First cracks appear in Slovenia’s EU Presidency over art exhibition

The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

Before you start reading today’s edition of the Capitals, feel free to have a look at the interview written with EU farmers chief Pekka Pesonsn who said “Commission is ‘ultra-orthodox’ on biofuels’ sustainability“.

Also read the story “Ex vaccine adviser: EU didn’t look hard enough at producers’ capacity“, by Giedre Peseckyte.

The European news you deserve to read. Welcome to The Capitals by EURACTIV.

 In today’s news from the Capitals:

LJUBLJANA 

Slovenia cancels EU presidency art exhibition in Brussels. Works by Slovenian artists will not be displayed at the European Parliament during Slovenia’s EU presidency after the art show to mark the member states’ six-month stints at the helm of the Council of the EU was cancelled amidst media reports that one of the pieces showcased had been displeasing to the Slovenian government. Read more.

Slovenia PM faces impeachment vote ahead of EU presidency. Less than two months before Slovenia takes over the EU’s rotating presidency, conservative Prime Minister Janez Janša is battling fires at home and abroad — including an impeachment motion. More.

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EU INSTITUTIONS

EU parliament calls for the suspension of Turkey’s EU talks. The European Parliament called on the European Commission on Wednesday to suspend Turkey’s EU accession talks. The resolution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of 480 in favor, 64 against and 150 abstentions. The European People’s Party group (EPP) tweeted “The plenary adopted with an overwhelming majority the toughest resolution on Turkey ever.” More.

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EU PRESIDENCY

Europe stands out among global players in sharing vaccines. The EU is ready to discuss concrete proposals on the suspension of patents on vaccines against COVID-19, but until then has been acting like no other global actor, Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva has said.

BERLIN

Germany’s Laschet to follow Merkel’s footsteps on Russia, China. The leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU), Armin Laschet, who hopes to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, is largely expected to keep his predecessor’s diplomatic line, with little nuance on foreign and security policy. Read more.

In other news, EURACTIV Germany reported that EU countries keep different approaches to Huawei on 5G roll-out. After the German upper house recently passed the IT Security Law, things have been looking increasingly grim for Huawei’s expansion in Europe. A patchwork of different national approaches to the Chinese tech giant has emerged across Europe. Read the full story here.

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PARIS

Thousands of police officers demonstrate outside French parliament. More than 35,000 people  – including French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, Green MEP Yannick Jadot and National Rally’s Jordan Bardella – came to show their support for the French police in front of the National Assembly on Wednesday, demanding more financial support for the police force as well as tougher penalties for aggression targeted at police officers, the protest’s organisers confirmed. 

The protest comes following the successive murders of two police officers in the past weeks for which the lack of action by Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti has been heavily criticised. The minister, who was absent from the protest, filed a draft bill in mid-April aimed at restoring trust in the French legal system.  (Magdalena Pistorius | EURACTIV.fr)

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VIENNA

‘Normal’ life returns to Austria as shops, restaurants open. Austria’s restaurants, hotels and cultural institutions opened their doors for customers on Wednesday after more than half a year of strict lockdown measures in what Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called a “starting point for our fight back to normality”. Read more.

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LUXEMBOURG | EU INSTITUTIONS

EPPO approves two Luxembourg delegates. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) approved on Wednesday (19 May) two Luxembourg prosecutors to work with the European Union’s new fraud-fighting agency inside the Grand Duchy, after long delays in the selection process.

Joining the EPPO are judge Philipp Zangerléa and Claude Eischen, who works for the public prosecutor’s office, according to Tine Hollevoet, a spokeswoman for the institution. Luxembourg had proposed the candidates on Monday and both  the new recruits will start their work in the coming weeks with Gabriel Seixas, the Luxembourg chief delegate to EPPO’s decision-making body, to pursue convictions in their home countries when EPPO investigates crime.  (Anne Damiani | EURACTIV.fr)

 UK AND IRELAND

LONDON 

UK government failed to prepare for pandemic-like situations – report. The government failed to prepare for a situation like the coronavirus pandemic and “lacked detailed contingency plans to manage the unfolding situation”, according to a report published on Wednesday by the National Audit Office (NAO). Read more.

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DUBLIN 

Irish Foreign Minister: We will work with NI to ease Protocol disruption. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he is speaking to the European Commission and DUP leaders about how the Northern Ireland Protocol could be made more acceptable to unionists, RTE News has reported. Read more.

                                                        NORDICS AND BALTICS

HELSINKI

Finland attracts less foreign direct investments than other Nordic, Baltic countries. Finland has been losing its appeal in the eyes of foreign investors compared to other countries in the region, a report published on Wednesday by the OECD shows. Read more.

EUROPE’S SOUTH

ROME

Former Italian PM: EU needs ‘a qualitative leap’ in immigration management. Former Italian prime minister and current leader of the center-left democratic party, Enrico Letta said on a recent visit to Brussels that, “the migratory phenomenon forces us to make a quality leap to the plan that the Commission presented last September, which is struggling to move forward.” More

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MADRID

Morocco shuts off border crossing to Spain amid record migrant influx. Moroccan border guards have sealed off the crossing into Ceuta following days of an abrupt migrant crisis that saw over 8,000 people enter the Spanish enclave.  EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports. Read the full story.

VISEGRAD

BUDAPEST 

Number of Hungary’s government-tied private equity funds increasing. There are at least 43 private equity funds in Hungary that are clearly managed by members of the top government elite, according to data collected by Válasz Online. Read more.

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WARSAW

Temporary COVID hospital at Warsaw stadium suspends operations. The last patient will be discharged from Warsaw’s temporary hospital at the National Stadium on Sunday, said the head of the Polish prime minister’s office, Michał Dworczyk. Read more.

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PRAGUE

Czech foreign minister visits Israel after receiving ‘personal invitation’. Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek will fly to Israel on Thursday (20 May) to meet with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi who sent him “a personal invitation”.  Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Budget proposal conflict in Slovakia could delay aid payments. The Slovak parliament on Monday postponed approval of a budget amendment which would add €3.4 billion to 2021 expenditures due to a split among government parties, threatening an end to support for businesses reeling from pandemic closures. Read more.

NEWS FROM THE BALKANS

TIRANA

Washington bans former Albanian President and family from US entry. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has officially denied a request for entry in to the US by former Albanian president Sali Berisha. Read more.

In other news, almost a quarter of Albanians are at risk of falling into poverty, according to data released by INSTAT. The percentage of people at risk of poverty in 2019 was 23%, a decrease of 0.4% when compared with 2018 and 0.7% when compared with 2017. 

The survey was conducted only for the year 2019 and INSTAT has no data from 2020 at present. The survey took into account the size of household disposable income, how many members are living in each household, and income distribution among the population. It found that around 659,000 people were living below the poverty risk threshold in 2019. Worryingly, 37.1% of the population experience severe material deprivation. (Željko Trkanjec | EURACTIV.hr)

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SOFIA

Tension between Bulgaria and Croatia over Skopje’s EU talks. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has summoned Croatian ambassador to Sofia, Jasna Ognjanovac, for talks after harsh criticism directed at Sofia’s foreign policy by Croatian President Zoran Milanović.  Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romanian PM to finally meet socialist party over RRP. Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu and the opposition socialist party have scheduled a meeting to discuss the national recovery and resilience plan. PSD, the largest opposition party, has for months criticised the lack of transparency in drafting the plan and asked for the programme to be debated in parliament. EU Projects Minister Cristian Ghinea said he presented the plan in several committees of the parliament and he will do it as many times as needed if summoned again. However, the government is still negotiating with the EU Commission on the programme and plans to finish it by the end of the month.  (Bogdan Neagu | EURACTIV.ro)

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ZAGREB

Croatia-BiH talks to amend agreement on enforcement of prison sentences. Croatian Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica announced on Wednesday that he would meet with his BiH’s counterpart early next month to discuss amending the bilateral agreement that regulates enforcement of prison sentences. Read more.

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BELGRADE  

Belgrade’s Torlak Institute’s Sputnik vaccine approved in Russia. Russia’s Gamaleya National Institute for Epidemiology and Microbiology has certified the quality of the vaccine produced in the Torlak Institute for Virology, Vaccines and Sera in Belgrade, and has approved the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in that institute, the Serbian government announced on Wednesday. Read more.

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SKOPJE

IMF: North Macedonia is resisting economic impact of pandemic. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the country is mitigating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic thanks to macroeconomic and financial policies, projecting that the GDP will reach 3.8% this year. Read the IMF statement here.

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PODGORICA 

Montenegro can facilitate debt owed to Chinese Exim Bank. Montenegro can facilitate the loan signed with the Chinese Exim Bank in connection with the construction of the priority section of the highway, President Milo Đukanović said, adding that unnecessary drama is being created around the topic. Read more.

Agenda:

• Germany: First discussion of the three main candidates for chancellor, Baerbock, Laschet and Scholz, on German television WDR
• France: President Emmanuel Macron will meet representatives of the higher education sector for a business meeting Thursday afternoon.
• Spain: Catalonia’s regional parliament begins its debate on the investiture of Catalonia’s new president, pro-independence candidate Pere Aragonès, from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia, ERC)  
• Poland: New regulations on the movement and parking of electric scooters are to come into force.
• Czechia: Parliament’s lower house speaker, Radek Vondráček, will join an online event with ambassadors of EU countries in Czechia to discuss current European topics and share their experiences on economic recovery.
• Slovakia: The statistical office will publish statistics on causes of death for 2021’s first quarter.
• Croatia: Sabor (parliament) continues discussion on the ombudsman’s reports.
• Slovenia: Prime Minister Janez Janša will host the first Slovenian debate in the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
• Italy: The council of ministers will meet to approve a new decree with economic support measures for the COVID-19 crisis. In the afternoon, Prime Minister Draghi is due to illustrate the contents of the decree in a press conference.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Paula Kenny, Josie Le Blond]

Read more with Euractiv

Slovenia PM faces impeachment vote ahead of EU presidency

Less than two months before Slovenia takes over the EU's rotating presidency, conservative Prime Minister Janez Janša is battling fires at home and abroad -- including an impeachment motion.