Europe

Paywall? https://archive.is/S0oZ4

The European Union is urging citizens across the continent to stockpile food, water and other essentials to last at least 72 hours as war, cyberattacks, climate change and disease increase the chances of a crisis.

Trump has slashed education funding, meaning many US universities are facing hiring freezes and budget constraints. Economist Monika Schnitzer speaks to DW's Marie Sina about the opportunities for German universities and research institutions to tempt academics and scientists to cross the pond.

I think this is related to Europe as it may try to take advantage of the current situation in the US to its advantage. This one focuses on Germany.

Archived

Moldovan authorities arrested Evghenia Gutul, governor of the pro-Russian autonomous region of Gagauzia, at Chișinău International Airport on March 26, placing her in custody for 72 hours.

Gutul, who was already barred from leaving the country, was attempting to travel to Istanbul, a route frequently used by associates of fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor to reach his residence in Moscow. She faces new charges related to the illegal financing of the now-banned Shor Party, adding to her ongoing trial on similar allegations.

The arrest is part of a broader crackdown on politicians linked to Shor, who is accused of coordinating Russian interference in Moldova’s elections. The country is preparing for key parliamentary elections this year, with authorities intensifying efforts to curb foreign influence. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office also announced fresh searches in connection with the illegal financing case.

[...]

The criminal investigation into the financing of the Shor Party began in 2022, a year before the Constitutional Court declared the party illegal. Prosecutors allege that Shor funnelled large sums of money to his party, transferring cash that was not reported in official financial disclosures. These funds were allegedly used to pay party employees and compensate participants in anti-government protests.

[...]

Warsaw is already spending big on defense. Now it needs the manpower.

The head of President Andrzej Duda’s National Security Bureau (BBN), Dariusz Łukowski, has warned that Poland only has enough ammunition to defend itself “for a week or two” if it was attacked by Russia

But his remarks have been criticised as “outrageous” by a deputy defence minister, who says they are not true and will be exploited by Poland’s enemies.

At the beginning of March, Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) defence policy spokesman Florian Hahn called for the reintroduction of compulsory military service before the end of the year.

"We can’t just sit back and watch as the world around us becomes more insecure," he told German tabloid Bild.

Archived

• On behalf of 47 citizens of Serbia, and in connection with the incident that interrupted the 15-minute tribute to the victims of the tragedy at the Novi Sad railway station, several Serbian civil society organizations submitted a request to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

• The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has demanded that Serbia provide answers by March 31 regarding the alleged use of sonic weapons during a protest in Belgrade on March 15.

• Serbian authorities initially denied owning or using the sonic weapons at the protest, but were eventually forced to admit last week that a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) was present in Belgrade on that day, after photo evidence emerged on social media.

Summary

• Europe is mobilising on a scale "not seen for decades" to be ready to sustain a peace deal in Ukraine, Keir Starmer says at a summit of Kyiv's allies in Paris
• European countries will deploy a "reassurance force" to Ukraine after a peace deal is secured, Macron says
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls on the US to be stronger against Russia and to react to Moscow's violations of agreements
• Leaders at the Paris summit agree that now is not the time to lift sanctions on Russia
• Moscow said a maritime truce in the Black Sea announced on Tuesday would only begin once Western restrictions on Russia's food and fertiliser trade are lifted - Zelensky insists this isn't part of the ceasefire agreement
• Ukraine's allies have accused Russia of playing games with peace talks - "a classic from the Putin playbook," Starmer says

ROME - For nearly two months, the Italian government has evaded questions, dismissed allegations, and shifted its narrative in the face of mounting pressure from opposition parties and activists.

Now, a turning point: Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano has reportedly admitted that Italy’s intelligence services authorised spyware surveillance on members of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans. Yet, a crucial mystery remains - who was behind the surveillance of Fanpage.it director Francesco Cancellato?

The parliamentary intelligence oversight committee (Copasir) is investigating whether the use of the Israeli spyware complied with Italian law and whether intelligence services acted within their mandate in authorizing preventive wiretaps.

While the hearings remain classified, leaks from Tuesday’s session published by La Repubblicasuggest that Mantovano - who oversees intelligence agencies - acknowledged that the government had approved surveillance on certain activists. However, he maintained that Cancellato was never among the targets.

Amnesty International has found evidence that two journalists at the Serbia-based Balkan Investigative Reporting Network(“BIRN”), an award-winning network of investigative journalists, were targeted with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware in February 2025.

These new findings of ongoing Pegasus targeting further strengthen evidence that Serbian authorities are abusing highly invasive spyware products and other digital surveillance technologies to target journalists, activists, and other members of civil society in the country. This evidence builds on Amnesty International’s December 2024, “A Digital Prison” report, which documented the systematic and unlawful targeting of civil society in Serbia with mobile forensic technology developed by Cellebrite and three forms of spyware, including Pegasus and a domestically-developed Android spyware system. BIRN was Amnesty International’s investigative partner in the “A Digital Prison” investigation.

Archived

[...]

Braving bitter frost, protesters continue to rally daily in Tbilisi and cities across the Black Sea nation, in what has become an unprecedented protest movement against Georgian Dream's perceived democratic backsliding and growing rapprochement with Moscow.

[...]

The movement intensified after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's November 28 announcement that his cabinet would not seek to open EU membership talks with Brussels until 2028 -- a move that shocked many.

Georgia is an official candidate for membership in the 27-nation bloc, a bid supported by more than 80 percent of the population, according to opinion polls, and enshrined in the country's constitution.

[...]

During the protests' initial phase, security forces used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators and made hundreds of arrests.

Georgia's top human rights official, ombudsman Levan Ioseliani, and Amnesty International have accused police of "torturing" detainees -- a charge the government denies.

Authorities have since resorted to harsh financial penalties and increased surveillance, deploying facial recognition technology to identify protesters and issue hefty fines.

[...]

"After the bare violence proved ineffective, the government turned to intimidation -- televised police raids on activists' homes and anonymous threats over the phone," Salome Khvadagiani, the director of Liberty Institute rights group [said].

[...]

"When that too failed to suppress the protest, the government moved to slowly strangling them -- financially," she added.

In December, fines for blocking roads were increased tenfold, to 5,000 laris ($1,850), leaving thousands facing "absolutely disproportionate financial sanctions" or, alternatively, 15 days in prison.

In January alone, the total amount of fines surpassed $6.5 million in the country of four million people, where the average monthly salary is some $740, according to the For Georgia opposition party.

[...]

To enforce these measures, authorities have expanded surveillance capabilities, including the deployment of facial recognition technology.

Rights groups said the government has drastically increased the number of high-resolution surveillance cameras in the streets of Tbilisi.

The widespread use of "facial recognition and remote biometric recognition technologies facilitates discriminatory targeted surveillance," said GYLA rights watchdog. "These practices undermine fundamental rights."

[...]

But demonstrators are now "adapting to the situation" she said, filing court complaints that have overwhelmed the judicial system, "significantly delaying the enforcement of financial sanctions or even making them unenforceable."

"The government can't scare us," said Khmaladze, who fought for nearly two years on Ukraine's frontlines against invading Russian troops.

"We are taking to the streets for Georgia's democracy and will never back down," he said.

Istanbul's jailed mayor said in a social media post on Friday that his lawyer had been detained and demanded his immediate release.

"My lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan was detained on fictitious grounds," Imamoglu said in a post on X published via his legal team. "As if the coup against democracy was not enough, they cannot tolerate the victims defending themselves," he wrote, adding: "Release my lawyer immediately."

Two more Turkish journalists were also detained in dawn raids on their homes for covering the mass protests that have swept across the country, sparked by Imamoglu's arrest on March 19, the Turkish Journalists' Union (TGS) said in a post on X.

The union identified them as Nisa Sude Demirel, a reporter for the Evrenselnewspaper, and Elif Bayburt who works for the ETHA news agency.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.27-211918/https://www.ft.com/content/8d37105e-9a69-4bde-9463-beccd413695a

The EU is considering hitting US services exports, including Big Tech’s operations, to retaliate against Donald Trump imposing 25 per cent tariffs on the car industry and promising a further round of measures next week.

Brussels has already unveiled extra duties on up to €26bn of US goods after Washington imposed steel and aluminium tariffs. But European officials and diplomats said the scale of action by the Trump administrationrequired it to consider using more powerful trade tools. 

The bloc has wide powers to suspend intellectual property rights and exclude companies from public procurement contracts under its Enforcement Regulation, which was strengthened in 2021 after a trade conflict with the first Trump administration.

“The Americans think that they are the ones with escalation dominance [in the trade war], but we also have the ability to do that,” said one EU diplomat, adding that the aim was ultimately to de-escalate with a comprehensive trade deal.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.27-163514/https://www.ft.com/content/896da2e5-daa5-4b4e-a51c-0aef4de95d36

The US is pushing for a sweeping new deal to control Ukraine’s critical minerals and energy assets, while offering Kyiv no security guarantees in return, in an aggressive expansion of its previous demands.

The new draft deal sent to Kyiv on Sunday and seen by the Financial Times goes well beyond an initial joint economic accord hammered out last month, as part of Donald Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and recoup billions of dollars’ worth of military assistance.

Kyiv officials said the proposal could undermine their nation’s sovereignty, route profits abroad and deepen its dependence on Washington.

The Trump administration’s new proposal would supersede the previous framework agreement on jointly developing Ukraine’s mineral resources agreed last month by Kyiv and Washington.

The deal would cover all mineral resources, including oil and gas, across the entire Ukrainian territory and enable state entities to participate in extraction activities.

This is a developing story

The Bank of Finland’s Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) expects Russia’s annual GDP growth to slow to around 2 % this year and about 1 % in 2026 and 2027.

Russian growth in recent years has been driven by surging government spending on the war in Ukraine. We expect government spending to increase further this year, but production is already stretched to capacity, limiting potential for further output gains. The country’s labour shortage has grown more acute, inflation is accelerating and sanctions are limiting Russia’s foreign trade. Although a full-blown economic crisis in the immediate future is unlikely, Russia’s economic development is subject to exceptionally high risks as long as it continues the prosecute its war in Ukraine.

• Output growth is expected to slow even with the expected increased government spending. Labour shortages and production capacity constraints mean that growth levels of earlier years are now out of reach, so inflation will accelerate.

• Investment possibilities are limited by decreasing earnings, rising labour and material costs, as well as an increased tax burden from higher tax rates. Total investment, however, will be sustained by budget financing and other government support measures.

• The outlook for private consumption is also bleaker. Purchasing power has been eroded by lower wage growth and rising inflation, and consumer expectations have dimmed. Consumer credit has become more costly and harder to get, and the extensive interest-support programme for housing loans has ended. Despite distinctly lower growth, full employment, modest improvement in purchasing power and spending of household savings should be enough to sustain private consumption this year. The role of the public sector in driving consumption will also become more pronounced.

• The vigorous growth in government spending during the war on Ukraine has driven Russia’s government finances into deficit, with deficits running at roughly 2 % of GDP a year since the start of the war. The current budget framework calls for a reduction in the annual deficit to around 1 % of GDP during 2025‒2027. This framework relies on rather optimistic assumptions, however, so the deficit could again turn out higher than planned.

• Oil prices, Russia’s relations with China and sanctions are among the most significant external factors affecting the outlook for the Russian economy. A significant tightening of sanctions would weaken Russia’s economic development. A sharp and prolonged drop in oil prices would also significantly curtail Russia’s government finances and ability to make war. Russia’s economy could severely suffer if relations between China and Russia degrade. Russia has become highly dependent on China in recent years.

• War has degraded the Russian economy’s long-term growth possibilities, and output gains have relied upon government spending on branches connected to the war effort. Investment in war also diverts assets that could otherwise go to sustained economic growth that promotes national well-being.

What would a ceasefire mean?

• If the fighting in Ukraine ends, [Russian] spending needed to sustain the war effort is unlikely to diminish [...] as it would go to stockpiling and regenerating resources for future conflicts.

• If no lasting peace agreement is achieved, the temporary truce or ceasefire agreement would give Russia an opportunity to rebuild its economy for making war later. Russia’s re-arming possibilities are most solid in scenarios involving a truce that leads to a partial lifting of sanctions (even briefly). Larger export earnings would enable Russia to build up new economic buffers. Loosening restrictions on imports would allow Russia to build up its stores of critical import goods and components for the future needs of its military-industrial complex.

[...]

Russia is not only waging war on Ukraine but also on what it sees as enemies within. The persecution of LGBTQ individuals, organisations and communities has intensified in the past few years as the Kremlin seeks to uphold “traditional values”.

The monitoring programme coordinator of the Russian LGBTQ organisation Sphere, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al Jazeera that prior to 2022, the majority of abuses targeted at LGBTQ individuals, “concerned everyday and institutional discrimination, rather than direct repression”.

Since amendments to the ban on “gay propaganda” in 2022, followed by the ban on gender transition and designation of the “international LGBT movement” as an “extremist organisation” in 2023, now at least two-thirds of abuses take place at the hands of the authorities.

[...]

Giorgia Meloni has dismissed the idea that Italy will have to choose sides between the US and Europe as “childish” and “superficial”, insisting she would do whatever is necessary to defend her country’s interests.

In her first interview with a foreign newspaper since coming to office in 2022, the Italian prime minister said it was “in the interests of everyone” to overcome severe strains in the transatlantic relationship, describing some European leaders’ reactions to Donald Trump as “a bit too political”.

Italy’s nationalist conservative leader made clear she did not see the US president as an adversary and she would continue to respect Italy’s “first ally”.

archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20250328053317/https://www.ft.com/content/96d02345-1079-47d0-b208-1e80bcedf684

US President Donald Trump has announced a 25 percent tariff on all car and light truck imports into the country, saying the move would 'spur growth' in the American economy. But world leaders are among those warning of the chilling effect it will have on the global economy. The White House said the tariffs would raise 100 billion dollars a year. Applying them could be tricky, however, with US carmakers sourcing many components internationally, especially from Canada and Mexico. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has given her reaction to Trump's announcement.