Hello and welcome to Monday – I’m Mared Gwyn, bringing you this newsletter from Brussels.
European Council chief António Costa kicks off his one-week tour of the Western Balkans in Bosnia & Herzegovina’s capital of Sarajevo this morning, before traveling through six countries and concluding with the EU-Western Balkan Summit in Tivat, Montenegro on Friday.
Officials close to Costa say the whistle-stop tour demonstrates the “priority and importance” he attaches to the region, and the way he sees the countries’ accession to the EU as a “necessity for Europe and investment in the security and stability of the continent”.
All of the six countries bar Kosovo are official candidates to join the bloc – Pristina is currently recognised as a “potential” candidate – with Montenegro leading the pack and tipped by some to integrate fully into the EU by the end of this year.
It makes the setting of Friday’s summit – which will be attended by the majority of EU leaders and all of the six Western Balkan leaders – particularly symbolic.
Some of these countries have been in the EU’s waiting room for as long as two decades, during which a period of relative geopolitical calm saw enlargement become a dormant issue. It means Montenegro’s imminent accession is a potentially landmark moment for the wider region’s European aspirations.
As one senior EU official put it: “There is an opportunity and momentum, and we believe both the EU and the region should seize it.”
Speaking to our flagship morning show earlier this morning, former European Commission Vice-President, Věra Jourová, said: “I see that we need them to join more than they need Europe. This is obvious, that we need to have courage to grow. We are under big pressure from outside.”
But while this week’s focus is squarely on the Western Balkans, the enlargement debate is arguably being defined further east, in Ukraine. As President Zelenskyy continues to push for a fast track into the arms of the European Union as a key post-war security guarantee, officials in Brussels are being forced to rethink how enlargement works – with no success so far.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was the latest to pitch a solution: an “associate” EU member status for Ukraine which would allow it to participate in EU talks without a vote. The proposal has been dismissed by diplomats and scathingly criticised by Kyiv.
Despite Brussels publicly insisting that the established, merits-based process for accession still holds, in private they acknowledge that any bending of the rules for Ukraine would inevitably apply to all candidate countries, including the Western Balkans.
Meanwhile, Romania is still reeling from the Russian drone which hit a civilian building on Thursday.
Over the weekend, Romania’s President Nicușor Dan published what he said was photographic evidence demonstrating that the drone which hit a residential building in the town of Galati last Thursday was a Russian Geran-2 drone, showing that Moscow is “solely responsible”.
Speaking live from Romania on Europe Today, our flagship morning show, earlier this morning, Mircea Geoană, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO and former Romanian Foreign Minister, said that the “shock” is “still here with us”, calling for better “prioritisation” when procuring the drone and anti-drone technology needed to protect Romanian and European skies.
Also over the weekend: The US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth hit out once again at European NATO allies, in a speech in Singapore in which he praised the US’s Asian allies.
“When our interests align, we act together with focused resolve,” Hegseth said in relation to partners in Asia, adding: “When our interests diverge, we adjust pragmatically without the drama or the moralising. I think Western Europe might take note.”
The speech came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s visit to China, and was notably more paired down than Hegseth’s same speech last year in which he described Beijing as an “imminent threat” to Taiwan. Instead, Hegseth spoke of a “genuinely stable equilibrium” and “favourable balance of power” in the Pacific.
It also came as the US continued to target Iran with strikes, according to US Central Command, amid reports US President Donald Trump is mulling tightening a framework peace deal under negotiation with Tehran. More.
Israel has also seized a strategic Crusader-era castle in what is its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years, prompting a fierce rebuke from France, which has called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
Also today: the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas will meet Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar in Islamabad. Ishaq Dar is just back from Washington where he held talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Pakistan is leading efforts to mediate the conflict between Iran and the US.
French police detain hundreds in Paris after violent celebrations of PSG’s Champions League title
French authorities say police have questioned hundreds of people and detained 457 following violence that disrupted celebrations late Saturday of Paris Saint-Germain’s (PSG) second Champions League title win, and a group tried to storm a police station in the French capital.
The arrests came after thousands of fans poured onto the streets and began celebrating across the country following the final whistle earlier in the evening in Budapest, Hungary, where top French side PSG won by beating Arsenal on penalties in a dramatic final.
According to the French interior ministry, some 416 persons were arrested nationally, including 283 in the French capital, Paris, alone, home to the champions PSG.
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, denounced the violent scenes as “unacceptable” when he received the winning PSG team in Paris on Sunday, according to media reports.
Read more.
More from our newsrooms
Malta’s Labour party wins historic fourth term in snap general election. Malta’s Labour Party secured an unprecedented fourth consecutive term on Sunday in a victory for outgoing Prime Minister Robert Abela, who had called an early election amid growing geopolitical uncertainty. More.
US launches weekend strikes on Iran as Trump reportedly tightens framework of draft deal. The United States conducted several strikes on Iranian military sites over the weekend, according to US Central Command, as details on a draft peace deal remained increasingly uncertain. Emma De Ruiter has more.
Israel seizes Beaufort castle in Lebanon, Paris issues harsh condemnation. Israel says its troops have captured a strategic hill on which sits the Crusader-built Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, in what is the deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter of a century. France has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in response. More.
We’re also keeping an eye on
- European Commissioner for Defence, Andrius Kubilius, attends the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session in Lithuania.
- The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is in Islamabad, Pakistan, for a bilateral visit and the 8th EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. Press Conference with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, at 9:30 Brussels time.
- European Council President António Costa kicks off his week-long tour of the Western Balkans in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
That’s it from us today. We’ll be back tomorrow.
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