Saturday

1st Apr 2023

Agenda

China and Hungary on the spot This WEEK

  • European Council president Charles Michel, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese president Xi Jinping talk via a video link at a summit during the Covid-19 pandemic (Photo: Council of the European Union)
Listen to article

Top EU officials are scrambling to make sure China won't support Russian president Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine.

An EU summit with China on Friday (1 April) will see the issue tackled via videoconference as war rages on in Ukraine.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Both European Council president Charles Michel and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are expected to warn Chinese president Xi Jinping not to undermine EU sanctions against Russia or send it military support.

Similar warnings were issued at a recent EU summit in Brussels by Finland's prime minister Sanna Marin.

"If China helps Russia, then the sanctions will not work as we want," she said, adding that the EU needs to make sure that "they are on the right side of history".

With millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine and many more expected, the EU is also seeking to better coordinate their arrivals and reception.

The task will be discussed on Monday (28 March) among EU home affairs ministers in Brussels. Their immediate focus will be on Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, which all share a border with Ukraine.

Ministers are also set to discuss where refugees settle among EU states, as well as how to better assistMoldova, a country that is not in the EU but also straddles Ukraine

Earlier this month, the EU triggered a temporary protection scheme that provides residency and other rights to Ukrainian refugees throughout the member states up until next March, alleviating pressure on national asylum systems.

The scheme has been heralded as a joint display of rare solidarity among the EU states. But it also stands in sharp contrast to the poor and sometimes abusive treatment handed out to refugees fleeing wars and persecution in other regions of the world, including the Middle East, Central Asia or Africa.

Also on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is set to brief European lawmakers on the foreign affairs committee on the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its consequences for Europe's security.

A delegation of MEPs from the foreign affairs and defence committee are planning to travel to Moldova in the second half of next week to assess the security situation and the influx of refugees.

The gender equality committee on Tuesday (29 March) is expected to hear from home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson on the situation of women refugees fleeing Ukraine.

The first package on circular economy, including policy initiatives on sustainable products, is scheduled to be published by the EU commission on Wednesday

Hungarian election

On Sunday (3 April), Hungarians will go to the ballot boxes in a high stakes general election. Prime minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power since 2010, and will face a united opposition for the first time.

The election will be overseen by a full-fledged election observation mission of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), as persistent issues over media freedom and democratic backsliding have raised concerns over the fairness of the election.

Hungarian election will need scrutiny 'at all levels'

The move came after 20 civil society organisations and think tanks, 62 MEPs from 19 countries, and five different political groups wrote separate letters demanding a fully-fledged election observation mission to Hungary.

EU summit zooms in on global roles This WEEK

Competitiveness is expected be on the top of the agenda of EU leaders after the EU Commission last week rolled out a series of proposals to boost the bloc's capacity in green tech.

Exclusive

Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal

The European Commission has 25 documents, including emails, in its possession that contains "information about potential crimes" involving aid agency staff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. EUobserver received a partial disclosure of the documents.

Opinion

Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?

More than 50 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, large parts of its transport network and industrial capacity, around 150,000 residential buildings damaged or destroyed. The bill is between €378bn to €919bn.

Latest News

  1. EU to press South Korea on arming Ukraine
  2. Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal
  3. Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?
  4. EU sending anti-coup mission to Moldova in May
  5. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  6. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  7. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  8. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains
  2. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  3. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us