European Union

Thursday 22 May

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Thursday 22 May

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In today’s edition of The Capitals, read about Denmark discovering suspicious components in imported green tech, the EU throwing Radio Free Europe a €5.5 million lifeline after Trump’s cuts, and so much more.

Bureaucracy threatens Europe’s economy, social systems, and green transformation. To secure prosperity, freedom, and creativity, the “Stop Bureaucracy” initiative calls for smart, proportionate, and business-friendly rules that empower citizens, support trust, and keep Europe open, competitive, and future-ready.

Czechia is ready to back a 5% of GDP defence target at June’s NATO summit, President Petr Pavel said.

Finland has finished the first 35 km of a 4.5-metre-high border fence with Russia to block migrant crossings through the wilderness, its Border Guard announced Wednesday.

The exact circumstances remain unclear, with both sides offering conflicting accounts.

But with shaky ground beneath it and cracks in the military logic, critics fear it’s more spin than steel.

The British press decried Monday’s ’reset’ as the end of Brexit. So why do pro-EU protests – and Morris dancing – continue?

Norway's Espen Barthe Eide predicts a growing NATO presence in the far north, and discusses expanded NATO defence spending targets.

Keeping the far-right AfD out of key parliamentary posts has gotten harder after their surge in Germany's most recent election.

Sector-specific considerations will be needed to successfully electrify industry, experts say, and Europe’s climate goals will be impossible without them.

The new rules will ensure that the EU will be able to secure the necessary supply of crisis-relevant products and technologies that are otherwise protected by patents.
Committee on Legal Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The new rules will ensure that the EU will be able to secure the necessary supply of crisis-relevant products and technologies that are otherwise protected by patents.
Committee on Legal Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Paris also asks the Commission to set minimum made-in-EU requirements in key clean automotive policies.

The Commission promises action but remains vague on fixed deadlines, instead tying reforms to future Omnibus packages and national cooperation. 

The grant, however, is far from enough to end doubts on the Prague-based broadcaster's future.

The Parliament's president named Italian centre-right Fulvio Martusciello and Giusi Princi, in addition to the three MEPs already publicly identified this week.

Von der Leyen's detractors have a long list of complaints. The outcome of the formal review is sure to trigger further accusations of bias on her part.

Speaking to plenary on Wednesday, Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar highlighted challenges facing the EU, including the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP