#EUFridays by JEF Hungary #12

Special European visit in the Kremlin

Amidst the escalation of the crisis at the Ukrainian border, Russian president Vladimir Putin had a special visitor. Hungarian Primer Minister Viktor Orbán took a trip to Kremlin on Tuesday to see his long-time friend in the wild-wild East to discuss gas, economic relations, and of course, tensions in Ukraine. His controversial decision to see Putin comes as a clear message to EU leaders and to the NATO as well: Putin and Russia is not entirely isolated in their conflict with the West. The meeting, to some extent at least, disrupts the unity of the EU and NATO in their approaches towards Russia. For the Hungarian PM, the visit can already be seen as a power-move before the upcoming national elections in April, as his main takeaway from the meeting beside peacebuilding was “more gas, with lower prices for Hungarians”. The two politicians met for over 5 hours, which started of by sizing each other up at the two sides of an enormous table, and was concluded by a shared press conference, which had an iconic ending. Watch here: https://youtu.be/Bh6UUxnhjCs?t=2206

Politico

Gas and nuclear as sustainable investments? The Commission’s chaos taxonomy

Earlier this week, the European Commission has presented a package often referred to as the ‘green taxonomy’, which is a guideline and legal framework that contains a list of economic activities labelled as sustainable investments. Yes, it is just as complex as it sounds. Even the Commission has admitted that it was a result of a messy, and sometimes chaotic negotiation process. But for a huge surprise, the taxonomy treats both gas and nuclear as sustainable investments. But while this does not mean that the Commission thinks that gas and nuclear energy are sustainable, we cannot certainly argue that it is a great move for green transition. Germany and Austria have already raised legal concerns over the proposal before, and the package is now facing criticism from the Social Democrats in the European Parliament as well. Other critics claim that the controversial pact is another act of greenwashing by the Commission that undermines the EU’s role as a leader in the fight against climate change, and goes against the environmental targets of the 2030 Agenda.

Euronews

Socialists win third Portuguese election in a row

The ruling centre-left party of Portugal has won its third consecutive general election. This took place two years early, after a snap election had been called last November when parliament had rejected the ruling party’s budget for 2022. The Socialist Party won 117 seats out of 230 in parliament, which now gives the party a strong mandate that has appeared to be in decline in recent polling. The centre-right Social Democratic party had a vote share of around 28%, winning 71 seats. The party wants to begin a “national conversation” around a four-day working week, and has promised income tax cuts to help private companies.

MSN

US deploys 3,000 troops in Ukraine standoff

On Wednesday, the United States deployed troops to bolster eastern European NATO forces. A 1,000 US soldiers are being sent from Germany to Romania, while another 2,000 are being flown into Germany and Poland. This comes as an answer to Russia refusing to pull back its 100,000 troops stations on Ukraine’s borders. US President Joe Biden said, “As long as President Putin is acting aggressively, we are going to make sure we reassure our NATO allies in eastern Europe that we are here”. In response, Alexander Grushko, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia said the move would make a compromise even harder to achieve, calling the US deployments “destructive steps, which increase military tension and reduce the scope for political decision. NATO welcomed the newly deployed US troops, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg proclaiming that the alliance “ will do whatever is necessary to protect all its allies”.

MSN

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We would like to give a special shoutout to one of our regular contributors, Fanni Spitzmüller, who is celebrating her birthday on Saturday!

The EUFridays team wishes Fanni a very happy birthday!