The commitment of Denmark and the Netherlands to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets as soon as the conditions are met is the hottest topic in Europe in recent days. In other news: Bulgaria’s Mariya Gabriel advocates the country’s Schengen accession – and Germany’s Chancellor Scholz defends border controls with Austria due to the migrant crisis.
Germany has welcomed more than a million refugees from Ukraine since the start of the war, according to European Union figures. The newcomers have had to register and apply for temporary protection status, which replaces the need to apply for asylum, as agreed by the EU Council following Russia’s invasion. An old claim, which has recently resurfaced on social media, alleges that Germany has also imposed another requirement: that Ukrainian refugees must report all of their assets and sell their car if its value exceeds 7,500 euros. This is false.
Acting Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez warns People’s Party it’s “not the time” to pressure the king. In other news: The European Commission will shift further Interreg funds to Moldova and Ukraine and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Armenia (EUMA) confirms no observers have been injured in “shooting incident” at the border with Azerbaijan.
The EU pushes for more sustainable travel solutions continent-wide. The plan is to strengthen long-distance and cross-border connections with the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy and funding for railway infrastructure. While the demand for rail travel is high, national operators and startups are competing with “unreasonably low prices” for flights, night trains are experiencing a renaissance and experts are calling for a Europe-wide kerosine tax.
The CEO of Rutronik, a German semiconductor distributor, believes EU subsidies for the sector are missing their mark. The European Public Prosecutor is investigating possible abuses in two EU-funded railway renewal projects in Bulgaria. Spain’s First Vice-President and Acting Economy Minister Nadia Calviño is to be proposed as a candidate to chair the European Investment Bank (EIB).