European Union

The French government spokesman announced this morning (July 22) that "investigations have been launched" after the revelations of "Project Pegasus" which claim that one of Emmanuel Macron's phone numbers was spied on by Morocco.

President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, is travelling to Cyprus and Greece for a series of bilateral meetings and speaking engagements.

Britain's supermarkets, wholesalers and hauliers were struggling on Thursday (22 July) to ensure stable food and fuel supplies after an official health app told hundreds of thousands of workers to isolate after contact with someone with COVID-19.

EURACTIV republishes the latest blogpost by EU Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell who takes stock from his participation to the Central-South Asia Connectivity Conference held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, on 15-16 July.

Russia said Thursday (22 July) it had filed a complaint against Ukraine with the European Court of Human Rights, blaming Kyiv for the 2014 crash of a Malaysian airliner and civilian deaths in Russia and Ukraine.

China rejected on Thursday (22 July) a World Health Organization (WHO) plan for a second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health...

EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý was in Italy this week (20-21 July) for high-level talks with Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini, Chief of Defence General Enzo Vecciarelli as well as several high officials from the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs. He also met with senior representatives of the Italian defence industry. The trip to Rome was part of Mr Šedivý’s ‘tour des capitales’ that will see him visiting all EDA Member States (last week he was in Greece).  

Discussions with Minister Guerini on Tuesday (20 July) particularly focused on Italy’s strong involvement in EDA’s current and future activities (the country participates in more than 50 Agency projects and programmes), the follow-up on the conclusions and recommendations of the first Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) presented last November, the state of play in the PESCO implementation and the preparation of the next round of new project proposals (Italy currently participates in 24 PESCO projects of which it leads nine, two in the maritime domain including the European Patrol Corvette one) as well as the set-up and functioning of the new European Defence Fund (EDF). 

“I am particularly grateful for Italy’s very active involvement in the Agency’s work and for its strong commitment to EU defence cooperation in general, as it is also reflected in the high number of PESCO projects in which it participates or even coordinates. I can only encourage the Italian authorities to pursue with their leading role and further contribute to making use of the many cooperation opportunities that were identified in last year’s first Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), especially in the maritime focus area where Italy has proven leadership expertise”, Mr Šedivý commented. 

Mr Šedivý had also talks with the Military advisor to Prime Minister Mario Draghi, General Luigi de Leverano, Defence Policy and Capability Director General Giovanni M. Iannucci, Secretary General of Defence and National Armaments Director Nicolò Falsaperna, Deputy Secretary General of Defence Admiral Dario Giacomin, R&T Director Luisa Riccardi, EDA Central PoC and Director for industrial policy and international relations General Fortunato Di Marzio, Director General for Political and Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Pasquale Ferrara, and the Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Dr. Nathalie Tocci. 

Among the industry representatives met by Mr Šedivý were Alessandro Profumo (CEO Leonardo), Giuseppe Giordo (General Manager Naval Vessels Division, Fincantieri), Enzo Benigni (Elettronica) and Carlo Festucci (Secretary General, AIAD, Federation of Italian Companies for Aerospace, Defence and Security).  

Berlin and Washington have settled their dispute over Nord Stream 2. The US will withdraw all sanctions in connection with the gas pipeline in return for Germany agreeing to support green energy projects that will make Ukraine less dependent on Russian gas. What does the deal mean for Berlin, Washington and the Eastern European states?

The new report on the rule of law in the EU once again focuses on Poland and Hungary: the EU Commission criticises cronyism in the distribution of EU funds in Hungary, restricted press freedom and discrimination against minorities. Poland has also been given an ultimatum to correct two court decisions that ignore ECJ rulings.

Norway is commemorating the victims of the attack on 22 July 2011 today. The right-wing extremist Anders Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in the government district of Oslo and then shot 69 people on the island of Utøya, most of them youths at a Norwegian Labour Party Youth summer camp. Breivik was sentenced in 2012 to 21 years in prison followed by preventive detention.