In the Capital<\/p>\n
\nEver since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, Europe\u2019s political class has feared that public opinion would sour on Ukraine, weighed down by populist narratives about the economic cost of support and the burden of millions of refugees.\n<\/p>\n
\nThat shift has not materialised<\/strong><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nNow they worry about something just as disquieting: that Ukrainians themselves might begin to doubt Europe\u2019s promises.\n<\/p>\n \nLithuania, one of Kyiv’s most vocal advocates, has warned other EU governments that \u201ctangible progress\u201d on Ukraine\u2019s membership bid is essential if Brussels is to maintain credibility, according to a memo circulated to capitals around the bloc and seen by The Capitals.\n<\/p>\n \nNegotiations have stalled since June, Vilnius wrote, and the EU\u2019s \u201cfailure to reciprocate Ukraine\u2019s expectations and implemented reforms\u201d has already been used by domestic and foreign bad actors to undermine Kyiv\u2019s confidence in Europe.\n<\/p>\n \nThe remedy, Lithuania stated, is simple: move forward. Denmark should convene talks in Copenhagen in early September to open negotiations for Ukraine \u2013 and Moldova \u2013 as a 26-strong bloc if Hungary refuses to join. \u201cIt would convey a clear message that Ukraine\u2019s and Moldova\u2019s European path remain a priority for the EU,\u201d the document said.\n<\/p>\n \nThe obstacle is Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who has wielded a veto on Ukraine\u2019s accession for months.\n<\/p>\n \nLithuania\u2019s document hints at a wish for political change in Hungary. Without mentioning names or countries, it proposes continuing legal work regardless and formalising membership once \u201cEU27 support is rebuilt.\u201d That phrase is coy shorthand for Hungary\u2019s 2026 election, when Orb\u00e1n faces a challenge from P\u00e9ter Magyar.\n<\/p>\n \nUkraine, which gained candidate status in 2022, has advanced reforms<\/strong><\/a> on its judiciary, oligarchs and minority rights to bolster its EU bid \u2013 though not without setbacks. Most recently, the government restored its anti-corruption agencies after public outcry and pressure from Brussels over an attempt to curb their independence.\n<\/p>\n \nFor Vilnius, the stakes are personal. Shaped by Soviet occupation and sharing a border with Russia, it views Ukraine’s survival as integral to its own security.\u201cYour victorious fight … will be written into history textbooks for thousands of years to come,\u201d EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, who is Lithuanian, told Ukrainians gathered outside the European Parliament in celebration of the country\u2019s 1991 independence over the weekend. Ukraine\u2019s Ambassador to the EU Vsevolod Chentsov also voiced confidence that Kyiv would soon become a member of the bloc.\n<\/p>\n \nYet enlargement is only one front. Europe\u2019s leaders have been preoccupied<\/strong><\/a> with transatlantic diplomacy, recently visiting Washington to garner post-war security guarantees for Kyiv and restrain Donald Trump from siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin.\n<\/p>\n \nMeanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday called<\/strong><\/a> for Putin to meet him for peace talks. Ironically, Budapest \u2013 the capital blocking Ukraine’s accession \u2013 has been floated as a possible venue for the meeting, which could involve Trump as well, as my colleague Magnus Lund Nielsen<\/strong><\/a> writes here<\/strong><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nVon der Leyen sells her deal as Draghi slams it<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nUrsula von der Leyen has taken to the Spanish press to defend her tariff deal with the US. In a rare op-ed published in El Mundo<\/strong><\/a> on Sunday (who knew her Spanish was so good?), the Commission president called the agreement a \u201cdeliberate\u201d move to avert a trade war, and argued that the EU is the only trading partner to secure a single capped tariff rate (of 15%) on its exports to America.\n<\/p>\n \nOnly Russia and China would have been celebrating if no deal had been reached, she said. Euractiv’s Emma Pirnay<\/strong><\/a> unpacks the key takeaways from her column here<\/strong><\/a>, in English.\n<\/p>\n \nVon der Leyen’s attempt to sell the deal \u2013 fleshed out in a joint statement<\/strong><\/a> last week \u2013 came after criticism from one of her top economic advisers of recent years, Mario Draghi. On Friday, the former Italian PM delivered a scathing critique of the EU at the Rimini Meeting, an annual Catholic-inspired gathering that attracts Italy\u2019s political and business elite.\n<\/p>\n \nDraghi warned that Europe\u2019s economic heft no longer guarantees geopolitical power. \u201cThis year will be remembered as the year that illusion evaporated,\u201d he said, pointing to the EU-US trade deal. On Ukraine, on Gaza, on Iran, Draghi portrayed a Europe watching from the stands while others determine the outcome. He insisted that only deeper EU integration could restore the bloc’s sway in the world.\n<\/p>\n \nItaly\u2019s PM Giorgia Meloni will close the event in Rimini on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n \nFrance faces online protest threat<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nMark September 10 in your calendar.\n<\/p>\n \nA viral \u201cblock everything\u201d campaign could hit France, backed by left-wing activists and railway workers union Sud-Rail, piling fresh pressure on PM Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou\u2019s shaky government.\n<\/p>\n \nBorn on TikTok but turbo-charged by Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s La France Insoumise party, the protest push has gained traction since Bayrou’s July announcement of \u20ac44 billion in budget cuts, and ministers are now scrambling to head off another season of blockades and strikes.\n<\/p>\n \nAs of Monday, roughly 10,000 people were following the movement’s Facebook and Telegram channels. Its demands remain vague or scattered \u2013 from pay rises to the resignation of the government \u2013 as do the tactics, which range from strikes and supermarket boycotts to roadblocks and even calls to occupy ports and public buildings. Euractiv’s Elisa Braun<\/strong><\/a> and Laurent Geslin<\/strong><\/a> take a closer look at the movement’s rise here<\/strong><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n The capitals<\/p>\n \nTHE HAGUE: <\/strong>Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned<\/strong><\/a> on Friday after failing to win cabinet backing for new sanctions against Israel, prompting his party to abandon the coalition. The move heightens political instability in the Netherlands ahead of October\u2019s elections, while underscoring the EU\u2019s continuing failure to forge a common line on Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza, where the UN has now declared a famine.\n<\/p>\n \nROME: <\/strong>Italy\u2019s coalition tensions spilled into foreign policy over the weekend, as Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani sought to distance Rome from Deputy PM Matteo Salvini\u2019s escalating feud with Paris. France summoned Italy\u2019s ambassador after Salvini ridiculed Emmanuel Macron\u2019s call for EU troops in Ukraine, remarks Tajani countered with a plea for diplomacy \u201cthrough the strength of ideas.\u201d The episode risks unravelling months of repair work by Meloni.\n<\/p>\n \nPARIS: <\/strong>Last night, France also summoned<\/strong><\/a> US Ambassador Charles Kushner over his op-ed accusing Macron’s government of failing to combat antisemitism, a clash deepened by Paris’ recognition of a Palestinian state. “The ambassador’s allegations are unacceptable,” the French foreign ministry said of the remarks made by Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law.\n<\/p>\n \nBRUSSELS: <\/strong>A stabbing here<\/strong><\/a> left one person critically injured last night following a pro-Palestinian protest. Police confirmed an arrest but have not yet released details about a motive.\n<\/p>\n \nWARSAW: <\/strong>Most Poles \u2013 about 71% \u2013 oppose awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a poll by SW Research<\/strong><\/a>, while only roughly 11% believe that the US president deserves the distinction. Trump was nominated by Republican lawmaker Darrell Issa, who cited his \u201ccontribution\u201d to conflict in the Middle East.\n<\/p>\n \nLONDON: <\/strong>Former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has laid out plans for “mass deportations” of migrants if his Reform UK party takes power. In an interview with The Times of London<\/strong><\/a>, Farage said he would pull Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights and sign deals with Afghanistan, Eritrea and others to repatriate Channel arrivals.\n<\/p>\n Also on Euractiv<\/p>\n \nFrench streamer\u2019s death tests EU law<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nThe death of French streamer Rapha\u00ebl Graven, who live-streamed his own decline over nearly 300 hours on the permissive platform Kick, has turned into a grim case study of Europe\u2019s online content moderation rulebook.\n<\/p>\n \nThough the Digital Services Act was designed to give regulators teeth, no authority stepped in. Kick was too small to be handled by Brussels, too slippery for national regulators to claim responsibility, and for months had no legal presence in Europe at all. In the aftermath, the tragedy has become an emblem of the DSA\u2019s enforcement void \u2013 a law with sweeping ambition, but hesitant guardians.\n<\/p>\n \nOpinion: Why London and Paris must go further to deter Moscow<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nWith the Northwood Declaration, Britain and France have promised that Europe will not stand alone under nuclear threat.\n<\/p>\n \nBut words alone will not suffice against a Russia that brandishes low-yield battlefield weapons to intimidate NATO, Juraj Majcin, policy analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, writes in his latest op-ed. In the grey zone between conventional war and full-scale nuclear conflict, Moscow has options; the EU has far fewer.\n<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229914524-800x600.jpg\")
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