption charges

A former far-right leader of Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO) has been acquitted of corruption charges at his second trial. [DerStandard][Reuters]

Heinz Christian Strache, who led the FPO for 14 years between 2005 and 2019, had originally been found guilty in August 2021 and sentenced to 15 months in jail.

Strache appealed the verdict and did not go to prison as his appeal was pending. On January 10 he was acquitted by the Vienna Criminal Court after a judge said that there was insufficient evidence of corruption. 

Corruption charges had been brought after a private clinic operator named Walter Grubmuller donated EUR 12,000 to the FPO. Strache had been accused of campaigning for Grubmuller’s clinic to be included in a programme for financing private hospitals from public funds. [DerStandard] [Reuters]

The donations were made before the Freedom Party entered government. In 2017, then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, a conservative, struck a coalition agreement with the Freedom Party, after which Austria became the only western European nation with a far-right party in power. 

Kurz resigned as chancellor in October 2021 amid accusations that he used taxpayers’ money to pay for manipulated polls published in a newspaper in order to show him in a good light. [EiR Monthly December 2021] He denied wrongdoing but later announced he was quitting politics. 

Strache said after his trial that he accepted the verdict “gratefully” and praised the “extremely fair and correct” procedure. [derstandard] [reuters]

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Austria: Ruling coalition calls for tougher penalties for child pornography

Austria’s coalition government has called for harsher punishments in criminal cases involving child pornography. [Derstandard][Euronews]

Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler agreed that “improvements” were needed to the law, especially “when it comes to protecting children”.

Nehammer, the leader of the centre-right Austria People’s party, was speaking to the Austria Press Agency about the issue alongside Kogler, a member of the Green party. Both groupings are part of the country’s governing coalition. [Derstandard] [Euronews]

Their comments came after Austrian actor Florian Teichmeister was charged with possessing thousands of files depicting the sexual abuse of minors. The maximum sentence for such an offence is two years in prison. Nehammer has called such sentences “ridiculously low” and voiced support for tougher penalties. [Derstandard] [Euronews]

Austria's public broadcaster TV ORF has said it is withdrawing all films in which Teichmeister appears. TV ORF jointly financed the film Corsage, in which Teichmeister appears and which is competing to represent Austria in the best foreign film category at the Oscar awards. [Euronews]

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Austria: Carbon tax raised amid climate effort

The Austrian government has increased a carbon tax on industry as part of the country’s effort to meet climate targets and encourage businesses and individuals to switch to more renewable energy sources. [Derstandard]   

The carbon tax was introduced on October 1 at a price of EUR 30 per tonne of CO2. This has risen to EUR 32.50 per tonne from the start of this year. The levy is a measure introduced under Austria’s Ecological Tax Reform Act [Derstandard] [icap]

Money from the tax goes to the Energy and Climate Fund – a government programme that supports energy-related research projects and aims to bring climate-friendly energy technologies to the market. [icap] [Euractiv] [bmk] The government plans to raise the carbon tax gradually to EUR 55 per tonne by 2025. [Derstandard]

Austria’s government has also unveiled a new plan aiming to expand the use of renewable energy. The Renewables Expansion Acceleration Act was announced after a meeting between the two parties in the country’s ruling coalition, the centre-right Austria People’s party (OVP) and the Greens.

The plan aims to encourage the use of solar panels, among other measures. Small solar power installations will no longer require a permit, while the state fund for supporting solar projects has been increased to EUR 600 million for 2023. [Der Standard] [Euractiv]

The moves are part of Austria’s wider renewable energy plan, which aims to have 100 percent of the country’s electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030. Currently, 72 percent of Austria’s electricity production comes from renewables, with hydro power accounting for over 60 percent. [iea] [statista]

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Austria: Critics slam delay in ban on ‘gay cures’

Critics have complained of a lack of progress on a law to ban so-called conversion therapy for gay people in Austria.

The Green party announced last year that a law would be drawn up to ban “gay cures”. However, it is believed that the centre-right Austrian People’s party, which governs in a coalition with the Greens, is holding up such a measure. [Der Standard] [equaldex]

Conversion therapy is described by the British Psychological Society as therapy that tries to change someone’s sexual orientation. This normally involves standard therapies and prayers but can include exorcism, physical violence and food deprivation. [BBC]

Yannick Shetty, an LGBT issues spokesperson for the left-wing opposition New Austria and Liberal Forum party, said: “It is really outrageous that after more than three years of Green leadership in the justice department, there is still no legal ban on inhumane conversion therapies for young people”. [Derstandard]

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Austria: Chancellor supports plans to scrap all Covid restrictions by end of year

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he supports a plan to scrap all Covid restrictions by the end of the year. [Derstandard]

Under the plan, announced by Health Minister Johannes Rauch, all requirements to wear masks will be abolished by the end of spring, and free coronavirus tests will be scrapped for people who don’t have symptoms from the summer. [Derstandard]

Nehammer said that such anti-Covid measures are “not an end in themselves” and “should be abolished when they are no longer needed”. [Derstandard]

Austria had a tough response to Covid, and was one of the first countries in Europe to introduce a nationwide lockdown. This led to mass protests in Vienna and a rise in support for the far-right opposition Freedom Party (FPO), which criticised pandemic restrictions. [Keough] [BBC] [Newstatesman]

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Croatia: Fines for retailers who raised prices after switch to euro

The Croatian government has issued fines totalling around EUR 250,000 to retailers who took advantage of the country’s switch to the euro at the start of the year to raise their prices. [Hina] [N1]

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced that his government had handed out some 150 fines. Economy Minister Davor Filipovic had warned retailers in early January not to take unfair advantage of the country’s adoption of the single European currency. [Hina][N1] [Vlada] [Europe Monthly January 2023]

The penalties were slapped on retailers who set prices which did not accurately reflect the exchange rate of Croatia’s kuna currency to the euro. Plenkovic said that inspections of retailers would continue.

At the start of the year, payments were allowed to be made in either euros or kuna, but as of January 15 this changed to just euros. Croats can exchange kuna banknotes and coins for euros until December 31.

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Croatia: Ex-PM sentenced to 18 years in jail on corruption charges 

Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has been sentenced to 18 years and eight months in prison after being convicted on corruption charges. [N1] [Hina]

Sanader, who was premier between 2003 and 2009, has already spent seven-and-a-half years behind bars, but three more guilty verdicts have increased his sentence. [N1] 

Originally arrested in 2010, Sanader has been found guilty of numerous corruption charges over the last 12 years, including taking EUR 1 million in return for helping the owner of a meat company to buy a building from the government for below its market price.[N1] [BBC]

Sanader was informed of the latest verdict by the Zagreb County Court on January 20. His lawyer said that the ruling was unfounded and that the former prime minister would launch an appeal. [N1] [Hina]

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Croatia: Co-founder of Croatian Democratic Union party dies aged 59 

Milan Kolic, who jointly founded the centre-right conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party that played a key role in Croatia gaining independence from Yugoslavia in the 90s, has died aged 59 after battling a long illness. [Telegram] [Jutranji]

Kolic helped establish the HDZ in 1989. The party governed the country from September 2016 to January 2020. [Telegram][Aljazeera]

He was also the mayor of the western town of Gospic four times and fought during the Croatian War of Independence. [Telegram][Jutranji]

Ernest Petry, a member of the HDZ, said: “As early as February 1990 he was involved in the creation of the independent Republic of Croatia. We will also miss him as a good man who has shown himself to be a true friend in numerous life situations”. [Telegram][Jutranji]

Kolic died on January 5. [Telegram]

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Croatia to introduce new food bank system in 2024

Croatia plans to introduce a new food bank system in 2024 in an effort to combat what surveys show is rising food insecurity in the country. [N1] [Hina]

The proportion of Croatia’s population facing food insecurity has risen nearly 5 percent since 2015, according to the latest statistics available from the World Bank. [WB]

About 100 non-profit organisations currently run food donation projects in Croatia but such groups often struggle to properly store, transport, and receive goods. Officials hope that combining these existing projects into a unified national food bank system will improve efficiency. [N1] [Hina]

Data from the agriculture ministry shows that 286,000 tonnes of food is thrown away in Croatia each year compared to 1,700 tonnes donated to charity per year. [N1] [Hina]

The infrastructure for the new food banks is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, with the food banks scheduled to open at the start of 2024. [N1] [Hina]

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Croatia launches strategy for sustainable tourism 

Croatia has launched a new strategy to develop sustainable tourism as it tries to improve the competitiveness of its tourism industry over the next decade. [Hina]  

The plan was originally drawn up in August 2022 and came into force in January. It will stay in place until 2030. [Hina] [Travindy] 

Sverko Grlic, a member of the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of Rijeka, said that the strategy has several goals. [Travindy] 

The first is to develop year-round tourism and reduce its seasonality. The second is to have a tourism industry that is friendlier to the environment. A third is to improve accommodation availability in tourism areas. [Travindy] 

Tourism makes up 12 percent of Croatia’s GDP, a higher percentage than in any other EU member state. [statista]

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Croatia: European court awards damages to migrant injured in police station fire

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Croatia must pay a Moroccan migrant EUR 15,000 in compensation for severe injuries he suffered in a fire at a Croatian police station. [N1] [Hina]

Police took the man, Abdeljalil Darabiou, into custody in March 2015, along with three other migrants who had tried to enter Croatia illegally from neighbouring Serbia in a truck. A fire broke out at the station that same day, killing the other migrants and leaving Darabiou the sole survivor. [N1] [Medium]

Darabiou took Croatia to the European human rights court, suing for damages of EUR 80,000. [N1]

On January 17, the court ruled in the Moroccan’s favour. It said that the Croatian authorities “had failed to provide the applicant with sufficient and reasonable protection”. [N1] [Hina]

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Czech Republic: Pro-EU former NATO general beats populist in presidential elections

Retired NATO general Petr Pavel has defeated populist former premier Andrej Babis in the second round of the Czech Republic’s presidential elections, a result analysts say will bring the country closer to the EU and NATO.

Pavel, an independent candidate who was backed by the centre-right governing coalition, on January 28 won 58.32 percent of the vote against Babis’s 41.68 percent – the largest margin ever in such Czech elections. [The Guardian]

The run-off between the two was seen by many as a duel between liberal democracy and populist oligarchy. Turnout was a record 70 percent. [The Guardian] [BBC]

The Czech presidency is largely a ceremonial function since it does not come with executive power, but it plays an important role in setting the tone for national politics and in shaping perceptions of the country abroad. The president can veto legislation – though any such decision can be overturned by a majority vote in parliament – and makes appointments to key positions such as the head of the central bank. [Le Monde] [Europe Monthly January 2023]

Pavel Havlicek, an analyst at the Association for International Affairs in Prague, told Euractiv that Pavel’s presidency would “bring new strength and voice to the Czech position in Europe and the world”. Havlicek said this would mark a shift from the presidency of incumbent Milos Zeman, which “isolated the Czech Republic in the international arena.”

Break with the past

Zeman, who backed Babis after serving the maximum of two consecutive five-year terms in office, is a divisive figure who had fostered close relations with Moscow and Beijing. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Zeman backed Kyiv and admitted that his pro-Russian stance had been a mistake. [Europe Monthly January 2023]

Pavel, who will replace Zeman in March as the Czech Republic’s fourth president since the country’s peaceful split from Slovakia in 1993, signalled a break with his predecessor’s policies in his first international phone calls.

The ex-general held a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the day after his election win. Then, on January 30, Pavel called Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, in a move that risked angering Beijing. Pavel said on Twitter that Taiwan and the Czech Republic “share the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights” and agreed to strengthen bilateral relations.

 “I also expressed hope to have the opportunity to meet President Tsai in person in the future,” he added. [France 24] [Reuters] [Politico]

Staunch support for Ukraine

Pavel, an ex-chairman of the NATO Military Committee and former chief of the general staff of the Czech armed forces, has positioned himself as a pro-EU candidate and a defender of the Czech Republic’s NATO membership. He has expressed staunch support for Ukraine. He said he was in favour of the Czech Republic adopting the euro as its currency and backed the legalisation of same-sex marriage in his country. [Al Jazeera]

Pavel, who was running for office for the first time, has vowed to serve as an independent president unaffected by party politics. Reacting to the election results, he said: “Values like truth, dignity, respect and modesty have won”. [France 24]

His opponent Babis, who on January 9 was acquitted of defrauding millions of euros from the EU, conceded defeat on the night the results were announced. [DW]

Babis, a controversial eurosceptic billionaire, became prime minister in 2017 and left office after he narrowly lost parliamentary elections in 2021. After that defeat, he led the opposition ANO party in parliament.

Babis was hoping to ride a wave of anti-establishment discontent in a country hit by record inflation and economic turmoil due to the war in Ukraine. [Politico] [Euronews] [Europe Monthly January 2023]

Echoes of Orban

During the election campaign, Babis sought to frame his opponent as a warmonger intent on bringing Czech soldiers into the Ukrainian conflict, echoing claims that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made about his rivals prior to Hungary’s April 2022legislative elections. Orban’s right-wing populist party Fidesz won those elections in a landslide.

However, that argument did not work in the Czech Republic, which has far more diverse media outlets than those in Hungary – where the press is largely dominated by Orban’s government and his allies. [NYT] [Europe Monthly May 2022]

Babis’s attempt to portray himself as a peacemaker also backfired when, in a televised debate, he seemed to reject the principle of collective defence enshrined in Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, saying he would “certainly not” deploy troops to Poland and the Baltic States if they were invaded by Russia. Amid a wave of criticism by senior politicians in Eastern Europe, he quickly walked back the remarks. [WaPo] [Politico]

Babis still eying comeback

Despite Babis suffering several election defeats in a row, the Slovak-born former premier said that the results showed strong support for him and that he could win the next Czech parliamentary election in 2025.

Jiri Pehe, a political analyst and the director of New York University Prague, told the Washington Post that Pavel’s presidency “would be a huge change for our international partners”. Pehe said he expected the former general to be “much more low-key” and focused on “representing the country well abroad”. He added that Babis as president would have been engaged in political activism and would have been a “continuation of Zeman”.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala congratulated Pavel on his victory, telling reporters: “The values that he represented won — and that’s a very important message in these internally and economically complicated times.” [Politico]

Pavel’s victory also received acclaim on the international stage, starting with Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, a pro-western politician, who travelled to Prague to join Pavel at the announcement of the results on election night. She said she was happy that “in our region and in Europe, there is a new head of state who honours democratic values”. [France 24]

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Pavel in a tweet, saying she welcomed his “strong commitment to our European values”, adding that the ex-general’s “experience in security, defence and foreign relations will be precious to maintain and strengthen Europe’s unity in support of Ukraine”. [BBC]

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Poland’s parliament approves judicial reform bill aimed at unblocking EU funds

Poland’s lower chamber of parliament approved a judicial reform bill on January 13 in an effort to unblock billions in EU funding. [Euronews] [Reuters] [Politico] [Polish Radio] [Yahoo News]

Amid a standoff between Warsaw and the European Union, the bill aims to address concerns over judicial independence in Poland and pave the way for the release of EUR 35.4 billion in Covid recovery funds from Brussels for Warsaw. [Politico] [Reuters] [Europe Monthly January 2023]

Poland’s government, led by the right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, hopes the new law will fulfil key “milestones” agreed with the European Commission as a prerequisite for the funds to be unfrozen. [Politico] [Europe Monthly January 2023]

Fractures appeared within the ruling camp, however, as United Poland (Solidarna Polska), a junior hardline partner in the coalition government, voted against the legislation. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who heads the party, described the reforms as “policies based on blackmail from Brussels.” [Polish Radio]

Most opposition MPs abstained from the vote, with the leader of the agrarian Polish People’s Party, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, saying that the bill “doesn’t restore the rule of law.” [Reuters] [Polish Radio] [Euronews] [Politico]

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Poland’s Supreme Court said the new law would be “unconstitutional on many levels.” [Notes From Poland]

The new legislation would prevent judges from being punished for questioning the legitimacy of judicial appointments that they deem to have been politically motivated. [Politico] [Polish Radio]

It would also assign disciplinary cases against judges to Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court, instead of to the Chamber of Professional Responsibility, which currently handles them. [Reuters] [Polish Radio] [Europe Monthly January 2023] [Politico]

The chamber was introduced in July 2022 to replace a controversial disciplinary body for judges which the EU had said undermined the political independence of the Polish judiciary and eroded rule-of-law principles. [Europe Monthly January 2023]

But Brussels had said that the new chamber still did not go far enough to ensure the independence of the judiciary. [Europe Monthly January 2023]

The latest judicial reform bill will need to receive President Andrzej Duda’s signature before it becomes law. Duda hails from the ruling Law and Justice party but has blocked bills backed by the grouping on a number of occasions. [Polish Radio] [Politico]

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Poland: Opposition says change in electoral law aims to help ruling coalition

Lawmakers have approved changes in Poland’s electoral law that critics say are designed to increase turnout among voters in rural areas and small communities which often back the governing right-wing coalition.

The amendments, introduced by the ruling nationalist and populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, aim to increase the number of polling stations in villages with small populations and provide free transport for the elderly and disabled during parliamentary elections this autumn. [Reuters] [AP] [Notes From Poland]

Ryszard Terlecki, a deputy Speaker of parliament from the Law and Justice party, said the changes are designed to strengthen voter turnout, and so boost democracy. [Reuters]

However, opposition parties say that changing the rules in the run-up to an election is deeply undemocratic. Critics cited a ruling by Poland’s constitutional court which stated that significant changes to the voting process should not be made within six months of an election. [Reuters] [Notes From Poland]

Donald Tusk, the head of Poland’s main opposition party, the centre-right Civic Platform (PO), said introducing amendments so close to the autumn elections is “in violation of the basic principles of democracy.” [AP]

Tusk also said that Law and Justice fears defeat. Polls have shown that the party’s lead over the Civic Platform has narrowed over the past year. [AP] [Reuters] [Notes From Poland]

The amendments to the electoral code still need the approval of Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who hails from Law and Justice, before they become law.

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Poland: Campaigners hail EU court ruling on gay man who claims discrimination

Rights campaigners have hailed a “landmark” ruling by the European Union’s top court in the case of a man who claims Polish state broadcaster TVP stopped employing him because he is gay.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on January 12 that, irrespective of the nature of employment, an employee is entitled to protection against discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation. [Curia] [Rule of Law]  

Jakub Kwiecinski had worked with TVP for seven years as a self-employed audio-visual editor. His contract was not renewed in December 2017, shortly after he and his male partner released a music video on their YouTube channel which promoted tolerance of LGBT people and highlighted the impact of homophobic rhetoric. [Curia] [Rzeczpospolita] [Notes from Poland] [Rule of Law] 

TVP is a mouthpiece for Poland’s right-wing government, which is conservative on social issues and often lashes out against the LGBT community. The state broadcaster has frequently aired material painting LGBT people in a negative light. 

After Kwiecinski launched legal action against TVP, a Warsaw court sought clarification on the extent to which self-employed people are encompassed by an EU directive which prohibits discrimination against workers on grounds of age, disability, religion or sexual orientation. [Rzeczpospolita] [Rule of Law] This brought the case to the European court, which ruled that the directive also applies to the self-employed. [Rule of Law] [Curia] [DW]  

During a CJEU hearing, a representative of TVP claimed that the ending of Kwiecinski’s contract was not related to his sexual orientation, but based solely on factual considerations. [DW] [Rule of Law] 

The Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish NGO, described the ruling by the European court as a “landmark decision”, saying that it set a benchmark for the protection of LGBT rights in the workplace. [Rule of Law]  

Jakub Jaraczewski of Democracy Reporting International – an NGO run by experts on elections and democratic governance – said that although the ruling only applies to Kwiecinski’s case, it could have wider implications for the rights of LGBT and self-employed people. [Notes from Poland]  

A Polish court is now expected to issue a decision on Kwiecinski’s case based on its interpretation of the EU directive. [Notes from Poland] [Rzeczpospolita]

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Slovakia: MPs shorten parliament’s term after political chaos, paving way for early elections

Lawmakers have voted to shorten the Slovak parliament’s term, meaning that early elections will be held on September 30 after months of political turmoil that saw the country’s centre-right ruling coalition collapse.

Ninety-two of the 150 members of the legislature on January 31 backed the move, which brings the elections forward from a previously scheduled date of February 2024.

The vote came after another key ballot on January 25 in which MPs approved a constitutional change that was needed to cut parliament’s term short.

The decisions by lawmakers came after Prime Minister Eduard Heger failed to form a majority government by the end of January, a step that had been demanded by President Zuzana Caputova. [Euronews] [Dennikn] [Spectator] [Apnews]

Vote of no-confidence

Heger and his minority administration lost a parliamentary vote of no-confidence on December 15. [PBS] [Europe Monthly January 2023] The opposition centre-right Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party called for the no-confidence vote after its leader, Richard Sulik, accused Heger’s government of incompetence and of failing to stamp out corruption. [AP News]

The government was also accused of failing to address the country’s soaring energy bills and inflation. [Reuters] [Bloomberg] SaS was part of Heger’s coalition government but pulled out in September 2022, after the prime minister refused a demand by Sulik that Finance Minister Igor Matovic should be removed from his post. [Spectator]

Heger’s government is set to stay on in a caretaker capacity until the September election. [Economist Intelligence] [Euractiv]

Populist eyes return to power

A victory by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, the populist leader of the leftist Smer party, could lead to closer relations between Bratislava and Moscow and end Slovakia’s support for Ukraine. Fico said last year that he wanted to stop providing military aid to Kyiv. [Euractiv] [Reuters]

The Smer party was the country’s second most popular in December, with 16.1 percent support, according to a survey by the AKO polling agency. [Noviny] The poll found that the centre-left Hlas–Social Democracy party was in the lead with 20.2 percent. The centrist Progressive Slovakia (PS) party was third, with 11 percent backing, while the SaS was fourth with 9.9 percent, the poll found.

The January 25 vote by lawmakers backing a constitutional change came despite an unsuccessful referendum four days earlier in which Slovaks were asked whether they wanted to shorten parliament’s term of office. [Reuters]

Half of eligible voters needed to cast a ballot in the referendum for it to be legally binding. However, just over 27 percent turned out to vote, according to the country’s statistics office. [Washington Post] [Reuters] [Intellinews] [The Slovak Spectator]

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Slovakia: Spike in refugees returning to Ukraine as free public transport ends

The number of Ukrainians leaving Slovakia to return to their home country increased days after Bratislava scrapped free public transport for Ukrainian refugees on January 1.

The move by authorities in the Slovak capital came as the Globsec think tank found in December that 52 percent of Slovaks had a negative attitude to Ukrainian refugees.

On January 4, a total of 4,274 Ukrainian asylum seekers crossed the border from Slovakia back to Ukraine, around a thousand more than the average daily figure recorded between March and December 2022, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). [Schengenvisainfo]

Bratislava is the latest region of the country to put into effect the Slovak government’s decision to end free transport for refugees, issued on July 1, 2022. [zssk]

Slovakia’s move came before the March end date of the European Commission’s Temporary Protection Directive, which grants Ukrainian asylum seekers free access to public transport. [Europa] [Dennikn]

The directive is only to be put into effect when there is a mass influx of immigrants who are unable to return to their home country. [Europa] Slovak Interior Minister Roman Mikulec argued that the high number of Ukrainians returning home means that free public transport can be abolished. [Slovak Spectator]

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Slovenia: Nuclear power plant given permission to run until 2043

The Krsko nuclear power (NEK) station in eastern Slovenia has been given permission to run until 2043. The decision to extend the plant’s operation licence for another 20 years was made by the Slovenian ministry of the environment and spatial planning.

The facility is jointly owned by Slovenian energy company GEN Energija and Croatian energy firm Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP), and was built in 1981 when Croatia and Slovenia were both parts of Yugoslavia. [N1] [IAEA]

The plant covers 16 percent of Croatia’s energy demand. HEP said the decision to extend its operations “has strategic importance both for Hrvatska Elektroprivreda as the 50 percent co-owner of NEK and for the entire Croatian energy sector… especially in the present energy crisis”. [N1]

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Slovenia approves EUR 3.5bn electricity system plan

Slovenia’s energy agency has approved a EUR 3.5 billion plan to upgrade the country’s electricity distribution system by 2032. 

Drawn up by SODO, a state-owned power system operator, the programme aims to reduce the vulnerability of the electricity network to anomalies like extreme weather and also to cyber-attacks. 

The country’s energy agency, AGEN, greenlighted the plan on January 24, saying: “The upcoming ten years mark a turning point for European and global climate ambitions for the electricity sector and it is paramount to move faster than ever before”. 

The programme is part of Slovenia’s National Energy and Climate Plan, which aims to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency across the country. [seenews] [BGEN]

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Constitutional Law and Politics in Northern Europe

Denmark: Anger at government plan to abolish public holiday

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is facing a backlash after her administration presented a bill to scrap a public holiday to parliament on January 17. The government says the money saved by the move will allow the country to increase military spending amid the war in Ukraine. [EU Observer] 

The public holiday, called Store Bededag and also known as “Great Prayer Day”, comes on the fourth Friday after Easter. It has been marked for more than 300 years and is one of 11 public holidays for Danes. [CBC] 

Denmark’s three-party government, comprising the Social Democrats, the centre-right Liberals and the centrist Moderates, says that abolishing the holiday will help the ruling coalition reach a NATO target of alliance members spending 2 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on military budgets by 2030. [Independent] 

Scrapping the public holiday would save Denmark some EUR 400 million a year, officials have said. [Independent] 

In response to the government’s plans, trade unions have launched an online petition which has garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures. Its message is: “Abandon the plans to scrap Store Bededag.” [WOKV] 

When asked about the proposal to abolish the public holiday, Frederiksen said in December: “There is war in Europe, and we need to strengthen our defences...and that will require everyone to contribute a little more.” [BBC]

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Denmark: Major banks hit by cyber-attacks

Widespread disruption was caused when a series of cyber-attacks targeted Denmark’s central bank and seven private banks on January 10.

The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were of the kind used to overwhelm websites with traffic to bring them offline, rendering online services unavailable to users. [Reuters]

Two of Denmark’s largest banks, Jyske Bank and Sydbank, were among those affected, with customers experiencing difficulties. The attacks also hit Bankdata, a company that offers IT services for the financial sector. [Reuters]

Denmark’s national threat level for cyber-attacks has been raised since May 2022 due to activity by pro-Russian hackers. [Bloomberg Law]

A spokesperson for Denmark’s central bank said that the websites targeted were working as usual by the afternoon of January 10 and that the attacks did not impact other day-to-day operations of domestic banks. [InfoSecurity]

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Finns pay to put messages on Ukrainian shells used against Russia

An estimated 700 people in Finland have used a service which allows people to pay for inscribing messages on Ukrainian artillery shells used on the frontline against Russian forces, according to Finnish public broadcaster YLE.

The Ukrainian SignMyRocket service describes itself as a “non-governmental, non-profit organisation” on its website, where such text space is available to purchase.

Donors pay an average of around USD 200 to have their messages marked on shells and rockets used against Russian troops who have invaded Ukraine. [YLE]

Among those who have placed such messages are public figures including the chair of the Finnish parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Jussi Halla-aho, who is a former leader of the Finns Party, a right-wing populist opposition grouping; Martti J. Kari, a former colonel with the Finnish armed forces; and Sofi Oksanen, a renowned writer. [TheMayor]

Speaking to Finnish public broadcaster YLE, Anton Sokolenko, a representative of SignMyRocket, said that Finns are second only to Americans in terms of the largest number of donations for messages. [OdessaJournal]

Sokolenko told YLE that 700 orders from Finland have raised some EUR 140,000, while a total of 4,000 donors worldwide have helped SignMyRocket to collect over EUR 1 million in total. [YLE]

The funds are being used to buy drones, cars, tyres, electricity generators and warm clothes, among other essentials and supplies, for Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the frontline. [YLE] 

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Finland digs underground caverns in new method to dispose of nuclear waste

After decades of excavation, a new cave-like facility some 455 metres underground which offers a new way of disposing of nuclear waste for thousands of years is expected to be ready in Finland in 2024. [Popular Mechanics]

Posvia, the company developing and managing the project, has been working on creating the new facility in Onkalo, in the south-west of the country, next to the Gulf of Bothnia. Onkalo means “pit” or “cavity” in Finnish. [Science] 

Finland currently disposes of its nuclear waste at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant, two kilometres from Onkalo. Since it can take up to 100,000 years for waste such as Plutonium-239 to decay, a new method will be employed at the Onkalo site. [Nuclear Waste]  

Spent nuclear fuel rods will be encased in canisters made of boron steel. These canisters will then be sealed in slow-corroding copper capsules. The excavated caverns deep underground will be used to store the waste after being backfilled with clay. This method aims to safely contain radiation for millennia. [YLE] 

Finland’s project has, however, brought about a mixed reception from international specialists.  

Peter Szakalos, a corrosion researcher at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, concluded in a 2007 study that it is possible for copper to erode even in pure, oxygen-free water, releasing hydrogen gas. Szakalos argues that such hydrogen would render copper brittle and that the copper capsules would, therefore, be at risk of cracking.  

Szakalos said: “It’s just a matter of time – between decades and centuries – before unalloyed copper canisters start to crack at Onkalo.” [Science] 

But Gareth Law, a radiochemistry professor at the University of Helsinki, Finland, is more optimistic about the method used at the Onkalo site, saying: “It’s wonderful pragmatism.” [YLE] 

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Norway: Ex-PM Solberg seeks re-election as Conservative Party chief

Former Prime Minister Erna Solberg has announced she plans to run for re-election as leader of Norway’s opposition Conservative Party.

Solberg was premier from 2013 until 2021 and has headed the Conservatives since 2004. She will face deputy party leaders Henrik Asheim and Tina Bru in the contest. If Solberg wins, she will be the Conservative Party’s candidate for prime minister in the 2025 Norwegian parliamentary elections, where her grouping will seek to regain power. [Dagens Naeringsliv]

The last parliamentary elections in 2021 saw Solberg’s Conservatives ousted from government after losing nine parliamentary seats in a second-place finish. Her grouping won 20.4 percent of the vote, behind the Labour Party’s 26.3 percent. [Dagens Naeringsliv] [Aftenposten]

Since then, the Conservatives have been the main opposition to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store’s Labour government, a minority administration supported by the Centre Party.

Solberg was the second woman to become the premier of Norway after Gro Harlem Brundtland, who served three terms in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Norway expects to maintain expanded gas production, grants new exploration permits

Norwegian officials have announced that the country’s elevated natural gas output will remain at the same level in 2023 as in 2022. Meanwhile, the country awarded 47 new oil and gas exploration permits on January 10 with the hope of expanding national reserves.

Norway reached its maximum possible production capacity for natural gas last year, according to officials. It produced 122 billion cubic metres of gas in 2022, an 8 percent increase compared to 2021. [Upstream] 

Norway last year overtook Russia as the biggest gas supplier to Europe amid the conflict in Ukraine, as energy supplies from Russia were either cut off or embargoed. [Europe Monthly November 2022]  

Norway’s minister for petroleum and energy, Terje Aasland, said he hoped that the current production level would be sustained until 2030. [Upstream] [Bloomberg] 

The new oil and gas exploration permits were awarded to Norwegian firms. Exploration for more oil and gas will take place in three locations: the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea, and the Barents Sea. [Reuters] [Upstream]

Meanwhile, a EUR 22 billion investment in the country’s oil and gas fields is expected to shore up existing operations and keep gas production at the same level until at least 2026.

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Norway: Opposition Socialist Left Party officials in U-turn on NATO membership  

A majority on the national board of Norway’s opposition Socialist Left Party has recommended that the grouping should come out in favour of the country staying in NATO – a change in position for a party traditionally against membership of the military alliance. 

The national board voted on January 14 by 22 to 14 to back a proposal to change the party’s policy on NATO, which Norway joined in 1949. The Socialist Left Party was founded in 1975 partly in response to Norway’s membership of the alliance. [Aftenposten] [Dagens Naeringsliv] 

The board’s non-binding recommendation comes ahead of a March national party meeting, where members will vote for a new leader and on the NATO membership issue. 

Audun Lysbakken, who is stepping down as the head of the Socialist Left Party in March, has advocated for staying in the Western military alliance, citing Sweden and Finland’s applications to join NATO and arguing that Nordic nations need unity. Kirsti Bergsto, the party’s deputy leader and the only candidate to succeed Lysbakken, also wants Norway to remain in NATO. [Aftenposten] [Dagens Naeringsliv]

Critics of a change in the party’s position cited NATO’s opposition to a UN treaty banning nuclear weapons. Major nuclear powers have not signed the treaty, which came into effect in January 2021. [Aftenposten] 

The Socialist Left Party has 13 lawmakers in the 169-seat Norwegian parliament, after receiving over 7.5 percent of the vote in 2021 parliamentary elections. The party is not a member of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store’s centre-left government. 

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Sweden opens spaceport in bid to launch satellites

Sweden officially opened its first spaceport on January 13 outside of the city of Kiruna, seeking to be the first country to launch essential satellite technology from Europe.

The first satellite is expected to be launched from the Esrange Space Centre in northern Sweden by the start of 2024, according to the country’s space agency. [Politico] [Euronews]

Although there is a launch site operated by the European Space Agency in French Guiana, there has never been a satellite sent into space from the European continent. Other countries are contending to carry out the first successful satellite launch from Europe – Norway, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom. [Politico] [Euronews]

Sweden’s Esrange Space Centre is north of the Arctic Circle, which presents logistical challenges because of the cold temperatures. Satellites launched from the site near Kiruna would be used for operations ranging from climate monitoring to improving internet infrastructure. [Politico] [Euronews]

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Sweden: State mining firm discovers deposit of rare earth minerals

The state mining company of Sweden has announced the discovery of a deposit of rare earth minerals totalling over one million metric tons, the largest quantity on record in Europe.

The deposit was found on land surrounding an iron ore mine in the Swedish town of Kiruna, north of the Arctic Circle, the company said on January 12.

Rare earth minerals are a grouping of 17 different chemical elements that are used widely in modern technology and are essential for the production of smartphones and computers, military equipment, and green technology like electric cars and wind turbines. [BBC] [Deutsche Welle] [Le Monde]

Demand for such materials is expected to potentially increase fivefold in the next several years. [BBC]

Jan Mostrom, the CEO of Swedish state mining company LKAB, said the deposit in Kiruna was a boon for the country’s economy and for its transition to green energy sources. [LKAB]

The world’s top supplier of rare earth minerals is China. It produces 80 percent of such materials and provides Europe with at least 95 percent of the continent’s rare earth imports. [Deutsche Welle]

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Sweden: Tighter migration rules will not solve staff shortages, employers say

The CEO of Sweden’s Industrial Employers’ Association has said that the centre-right ruling coalition’s plans to tighten immigration controls, a move the government sees as helping Swedish workers, will not solve the country’s recruitment problems.

Per Hidesten said that energy companies are struggling to find enough workers, even with new job opportunities opening amid the country’s green energy drive. [Goteborgs-Posten] [Euronews] [Europe Monthly December 2022]

Hidesten said the government in Stockholm is touting its green transition plans without concern for staffing shortages, especially in the north of Sweden. [Goteborgs-Posten]

One environmental effort highlighted by the government is that of LKAB, the Swedish state mining company, which has announced plans to mine iron ore using only green hydrogen. Green hydrogen mining releases no greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. [Euronews]

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Sweden: Probe urged after PM hired aide who fished for endangered eels 

The opposition has called for Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to be investigated after he hired an aide who he knew had illegally fished for an endangered species of European eel.  

The aide, Peter Magnus Nilsson, was caught fishing for eel in the autumn of 2021 without a permit, although he denied that eel traps found were his.

A year later, police received a tip-off that the eel traps belonged to Nilsson, leading officers to question him a second time. Nilsson again denied culpability. However, he later admitted to illegal fishing. [Politico] [Svenska Dagbladet] [BBC] 

Kristersson admitted to knowing about Nilsson’s history before appointing him, but said that his aide’s admission to his offence and his subsequent financial penalty felt sufficient. Nilsson resigned from his position in Kristersson’s government. [Politico] [BBC] [Sveriges Radio]

Magdalena Andersson, a former prime minister and now the leader of the opposition centre-left Social Democrats, has called for both Kristersson and Nilsson to be investigated by a parliamentary committee. [Svenska Dagbladet]  [Politico] [BBC] 

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Sweden launches wolf cull, despite protests

Sweden has carried out its largest cull of wolves, allowing hunters to kill 75 of the animals in January. The authorities say wolves pose a threat to livestock and farmers, but environmentalists have described the move as “disastrous”.

The wolf population in Sweden is estimated at between 460 and 490 – the highest figure since the 1980s. The cull could reduce the number to anywhere from 385 to 415.

Scientists and conservation NGOs argue that the wolf population is not large or genetically diverse enough to survive the cull, and that the animals play an important role in maintaining the ecosystems of Swedish forests.

NGOs fear that the authorities may want to launch further culls after lawmakers last year voted in favour of reducing the wolf population to 170. [Politico] [The Guardian]

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International Relations/Geopolitics/EU Governance

European Parliament resolution advocates for special tribunal for war crimes in Ukraine

Members of the European Parliament adopted on January 19 a resolution urging the International Community to create a special international tribunal to prosecute war crimes in Ukraine. MEPs demanded that the political and military leadership of Russia and Belarus be held accountable for their violations of international law. [European Parliament]

The special tribunal would primarily investigate and punish the crime of aggression against Ukraine perpetrated by Russian authorities and their allies. It would work jointly with the International Criminal Court to cover a significant legal vacuum in international law: the current lack of legal prosecution for the crime of aggression. [European Parliament]

In October 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had insisted that justice be brought to the perpetrators of the “original crime that spawned all other crimes” which is the crime of aggression. [Ukrainian government]

The European Parliament has encouraged international cooperation and prompt initiative. It reaffirmed its unwavering support to Ukraine, delivering a clear message to Moscow and the International Community. [European Parliament]

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EU questions Greece, Malta’s Russian sanctions commitment

The European Union (EU) published an internal document that pointed to a large discrepancy between Greece and Malta, relative to their EU peers, in terms of what Russian assets that the countries have frozen under EU sanctions. [Table Europe]

The 27 EU countries have frozen around EUR 20.3 billion of sanctioned Russian assets. On average, each EU country has frozen millions worth of assets, yet Greece and Malta have frozen around EUR 212,000 and EUR 222,000 respectively. [Reuters]

One anonymous EU official responded to the discrepancy, stating “either they don’t have much, or they are not doing their job. Or they have done something but not communicated to us even though they had chances.”  [Reuters] 

The bloc is considering using the assets seized to help Kyiv in their war with Russia.

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Europe escapes energy crisis in first part of winter

Helped by milder-than-expected weather, Europe has largely avoided the energy supply crisis that some predicted for the first part of winter.

Higher natural gas storage levels and increased LNG imports in 2022 – combined with a 15 percent fall in energy demand across Europe, in accordance with EU directives – helped offset the lack of Russian supplies. The latter had provided 25 percent of Europe’s energy needs by pipeline before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last February.

Natural gas price control impact negligible due to lower demand

The European Securities Market Authority (ESMA) on January 23 released its first monthly report on the impact of natural gas price controls introduced in December, and the impact was negligible due to an actual decrease in gas demand. [ESMA] The report on the market correction mechanism (MCM) adopted by the European Council on December 22 noted that natural gas prices at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) averaged below EUR 65 per megawatt hour (MWh) between December 18 and January 18, less than half the price cap of EUR 145 per MWh at which the MCM will initiate action after the mechanism goes into effect on February 15.

UK suffers energy shortages

The UK energy authority, National Grid PLC, requested Britons in several areas to reduce energy consumption between 4:30 pm and 6 pm during January to reduce electricity demand and forestall possible electricity outages. [Bloomberg]  

The UK receives a significant amount of energy, approximately 10 percent during the day, from European electricity imports. [UK Energy Dashboard] Approximately 50 percent of its energy is derived from natural gas pumped from UK or Norwegian North Sea fields. None is derived from Russian-sourced natural gas. However, the interruption of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe caused by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has meant that Europe is unable to supply as much additional power at night, when energy demand increases for households. 

New infrastructure construction in the UK, as in the rest of Europe, including both new wind and solar – but also LNG import terminals to shore up baseload power capacity when renewables are unavailable – remains key to energy security. [Bloomberg]

Italy’s Eni makes North African natural gas discovery

Italian oil company ENI signed a deal valued at over EUR 7.3 billion with Libya on January 28 to develop two major offshore natural gas fields over the next three-and-a-half years and transport the offtake to Italy through its Green Stream pipeline along the Mediterranean seabed. [ENI]

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited the national capital, Tripoli, during the signing of the agreement to demonstrate the support of the Italian government for increasing investment in Libyan oil and gas following the interruption of Russian supplies due to the war in Ukraine. [Bloomberg]

This follows an agreement signed the previous week in Algeria to expand gas production while concurrently reducing methane emissions, also signed during a visit by Meloni. [ENI] ENI operates the undersea Transmediterranean  pipeline, which is able to send supplies via Tunisia to Sicily and on into the European pipeline system.

These deals, combined with the scheduled completion of two liquefied natural gas terminals this spring, should enable Italy to reach its goal of becoming independent of Russian gas by the end of the second quarter of 2023. [Reuters] [UP] 

Eni and US oil company Chevron made a joint announcement of a significant natural gas discovery in the Nargis block off the coast of Egypt. [ENI] Chevron operates the field, as well as the adjacent Leviathan field in Israeli waters. Commercial diplomacy continues, but the American government has articulated a preference for regasification and export as LNG, which will be a faster process than the estimated decade needed to build a deep-water pipeline to Europe. [TI] 

The addition of new North African energy supplies to augment the main current non-Russian pipeline gas suppliers to Europe, including Algeria, will position North Africa to supplant Russia as well as the other main piped natural gas suppliers to Europe – Norway and Azerbaijan – in the coming years.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced plans in December to double Algerian exports to Europe in 2023 to reach 100 billion cubic metres a year, roughly equivalent to present imports from Norway. [NGI] [NP] [GoA]

Germany’s RWE expands coal production, gov’t mulls extension of nuclear power

Leading German utility RWE has demolished the western village of Lützerath in Germany to enable the expansion of a coal mine. [LeMonde] [RWE] The coal will be used to provide fuel for coal baseload power plants due to operate through 2030, at which point technological advances in energy storage or baseload power alternatives such as new natural gas or hydrogen plants are projected to replace them, according to the government. 

Current technology is able to remove over 99.9 percent of chemical pollutants harmful to humans emanating from coal power production, but the carbon released by coal combustion must be stored to make this form of energy production carbon-neutral. 

German Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck showed initial support for carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS) technology through a visit to the Brevik project in Norway, which stores carbon produced during cement production. [PE] [HM] The project is operated by German company Heidelberg Materials.

Terje Aasland, Norway’s minister of petroleum and energy, and Jan Christian Vestre, Norway’s minister of trade and industry, accompanied Habeck on the visit to Brevik, the first major CCUS project in Europe. This may herald a wider examination of CCUS should the planned full transition from coal over the coming decade prove problematic.

Germany has Europe’s largest wind energy installed capacity – at 66 gigawatts (GW) – and the largest installed solar supplies, also at 66 GW, and approximately 40 percent of German electricity was derived from renewable energy sources in 2022. [DIW]

Current German plans are to raise this to 80 percent by 2030. [Reuters] However, the country must have the capacity to replace these intermittent sources of renewable energy with the steady provision of baseload power supplied by natural gas, nuclear, and coal power plants, which operate regardless of weather conditions or sunlight availability, in order to maintain a guaranteed continuous power supply. 

Coal accounts for 28 percent of German energy production, natural gas 15 percent, and nuclear 12 percent. [DS] German government policy is to end nuclear power production in April and coal production by 2030. [RWE] 

RWE and Norwegian utility leader Equinor signed an agreement on January 5 during the German government visit to create “blue” hydrogen from natural gas. This is to be transferred through hydrogen pipelines to Germany and used in natural gas power plants equipped to operate with either gas or hydrogen. [DW] The reported medium-term plan is to transition from natural-gas-produced blue to renewable-energy-produced green hydrogen from wind and hydropower facilities in Norway.

Germany may also be re-examining its plans to abandon nuclear power. German Transport Minister Volker Wissing called for a commission to examine prolonging the operation of Germany’s three operating nuclear plants past their currently scheduled April shutdown in order to ensure “stable and affordable” energy supply – implying support for indefinite extension. [Reuters]   

European energy transition away from Russia

Previous dependence on Russia for natural gas supplies caused disruption to European energy markets in 2022 as the war in Ukraine resulted in an abrupt, unplanned energy transition. This caused unprecedented natural gas prices during the past year. But a fall in prices since record highs in August – reached when Russia announced it would temporarily end gas shipments through the Nordstream pipeline – indicates that the energy market has stabilised, at least temporarily.

Increased pipeline natural gas flows from Norway and North Africa, combined with increased LNG imports from the US, the Middle East and Australia, should enable European leaders to successfully manage an energy transition away from Russia during the remainder of the winter, barring a severe weather event.

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Armenia, Azerbaijan criticise Russian peacekeeping in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia and Azerbaijan have criticised Russian peacekeeping forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, citing the ongoing humanitarian crisis there. The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called for “clear efforts” by Russian peacekeeping forces in the region to alleviate the blockade of the Lachin Corridor. [ArmenPress]

During the blockade of the strategic mountain corridor that connects Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian peacekeeping forces have done little to stop the protesters from blocking the transport route. They have refused Azerbaijani access to the region and prevented media coverage. [Eurasianet]

Russia said that  it will continue to attempt to act as a mediator.  

The Armenian news site Hetq quoted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan saying that Russian peacekeepers had not fulfilled their obligations under the 2020 ceasefire. Pashinyan said that if the peacekeeping force cannot maintain stability in the region it should make way for United Nations intervention. [Reuters]

The lingering blockade has had a serious effect on supplies available to the ethnic Armenian population and wider concern has now spread to the European Union, Turkey, Iran, and various non-governmental organisations. [Politico]

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Belgium lobbies EU against sanctioning Russian diamond trade  

Belgium has lobbied against the European Union (EU) sanctioning Russia’s  diamond trade, since the city of Antwerp depends on revenue from trading  the precious commodity. The position is becoming increasingly more difficult to justify, however.[Politico]

Belgium has argued that the sanctions would severely damage the industry and benefit rival trading hubs outside the EU.  A few nations, including Poland, Latvia, Ireland, Lithuania and Estonia, have shown support for a ban on Russian diamond imports.  [Reuters]

Antwerp processes about 85 percent of the world’s rough diamonds. This has put the city at the centre of  controversy since it may be helping Russia finance its war on Ukraine. Almost a third of the diamonds sold in Antwerp originate from Russia, which earns about USD 4 billion annually. [Euobserver] 

The EU continues to struggle with how Belgium should handle the situation, with some members arguing that  Brussels must share the burden of sanctions if it wants to show true support for Ukraine. [The Guardian] [Reuters]

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Bulgarian prosecutor probes Russian assets

An announcement made by the Prosecution and the State Agency of National Security of Bulgaria indicated that steps were being taken to probe Russian citizens who are sanctioned in the UK, the European Union, US and who have bought property in Bulgaria. [Balkan Insight]

This comes after months of debate within Bulgaria about Russian influence within the Balkan state. On January 5, a video statement to parliament was released by investigative journalist Christo Grozev, highlighting how his “investigations have pointed out that there is a serious infiltration of Russian agents” in Bulgaria.

In December 2022, US Congressman Warren Davidson, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, sent an official letter to alert Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen of “the blatant disregard for US sanctions [on Russia] by the Bulgarian Prosecutor General,Ivan Geshev. [Euractiv]

Authorities will now further discuss the details regarding the probe and have also pledged to target “informal military structures” in Bulgaria that are allegedly spreading Russian influence.

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Germany explores gas ‘solidarity’ deal with Italy, Switzerland

Germany is exploring the possibility of a trilateral “solidarity” deal with Italy and Switzerland on providing mutual support in the event of a gas shortage.

The plan was discussed by German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and the Swiss economics and environment ministers, Guy Parmelin and Albert Rosti, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 16. [detailzero.com]

Germany and Switzerland discussed a bilateral gas solidarity deal in a meeting at the World Economic Forum last May, but it never materialised in this form.

Habeck proposed at this year’s forum in Davos that Italy should be included in the deal as a form of solidarity between different regions of Europe. [SWI]

Germany already has such solidarity pacts with Denmark, the Czech Republic and Austria. These agreements aim to avoid a panic in the event of a supply crisis, and are meant to help social institutions and private households. [Reuters]

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Irish regulators fine Meta EUR 395m for EU data privacy breaches

Irish regulators have fined Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta EUR 395 million for data privacy violations, in rulings that found the company breached EU regulations by forcing users to agree to personalised ads based on their online activity.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which has regulatory power over Meta because the company’s EU headquarters are in Dublin, fined Meta twice on January 4: EUR 210 million for violations pertaining to Facebook and EUR 180 million for breaches relating to Instagram. [CNBC] [Euronews]

In a third decision on January 19, the Irish regulator issued a EUR 5.5 million fine to WhatsApp, the messaging service also owned by Meta. All three fines total EUR 395.5 million. [Reuters]

The fines are the result of an investigation sparked by complaints made on behalf of Belgian, Austrian and German users by the privacy campaign group Noyb.

Targeted ads

Noyb argued that Meta violated the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation by giving users no option but to agree to their data being used in targeted ads. Otherwise, it said, people would not have been able to use the social media platforms. [The Guardian]

Noyb filed the complaints on May 25, 2018, the day the EU’s data protection rules became enforceable.

In its rulings, the Irish Data Protection Commission ordered Meta to bring its data processing operations for Facebook and Instagram into compliance with EU regulations within three months, and allowed six months for WhatsApp to conform.

Max Schrems of Noyb said the ruling was “a huge blow to Meta’s profits in the EU”, adding that users would now need to be asked if they wanted their data to be used for ads. [BBC]

Meta's results for the third quarter of 2022 show 98 percent of its total revenue came from advertising.

‘Major gut punch’ for Meta?

Dan Ives, a senior tech analyst at Wedbush Securities investment firm, told the New York Times the decision “could be a major gut punch” for Meta, putting five to seven percent of the company’s global ad revenue at risk.

Meta has already received EUR 900 million in fines for data privacy violations from Irish regulators since 2021, and has set aside EUR 2 billion to pay off EU fines expected in 2023, according to The Irish Times.

Meta said in a statement about the Facebook and Instagram decisions: “We strongly believe our approach respects GDPR.” The company added that it intended “to appeal both the substance of the rulings and the fines.” [AP] A spokesperson for WhatsApp toldReuters it would also appeal against the decision.

The fines come after the EU Data Protection Board, a body comprising all data regulators in the bloc, overruled the Irish Data Protection Commission’s 2021 draft decision, which had found that Meta’s subsidiaries were acting within the bounds of EU rules.

The Irish regulator had proposed smaller fines for Instagram and Facebook for lacking transparency to users. [The Irish Times]

The Irish Data Protection Commission said in a press release announcing the latest fines that it would file a legal case with the Court of Justice of the European Union against the EU Data Protection Board, accusing the latter of “overreaching”. [Politico]

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Moldovan president asks allies for air defence systems

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has asked allies to strengthen the country’s air defence capabilities due to the war in Ukraine. She made the comments to reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 19. [Reuters]

"We have requested air surveillance and defence systems," Sandu told Reuters. "We understand Ukraine is a priority" but we also hope to receive some, she said.

Moldova has accused Russia of trying to use their cultural influence over the separatist movement in mainly Russian-speaking Transnistria to destabilise the rest of the mainly Romanian-speaking country

Sandu said Russian efforts to destabilise the country by causing tensions between Russian-speaking Moldovan territories and Romanian-speaking territories had failed so far and that neither side wanted conflict.

Missile debris

Prior to Sandu’s comments, the country’s  interior ministry announced on January 14 that missile debris was found in the northern settlement of Larga in Briceni district, after a Russian attack on Ukraine. The missile carried 80 kilograms of explosive material, according to preliminary data. [MOLDPRES]

Teams of National Police and Border Police have increased security in the area. Russia did not immediately comment on the report. Similar incidents in Moldova, which borders Ukraine, have occurred twice before, including in December when police found fragmentsof a missile that came down in a region of northern Moldova near the border with Ukraine. [Reuters]

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita and President Maia Sandu condemned Russia’s attack against Ukraine on January 14.  Sandu said on Twitter that “Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine directly affects Moldova again. Moldovan police found rocket fragments near Larga village in northern Moldova.”

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Netherlands, Germany will work together to halt abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia

The Netherlands, together with Germany, have called for focus on the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russians. Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra recently said on Twitter that Germany and the Netherlands will work together through “humanitarian and financial means” to prevent children from being abducted from Ukraine to Russia. [Twitter]

During a joint press conference in the Hague with the German Foreign Affair Minister Annalena Bearbock, Hoekstra announced the initiative to bring the perpetrators to justice. Russians are allegedly abducting children in the occupied areas of Ukraine then it is unclear what happens to them. 

The two ministers said that Germany and the Netherlands will cooperate with the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the International Criminal Court to direct more attention to this issue internationally.[NL Times]

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North Macedonian foreign minister assumes chairmanship of OSCE for 2023 

North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmania has assumed the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for 2023. 

In his first conference as OSCE chair, Osmani stated that “our goal will be to focus on the very principles of the Helsinki Final Act, in the interest of and for the needs of the people.” The 1975 act was signed by most European countries, the United States and Canada, with a total of 35 participating states. It was created to improve relations between the East and the West.

Osmani said in Vienna on January 12 that “North Macedonia will strive to manage and prevent conflicts and alleviate suffering” in Europe. Osmani travelled to Ukraine on January 16 and posted a statement on social media: “Russian attacks caused immense suffering for the Ukrainian people and there are no excuses for these actions.” [RadioFreeEurope][OSCE][OSCE]

Following his appointment, Osmani spoke to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov,  the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said. The two ministers primarily discussed Osmani’s upcoming plans he had within the framework of the organisation. [AZERNEWS]

Bayramov and Osmani also exchanged their respective views of current issues on the bilateral agenda of cooperation between Baku and Skopje and other regional issues of mutual interest.

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NATO monitors Russian activity from Bucharest

US officials announced on January 21 a minimum nine-month extension of its military deployment – from the specialist-air-assault 101st Airborne Division – in southeastern Romania, near Bucharest. 

The 4,000-strong division is responsible for joint training exercises with Romanian soldiers, involving building trenches, staging helicopter attacks, and firing artillery. Romanian troops also held training exercises on January 25 with roughly 600 French troops deployed in eastern Romania, close to the Ukrainian border, as a part of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) combat exercises. [RomaniaInsider][NYTimes] [EurasianTimes] [APNews]

This comes a few days after the temporary deployment of two of three NATO surveillance planes from West Germany to the southeastern airbase in Romania. Capable of detecting aircraft hundreds of kilometres away, the Airborne Warning and Control System planes will be used to monitor Russian activity along the Ukrainian-Romanian border for several weeks as part of a NATO initiative. [ABCNews]

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Russian opposition figure suffers regular solitary confinement in penal colony

Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny spent New Year’s Eve in solitary confinement, a sign that President Vladimir Putin has no intention of releasing his main political rival or curbing the government’s crackdown on human rights.

Navalny’s lawyers said that Navalny jokingly told them that New Year’s Eve in solitary confinement was spent like any other day – wake up at 5 a.m., lights off at 9 p.m. – and that this was the first time since he was six years old that he slept on New Year’s Eve. He added that for the first day of 2023, he ate a bag of chips and canned fish. [La stampa]

Navalny has long been the most prominent face of Russian opposition to Putin. 

The 45-year-old blogger has survived poisoning by a nerve agent and is now behind bars. Even though he has been unable to challenge the president at the ballot box, his voice retains its power for many Russians and he remains a threat to the Kremlin.He has millions of Russian followers on social media - many in their early 20s or younger - and his campaign group's anti-corruption videos have reached millions. [BBC]

Navalny is serving a nine-year prison sentence on charges of fraud. In June, Navalny was transferred from one penal colony to another, where his treatment by the administration and guards became much harsher, Amnesty International said, citing his lawyers in September. 

The colony administration has placed Navalny in a punishment cell four times, either citing minor infringements of prison rules, such as an unbuttoned prison shirt or giving no explanations at all. [Amnesty International]

Daria Navalnaya, his daughter, described the isolation as ”a cage.” He is allowed to have a mug, a toothbrush, and a book. His time in solitary confinement has also been exacerbated by back problems that are treated by an unknown doctor through injections of an unknown nature, she said. [Council of Europe] [CNN]

International condemnation

His conditions have raised concerns and condemnation from international organisations. The Council of Europe called upon Russia to immediately release Navalny. 

The statement made by Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric was made on the second anniversary of Navalny’s arrest in Russia.  She called upon Russia to execute the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights to release Navalny, and “express[ed] deep concern at reports of ill-treatment and cruel detention conditions.” [Council of Europe]

Amnesty International also condemned his ongoing detention. 

“We have received deeply disturbing information about Aleksei Navalny’s increasingly harsh treatment in the strict regime penal colony where he is currently locked up,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said. 

“This includes severe penalties for purported offences, and repeated efforts to ostracise him from other prisoners who are reportedly not allowed to speak with or even look at him.” [Amnesty International]

Russian crackdown

Russian human rights have deteriorated since Putin invaded Ukraine, and appear to be getting worse. Authorities are targeting the anti-war opposition as well as its LBGTQI community. 

The Russian media regulator, Roskomnadzor, is currently considering a draft order that would regulate the implementation of a new homophobic law adopted in December 2022 regarding publishing content online, including movie streaming services. It is expected that the order will be adopted in the coming days and enter into force on 1 September 2023.

“The Russian authorities are preparing to further scapegoat and stigmatise LGBTI people in the country through new homophobic legislation, including by perversely banning globally acclaimed movies like Brokeback Mountain and Call Me by Your Name,” Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, said.

Literature denied

After the LGBT propaganda banning law, ordinary Russians are unable to access a vast range of literature. The lack of clarity on the new law to ban “non-traditional” or “unconventional” relationships has led to confusion about which books can or cannot be displayed in libraries. 

Several representatives of retailers have said that authorities did not specifically point out which books are prohibited. As a result, shops are removing titles in line with the requests made by publishers or via the advice of lawyers. 

The Russian Holod Magazine has recently published on Twitter a list of authors the regime does not want to see in libraries. The list includes authors such as Michael Cunningham, Oksana Vasyakina, John Boyne, Haruki Murakami, and Stephen Fry.  Some libraries have wrapped books in plastic film or brown paper and put an 18+ sticker on them. [The Moscow Times][Twitter] 

After the LGBT ban the LitRes service, the biggest Russian company that produces and distributes e-books, also had to adapt by removing everything that might go against the law and requested writers rewrite their books in accordance with the new directives. Under the new law, both the sales service and the rights holders are responsible for violations. [RBC]

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Russian warship conducts exercises in Norwegian Sea

A Russian warship armed with hypersonic missiles held military exercises in the Norwegian Sea after Moscow threatened to place missiles closer to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)  member nations, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.  

The crew of the frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov conducted an air defence exercise in the Norwegian Sea, the ministry said. "The crew... conducted an exercise to repel the means of an air attack of a simulated enemy in the Norwegian Sea." The ship’s movements were monitored  through international waters. 

The Russian warship is armed with Zircon missiles which fly nine times the speed of sound and which have a range of over 1,000 km. The weapons are used as a means to pierce the sophisticated US defence. [Reuters][ADNkronos]

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent the frigate to the Atlantic Ocean armed with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles, a signal to the West that Russia will not back down over the war in Ukraine. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned the US that Russian missiles will be closer to NATO shores. 

Earlier in May, the frigate “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov” was seen shooting a missile from the White Sea to the Barents Sea. [Reuters] [ADNkronos]

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Serbian president rejects calls for sanctions against Russia

Serbian President Aleksander Vucic criticised the European Union (EU)’s calls for Belgrade to join sanctions against Russia, describing it as a “brutal interference” in its internal affairs. Serbia has refused to align with the EUs policy of sanctioning Russia because of Moscow's war in Ukraine. [Anadolu Agency]

Serbia remains the only European country besides Belarus that has refused to introduce sanctions against Russia. This is partly  due to Moscow’s support for Belgrade’s  claim on  Kosovan territories since their declaration of independence in 2008.  [AP News]

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Belgrade asks Russia to end recruitment of Serbians for war in Ukraine

Serbian President Aleksander Vucic has urged Russia to stop advertisements directed at recruiting Serbian soldiers to fight for Moscow in Ukraine and criticised websites and news agencies that promote Wagner Group,  a Russian-owned mercenary group. [Anadolu Agency]

Vucic said on Belgrade-based Happy TV that the methods of recruitment are illegal under Serbian law. The law states that participation of Serbian citizens in conflicts abroad is illegal. Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic also raised his concerns and warned Serbians who join the Russian military forces that their actions “will result in legal consequences.”[The Moscow Times][Reuters]

Vucic denied allegations made by the Wagner Group that pro-Kremlin ultranationalist organisations in Serbia supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. 

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Serbia wants to de-escalate tensions with Kosovo

Serbia is in favour of an agreement that could de-escalate tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, though Belgrade expects the two countries will again face a “new source of potential escalation,” the country’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said. [Serbian Foreign Affairs Ministry]

Dacic accused Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti of not wanting to reach an agreement with Serbian President Aleksander Vucic. [Serbian Foreign Affairs Ministry]

“Evidently, the very fact that we talk all the time about putting out fire shows that Kurti does not want an agreement,” Dacic said. “When representatives of the international community come to talk to Vucic and me, they say they are aware that it is difficult to reach an agreement while Kurti is in power”. [Serbian Foreign Affairs Ministry]

He made his comments after road blockades in an ethnically-Serbian majority area in a Kosovan province had been dismantled. Kosovo reopened its  border crossing with Serbia in response, according to statements from leaders of both countries. [Reuters]  

The Serb-Kosovans agreed to remove the barricades after their conditions were fulfilled, according to Vucic. The conditions included the release of former Serbian police officer Dejan Pantic, guarantees from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led forces in Kosovo, KFOR ,and a joint statement from the European Union and US to assure no ethnic Serbs in Kosovo will be arrested because of the barricades.  [Balkan Insight]

KFOR declines personnel request

KFOR declined a Serbian request to deploy 1,000 police and army personnel to Kosovo’s Serb-majority provinces according to a statement made by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Serbian television. [Reuters]

Serbia requested the security measures to be taken on the basis of the incidents in December after the blockades were set up due to security measures taken by Kosovan police forces. KFOR replied to the request by saying there is no need for the return of the Serbian army to Kosovo, as stated by Vucic. [Politico]

The request from the Serbian government is the first such request since NATOs 1999 intervention in Kosovo, which saw NATO forces bombing Serbia and Montenegro to stop the ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians.

Vucic further criticised KFOR for informing Serbian authorities on the eve of the Christian Orthodox Christmas, after another incident of Kosovo police arresting an off-duty soldier for shooting and wounding two Serbs ages 11 and 21 near the town of Shterpce. [Al Jazeera]

The incident was protested by thousands of Serbians to draw attention to “violence against Serbs.”

(lc-jn/gc)

Switzerland: National Council calls for quick conclusion to exploratory talks with EU

The Swiss National Council called for a quick conclusion to exploratory talks with the European Union (EU) Commission to set out the structure of future political ties between Bern and Brussels and to start negotiations within the first half of 2023. 

The Swiss Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council - Switzerland’s lower house - recently announced that it was a necessity to end the exploratory talks with the EU. This way it would be possible to conclude the negotiations on the contract package including institutional issues during the current term of office of the EU Commission under the presidency of Von der Leyen. [Switzerland Times]

According to Switzerland's chief negotiator Livia Leu, the EU seems willing to take Swiss interests in terms of the Citizens’ Rights Directive into account, with some exceptions. The main stumbling blocks in past talks for Bern have been the use of the welfare system by immigrants, the expulsion of criminal foreigners, and the protection of salaries. [SwissInfo][SwissInfo]

Stable relations with the EU are a priority for Switzerland in that the European bloc is its biggest trading partner. Their relationship is based on the free trade agreement of 1972 and the sectoral agreement signed in 1999 which includes the free movement of people, agriculture and land transport, and technical trade barriers. [European Commission]

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Switzerland: Protests in Davos at World Economic Forum

Debt for Climate activists on January 16 occupied Altenrhein airfield, where many world leaders attending the annual five-day World Economic Forum (WEF) arrived in private jets. 

The protestors condemned the exploitation of low income countries by the richest 1 percent, as well as multinational corporations’ disregard for the environment and human rights. This comes only a week after Swiss right-wing politicians proposed a referendum blocking climate laws. [TDG][EuroNews]

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres echoed concerns for climate change, also citing the invasion of Ukraine, in his address on day two of WEF, stating that the world was in a “sorry state.”

These two issues dominated discussions. There were no Russian representatives at WEF. US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Brazilian President Lula did not attend.[PBS] [Politico]

Over the course of the week, Ukraine appealed for aid – the Netherlands announcing training and arms to come – the European Union presented a clean tech plan competing against Russia and China, and Germany, Italy and Switzerland considered a trilateral gas agreement. [AP News] [Reuters]

(sw/gc)

Switzerland becomes member of UN Security Council

Switzerland will join the United Nations Security Council as a member for two years starting from January. The UN General Assembly on June 9 voted in favour of admitting Switzerland into the UN body. 

Through its period on the UNSC, Switzerland will focus primarily on sustainable peace, protection of civilians, and tackling climate change. The country is represented by UN Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl. [Switzerland Times]

Professor of International Relations at IHEID in Geneva and a UN expert, Thomas Biersteker, said increasing politicisation of the UNSC will make it harder for Switzerland to maintain its neutrality. The country should focus on its guiding principles like it always has - defence of human rights, respect for international law, and mediation in conflict situations, he said. [Switzerland Times]

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Switzerland ratifies agreement with WTO on fisheries 

Switzerland is the first World Trade Organization member to ratify the new agreement for fisheries subsidies. 

The agreement aims at prohibiting harmful subsidies for marine wild capture fishing. It makes a valuable contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. [Government]

“Switzerland's action will create real momentum for more WTO members to formally accept the Agreement,” said WTO Director-General Okonjo-Iweala. She added, “Switzerland is a fitting pioneer in the acceptance process, allowing the WTO to finally deliver our contribution to safeguarding global fish stocks and the livelihood and food security of millions of people worldwide.” [WTO]

(ava/gc)

Kyiv slams Hungarian PM over remarks on war in Ukraine 

Hungarian populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Western countries providing weapons and money to Ukraine in its war with Russia have “drifted” into becoming active participants in the conflict. [Associated Press]

Orban deemed Germany’s decision to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine emblematic of the larger role Kyiv’s backers are adopting, and said that, rather than arming Ukraine, such countries should pursue a cease-fire and peace talks. [Associated Press]

A day earlier, during a meeting with journalists on January 26, the Hungarian prime minister compared Ukraine to Afghanistan and called it “no man’s land”. 

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said: “Such statements are completely unacceptable. Budapest is continuing a deliberate course aimed at destroying Hungarian-Ukrainian relations.” [Reuters] 

Orban, who has been criticised for his friendly ties with the Kremlin, has refused to provide neighbouring Ukraine with armaments and has long stood against EU sanctions on Moscow. [Associated Press] [Europe Monthly October 2022] 

Russian energy supplies have been cut back to a host of European countries which have imposed sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Orban’s government struck a new deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom to increase gas purchases in late 2022. [Europe Monthly October 2022]

Hungary touts consultation findings 

According to the government in Budapest, 97 percent of Hungarians are against European Union sanctions on Russia. [Euractiv] [Euronews] The findings come from a consultation process that started in October and whose results were announced by the government on January 14. [Hungary Today]  

Orban has used such a consultation mechanism before to find support among voters for tough policies on migration. [Europe Monthly October 2022]  

European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano noted the “very low participation” of citizens in the consultation. [Euractiv]  

Less than 1.4 million citizens took part in the process, according to Hungarian authorities, which represents less than 20 percent of Hungary’s registered voters [Euractiv] [Euronews]  

(msa/pk)

EU condemns Iran’s execution of former deputy defence minister

European nations condemned Iran’s execution of former Iranian Deputy Minister of Defence Alireza Akbari for allegedly spying on behalf of the British government. 

The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, severely condemned the execution of the British-Iranian national, calling the Islamic Republic a “barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people.” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stated that Teheran “will be held to account”. [Twitter][Politico]

The British embassy in Tehran was vandalised by supporters of the Iranian regime, with graffiti threatening the UK and supporting the execution. The French and German ambassadors in Teheran showed their support through social media, promoting “European solidarity” and setting the tone for incoming diplomatic relationships between Europe and Iran. [Twitter]

Akbari was arrested in 2019 on charges of spying for British intelligence, which he denied. Despite numerous calls for his release from the British government and the international community, Akbari had been held captive since his arrest and was allegedly forced to confess. [BBC News]

A video of Akbari’s confessions, supposedly enforced, was aired by an Iranian news agency on January 12. Two days later, Teheran officially announced that Akbari had been executed by hanging. [The Guardian, BBC News]

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Azerbaijani, Turkish and Iranian parliament speakers meet in Antalya

A trilateral meeting of the legislatures chairs of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran took place during the 13th plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in Antalya on January 10. 

During the meeting in the Turkish town, representatives from the three legislatures discussed regional affairs, energy cooperation, and how to expand communications. They focused on how energy and transportation projects could help develop the region. All three sides agreed on the importance of regional stability and noted that potential tensions should be avoided. AzerTag]

"Our coming together as parliament chairman of three brotherly countries shows that we have a common will to strengthen peace, stability, and security in the region,"  Chairman of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Mustafa Shentop, said. [AzerTag]

"We must unite our forces to establish regional and global peace,” he said. “This approach is also our view on solving problems in the region based on mutual dialogue and cooperation... If we fail to achieve this, the next historic opportunity will be wasted."  [AzerTag]

After the meeting, it was agreed to hold the next meeting in Baku or Tehran. [AzerTag]

(at/gc)

Dutch, Swiss governments condemn Iran for execution of two protestors 

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra said on Twitter that he summoned the Iranian ambassador to the ministry for a second time due to "horrific executions of protesters" in the Islamic republic. [Twitter]

Hoekstra has pushed for sanctions on Iran and called on the European Union (EU) to take action against Tehran for its crackdown on protests. Several Dutch representatives from both the coalition and the opposition have called on the government for action. It had already summoned the Iranian ambassador after protesters were killed.

Hoekstra reported that “a fourth human rights sanctions package on Iran is already in preparation for the next EU Foreign Affairs Council” and that there needs to be a stronger response from the EU. [Twitter]

Two Iranian demonstrators, aged 22 and 39, were hanged on false accusations of being involved in the killing of a soldier, Dutch officials said. In response to the executions, several dozen demonstrators came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. [NL Times]

The protest was organised by the Association of Iranian Academics in the Netherlands. There, the demonstrators waved flags and held up pictures of the executed men and shouted "Stop executions in Iran" and "Khamenei killer." [NL Times]

The two protesters were among many killed during the Iranian regime’s crackdown on protests that erupted last year after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. The death sparked nationwide anti-government unrest. The government has responded with a harsh crackdown, leaving hundreds dead and thousands arrested, and leading to international condemnation and sanctions.

Swiss condemns execution

Switzerland joined the Netherlands in its condemnation of the executions. The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs denounced the execution of two demonstrators in connection to the protests in Iran.

On Twitter Livia Leu Agosti, State Secretary and former Swiss Ambassador to Iran, condemned the killing of the two protesters, Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini and underlined the Swiss opposition to the death penalty “everywhere and under all circumstances”. [Twitter]

The two men were hanged because of their link to the death of a security guard during a protest in November. The two victims did not have lawyers and human rights advocates believe that their trial was for show. According to Iranian activists, 500 people were killed and at least 18,500 arrested during the crackdown on protests, although the regime does not confirm the numbers. 

Around 2,500 protested in Zurich against the Iranian regime and called for action by the Swiss government. Activists have demanded a change in Switzerland’s Iran policy and for the Federal Council to adopt EU sanctions against Tehran. 

Switzerland said in response that “when it comes to the question of whether Switzerland will take on new sanctions against Iran, all domestic and foreign policy interests are always taken into account, including Switzerland’s good offices in Iran.” Switzerland wants to keep the channels of communication open with Iran and to make requests about human rights.[Switzerland Times]

(ava/gc)

UK official at OSCE urges immediate, unconditional release of prisoners in Belarus

Deputy Head of the United Kingdom’s Delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Deirdre Brown, has called for the release of all political prisoners in Belarus. 

During a speech given in Vienna, Brown urged the immediate and unconditional release of 1,444 political prisoners in Belarus and 2,350 people who have been declared extremist under the Lukashenka regime. 

Brown’s call comes amid credible reports detail “beatings and forms of torture” among other “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment” that are routine for such prisoners, violating the fundamental human rights of Belarusian convicts. 

Brown condemned the unlawful imprisonment of ordinary Belarusians, citing journalists, media actors, opposition figures, and human rights defenders among many incarcerated for simply exercising their freedom of expression, and peaceful assembly and association. 

“Belarusian authorities have already turned their attention to expanding their toolbox of repression;” signing new laws into their constitution that allow the regime to control, and confiscate property, Brown said. Belarusian authorities need to implement their international obligation, she said. [Gov.uk] [US Embassy in Belarus]

(cl/gc)

Turkish officials meet with Syrian counterparts in Moscow

Turkish officials met with Syrian officials for the first time after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan requested to create a trilateral mechanism with Syria and Russia. [BBC Turkish]

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Chief of National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan met their Syrian counterparts, Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas and Chief of Syrian intelligence Ali Mamlouk. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also attended the meeting. [Reuters]

The meeting focused on the ongoing Syrian conflict, the refugee crisis, and terrorist organisations based along the border in Syria, Akar said in a statement. [Turkish Ministry of Defense]

Political and armed opposition groups in Syria urged Turkey to reaffirm its support for their cause after the highest-level talks in public between Ankara and the Damascus government since the Syrian war began in 2011. Akar said Turkey would not take any step that would cause problems for them. [Reuters]

"They should not take any different attitudes by relying on any provocation or false news," Akar said, alluding to  opposition comments. [Reuters]

(lc/gc)

Ukraine: United Nations disband probe into prison killings

The United Nations (UN) has disbanded a fact-finding mission into prison killings in eastern Ukraine, spokesperson to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, said on January 5.

The UN disbanded the mission “in the absence of conditions required for the deployment of the mission to the site,” Dujarric said. A mission in an active war zone requires “clear safety and access guarantees from both sides and we didn’t feel we had received them,” Dujarric said. [United Nations] [AP]

Ukraine and Russia requested the probe in August 2022 after the two countries accused each other of extra-judicial killings on July 29 at a prison in Olenivka, an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists. [AP] [Reuters]

(mb/gc)

Ukraine: Kyiv wants establishment of  “Cyber United Nations”

Ukraine’s cyber security leader Yurii Shchyhol said in an interview that Kyiv wants the establishment of a “Cyber United Nations”to facilitate the exchange of information and global cooperation at a hub to prevent hacking against critical infrastructure.   

The international community has to redefine the “methods of war because now the cyber defence element is included in any kind of war activities,” Shchyhol said. Cyber-attacks that deliberately target or take down critical civilian services should be classified as war crimes, he said. [Politico]

Russia has escalated its attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure as part of its war efforts against Kyiv.  

(mb/gc)

Ukraine: Prime Minister confident to pass EU accession process

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on January 13 that he expects Ukraine to pass the European Union (EU)  accession process. He said that the country is working on the implementation of EU recommendations and formulating a negotiation position.

Shmyhal said he expects Ukraine to pass the accession process in “less than two years,” though the “amount of work is enormous.” [Ukrainian Government]

(mb/gc)

UK supports the expansion of the Security Council

The United Kingdom supports the expansion of members to the United Nations Security Council to better reflect the current global environment,  Richard Croker, Minister-Counsellor of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Mission to the United Nations, said on January 26. [Gov.uk]

“The UK recognises that the world is not the same today as it was in 1946 when the Security Council first met, or as it was in 1965 when it was last expanded,” Croker said. “This is why the UK has long supported reform of the Security Council.”  [Gov.uk]

The UK supports the permanent membership of Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan; permanent African representation; and the further expansion of the non-permanent category towards a total membership in the mid-20s, Crocker said. [Gov.uk]

Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine reinforces the importance of a united commitment to “the principle that no state should threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another,” Croker said.  

(cl/gc)

Military shipment arrives in Denmark from US to strengthen NATO east flank

A US shipment of around 600 pieces of military hardware and vehicles designed to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank arrived in Denmark on January 16. [U.S. Army] 

The Danish army confirmed that the military shipment was received from the United States as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, an American operation launched in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula that year. [Islam Times] 

A 200-metre ship docked at Denmark’s largest commercial port in Aarhus, on the Jutland peninsula, and unloaded military equipment destined for Eastern Europe. [The Local]

Among the military reinforcements are 300 armoured military vehicles, such as tanks, which will be stationed in Poland and used by US troops for military exercises. [Al Mayadeen English] 

(hl/pk) 

European leaders condemn storming of Brazilian parliament

Leaders across Europe have condemned riots in Brazil on January 8 during which supporters of the far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed key state buildings in the capital, Brasilia. [Euronews] [Reuters] [Aljazeera]

Rioters refused to accept Bolsonaro’s election defeat to leftist Lula da Silva, who was inaugurated as president at the start of the year. [Euronews] Leaving a trail of violence, demonstrators ransacked the congress, the presidential palace and the supreme court. [Aljazeera]

Top European officials have expressed their support for new president Lula. European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola said in atweet that the EU chamber was “on the side of the Lula government”, while French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that “Lula can count on France’s unwavering support”.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho urged Bolsonaro to issue a “message of condemnation” to the “anti-democratic demonstrators”. [Euronews]

Hard-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “solidarity with Brazilian institutions”, describing the rioting as “unacceptable and incompatible with any form of democratic dissent”.

Lula, who has served as president before, made a comeback in an October 30 election. His defeat of Bolsonaro, who has been accused of undermining democracy, marked the end of Brazil’s most right-wing government in decades. [Europe Monthly December 2022]

(msa/pk)

EU countries toughen Covid rules for travellers from China

Governments across the EU have imposed new Covid rules on travellers arriving from China as the country lifts travel bans, while Beijing warned it would retaliate against such “unreasonable” measures. [Euronews]

Chinese authorities announced in late December they would resume issuing visas for outbound travel from January 8, a move that triggered concern about the risk of new Covid variants spreading. [The Guardian] [DW]

A slew of EU nations reacted by tightening Covid restrictions on flights from China. So far, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden have stepped up their rules. [Euronews]

Beijing rejected the restrictions, branding them as “simply unreasonable” and lacking a scientific basis. [Euronews]

“We are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the Covid measures for political purposes and will take counter-measures based on the principle of reciprocity,” government spokesperson Mao Ning said. [Time]

(msa/pk)

European Parliament voices support for Taiwan

The European Parliament has condemned China’s “continued military provocations” against Taiwan and called on EU institutions to “urgently draw up a scenario-based strategy for tackling security challenges” facing the island. [European Parliament] [Taipei Times]

In its annual report on the implementation of major European Union security policies, the parliament expressed concern at the Chinese government’s refusal to renounce the right to use force in Taiwan. [European Parliament]

The report called Taiwan a “like-minded partner” of the EU and called for strengthening relations through bilateral trade agreements and contacts in fields like culture, science and the media.  [European Parliament]

China claims Taiwan as its territory and refuses to acknowledge its sovereignty as an independent nation. [European Interest]

(rs/pk)

Netherlands, Japan to join US in restricting chip exports to China: report

The Dutch and Japanese governments will introduce restrictions on the export of advanced microchip making machinery to China, joining in US sanctions unveiled in October, according to Bloomberg. 

The move comes after Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Dutch premier, Mark Rutte, separately met US President Joe Biden on January 13 [AiR No. 3, January/2023, 3] and January 17 respectively. 

However, observers expect that the Netherlands and Japan, both home to world-leading producers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, will not adopt the full range of restrictions imposed by the Biden administration. [AiR No. 41, October/2022, 2]

The Hague and Tokyo have not planned a public announcement of the export controls, and their implementation could take months, according to Bloomberg sources.

Analysts say the agreement is a diplomatic victory for Washington, which aims to curb Beijing’s technological and military advances. [Reuters] [Bloomberg] 

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Putin and Xi aim to deepen ties amid war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have said that they want to increase strategic cooperation between their countries amid the war in Ukraine, which has seen Moscow’s relations with EU nations nosediving. 

During an annual video conference with Xi on December 30, Putin said that, in the face of “unprecedented pressure” from the West, Russia’s relationship with China is more important than ever, and that Moscow is interested in intensifying military ties with Beijing.  

Joint military exercises between the two countries’ navies were held at the end of 2022. [See AiR No. 52, December/2022, 4]

During his meeting with Putin, Xi said in a thinly veiled criticism of the United States that China is “ready to join hands with Russia and all other progressive forces around the world who oppose hegemony and power politics, to reject any unilateralism, protectionism and bullying.” [Al Jazeera] 

On the war in Ukraine, Xi reiterated China’s position that peace talks are needed. “The Russian side has said it has never refused to resolve the conflict through diplomatic negotiations,” Xi said, adding that China “expressed its appreciation for this.” 

Amid sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow, economic relations between Russia and China have deepened, with bilateral trade increasing almost by 25 percent in 2022.  

As a result, Putin noted during his meeting with Xi, trade with China is set to reach a figure of USD 200 billion ahead of a target date of 2024. The Russian leader praised the “record high growth rates” reached “despite the unfavourable external environment, illegitimate restrictions, and direct blackmail by some Western countries”.  

The main driver of the expansion in bilateral trade is fossil fuel sales. [CNN] [FMPRC] [The Moscow Times] [AiR, No.1, January/2023, 1] 

Before the war in Ukraine, the European Union was one of Russia’s largest markets. Countries such as Germany are now aiming to stop all imports of Russian fossil fuels in the coming months.

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Russia, China and South Africa will conduct joint military operations

Russia, China and South Africa will hold  joint military exercises off the coast of the African nation in February. South Africa defended the widely criticised military exercises during a press conference with Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. [BBC]

South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that hosting the exercises with "friends" was the "natural course of relations.” Lavrov was visiting South Africa 11 months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

South Africa is one of Russia's most important allies on a continent divided over the invasion and Western attempts to isolate Moscow.. South Africa has abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine at the United Nations. Pretoria has blamed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation for the conflict in Ukraine and has stopped calling for Moscow to withdraw its forces. [Aljazeera]

Lavrov visited a day before the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was due to arrive in South Africa, part of a lengthy trip to the continent designed to shore up ties with the United States.[Reuters]

In Washington, the White House expressed worry about South Africa's military plans.  "The United States has concerns about any country ... exercising with Russia as Russia wages a brutal war against Ukraine," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. [Reuters]

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UK report on Hong Kong accuses China of eroding freedom of expression

In a half-yearly report on Hong Kong, the UK government has accused China of systematically eroding rights in the former British colony, and of cracking down on freedom of expression and the press. [UK Government] [Reuters]

In response, the Hong Kong government called on Britain to stop such reports, urging London to respect the so-called one-country, two-systems principle and “not to smear or slander the successful application of such [a] principle nor interfere with the affairs” of Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government also urged the British authorities to “vehemently refute the slandering remarks and ill-intentioned political attacks” in the report. [Hong Kong Free Press] [Xinhua] [AiR, No.3, January/2023, 3]

Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997 with guarantees of a degree of autonomy that included freedom of speech, under the one-country, two-systems principle. [Reuters]

(aml/pk)

French troops will redrawal from Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso has requested on January 23 that the French military withdraw within a month its four hundred soldiers based in the country as part of a broader military presence, known as Sabre, to fight jihadists across the Sahel region. [Le Figaro International]

Sabre has provided military support to a larger operation, the G5 Sahel Joint Force, organised by the G55 Sahel countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger – to combat the presence of terrorists in the West African Sahel. The decision by the government came after an anti-French demonstration in the streets of Ouagadougou against foreign interference in the country’s defence policy. [Courrier international]

Burkina Faso has followed a similar course to neighbouring Mali, falling out with Paris after a military coup brought a junta to power with the French presence becoming increasingly unpopular among the public. The Burkinabe government has assured Paris it will not follow Mali by turning to Russia's Wagner mercenaries to back up its army although a Wagner liaison team recently visited the country. [LeMonde]

"We formally received notice from the Burkinabe government of the termination of the 2018 agreement on the status of French armed forces present in the country," a French foreign ministry spokeswoman said on January 25. "According to the terms of the accord, the termination takes effect a month after reception of the written notification. We will respect the terms of the agreement by honouring this request." [LeMonde]

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French, Germany foreign ministers visit Ethiopia to show support for cease fire agreement

French and German foreign ministers Catherine Colonna and Annalena Baerbock visited the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on January 12 to show their support for the establishment of the ceasefire agreement signed on November 2 between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray rebels. [France 24] [faz]

With the ceasefire agreement bringing  an end to the two-year conflict, it is possible for humanitarian aid to enter the region of Tigray. The civil war left two million people displaced and 600,000 dead. Federal police have returned to the region. [France 24] [faz]

The first commercial flight since the beginning of the war from the regional capital in Tigray, Makale, to Addis Ababa took place on December 28. An ongoing problem in the Tigray region, even after the ceasefire agreement,  is that the population suffers from food insecurity. [Le Monde] [Deutschlandfunk] [Tagesschau]

Ethiopia has suffered food supply disruptions because of the war and its dependence on Russian grain imports. “The Russian president uses grains and uses food as a weapon,” Baerbock said during her visit to a grain store in the Ethiopian city Adama. Germany and France support grain donations from Ukraine to Ethiopia by financing and organising the transport. [Tagesschau]

Nearly 30 million people are now in need of emergency aid in Ethiopia, more than any other country in the world. In northern and western regions an estimated 22 million people are experiencing devastating food insecurity due to drought, conflict and economic pressures. [Gov.Uk]

The United Kingdom announced on January 20 that it would provide GBP 16.6 million to support more than 600,000 people in need of food. A GBP 11.6 million contribution to the Productive Safety Net Programme will reach around 250,000 people living in extreme poverty with food and livelihood security. [Gov.Uk]

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Azerbaijan president meets Dutch prime minister in Davos

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev met with Dutch Prime Mark Rutte in Davos on January 19 where they discussed energy security and Baku’s role in supplying natural gas to European countries. They also discussed the important role of the East-West transport corridor and the Central Corridor.

Aliyev discussed Azerbaijan’s concerns about developments in the Lachin-Khankendi, where Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily stationed. He said that their presence was causing dissatisfaction among the Azerbaijani public and civil society organisations. He also said that natural resources in the region were being illegally extracted. [APA]

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British culture secretary says Parthenon Sculptures belong in UK

Britain’s Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said that the Parthenon Sculptures belong in the United Kingdom amid reports that the chairman of the British Museum is nearing a deal with Greece for the rotational loan of the Parthenon Sculptures. [BBC]

Donelan also said that sending the sculptures to Greece would “open a can of worms,” which would “open the gateway to the question of the entire contents of our museums,” [BBC].

The ancient Greek artworks, also known at the Elgin Marbles, have been housed in the British Museum since 1816, following the purchase of the Marbles by the British government [BBC]. Law prevents the British Museum from permanently returning the artworks to Greece. 

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Bulgaria’s gas firm signs deal with Turkey to access gas terminals

Bulgarian state gas company Bulgargaz has signed a 13-year deal with Turkish gas transmission company Botas for the transit of 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year. The transit agreement allows Bulgaria to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) through five Turkish terminals. [Hurriyet Daily News]

Bulgarian Energy Minister Rosen Hristov hailed the agreement and noted that it would solve Sofia’s infrastructural deficiencies for unloading LNG.

Previously, Bulgaria received about 95 percent of its gas deliveries from Russia, which were cut off in April 2022 over a payment dispute. The deal with Turkey facilitates alternative natural gas arrangements that Bulgaria has long sought for, including a new long-term contract with Azerbaijan for nearly 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas.  [Balkan Green Energy News]

The remainder of Bulgaria’s gas supply, which will now all be unloaded and processed via Turkish LNG terminals, is covered through LNG imports from Greece.

Energy cooperation

Separately, the Bulgarian government approved two memoranda that strengthen energy cooperation with Greece. The first entails studying the prospect of building an oil pipeline from Greece’s port of Alexandroupolis to Burgas, Bulgaria’s second largest city located on the Black Sea.  The Bulgarian government said the pipeline could be built by the end of 2024. [Euractiv]

The second memorandum considered the final details of an agreement that will allow Greek gas suppliers to reserve storage capacity in the Bulgarian facility in Chiren, the country’s only underground gas storage facility. In exchange, Bulgarian energy companies will receive slots to unload LNG at Greek terminals. [SeeNews]

After Russian natural gas deliveries were cut off in April 2022, due to a payment dispute, Sofia has been attempting to find alternative arrangements to receive and unload LNG, which is facilitated by the aforementioned agreements with Greece that have been put in place. [Balkan Green Energy News]

(jk/gc)

Council of Europe calls on Russia to free opposition activist Navalny

The Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog, has urged Russia to immediately free jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

The call from Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric came on January 17, the second anniversary of the arrest of Navalny, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin and of the war in Ukraine.

Pejcinovic Buric urged Russia to implement a request by the European Court of Human Rights to release Navalny, and expressed “deep concern at reports of ill-treatment and cruel detention conditions”. She added that Navalny “is not and shall not be forgotten”. [Council of Europe]

(aml/pk)

Albania protests UK government over ‘language of hatred’ over migrants

The British ambassador to Albania received a note of protest from Tirana on 16 January  over comments made by Britain’s  Minister of State for Immigration Robert Jenrick. [Reuters]

Albania lodged its protest following a video posted by Jenrick onto Facebook on 13 January , in which he praised the staff at a deportation centre for working “to find the Albanians, to detain them, to put them onto coaches, to take them to the airport and get them back to Tirana.” [Reuters]

In its statement, the Albania ministry raised concern about the last statement by Jenrick “with discriminatory language about Albanians.” The statement also said the comments were the “language of hatred and discrimination.” [Reuters] [ABC]

(jn/gc)

Azerbaijan, Italy step up military cooperation

Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, and his Azeri counterpart Zakir Hasanov have signed a protocol declaring that their countries aim to cooperate on military training and education. [Report.az] [News.az]

The document was inked when the two men met at the defence ministry in Baku on January 12. Hasanov said that Crosetto’s visit marked the start of a new stage in Azeri-Italian military cooperation. [mod.gov.az]

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Croatia’s JANAF signs oil transport deal with Hungarian energy firm

Croatian oil pipeline operator JANAF has signed a deal with Hungarian oil and gas company MOL for the transport of 500,000 tonnes of crude. [Reuters] [N1]

The deal was announced on January 9, with the contract to run until March 31 this year. JANAF’s management board described the deal as the company’s contribution to the European Union’s energy stability and independence. [Reuters] [N1]

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EU lifts visa requirements for Serbians

Serbians will no longer require visas to travel in the European Union (EU) in the near future, possibly as early as this year, though they will need to fill out an online form before travelling to Schengen countries, the bloc’s Ambassador to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, said in an interview.  

“There will certainly be no visas for Serbia,’’ Giaufret said. “In 2023, we will adopt an administrative mechanism for countries that do not need a visa to enter the EU.”

Serbia’s decision not to impose sanctions on Russia has become an important condition for its EU accession negotiations, though not an obstacle, Giaufret said on the Radio and Television of Vojvodina. Giaufret added on Twitter that Serbia’s relationship with the EU was getting closer. [Serbian Monitor]

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Germany dismisses Poland’s request for war reparations, Warsaw says

Germany has dismissed Warsaw’s request for reparation payments over World War II, according to the Polish foreign ministry.

“According to the German government, the case of reparations and compensation for war damage remains closed… The German government does not intend to open negotiations on this matter,” the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement.

While Berlin did not comment, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said already in October 2022 that the issue of reparations was “closed.” [CNN] [The Guardian] [DW News] [Euronews]

‘Disrespectful attitude’

Meanwhile, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a Polish deputy foreign minister, said that Berlin’s response “shows an absolutely disrespectful attitude towards Poland and Poles.” He also accused Germany of trying to turn his country into a “vassal state.”

Warsaw sent an official request to Berlin for war reparations in October 2022, demanding EUR 1.2 trillion to compensate for the massive damage caused by Nazi Germany’s 1939 invasion and subsequent occupation of Poland.

Germany maintains that the matter was settled after Poland’s communist-era government waived its rights to war reparations in 1953. [CNN] [Euronews] [The Guardian] [DW News]

Poland’s ruling nationalist-populist Law and Justice (PiS) party says, however, that the 1953 decision was made under Moscow’s influence and is therefore void.

Warsaw has asked for support from the United Nations so that “Poland can receive compensation for the damage caused by aggression and occupation by the Germans.”

Polish elections approaching

Since coming to power in 2015, the Law and Justice party has on several occasions raised the issue of war reparations from Germany, causing tension in Warsaw-Berlin relations. [The Guardian] [CNN] [Euronews] [DW News]

Observers have said that, with Polish parliamentary elections looming in autumn 2023, the government in Warsaw is politicising the reparations issue.

Donald Tusk, the head of Poland’s main opposition party, the centre-right Civic Platform (PO), has in the past been accused by PiS of scheming with Berlin against Warsaw. [DW News] [Europe Monthly October 2022]

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German foreign minister visits Ukraine

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made a surprise visit to the besieged city of Kharkiv on January 10, where she promised to send more weapons to Ukraine.[RadioFreeEurope]

Baerbock stressed that Ukrainians "should know they can rely on our solidarity and support," adding that Germany will keep supplying weapons "that Ukraine needs in order to free its citizens who are still suffering under the terror of Russian occupation." [RadioFreeEurope]

Baerbock brought with her a package that includes power generators, EUR 20 million euros for demining, and EUR 20 million as financial help for the Starlink project ensuring Internet access for the population. She promised more weapons during her visit to Kharkiv but did not go into specifics.[RadioFreeEurope] [The Guardian]

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Athens accuses Turkish vessel of performing ‘dangerous manoeuvres’

Greece accused Turkey of performing “dangerous manoeuvres with the intent of ramming” one of its ships, the latest bout of tension between the countries. [Greek Reporter]

A Greek Coast Guard patrol boat’s crew fired warning shots to deter a Turkish coast guard vessel that was trying to ram them in the eastern Aegean Sea, authorities in Athens said. A Greek Coast Guard statement said that its vessel was attempting to identify three Turkish fishing vessels in Greek territorial waters. [Greek Reporter]

Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias said in a letter to the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that these “accidents create a dangerous security environment, which could be exploited by Ankara to escalate tensions between the nations.” [Greek Reporter]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Greece to “behave”  in response. He also referred to Turkey’s Tayfun ballistic missile project, saying that “we are building them in such a way that Greece is panicking”. [ekathimerini]

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said  he still believes it is possible to resolve the differences between the two nations amicably by speaking directly to Erdogan. [AP News]

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Italy upset by Ireland’s plan to put health warnings on wine

Italy has criticised a plan by Ireland to put health warnings on wine, beer and spirits that alert drinkers to the risk of alcohol-linked cancer and liver disease. [The Irish Times]

Coldiretti, Italy’s main agricultural lobby, called the move a “direct attack on Italy”, which traditionally exports wine. Italian vintners and politicians described the plan, which has been approved by the European Union, as “absurd”.

They argue that the measure is a threat to Italy’s EUR 14 billion wine sector, to its culture, history and heritage, and that state interference is not needed on an issue that should be a matter of personal responsibility. [Telegraph] [The Local]

Despite the fact that Italy, France, Spain and several other EU member states opposed Ireland’s plan, it has been given the green light by the European Commission. Ireland has three years to implement the measure.

Rome fears that the move will create a precedent that other European Union member states might follow, and that it would hurt Italian exports. The authorities in Rome said they would take their case to the European Commission and to the World Trade Organisation.

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Ireland agrees to send non-lethal aid to European security initiative

The Irish government has agreed to contribute a total of EUR 45 million to the European Peace Facility over the course of the next four years. [Irish Times] 

Although Ireland has already contributed EUR 77 million to the initiative, the government has decided to increase its support. The Department of Foreign Affairs will provide EUR 35.5 million and the Department of Defence will provide the balance. [Irish Times] [Irish Times]

The aid will be non-lethal since Ireland lacks the  military capacity. [Irish Times] [Irish Examiner]

Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin said that the country is not neutral regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will focus on supporting Ukraine’s application to join the European Union and working with other states in terms of an interim court at the Hague to bring Russia to accountability. [Irish Examiner]

(wd/gc)

Norway, Germany unveil hydrogen pipeline plan

Norway and Germany have unveiled plans for a hydrogen pipeline between the two countries. The announcement came following a visit to Norway by Germany’s economic minister and vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, a member of the Green Party. 

Habeck said that Germany gets “most of our natural gas from Norway [and] in the future we want to increasingly import offshore wind energy and hydrogen.” [Euractiv] [Reuters] 

The proposed Norwegian-German hydrogen pipeline would be one of Europe’s longest, stretching at least 750 kilometres according to some estimates, and is part of wider plans to bring about a German transition from natural gas to fully carbon-neutral “green” hydrogen.

In 2022 Norway became one of the largest suppliers of natural gas to Germany after Russian gas supplies were cut. [Deutsche Welle] 

Under the new proposal, Norway would continue to supply Germany with natural gas until the hydrogen pipeline is operational, then provide “blue” hydrogen and eventually “green” hydrogen.

The environmental impact of blue hydrogen is between that of natural gas and green hydrogen. However, environmentalists in both Norway and Germany have voiced disappointment with the blue hydrogen transition plan, deeming it a step backwards. [Euractiv] [Deutsche Welle] 

In another move designed to help the environment, Norcem, a Norwegian subsidiary of German multinational corporation Heidelberg Materials, plans to capture carbon emissions from its concrete factories and then store the emissions underwater. [Reuters] (See separate story in this issue)

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Russia has chosen a ‘path of depravity’ over humanity, British official says 

A British senior military advisor at the United Kingdom’s delegation of Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has condemned Russia’s actions in the war in Ukraine. [Gov.UK]

In a speech delivered in Vienna on January 25, Ian Stubbs underlined the acceleration of military aid to  Ukraine. This includes a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks, AS90 self-propelled 155mm guns, 100,000 artillery rounds, and 600 Brimstone anti-tank munitions.

This is a means of “equipping Ukraine to push Russia out of Ukraine and is as important as equipping them to defend what they already have,”Stubbs said. “Russia’s actions over the last year show that it has chosen a path of depravity over humanity. It has demonstrated complete disregard for international humanitarian law.”  [Gov.UK]

In a phone call with the leaders of the US, Germany, UK and France on 25 January 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed decisions by allies to allow battle tank contributions to Ukraine. The decisive and collective action would be a catalyst for other countries to follow suit, Sunak said. Sunak also updated the leaders on the UKs decision to supply a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. [Gov.UK]

(jn/gc)

Russia expels Estonian ambassador 

Russia and neighbouring Estonia will expel each other's ambassadors by February 7 after ties between two nations deteriorated following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre to leave Russia by February 7 after Estonia’s announcement of the expulsion of 21 Russian diplomats and embassy staff.  The Russian Ministry as being a “purposeful destruction of the entire system of relations with Russia in recent years.” [The Moscow Times] [The Moscow Times][VOA][Twitter]

Estonia’s neighbour Latvia said it will downgrade Russian diplomatic relations by February 24. 

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Influence of far-right triggers concern as Sweden assumes EU presidency

Concerns have been voiced that Sweden’s recently installed minority government, which relies on the support of a far-right eurosceptic party, could erode respect for migrant rights and weaken efforts against climate change as Stockholm helms the bloc’s rotating presidency in the first half of this year.

Following September 2022 parliamentary elections in Sweden, three centre-right parties agreed to form a minority coalition administration led by Ulf Kristersson and comprising his Moderate Party alongside the Christian Democrats and the Liberals.

The ruling coalition needs the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats to govern, although the latter party is not officially in government and does not hold any ministerial position. [Europe Monthly October 2022]

The Sweden Democrats previously wanted to leave the European Union entirely, although their position on that has shifted. However, the party remains deeply eurosceptic. [AP News] [Dagens Nyheter] [Deutsche Welle]

The centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament released a statement expressing concern over the “influence of the extreme right on the Swedish [EU] presidency and the negative consequences for the respect of international and EU laws and fundamental rights in the area of migration and asylum.”

The S&D group comprises 145 of the 705 members of the European Parliament.

Meanwhile, Charlie Weimers, a member of the European Parliament from the Swedish Democrats, said: “We don’t want any mandatory mechanism on migration, whether in the shape of relocations or economic contributions from EU countries.”[ Deutsche Welle]

Mats Engstrom, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said that the Swedish governing coalition’s reliance on the Sweden Democrats makes it hard to imagine Stockholm “pushing for far-reaching effort-sharing between [EU] member states when it comes to… migration waves.” [AP News]

In an opinion piece for EU Observer, Malin Bjork, a Swedish MEP for the Left Party, criticised Sweden’s agenda at the helm of the EU. “With no mention of LGBTI+ rights or feminism in their programme and with far-right climate deniers whispering in [the Swedish government’s] ears, many progressives are writing this [EU presidency] off and holding out for the Spanish presidency in the second half of the year.”

Kristersson’s government has pledged to work towards ensuring that Europe meets its climate targets. However, the Sweden Democrats oppose meeting such targets, the only party in the Swedish parliament to do so. [AP News] [Dagens Nyheter] [Deutsche Welle]

The Sweden Democrats received 20.6 percent of the vote in the September 2022 parliamentary election, becoming the second largest party in the country. [Europe Monthly October 2022]

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Sweden looks to expand nuclear energy through law changes, eyes French reactors

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has announced legislation that would allow more nuclear reactors in his country, while also raising the possibility of Stockholm buying reactors from Paris.

Kristersson, whose recently installed government is attempting to expand Sweden’s nuclear power sector, said that his country needs at least two new reactors. Sweden currently has six reactors operating at three different plants.

The current law in Sweden limits the number of reactors in the country to 10, while also mandating that any new reactors must be built at existing nuclear power stations. Kristersson and his environment minister, Romina Pourmokhtari, said that they envisioned that the proposed regulatory changes would come into effect in March 2024. [AP News] [Euractiv] [Reuters]

During an official visit to Paris on January 3, Kristersson said that a nuclear power partnership between Sweden and France “has good potential.” France has previously built a nuclear reactor in Finland. [Goteborgs-Posten] [Euronews] 

No concrete plans or deals were officially announced during Kristersson’s trip to France. 

Government ministers in Stockholm had hoped that German-owned Uniper would build a new nuclear power station in Sweden, but the company said recently it would not construct any such plants there or elsewhere. Uniper has a stake in the three Swedish nuclear power stations. [Europe Monthly December 2022] 

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Turkish President Erdogan call with Russian counterpart Putin 

President Erdogan and Putin spoke over the phone on January 16. During the meeting, Erdogan and Putin confirmed their cooperation and discussed Russian gas supply and the establishment of a regional gas hub in Turkey. The normalisation of Turkey-Syria relations was also discussed. [NTV]

According to the information conveyed by the Russian media, Erdogan and Putin talked on the phone and discussed the latest situation in Ukraine, and exchanged views on the prisoner exchange.  [TRT Haber]

At the meeting, grain corridor and ammonia export issues were also discussed, and concrete steps were discussed in the project of turning Russian grain into flour in Turkey and sending it to African countries in need.

During the meeting, President Erdogan reiterated that Turkey is ready to undertake the task of facilitating and mediating a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine. [Hürriyet Daily News]

(lc/gc)

Azerbaijan withdraws diplomatic staff from Iran after attack on embassy

Azerbaijan will evacuate its diplomatic staff from Iran after a security guard was killed in an attack on its Tehran embassy on January 27, according to Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two guards were also hurt in the attack in Tehran. [Al Jazeera]

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said it was a “terrorist act” and demanded a swift investigation by Iranian authorities. He added that an attack on a diplomatic mission was "unacceptable". 

The Azerbaijan’s  foreign ministry said "the attacker broke through the guard post, killing the head of security with a Kalashnikov assault rifle." According to Iran television, Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, "strongly condemned" the incident and stated that the matter was being looked into with "high priority and sensitivity". 

Tehran police reported that they have detained a suspect and are looking into the shooter's motivation. General Hossein Rahimi, Tehran's police chief, said that the attack may have been motivated by "personal issues".

(at/gc)

Greece, Egypt begin feasibility study for electricity link

Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker said in an interview that Egypt and Greece are making advances towards the preliminary stages of exploring an electricity linkage between the two nations. [ahram]

They are in the process of selecting a consulting firm that would prepare a feasibility study for the intended project,  Shaker said, adding that a meeting was already held with a Belgian company to discuss installing underwater power cables as a separate project to link Egypt and Greece.

Speaking to the Middle East News Agency, Shaker stated that the intended interconnection project would provide  approximately 2,000 megawatts of electricity. It was noted that there is a growing European interest in similar projects with Egypt considering the state’s abundance of renewable energy resources. [Egypt Today]

(jk/gc)

UK Middle East minister holds talks with Israeli officials

British Minister for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad, held trade talks with Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Economy Minister Nir Barkat, during the United Kingdom’s first ministerial-level visit to Israel since the formation of its new government.  [BBC]

Lord Ahmad said that Israel was a valued partner of the UK and that he was “excited” to continue strengthening bilateral relations and trade partnership between the two countries, “taking it to new heights.” [Gov.UK].

Lord Ahmad said he encouraged all efforts to avoid provocative unilateral actions in Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which undermined prospects for a lasting and peaceful solution. He said his visit comes at a difficult but important time for the Palestinian people. He emphasised UK support for the Palestinian people and its unwavering commitment to a negotiated two-state solution. [Gov.UK]

In December, a coalition of British MPs across party lines urged the UK government not to prioritise bilateral relations because of “grave concerns” about the incoming Israeli government’s “discriminatory and illegal policies.” [BBC]

(jn/gc) 

Senior UK defence official visits Lebanon

The British Defence Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa Air Marshal Martin Sampson visited Lebanon where he met Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Commander in Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) General Joseph Aoun during his three day trip. [GOV.UK]

Sampson underlined the United Kingdom’s support for the work done by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNFIL) in the south of the country and offered his condolences after the death of UNFILs Irish Private Sean Rooney,who died after two armoured vehicles carrying members of 121st Infantry Battalion came under fire near Sidon, around 30 miles south of Beirut. [GOV.UK][SkyNews]

The British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hamish Cowell, said that the longstanding cooperation and partnership between the UK’s Armed Forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces makes a significant “contribution to Lebanon’s security, sovereignty and prosperity” and that “UK will continue to do all we can to support this, including through our agreement for a further GBP 13 million commitment to support the Lebanese Armed Forces.”GOV.UK][SkyNews]

Sampson also met Lebanese endurance athlete Michael Haddad. He heard about Haddad’s plan to walk 100 kilometres across the North Pole later this year, in order to draw attention to the devastating impact of climate change. [GOV.UK]

(gt/gc)

UK reaffirms commitment to resolve conflict, humanitarian crisis in Syria

The British Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council, James Kariuki, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to a sustainable solution to the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Syria [Gov.UK].

Kariuki said the United Kingdom welcomed the adoption of resolution 2672 for the ongoing delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria. The ambassador said the six month timeline for the delivery of the aid was insufficient. [Gov.UK]

The ambassador also called for condemnation from the international community of the Assad regime’s ongoing profit from the production and trafficking of narcotics. “We must guard against any process that does not deliver on the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and which will not contribute to a lasting and sustainable peace,” [Gov.UK]

(jn-pl/gc)

Hungary, Ecuador sign security and hydrocarbon deal

Hungary and Ecuador have signed bilateral agreements on defence and hydrocarbons aimed at “preventing security risks” and “guaranteeing energy supply”, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said during a visit to Quito on January 19. [BT/MTI] [About Hungary]

“The world is facing serious difficulties today, and countries with the broadest partnerships are best placed to tackle these crises,” Szijjarto told reporters at a joint press conference with Ecuadorian Deputy Foreign Minister Luis Vayas Valdivieso. [BT/MTI]

The defence cooperation agreement focuses on crisis management operations and aims “to prevent new armed conflicts and keep a lid on migration,” Szijjarto said. [BT/MTI] [About Hungary]

With the accord on hydrocarbons, Budapest aims to be prepared in case oil transit through Ukraine becomes impossible amid the war in that country.

“This would leave maritime deliveries as the only option, in which case we must consider one of the biggest Latin American sources of crude,” said the Hungarian foreign minister. [About Hungary]

Szijjarto added that the deal would allow Ecuador to use Hungarian technology to boost the efficiency of oil extraction in the Latin American country. [República del Ecuador] [About Hungary]

(msa/pk)

Moldova provided with USD 30 million in financial aid by US

Moldova has received USD 30 million in financial aid from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to help the country manage economic challenges due to energy supply disruptions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [MOLDpress] [USAID]

The assistance was made through the World Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund. The US has provided a total of USD 640 million in foreign aid to Ukraine since 1991 as Washington seeks to support the country’s economy. [USAID] 

(lc/gc)

Netherlands supports Brazilian President Da Silva

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte expressed his support for Brazilian President Lula da Silva after an attempted coup by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, saying that it was “unacceptable violence against the institutions that together form the heart of the democratic constitutional state.” 

Netherlands “stands with President Lula as the democratically elected leader,” Rutte said. [NL Times]

Four thousand Bolsonaro supporters broke through the barriers and stormed the Brazilian Congress. Some invaded the Presidential Palace damaging artworks and furniture, others smashed the glass in front of the Supreme Court building and vandalised the chamber. [NL Times]

Bolsonaro’s supporters did not accept that he lost the presidential elections against Lula because they  believed that the latter is a communist and a corrupt politician who deserves to be in prison. Bolsonaro’s supporters fear the creation of a regime similar to those of Cuba and Venezuela. [BBC]

(ava/gc)

Sweden, US start talks on boosting defence ties

Sweden and the United States have started negotiations on a defence cooperation agreement, officials in Oslo said on January 9, announcing a move that would create a legal framework for the presence of American troops on Swedish soil.

The Swedish government cited the deteriorating security situation in Europe and the conflict in Ukraine as the primary reasons for the talks. A defence cooperation agreement would require constitutional changes in Sweden, according to its government. [Reuters] [Bloomberg] [Swedish Government]

The agreement “opens up even closer cooperation with the US both bilaterally and within the framework of NATO,” the Swedish defence ministry said.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden, alongside neighbouring Finland, applied to join NATO in May 2022, but both Nordic nations are still awaiting approval from alliance members Turkey and Hungary. (See separate story in this issue)

Sweden and the United States previously signed a joint “declaration of intent” for defence cooperation in 2016, alongside a similar trilateral declaration involving the two countries plus Finland. [Bloomberg] [Swedish Government]

(ef/pk)

Turkey pressures Biden administration on F-16 sales

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his US counterpart Antony Blinken conducted a meeting on January 18  in Washington where they discussed the sale of F-16 fighters and the application of Sweden to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). 

The Biden administration waited almost two years to extend an official invite to Cavusoglu, a delay that many analysts say reflects a strained relationship. The two have met before during  NATO summits and United Nations meetings. [Reuters]

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Cavusoglu said they will address "significant topics" in bilateral defence cooperation, particularly Turkey's request for 40 F-16 fighter jets from the United States. He said the sale of the jets is not just important for Turkey but also for NATO. 

"We expect approval in line with our joint strategic interests," Cavusoglu said. [AA]

The Biden administration has been urging Congress to approve the strategy in order to convince Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to drop his objections on Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession. Congress has opposed the deal. [Wall Street Journal]

The US lawmakers objecting to the sale cite Turkey's deteriorating human rights track record and Syria policy. Ankara's refusal to ratify NATO membership of Sweden and Finland is emerging as a more central reason in their opposition. [Reuters]

Erdogan's “repeated attacks on our Syrian Kurdish allies, and continued cozying up to Russia — including delaying Sweden and Finland's NATO membership — remain serious causes for concern," Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said in a statement. [Reuters]

The two Nordic states applied for NATO membership last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine but their bids need approval from all 30 NATO member states. Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the applications. Turkey raised objections, accusing the countries of harbouring groups it deems terrorists. 

Not a pre-condition

In his meeting with Blinken, Cavusoglu said Ankara's approval of the Nordic countries' NATO bid was not presented as a pre-condition, but he said that the US side made it clear that Turkey’s agreement would be viewed positively by Congress. [Reuters]

Erdogan, though, has made it difficult. He criticised protests in Stockholm against Ankara’s stance on Sweden joining NATO. The demonstration resulted in a  burning of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy. The protest was led by Rasmus Paludan, the leader of a Danish far-right political party, on January 21.  [CNN]

“Those who allow such blasphemy in front of our embassy can no longer expect our support for their NATO membership,” Erdogan said after the Cabinet meeting on January 23. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson , commenting on the protest on Twitter, said “what is legal is not necessarily appropriate.”  [Daily Sabah]

After the protests, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that the meeting with his Swedish counterpart Pal Johnson was cancelled by the Turkish authorities. The visit was planned to take place on January 27. [Ministry of Defense]

Separately, the United States is considering selling fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters to Greece in an attempt to keep both NATO allies content, according to the Wall Street Journal. The plan has alarmed Ankara. [GreekReporter]

The -35 sale  would provide the Greek air force with a technological edge over its Turkish counterpart. Turkey’s numerical advantage currently provides a key strategic advantage in the current dispute over the Aegean Sea with Athens. [GreekReporter]

(lc-jk/gc)

New defence attaché joins UK embassy in Washington

Rear Admiral Tim Woods has joined British Embassy Washington as its new Defence Attaché. He will lead the UK’s military engagement and partnerships across all branches of the United States military. Rear Admiral Woods takes over the role from Air Vice-Marshal Mick Smeath who will become Director of the Global Defence Network, the head of UK Defence Attachés worldwide. [GOV.UK] 

Woods previously served in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Head of the British Defence Staff in Eastern Europe, bringing more than three decades’ experience both on land and at sea. His Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States of America Dame Karen Pierce said: “Tim’s extensive experience in Ukraine, NATO and with US forces will be a huge asset at this critical time, as we work with the US to support Ukraine.” [GOV.UK] 

(gt/gc)

Austria agrees immigration deal with India

Vienna has agreed a deal with New Delhi which will see India’s government take back all illegal Indian immigrants who fail to meet asylum criteria in Austria. [Kurier] 

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said his country has over 18,000 illegal Indian migrants who have little chance of gaining asylum. [Kurier] [Euractiv] 

The deal will, however, allow highly skilled Indian workers to live and work in Austria as part of the country’s Red-White-Red Cardsystem. This criteria-based immigration programme allows certain foreigners to live in Austria for 24 months, including highly skilled workers, nurses and doctors.

Schallenberg agreed the deal with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on January 2, saying: “We see India as a friend and partner”. Schallenberg added: “The problem is not migration, but illegal immigration. Tens of thousands of Indians living in Austria are enriching our society”. [Kurier] [Euractiv] 

The deal still needs a formal seal of approval in both countries. The Austrian foreign ministry expects that to happen in the first quarter of this year. [Kurier] 

(iy/pk)

EU, Japan sign space-data agreement

The European Union and Japan committed to strengthening cooperation on space technology at the fifth meeting of the Japan-EU Space Policy Dialogue held in January.

As part of the agreement, the EU and Japan have agreed to share their Earth-observation data with each other. Japan will provide data from its non-commercial satellites to the EU’s Copernicus Programme, while the European Commission will provide access to data and services from Copernicus. [Silicon Republic] [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan]

Copernicus is a European Earth-observation project that offers data from satellites and non-space systems. This information, among other things, helps with managing the environment, mitigating the effects of climate change and promoting civil security across Europe. [Copernicus] [Silicon Republic]

According to the European Commission, the data exchange with Japan will greatly benefit the programme. [European Commission]

(rs/pk)

France’s Macron and Japan’s PM pledge to deepen cooperation in energy, defence

French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to deepen cooperation in various fields ranging from nuclear and renewable energy, car manufacturing, and defence when they met on 9 January. 

The meeting was the first stop of Kishida’s weeklong trip to Europe and North America, where he will also visit Italy, the UK, Canada and the United States.

In Paris, Macron and Kishida discussed North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, with the French president reaffirming France’s “unfailing support to face” Pyongyang’s “flagrant breaches to international law.” Kishida, for his part, called France a top partner in the creation of a free and open Indo-Pacific and announced that Tokyo would intensify joint military drills with Paris. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan] [AP] 

The visits coincided with Japan assuming its place as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council [see AiR No. 1, January/2023, 1] with its preparations to host a Group of Seven summit that is slated for May 19 to 21 in Hiroshima. [VoA]

(aml/gc)

France launches new cultural exchange program to promote relations with Thailand

The French embassy in Thailand launched an exchange program called “Sawasdee France” to increase focus on bilateral cooperation between the two countries. The new programme replaces “La Fete,” which used to focus more exclusively on cultural and artistic exchange between the two nations.

Following the French president’s attendance as a guest of honour when Thailand hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders in Bangkok last year, the embassy initiative aims to establish a more visible partnership between the two nations. The embassy announced the opening event for the “Franco-Thai Year of Innovation” on January 26, where the technological and research dimensions of their relationship will take centre-stage. [Bangkok Post] [Ambassade de France en Thailande] [AiR, No.3, January/2023, 3]

(aml/gc)

German party leader threatens China with termination of relations in case of Taiwan invasion

In the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Germany would be forced to end relations with China, as it did with Russia during its ongoing war with Ukraine, Lars Klingbeil, leader of Germany’s coalition leading Social Democratic Party (SPD), said in an interview. 

The statement comes ahead of Germany’s planned new China strategy, which the German government has been working on for several months. The war in Ukraine and the dependence of Germany on Russian fossil fuels was also decisive for the planning of the strategy, as Germany seeks to counteract a similar economic dependence on China. 

Under the new strategy, German companies especially exposed to China would be required to disclose details on their business with the Chinese government and undergo regular assessments.

Coinciding with Klingbeil’s statements, the Chinese ambassador to Germany accused the new China strategy of reflecting “a Cold War mentality that could put cooperation between the world’s second- and fourth-largest economies at risk," adding that Germany “is forfeiting its independence and is instead following the United States completely in matters of China policy.” [Reuters 1] [Reuters 2] [Handelsblatt, in German] [AiR, No.3, January/2023, 3]

(am/gcl)

German parliamentary delegation visits Taiwan 

A German parliamentary delegation said that it supports the One-China Policy but that aggression by China against Taiwan was unacceptable.

The delegation, consisting of members of the neoliberal German Free Democratic Party coalition, arrived on 9 January to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Su Tseng-chang, among other officials.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the German parliamentary defence committee, said that their visit was a “sign of solidarity” with Taiwan. Member of Parliament Johannes Vogel said that while “Germany and Europe support a One-China Policy,” they made it “totally clear that military aggression coming from Beijing is unacceptable.”  [Focus Taiwan] [DW]

A day before their arrival, China carried out military exercises around Taiwan involving nearly 60 aircraft and four vessels.

China has responded critically to the visit with a foreign ministry spokesperson saying that the “root cause of the Taiwan problem” was “that the law of the jungle, hegemonism, colonialism, militarism and nationalism were rampant in the world and China suffered deeply from them.” The spokesperson reminded Germany that it had experienced a “painful historical lesson in this regard.”  [Focus Taiwan] [DW]

A planned visit by Germany’s Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger that is scheduled for spring will be the first visit by a member of the German cabinet in 26 years.

(aml/gc)

Switzerland considers halting development aid to Afghanistan

Switzerland is considering whether to follow neighbouring countries in cutting financial assistance of EUR 30 million a year to Afghanistan after the Taliban prohibited women from working with non-government organisations. 

There are far-reaching questions about whether emergency and survival assistance should be continued under these circumstances, Pierre-Alain Eltschinger of the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Switzerland is in close consultation with donor countries, and the United Nations, alongside their local partners on how to proceed, he said. [24InstantNews]

The Taliban imposed the ban because they did not adhere to the group’s interpretation of the Islamic dress code for women. This led the European Union (UN), together with the UN Security Council and 12 other countries, to put pressure on the Taliban to lift their decisions immediately. [Reuters]

Germany recently announced that it will cut development aid to Afghanistan. The department of foreign affairs said that it has been communicated directly with the Taliban, raising its concerns about human rights. [Switzerland Times]

(ava/gc)

Switzerland provides aid to Pakistan after devastating floods

Switzerland has provided EUR 200,000 in financial assistance to Pakistan to help the country rebuild after devastating floods last year. Switzerland also sent a team to the northwest of the country for three months to help the Pakistani government. 

Swiss Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis said that Bern will remain engaged with Pakistan because “the effects of climate change affect us all.” Cassis met with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. [Twitter]

More than 1,700 people died during the devastating floods in Pakistan and many others had to leave their towns. Some have pointed to climate change as the cause for the flooding.[Switzerland Times]

(ava/gc)

UK and Japan agree to historic defence agreement

The United Kingdom (UK) and Japan have signed a “hugely significant” new defence deal. The deal, signed by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Tower of London on 11 January, comes after Japan started its largest military build-up since World War II. [Al Jazeera].  [Gov.UK]

The deal will allow both countries to deploy forces on each other’s land for training and operations. The defence deal is part of a larger foreign policy shift by the UK government, which focuses on building security and trade ties in the Indo-Pacific. The UK will be the first European country to have a Reciprocal Access Agreement with Japan, the most important defence treaty between the UK and Japan since 1902.  [Al Jazeera][Gov.Uk]

“This Reciprocal Access Agreement is hugely significant for both our nations – it cements our commitment to the Indo-Pacific and underlines our joint efforts to bolster economic security. In this increasingly competitive world, it is more important than ever that democratic societies continue to stand shoulder to shoulder as we navigate the unprecedented global challenges of our time,” Sunak said. [Al Jazeera]

Shortly after the agreement, British Minister for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan spent the week in Japan, seeing first-hand the vital collaboration between the two countries on everything from trade to education. Defence and security are at the heart of the UK-Japan relationship, with the newly announced treaty allowing UK and Japanese armed forces to more easily carry out joint training activities and exercises. [Gov.Uk]

(jn/gc)

Croats charged with child trafficking freed on bail in Zambia

Four Croatian couples accused of trafficking children have been released on bail from jail in Zambia. [AP] [N1]

The eight individuals, who were arrested in December, have been charged with attempting to bring four children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into neighbouring Zambia. [AP] [N1]

All eight have denied the charges. Prosecutors, however, claim that the validity of their documents for the adoption of children from the DRC is questionable and that the children were being trafficked “for the purpose of exploitation”. [AP] [N1]  

A court in the central Zambian city of Ndola granted the Croats pre-trial release on January 23 after they posted bail equivalent to around EUR 1,000 each. [AP]  [N1] Their next hearing has been scheduled for February 6.  [N1]

(iy/pk)

Portugal, Cape Verde reach ‘debt-for-nature’ deal

Portugal has agreed to swap the debt of its former colony Cape Verde for investment in an environmental fund that the country off the West African coast is establishing.

Cape Verde owes some EUR 140 million to the Portuguese state and over EUR 400 million to Portuguese banks and other bodies. Portugal’s Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that, as a first step, EUR 12 million in debt repayments will go into the green fund. [Reuters] [Lusa]

“No country will be sustainable if all countries are not sustainable,” he added on January 23 during a visit to the archipelago. “This is why Portugal wants to contribute to the fund that Cape Verde is setting up for the climate and energy transition.” [Lusa]

Such “debt-for-nature” swap deals are becoming more popular as world leaders confront the question of who will bear the cost of fighting climate change. [Reuters]

(msa/pk)

Turkey and Sudan agree to begin agricultural project

Turkey and Sudan agreed on January 18 to start an agriculture pilot project,_, according to a statement by the Turkish vice president's office.

Turkey’s Vice President, Fuat Oktay, held talks in Ankara with Sudanese Minister of Cabinet Affairs Hussein Osman Elderi and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Abu Bakr Omar Al-Bishri. They discussed allocation of productive agricultural land in Sudan, collaboration in animal husbandry, and the construction of industrial infrastructure.

They also considered the development of already-existing mining sites in Sudan. Turkey said that it was willing to share its knowledge of Sudanese oil and gas, mineral exploration, and extraction difficulties. [Anadolu Agency]

(at/gc)

Team:

Aiyana Vittoria Amplatz (ava), Anastasiya Drobava (ad), Antonia Lawrenz (aml), Aydan Talibli (at), Caitlin Leng (cl), Eric Kliszcz (ek), Ethan Flanagan (ef), Giulia Taraborrelli (gt), Glen Carey (gc), Greta Middendorf (gm), Harry Lowery (hl), Henning Glaser (hg), Isaac Yielder (iy), James Bertie Norman (jbn), Jemina Nuredini (jn), Johnny Khouri (jk), Katherine Mansfield (km), Ketevan Esaiashvili (ke), Lara Cin (lc), Maria Rusu (mr), Maria Simon Arboleas (msa), Marlene Busch (mb), Max Grimshaw (mg), Pauline Lecomte (pl), Peter Kononczuk (pk), Quentin Vidberg (qv), Rex Wempen (rw), Rohini Singh (rs), Roohi Mariam Peter (rmp), Stephanie Wild (sw),  Venus Phuangkom, Warren O'Broin (wb), Wiktoria Drazewska (wd)

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