Latest news with #KajaKallas
BreakingNews.ie
8 hours ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
McGrath defends Kallas over comments about Ireland
Ireland's EU Commissioner doesn't think the vice president of the Commission meant to offend anyone when she commented on neutrality last week. Kaja Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia, said the country's policy lacked understanding of "atrocities, mass deportations, suppression of culture and language". Advertisement Sinn Féin MEP Kathleen Funchion has asked her to apologise for the comments. But Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath thinks what she said was over-interpreted. Mr McGrath said: "I know from my engagement with her that she has a deep affinity for Ireland, there was no malice whatsoever intended in her remarks. "She is a very knowledgeable, very intelligent, very respectful person. She was speaking freely in an open debate in the Parliament, which is something that should be encouraged."
CNA
12 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Europe next week for talks
China will be looking to the EU for support when top diplomat Wang Yi heads to the region next week. This, ahead of the China-EU summit in July. Starting Monday, Mr Wang will travel to Brussels, France and Germany. He will also meet EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, where there could be tough conversations as the bloc has repeatedly expressed concern over what it sees as Beijing's unfair economic practices. Will Denselow reports from Brussels.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
China's top diplomat to visit EU, Germany, France next week
China's top diplomat Wang Yi will head to Europe next week for talks with counterparts from the European Union, Germany and France, Beijing said on Friday as it seeks to shore up fraught ties with the bloc. Beijing has sought to improve relations with Europe as a counterweight to superpower rival United States, though frictions remain over trade and China's close ties with Russia despite its war in Ukraine. China and the European Union will also host a summit next month marking 50 years since Beijing and Brussels established diplomatic ties. Wang's trip will take him to Brussels, France and Germany and last from next Monday to Sunday, Beijing said. "The world is undergoing an accelerated evolution of a century-old change, with unilateralism, protectionism and bullying behaviour becoming rampant," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said -- a thinly-veiled swipe against the United States under President Donald Trump. China's top diplomat will meet with EU counterpart Kaja Kallas at the bloc's headquarters in Brussels for "high-level strategic dialogue", he said. In Germany he will hold talks with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on diplomacy and security -- his first visit since Berlin's new conservative-led government took power in May. China looks forward to "strengthening strategic communication, enhancing pragmatic cooperation, and promoting new developments of the China-Germany comprehensive strategic partnership," Guo said. Ties between Berlin and Beijing, he added, were "injecting certainty, stability, and positive energy into a turbulent world". In France, Wang will meet minister for Europe and foreign affairs Jean-Noel Barrot, who visited China in March. "Foreign Minister Wang Yi will exchange views with the French side on the international situation, China-France ties and China-Europe relations," Guo said. And in Brussels Wang will also hold talks with Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever and Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot, Beijing said. - Trade spat - Ties between Europe and China have strained in recent years as the bloc seeks to get tougher on what it says are unfair economic practices by Beijing and the yawning trade imbalance between them. Last week, the European Union banned Chinese firms from government medical device purchases worth more than five million euros ($5.8 million) in retaliation for limits Beijing places on access to its own market. The latest salvo in trade tensions between the 27-nation bloc and China covered a wide range of healthcare supplies, from surgical masks to X-ray machines, that represent a market worth 150 billion euros ($176 billion) in the EU. In response, China accused the EU of "double standards". Another tricky point has been rare earths. Beijing has since April required licences to export these strategic materials from China, which accounts for more than 60 percent of rare earth mining production and 92 percent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency. The metals are used in a wide variety of products, including electric car batteries, and there has been criticism from industries about the way China's licences have been issued. China has proposed establishing a "green channel" to ease the export of rare earths to the European Union, its commerce ministry said this month. bur-oho/pfc/mtp
Euractiv
17 hours ago
- Business
- Euractiv
FIREPOWER: Nursing NATO hangovers at the EU summit
Take a free trial of Euractiv Pro to get FIREPOWER in your inbox. Good morning and welcome back to Firepower, After going daily this week to keep up with the NATO and EU summits, the newsletter will return to its weekly schedule, delivering what you need to know about European defence policy and spending to your inbox every Friday. The EU summit in Brussels had the feeling of a hungover group brunch after a wild night out. European leaders tended to their throbbing headaches, mortification, and wounded pride while trying to fill in the gaps on exactly what occurred in The Hague. Everyone agreed to 5%, right? They're also checking their credit cards to see just how much they spent during their NATO bender. From what Firepower heard, lots of ideas were tossed around for how the EU can make the financing work: more "flexibility" on budget rules to "Eurobonds" to more defence cash stuffed in the EU's next budget. They didn't find a miracle hangover cure, but know they must make it work somehow. More on the possibilities below. A rich country's world DANES TAKE CHARGE. Copenhagen will take charge of the rotating Council presidency on Tuesday, and from what we've heard, they're putting defence at the top of the agenda. Until 2022, Denmark had an opt-out on EU defence policy, so their embrace of the issue underscores its importance – and the huge shift in thinking Europe has seen over the past few years. That said, the COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS on defence were rather thin on substance even after EU leaders spent nearly three hours discussing the topic in Brussels. Firepower overheard one person quip that the meeting was more of 'a post-NATO therapy session' (perhaps they discussed their daddy issues ). EU leaders come back in October for a progress review of the defence readiness agenda. Until then, watch out for the presentation of the Commission's proposal for the EU's next seven-year budget (the Multiannual Financial Framework, MFF) on 16 July. MORE FINANCING? Now that (almost) all Europeans have committed to the 5% target, it's time to ask how to fund the scale up. Several EU countries raised the idea yesterday of getting more flexibility around the EU's Stability and Growth Pact budget rules. Currently, 16 countries have asked the Commission to activate the national escape clause , allowing them to go beyond their deficit cap and borrow an extra 1.5% of annual GDP for defence over the next four years. Another option batted around in Brussels is repurposing cohesion funds for dual-use 'defence-related' projects (think tech or infrastructure). The idea was raised once again by Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas in a joint letter . That spending, by the way, would now count towards NATO's new accounting that counts spending of up to 1.5% of GDP on defence-related items. DEFENCE BANK COMING UP? The possibility of creating a publicly backed multilateral bank to provide financing to the arms industry has been gaining traction, according to the man pitching the idea. Rob Murray, a former NATO official and current defence industry executive, spoke with Firepower recently about his pitch to create the Defence, Security & Resilience Bank (DSR), which he believes could start 'initial operations' as early as the end of the year. Poland proposed creating a defence bank at a meeting of EU defence ministers in early April, but it's yet to gain enough support to become a reality. WHY A BANK? There have been widespread complaints from defence industry leaders that they've struggled to secure financing for ramping up production and innovation – partly because investors are unsure whether rearmament will remain enough of a long-term priority to justify major outlays. Murray said an institution like the DSR could step in to provide cheaper credit and a long-term perspective to allow industry to increase capacity and invest in innovation. He envisioned launching the bank with €100 billion in capital. Murray declined to say WHICH LEADERS have expressed a willingness to sign up, but said that none of the 'dozens of countries I talked to" appeared uninterested in the project. Europe is a focus, but Murray said it would make sense to involve countries like Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Those countries host important production capacities, and would also bring scale. What matters, he said, is "less about the number but rather about the size of GDP – we need a blend'. RARE EARTH MINERALS are becoming a European defence headache. China dominates global production and processing, and Russia is a major player in other key raw materials. As our data deep dive shows , that puts Europe's grand military ambitions at risk since rare earths are important in components for a huge range of modern military hardware. In April, China turned up the heat by restricting exports of crucial minerals, underscoring the potentially serious strategic vulnerability for defence industry production. Europe has been eyeing deals in Central Asia and Ukraine to secure alternative supplies, but let's be real: there's no quick fix. This is a modern arms race where the weapons are mined and refined, not made On your EU radar HIDDEN SURPRISE. Europe's €500 million plan to boost European ammunition production (ASAP) expires in just a few days, and the final chance for ambassadors to extend comes today. That looks pretty unlikely, even though sources had told Firepower that EU countries informally pledged hundreds of millions to keep it going. A source close to the file said the spirit of ASAP – which has sought to boost production in order to supply Ukraine and replenish arsenals – will be part of the long-term European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) as planned. For now, countries will focus their attention on using large parts of the EU's €150 billion SAFE joint procurement loan scheme specifically to BUY AMMO AND MISSILES FOR UKRAINE, two other sources told Euractiv. SPEAKING OF EDIP. Negotiations over the text of the proposed programme will start on Monday between the Council and Parliament, two sources told Firepower. Ambassadors settled on their preferred text last week while Parliament agreed on their version back in April . OMNIBUS DEADLINE? Parliament President Roberta Metsola said yesterday that MEPs plan to finalise legislation on the Commission's so-called defence omnibus proposal by the end of the year. The omnibus would roll back some existing EU laws on procurement and sustainability in hopes of boosting production, and it contains two legislative proposals as well as a proposed directive that all need to be negotiated with the Parliament and Council.
LeMonde
17 hours ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
EU continues to hesitate on how to pressure Israel
How can pressure be exerted on Israel to halt its military operations in the Gaza Strip and allow humanitarian aid to reach the two million starving inhabitants of the territory? While Israel's swift war against Iran, with the backing of the United States, overshadowed the fate of Palestinians for about 12 days, the issue returned to the agenda on Thursday, June 26, at the European Council summit in Brussels. As has been the case for the past 20 months, Europe remains divided. Not over their assessment of the catastrophic humanitarian situation on the ground, which all deplore, nor over the need for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages as soon as possible. But rather, on the method and degree of political pressure they should use to compel Israel to end its deadly strikes and destruction, and to restore a safe and neutral humanitarian aid distribution system. On May 20, after 11 weeks of humanitarian blockade in the Palestinian enclave, the European Union, for the first time in 18 months of conflict, raised its tone against Israel. A majority of member states, including France, asked EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas to review the Association Agreement between the EU and Israel, to check whether Israel was complying with Article 2 of the treaty, which stipulates that both parties must respect human rights.
