Euractiv.com

Taiwan defence ministry said on Thursday (11 July) it was closely watching Chinese military movements after a surge in warplanes joined drills with China's Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

Leaders of international liberal formations expressed concern and took positions to prevent a split and even a collapse of Bulgaria's Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party, which is going through its biggest crisis since it was founded 34 years ago.

Monika Beňová, a Slovak MEP for Robert Fico's Smer-SD (NI) party, proposed ending negotiations with the Party of European Socialists (PES), which suspended the party's membership last year, claiming she would instead present a "different plan" to her colleagues.

Unable to agree on which new EU group to join, newly-elected MEPs from Poland's far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party have decided to split, with some now joining the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations group, while others are in talks to join Orban's newly-formed Patriots of Europe group.

The Czech Supreme Administrative Court has upheld the country's European election results, rejecting a complaint by outgoing centre-right MEP Michaela Šojdrová about preferential voting, although it found errors in some election committee records and suggested changes.

Portuguese aid to Ukraine will reach more than €220 million this year and will be repeated in 2025, said Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who reiterated the commitment to reach 2% investment in defence by 2029. 

Spanish Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera (PSOE/S&D) is confident she will join the next European Commission, headed for a second time by Ursula von der Leyen, perhaps in the climate or energy portfolio, she told the media.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's travels continue to raise eyebrows in Brussels and EU capitals.

Germany plans to largely exclude Chinese components such as those from Huawei and ZTE from its 5G mobile network by 2029, with an interim step in 2026, according to a media report. 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government is more isolated than ever at the EU level, an EU lawmaker from Italy's Five Star Movement (M5S) party told Euractiv.

Canada, looking to shore up its defense of the Arctic, is moving ahead to acquire up to 12 submarines and has started a formal process to meet with manufacturers, the defense ministry said on Wednesday (10 July).

US President Joe Biden faced fresh doubts on Wednesday (10 July) about his re-election chances from heavyweights Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney, who may influence other Democratic lawmakers and financial donors, and two Senate Democrats.

Today and tomorrow (11 and 12 July) the Hungarian Presidency will host an informal meeting of Environment Ministers in Budapest, where they will discuss COP29, the circular economy's potential to boost competitiveness and water scarcity.

Hungarian opposition politician Péter Magyar, the main challenger to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is en route to deliver aid on Wednesday (10 July) to the Kyiv children's hospital hit during Russian airstrikes this week.

EU ambassadors met yesterday (July 10th) to prepare a joint response after President Viktor Orbán’s unexpected visit to negotiate peace with Putin. The amicable nature of the dialogue between the two leaders in Moscow upset EU ambassadors, as Hungary used the European Council presidency’s logo despite claiming a national agenda.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she did not intend to run again as the Greens’ candidate for chancellor at the 2025 federal election, making Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck the likely contender.

NATO leaders backed Ukraine's "irreversible" path into the Western military alliance as expected on Wednesday (10 July), but stopped short of providing a concrete timetable and framework.

EU member states on Wednesday (10 July) blasted Hungary for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's solo diplomatic initiative on Ukraine but did not discuss ways to rein in Budapest's potential future efforts.

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), cut-off from many other far-right parties in the European Parliament, managed to launch its own parliamentary group, the third coalition to the right of the EPP in the European Parliament on Wednesday (10 July).

With the right in flux, increasing fragmentation of the political landscape in member states, and the need for von der Leyen to secure a governing majority in the European Parliament, group formation has never looked so messy.