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A Parliament proposal to ease new EU rules on seed marketing has sparked concern in the European potato sector, as stakeholders warn that the draft legislation could increase the transmission risks of crop diseases.

Welcome to Euractiv’s Tech Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU.

Last week, the EU Parliament voted to pass amendments to Eurodac, previously a fingerprints database, along with a new Migration Pact to boost border security.

The EU is about to ratify the Electricity market reform. But this major achievement could be only the first building block of the future European electricity system. Numerous adjustments will have to be made to ensure its resilience after 2030, or even a new reform. Analysis. 

In the wake of Russian strikes on critical elements of Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure, the nation faces the immediate challenge of keeping the lights on for its citizens, businesses and defence efforts — yet must also consider how to reconstruct its electricity system and make it more resilient.

Ukraine warned foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major powers on Thursday they had to change strategy if they wanted Kyiv to withstand increasingly destructive Russian air assaults.

Israel has attacked Iran, three people familiar with the matter said, as Iranian state media reported early on Friday (19 April) that its forces had destroyed drones, days after Iran launched a retaliatory drone strike on Israel.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about the Commission giving its greenlight to Stockholm's new diesel and petrol car-free zone, EU Home Affairs Commissoner Ylva Johansson getting wind of the heated Czech parliamentary debate on migration, and so much more.

The US on Thursday (18 April) effectively stopped the UN from recognizing a Palestinian state by casting a veto in the Security Council to deny Palestinians full membership of the world body.

Bulgaria may join the eurozone at the end of 2025, Bulgarian National Bank Governor Dimitar Radev said on Thursday, missing the previous 1 January 2025 goal of the government and the main political parties in Sofia.

Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, two former ministers sentenced for the abuse of power and pardoned by current President Andrzej Duda, will run in the European elections, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party announced Thursday.

The EU sees signs that China is supplying components to Russia that could be used to make weapons, a top EU official said on Thursday (18 April).

A debate on the EU's Migration Pact in the Czech parliament on Thursday caught the eye of EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson and turned heated as MPs argued over the reception of refugees in the Czech Republic.

Portuguese eucalyptus forests are helping to replace plastics, but as the country's climate warms up, this highly flammable tree is a growing threat to people and biodiversity.

Fearing new migration waves toward Europe, EU leaders are looking at ways to support Lebanon with economic aid package to be delivered by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the coming days.

Bosnian Serb lawmakers adopted a report denying that the killing of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war constituted genocide, and thousands of Serbs later protested against a UN resolution to commemorate the atrocity.

Spain’s government, led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D), will decide in the coming weeks whether to recognise Palestine as a state, regardless of whether other EU countries join Madrid in this decision, official sources told Euractiv’s partner EFE on Thursday.

The European Commission has approved the creation of an environmental zone in the city centre of Stockholm, where petrol and diesel cars will be banned entirely from 2025.

French President Emmanuel Macron will next week deliver a speech similar to the one he gave seven years ago at the Sorbonne University, where he laid out a detailed reform agenda for the bloc and revealed his Europhile credentials, a move he and his party hope will pull his party out of the polling slump it is currently in ahead of the European elections.

Federal prosecutors arrested two suspected Russian spies in Bavaria on Thursday on suspicion of espionage and planning attacks on military targets to undermine support for Ukraine.