TAG: Defense budgets
France’s fiscal woes cast a long shadow over Macron’s EU ambitions
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron's lofty European leadership ambitions are once again getting a reality check. The French government is scrambling to make savings and reassure financial markets after official figures this week showed that public...
6 months ago
France pitches radical joint EU borrowing plan to pay for defense
BRUSSELS ― The French government is pushing for the European Union to issue joint debt to pay for increased military spending and is pitching the radical idea to its European counterparts, according to a confidential letter seen by POLITICO.In the diploma...
6 months ago
More ideas than cash: 5 takeaways from the EU’s defense push
It took a bloody Russian invasion to get the European Union to start thinking seriously about defense.In a taboo-breaking presentation on Tuesday, top EU officials laid out their plan for a dramatic overhaul of the bloc’s defense industry. The strategy in...
6 months ago
Scholz and Macron to hold secret dinner in Paris ahead of Xi’s visit
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday night in Paris for a dinner to discuss European Union and China policy.The clandestine meeting of two heavyweight EU leaders, which comes just days ahead of a vi...
5 months ago
How to navigate Hungary’s EU presidency policy agenda like a pro
This article is part of the Hungarian presidency of the EU special report.The Hungarians are taking over the helm of the Council of the EU in the aftermath of June’s European election, just as horse-trading over the bloc’s top jobs gets into full swing.As...
2 months ago
Kyiv runs into strong opposition on tax hike to fund the war
KYIV — Ukraine's government is running into a fierce blowback from foreign and domestic businesses over its draft proposal to hike taxes to pay for the war effort.The idea had been to impose a 120 billion hryvnia (€2.7 billion) tax increase on an already...
2 months ago
Defense commissioner nominee floats turning EU into war-weapons storehouse to deter Putin
BRUSSELS — The European Union could become an arsenal of democracy and create its own stores of weapons that could be used by member countries in case of a military emergency, Andrius Kubilius, the defense commissioner nominee, told POLITICO.“We can look...
2 weeks ago