Meanwhile. we seems to have a late addition to our opening debate on whether (and how) the EU should engage with Russia on Ukraine, with former German chancellor, Angela Merkel, saying the bloc is “not making sufficient use of its diplomatic potential.”
Merkel said she finds it “absolutely right” to support Ukraine militarily. speaking to public broadcaster WDR at the Re:Publica digital conference in Berlin, AFP reported.
But she added that “diplomacy has always been the other side of the coin, even during the cold war”.
double quotation mark Military deterrence plus diplomatic activity – that’s what I think is important.
Merkel said she considers it “insufficient” if only Trump maintains contact with Russia. saying that “we are also someone, as Europeans”.
“Underestimating [Russian president Vladimir] Putin would be a mistake, even now. And not having any confidence in ourselves would be just as much of a mistake. ”
AFP noted that Merkel, who served as Germany’s chancellor from 2005 to 2021, has since been criticised for being too soft on Russia. making Germany dependent on cheap Russian energy sales for years.
… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union was “not making sufficient use of its diplomatic potential,” as she supported the bloc’smilitary support for Ukraine, but suggested Europe should not cede the peace talks to US president Donald Trump. get involved diplomatically ( 18:09 ).
Her comments come after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested last night that the time has come for Europe to pick its preferred negotiator for eventual peace talks with Russia ( 9:52. 11:32 ).
The discussion comes as experts point to Ukraine’s progress in the fight against Russia. with Moscow unable to advance significantly in recent weeks ( 11:10 ).
Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the US position on Greenland has not changed after meeting with Donald Trump’s envoy to the island. Jeff Landry ( 16:54 ).
Poland has urged the US to provide clarity on its force posture in Europe amid confusion over its decision to cancel deployment of 4,000 US troops to Poland ( 14:03. 16:10 ).
The hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius has arrived at the Port of Rotterdam, where it will be disinfected. its crew members will go into quarantine ( 10:00, 10:32 ).
Latvian opposition leader Andris Kulbergs has been designated to try form a new government after Evika Siliņa’s resignation last week after a recent drone incursion incident ( 13:28 ).
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Meanwhile. we seems to have a late addition to our opening debate on whether (and how) the EU should engage with Russia on Ukraine, with former German chancellor, Angela Merkel, saying the bloc is “not making sufficient use of its diplomatic potential.”
Merkel said she finds it “absolutely right” to support Ukraine militarily. speaking to public broadcaster WDR at the Re:Publica digital conference in Berlin, AFP reported.
But she added that “diplomacy has always been the other side of the coin, even during the cold war”.
double quotation mark Military deterrence plus diplomatic activity – that’s what I think is important.
Merkel said she considers it “insufficient” if only Trump maintains contact with Russia. saying that “we are also someone, as Europeans”.
“Underestimating [Russian president Vladimir] Putin would be a mistake, even now. And not having any confidence in ourselves would be just as much of a mistake. ”
AFP noted that Merkel, who served as Germany’s chancellor from 2005 to 2021, has since been criticised for being too soft on Russia. making Germany dependent on cheap Russian energy sales for years.
Meanwhile. the Hungarian prime minister, Péter Magyar, said his government will start another round of talks on releasing suspended EU funds on Monday.
Magyar said he was still hoping to sign off on a political agreement about the reforms next week. getting the funds to flow by autumn.
Before then, he will be in Poland tomorrow on what will be his first foreign trip in the office, before travelling to Vienna later this week,. going to Brussels next week.
While in Poland, he will meet with Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk. president Karol Nawrocki, and former president and Nobel Peace prize winner, Lech Wałęsa.
He will be joined by up to seven ministers from his cabinet in what is expected to be a show of renewed Polish-Hungarian cooperation after years of tricky relations under Viktor Orbán.
As we reported last month, Warsaw is helping Budapest officials behind the scenes, advising how to move quickly. get frozen EU money flowing again.
A 93-year-old Belgian former diplomat who in March year became the first person to be charged in the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba has died before he could stand trial.
The death of Étienne Davignon, an aristocrat who served as a European commissioner during a decades-long career as one of Belgium’s leading diplomats. industrialists, was confirmed by the Jacques Delors Institute thinktank, where he had served on the board.
In March. Davignon was ordered to stand trial for war crimes for alleged involvement in the extra-judicial killing of Lumumba 65 years ago, a final attempt to shed light on one of the 20th century’s most consequential political assassinations.
Lumumba, who was elected the first prime minister of the country now called the Democratic Republic of Congo upon its independence from Belgium in 1960, was ousted from power months later. killed by Belgian-backed secessionist rebels on 16 January 1961.
The murder was a dark chapter in Belgium’s colonial history. a watershed for the era’s liberation struggles in African countries.
Prosecutors said Davignon, a junior diplomat at the time, had participated in the unlawful detention or transfer of Lumumba. deprived him of his right to an impartial trial.
Davignon was also accused of involvement in the murders of two of Lumumba’s political allies, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. He had denied any wrongdoing. at the time of his death was awaiting the outcome of an appeal against the Belgian court’s decision to order him to stand trial.
Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the US position on Greenland has not changed after meeting with Donald Trump’s envoy to the island. Jeff Landry.
Nielsen said the meeting was “constructive,”. proved that there was “no sign … that anything has changed” in the US plans to control the territory, AFP noted.
“We clearly reiterated that the people of Greenland are not for sale and that Greenlanders have the right to self-determination. This is not a subject for negotiation,” Nielsen stressed.
Greenland’s foreign minister, Múte B. Egede. also told reporters after the meeting that the US has not given up on its aims to acquire the territory.
“ We have our red line. The Americans’ starting point has not changed either,” Egede said.
In further comments reported by the Danish public broadcaster, DK, Nielsen said the meetings with the US will continue, but any closer cooperation would require the US to respect Greenland’s red lines. sovereignty first.
Landry. the governor of the US state of Louisiana, arrived in Iceland last night to attend the “Future Greenland” business conference. Reuters noted that he was not specifically invited, but the event was open for anyone to sign up.
Meanwhile. Poland continues to probe what happened with the cancelled deployment of 4,000 US troops to the country, which was pulled last week ( 14:03 ).
Well. for their part, the US insists it was not at all unexpected, despite the clear surprise of the Polish leaders.
Polish radio station RMF FM pressed the US on the matter. reported the following answer from the acting Pentagon press secretary, Joel Valdez.
“The decision to withdraw troops follows a comprehensive, multilayered process that incorporates perspectives from key leaders in EUCOM. across the chain of command. This was not an unexpected, last minute decision, and it would be false to report it as such. ”
In other news, a court in Madrid has ordered Spain’s tax authority to pay Shakira back more than €55m after ruling that it had wrongly imposed huge fines on the Colombian singer. philanthropist because it had made mistakes over her tax status.
In a statement released on Monday. the Audiencia Nacional said it had accepted an appeal from Shakira against the fine she was handed five years ago after the Agencia Tributaria claimed she had not paid the necessary tax in Spain in 2011. At that time, the singer was in a relationship with the FC Barcelona player Gerard Piqué.
The court said the agency had failed to prove that Shakira had spent more than 183 days in Spain that year. which would have obliged her to pay personal income tax in the country.
“On the contrary, t he court understands that Shakira’s stay in our country was 163 days. that the tax agency has therefore not proved that the singer had core economic interests in Spain … as set out in the terms established [by law],” the statement said.
The court ordered the tax agency to return the amounts it had fined Shakir a. to pay her interest and costs.
However. it also pointed out that its decision – which can be appealed against in the supreme court – related only to the 2011 tax case.
In November 2023, the singer reached a settlement with prosecutors to avoid a trial in Barcelona over charges she had failed to pay €14.5m (£12.7m) in Spanish income tax between 2012. 2014.
As part of the deal, she accepted the charges. a fine of 50% of the amount owed, more than €7.3m. She also accepted a further fine of €438,000 to avoid a three-year prison sentence. Shakira had previously accused Spain’s tax agency of waging “a salacious press campaign” against her and insisted she owed nothing.
In a statement issued by her lawyer after Monday’s decision. she said the court had recognised that no fraud had been committed in 2011.
“After more than eight years of enduring a brutal public shaming, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation,. countless sleepless nights that ended up affecting my health and the wellbeing of my family, the Audiencia Nacional has finally set things right,” she added.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has condemned nuclear weapons drills in Belarus. saying that deployment of tactical weapons in the country constituted an “unprecedented challenge” to global security.
“By turning Belarus into its nuclear staging ground near Nato borders, the Kremlin is de facto legitimising the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide. setting a dangerous precedent for other authoritarian regimes,” the ministry said in a statement.
Kyiv also urged its Western allies to tighten sanctions against Moscow. Minsk: “Such actions must face unequivocal and resolute condemnation from all states that respect the nuclear non-proliferation regime.”
Back to Ukraine, it looks like there is a political will in Kyiv. Budapest to resolve their longstanding differences on the rights of Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian minority, which continues to pose an issue for any potential EU accession talks.
The countries’s foreign ministers issued encouraging statements today. saying they will start discussions to find a way forward, as they want to make the most of the momentum that comes with the new Hungarian government of Péter Magyar.
The previous prime minister, Viktor Orbán, repeatedly clashed with Ukraine, using it instrumentally in his failed re-election campaign. vocally opposed its plans to join the EU in the future.
AP helpfully reminds that Ukraine passed a law in 2017 that made Ukrainian the required language of study past the fifth grade, angering minorities. their home countries in the region. It was later suspended in 2023.
But Hungary’s foreign minister. deputy prime minister, Anita Orbán (no link with Viktor), said the talks between the two countries “can begin as early as tomorrow” after the latest political discussions as both sides appointed their negotiators to look into resolving these tensions.
“I trust that the dialogue will be constructive. productive, and that the negotiations will soon bring tangible progress for the Hungarian community in [Zakarpattia region],” she said.
Ukraine’s Andrii Sybiha struck a similarly hopeful tone. saying Ukraine “is ready to open a new, mutually beneficial chapter in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations without delay.”
“We agreed to hold a round of Hungarian – Ukrainian expert-level consultations as early as this week to find practical. robust solutions for the Hungarian minority in the Zakarpattia region, which will benefit both countries and our bilateral relations,” he said.
Meanwhile. Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk said that “the task of all of us without exception is to ensure that transatlantic cooperation, despite political differences, survives this difficult time.”
His comments come amid confusion over the US decision to cancel deployment of 4,000 US troops to Poland as part of a broader reshuffle in its military presence in Europe. which prompted fears over decreased US involvement in the region ( Europe Live, Friday ).
Speaking at a ceremony marking a new contract between Poland. US military manufacturers, Tusk said that “transatlantic unity is not only a guarantee of security and peace here, on Polish soil, but it is also a guarantee of the international order, increasingly exposed to various risks, which protests our globe from a global conflict.”
“The task of all of us. here in Poland, Europe, on the other side of the Atlantic in the US, in Canada … the task of all of us – without exception – is to ensure that, regardless of various political variables, transatlantic cooperation survives this difficult period. ”
Tusk warned that “there is no alternative to Polish-American. European-American friendship,” as he hailed Poland’s high defence spending, including on contracts with US companies.
But he said that Poland “will always expect the same as what we present to our closest allies: respect. predictability.”
Responding to the planned adjustments to US security strategy, he said:
“It is not Poland’s role to review [other country’s] new strategies or a different approach of diplomacy,. our role is to remind you that you have a friend here. You have only friends here on the Vistula, you have the most loyal ally. It is worth remembering this, because America will find no better ally anywhere. ”
Poland’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, went even further, stressing the Polish-American links,. also the need for “an honest conversation” between allies about the potential consequences of the US changes for Poland.
“We understand that a reorganisation of the presence of American troops in Europe is taking place,. this reorganisation cannot take place at the expense of the United States’ largest ally in Europe, Poland, ” he said.
“ It is difficult to be surprised by those whom we trust the most … I believe that all misunderstandings. or media noise [about deployments], will be explained in the coming days,” he said.
Over in Latvia. opposition leader Andris Kulbergs has been designated to try form a new government after Evika Siliņa’s resignation last week after a drone incursion incident.
Kulbergs was tapped by the country’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, during the pair’s meeting on Saturday,. given 10 days to form a new cabinet.
On Monday. Kulbergs told Latvian media he was looking at picking non-political appointees for key jobs in a bid to form a technical interim government.
The new government will still need to be approved by the parliament,. would only lead the country until the parliamentary election in October.
Discussion
Sign in to join the thread, react, and share images.