Hungarian experts are not convinced by the Azeri electricity “megadeal”.

In today’s news from the Capitals:

Hungarian energy experts are not convinced by the green and safety promises of a new Brussels-backed power cable project with Azerbaijan. Read more

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EU INSTITUTIONS

The European car industry must look to the future, not to the past. Most European car manufacturers have already declared that they will go fully electric by 2035, some of them earlier. The EU’s task is to prepare for this transformation, writes Frans Timmermans.

Frans Timmermans is the vice-president of the European Commission in charge of the Green Deal. Read the opinion edition.

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PARIS

French family doctors urged not to strike during difficult Christmas. French family doctors, some of whom went on strike over low consultation fees in early December, should not continue their strikes during the holiday period, a time when viruses are flourishing, the health minister said on Sunday. Hello François Braun at the Journal du Dimanche. Read more

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VIENNA

Austria’s Nehammer champion of EU border fences. Fences are key to protecting the EU at its borders, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in an interview on Sunday, citing the time when the border fence with Turkey and Greece allowed Greek border authorities to prevent entry of irregular migrants. Read more

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BRUSSELS

NGOs call on Belgium to speak out against new pesticide assessments. Several NGOs are calling on Belgium not to go along with most member states who are likely to ask the European Commission to carry out an additional impact assessment on the EU’s pesticide reduction targets at a Council summit on Monday. Read more

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THE HAGUE

Dutch military aid to Ukraine almost tips 1 billion euros. The Netherlands has provided Ukraine with 987 million euros in military aid, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren told the Dutch parliament in a letter on Friday. Read more

UK and IRELAND

LONDON

At the Riga summit, Sunak called for increased lethal aid to Ukraine. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet his Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts at the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit in the Latvian capital Riga on Monday before heading to Estonia to meet with British and NATO troops, the government said. Read more

NORDIC AND BALTIC

HELSINKI

Hydrogen infrastructure projects were launched to connect Finland and Central Europe. State-owned company and transmission system operator Gasgrid Finland signed a project agreement on Friday to develop a new part of the regional hydrogen infrastructure network. Read more

THE SOUTH OF EUROPE

ATHENS

Moscow warns Athens about sending S-300 missile system to Ukraine. Russia’s permanent representative in Crimea, Georgy Muratov, warned Greece against transferring Russia’s S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine, saying it would be an “irrational show of hostility towards Russia”. Read more

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LISBON

Portugal: One in seven babies born to foreign mothers in 2021. Of the almost 80,000 babies born in 2021 in Portugal, more than 10,000 or around 14% have foreign mothers, according to a survey published on Sunday by Pordata. Read more

VISEGRAD

PRAGUE

The Czech presidency of the EU will propose a compromise with the gas price limit of 188 euros. The Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU wants energy ministers from across the Union to agree on a gas cap of 188 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) in Brussels on Monday. Read more

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WARSAW

The Polish opposition notifies the prosecution of irregularities in the fusion of state fuel. The public prosecutor’s office has been notified of significant inaccuracies in the recent merger between fuel company Lotos and PKN Orlen, the largest fuel company in Central and Eastern Europe that is also mostly state-owned, representatives of the parliamentary opposition announced during a press conference Read more

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The Polish ruling camp says it predicted the war in Ukraine and accuses the opposition of sabotage. The ruling PiS party claims it knew war would break out in Ukraine, while the opposition, which appears to have been partly “committed” to the Kremlin’s plan, went so far as to take steps to sabotage the country’s preparations for a possible Russian attack . Read more

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BRATISLAVA

EU lawmakers in Slovakia’s mission point to concerns about the LGBTQ and Roma situation. A monitoring delegation from the EU Parliament expressed concern about the situation of equal rights in Slovakia regarding the LGBTQI+ and Roma communities and called on the government to step up its efforts to recognize their rights. Read more

NEWS FROM THE BALKANS

SOFIA

Bulgaria launches investigation into pro-Russian paramilitaries. Prosecutors in Sofia ordered the country’s counterintelligence agency to launch an investigation into the activities of an alleged pro-Russian paramilitary organization following a tip that the organization had committed crimes against the republic. Read more

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LJUBLJANA

Slovenian companies benefit from the energy aid scheme. Businesses will be entitled to aid to combat high energy prices under a 1.2 billion euro plan, which, although the National Assembly approved on Friday, is seen by some as too little too late. Read more

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PRISTINA

Kosovo approves an energy strategy focused on renewables. The Government of Kosovo has approved the draft Energy Strategy 2022-2031 to enable the energy sector to serve as a tool for the country’s economic growth and increase opportunities for businesses and youth employment. Read more

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TYRANNY

The Albanian Prime Minister denounces the criminal rhetoric used against the Albanian diaspora. Prime Minister Edi Rama has spoken out about the prejudice Albanians face and the stereotype that they are all criminals, following months of negative rhetoric from the UK after the number of people crossing the Channel in boats to seek asylum increased. Read more

AGENDA

• USA: The Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in its energy composition talks about the reduction of methane emissions, the acceleration of the deployment of renewable energies and much more; The Czech Presidency presents a progress report on the gas package;
• Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis participates in the 2nd EU-Vietnam Trade Committee;
• The Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, and the Commissioner for the Interior and Ylva Johansson, participate in a meeting of the European Association for Integration with European economic and social partners, on the integration of migrants and refugees in the labor market;
• The commissioner of Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, participates in the meeting with the presidents of the agricultural committees of the Visegrád Group;
• The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, on an official visit to Jordan, participates in the Baghdad Conference and holds bilateral meetings on the sidelines;
• The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, holds meetings with the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, the Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the President of the Romanian Senate Alina Gorghiu and the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania Marcel Ciolacu; Addresses a joint session of the Romanian Parliament;

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Vlad Makszimov, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson, Sofia Mandilara]