Politico EU

COPENHAGEN — The EU’s age-old problem of choosing to talk about a crisis instead of resolving it came back to haunt it on Wednesday. Even with Europe assailed by drones, warplanes and hybrid attacks, a summit descended into familiar stalemate.

Leaders spoke a lot: The scheduled two hours on “defense” ended up taking twice that time. But that was not indicative of a breakthrough. To the Danish hosts’ surprise, all the assembled presidents and prime ministers wanted to have a say, and many moved beyond their prepared statements, according to three officials briefed on the behind-closed-doors discussion.

The reality of the summit room, in the serene surroundings of Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace, a castle that can trace its roots to 1167, was in stark contrast to the increasingly urgent tone of Europe’s leadership.

“We are in a confrontation with Russia,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters. For Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo it’s close to “a hybrid war.” EU foreig..

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Drohnen über dem Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, über Kiel und auch über Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Ausgespäht wurden mutmaßlich eine Marinewerft, ein Kraftwerk, Gebäude der Landesregierung von Schleswig-Holstein und weitere kritische Infrastruktur. Land und Bund haben den Vorgang tagelang unter der Decke gehalten. Matthias Gebauer vom SPIEGEL erklärt im Gespräch mit Rixa Fürsen, was genau vorgefallen ist – und warum Land und Bund selbst überrascht waren, dass es Tage gedauert hat, bis die Ereignisse öffentlich wurden. Außerdem geht es um die Reaktionen auf das Eindringen und die Mutmaßungen, welche Daten die Drohnen gesammelt haben könnten.

Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig.

Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis:
Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt koste..

Beijing shattered a fragile trade truce with Washington this week, announcing sweeping restrictions on exports that contain even trace amounts of Chinese rare earth.

An irate President Donald Trump is threatening to retaliate with 100 percent tariffs and new restrictions on exports of critical software — and said there’s “no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month.

The rupture marks the sharpest escalation in tensions between Washington and Beijing since the two countries slapped triple-digit tariffs on each other this spring and threatens to derail months of quiet efforts to stabilize the relationship. It also underscores how delicate the two sides’ uneasy economic peace has been and raises fresh doubts about whether Trump, operating with a hollowed-out national security team and a fragmented China strategy, is prepared for Beijing’s latest power play.

It’s also the clearest test yet of Trump’s ability to translate his transactional approach to trade into a ..

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the conflict in Gaza is “very close” and suggested that he may travel to the region this weekend.

“Our final negotiation, as you know, is with Hamas. And it seems to be going well,” Trump said during a White House roundtable.

“I may go there some time toward the end of the week,” he said, noting that travel plans were still in flux and that he could depart late Saturday or early Sunday. “We’ll see, but there’s a very good chance that negotiations are going along very well.”

The comments came shortly after Trump’s lead negotiators, special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, wrapped up their first day of talks in Egypt with the two parties and other Arab partners.

The talks in the Red Sea town of Sharm El-Sheikh got underway on Monday after Hamas responded largely positively to the 20-point Gaza peace plan Trump unveiled last week after getting Israeli Prime Minister Benj..

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Hoffnung im Nahen Osten – und Realismus in Berlin: Außenminister Wadephul reist nach Katar, Kuwait und Israel, um Deutschlands Rolle beim Gaza-Friedensplan von Donald Trump zu definieren. Parallel telefoniert Friedrich Merz erstmals seit Wochen wieder mit Benjamin Netanjahu. Gordon Repinski spricht mit Hans von der Burchard über die aktuellen Fortschritte, die Fallstricke und die Rolle Deutschlands auf dem Weg in Richtung Ende des Gaza-Kriegs.

Aber wie groß ist der deutsche Einfluss wirklich? Norbert Röttgen sagt im 200-Sekunden-Interview: „Wir sind in Wahrheit politisch abgemeldet – das ist die Folge jahrelanger Fehlentscheidungen.“

In der Innenpolitik geht es um Wachstum: Katherina Reiche legt eine leicht verbesserte Herbstprognose vor, doch die große Wirtschaftswende bleibt aus. Rasmus Buchsteiner erklärt, warum 0,2 Prozent Aufschwung kaum reichen – und warum die Koalition beim Autogipfel in dieser Woche liefern mus..

PRAGUE — Right-wing populist Andrej Babiš and his ANO movement won the Czech parliamentary elections by a large margin, but his path to the premiership is anything but straightforward.

With 99.9 percent of the ballots counted, ANO had a decisive lead with 35 percent, well ahead of Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s center-right governing coalition, Spolu (Together), which had 23 percent. ANO’s tally is the highest percentage ever achieved by a single party in a Czech parliamentary election.

POLITICO brings you five key takeaways from the pivotal election.

1. Forming a government could take months

ANO failed to secure a majority in the 200-seat lower house, which means Babiš will need parliamentary support to form a government. That could be a drawn-out process, as all the mainstream parties have ruled out cooperating with Babiš.

“The negotiations won’t be simple at all, and they won’t be quick either. I really think that forming the government could take quite some time. It might drag on..

UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump promised Arab leaders during a meeting Tuesday that he would not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank, according to six people familiar with the discussion.

Two of those people said Trump was firm on the topic and that the president promised that Israel would not be allowed to absorb the West Bank, which is governed by the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas.

Another one of the people familiar with the talks noted that, despite Trump’s assurance, a ceasefire to end Israel’s nearly two-year war against Hamas was nowhere close to fruition. Two others familiar with the matter said Trump and his team presented a white paper outlining the administration’s plan to end the war, including the annexation promise and other details such as governance and postwar security.

Trump told reporters ahead of his sit-down with eight Arab countries at the United Nations headquarters that it was his “most important” of the day, but h..

UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump is not happy with some top U.S. allies’ decision to recognize a Palestinian state at this week’s U.N. General Assembly, and rebuked them in New York for what he described as a “reward” for acts of terrorism by Hamas.

But the administration is not yet matching that rhetoric with action, seemingly freeing allies to deliver a symbolic rebuke of Israel without risk of punishment from the United States.

Top officials in both the United Kingdom and Canada told POLITICO there was scant private pushback from the Trump administration on those countries for embracing Palestinian statehood. In Britain, Trump’s restrained public comments over the summer on the prospect of diplomatic recognition even helped solidify Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plans to move ahead, according to one senior U.K. official. (“I don’t mind him taking a position,” Trump said of Starmer in July.)

Trump officials have responded to the coordinated recognition of Palestine by Brita..

NEW YORK CITY — President Donald Trump blasted the United Nations in his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, complaining about deficiencies inside the organization’s headquarters and asserting that he was singlehandedly engaging in peacemaking efforts because the UN hadn’t done enough.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump asked. “It’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”

In a speech that meandered from complaints about losing out on a contract to renovate the headquarters to recounting what he saw as his foreign policy successes, the president painted a picture of the UN as an outdated, ineffective organization and said he’s worked to end “seven wars” without any help.

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Gut einen Monat nach seinem erneuten Nein zu Steuererhöhungen öffnet Friedrich Merz die Tür einen Spalt. Die Einkommensteuer bleibt tabu, aber die Erbschaftssteuer rückt ins Zentrum. Ein mögliches Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts könnte Milliarden freisetzen und Union wie SPD in eine Richtung, aber auch in einen Streit treiben.

Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht die SPD-Ministerpräsidentin von Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Manuela Schwesig, über Umverteilungen zwischen Bund und Ländern und Spielräume in der Finanzpolitik.
International richtet sich der Blick nach New York: Hans von der Burchard berichtet von der UN-Generalversammlung – zwischen russischen Luftraumverletzungen, klaren Warnungen aus Polen und einem Auftritt von Donald Trump, der das diplomatische Forum erneut zum Polit-Spektakel macht.
Und: Ein politisches Dinner mit Jonathan Martin in Berlin

Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gor..