UK and Germany seal defence industrial deal

NEW: Co president of Green group Phillipe Lamberts in EU parl
- green deal risks being killed off
- backs Ursula von der Leyen for 2nd term
- Wants Mario Draghi pres of EU council
- Macron -' boosting the far right'. 'People always prefer the original'
theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Second time ever at European Parliament and it's absolute maze... but they do memorialise previous leaders. Even British. And she supported single market

Council of Europe waves red flag over Sunak Rwanda bill.
Bill 'by the UK Parliament raises major issues about human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law more generally”, said Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights'

UK is member of CoE

Chat ex Sun ed David Yelland and Matthew Freud, well worth listen - on Fox, Pepsi Blue, Planet Hollywood, Sun and Angela Raynor. 'it is in the Labour Party's power to decide that they will not be bullied into jettisoning I think the most interesting person t come into politics. '

Full story:
The EU: We will ban a new service launched by TikTok in Europe we suspect could be “as addictive as cigarettes' unless it comes back with evidence over safeguarding of children.
TikTok: it's not available to under 18s and is daily limit
theguardian.com/technology/202…

EU budget from 2021 to 2027 was indeed increased - under a mid-term review in Dec/Jan with 50bn going to war in Ukraine (of which 17bn is from EU central budget), 2bn on migration and 1.5bn defence.

BREAKING:

BREAKING: EU will suspend TikTok Lite's reward programme unless it shows 'compelling' evidence of saftey features. It offers gift vouchers for watching videos. We dbe first big penalty under DSA. Thierry Breton says EU suspects feature is 'toxic and addictive'

EU ELEX: France being 'pounded' by Russian disinformation ahead of EU parliament elections in June, reveals Europe minister Jean-Noël Barrot Jean Noël Barrot. Examples including fake army site saying France to recruit 200,000 troops to fight in Ukraine.

theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Israel “has yet to provide supporting evidence” of its claims that employees of the UN relief agency Unrwa are members of terrorist organisations, an independent review led by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna has said.
theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Résidence de l’Ambassadeur 🇫🇷 à Washington 👀👊🏻

Taylor Greene, known in some US circles as 'Moscow Marjorie' vs historian Tim Snyder.

Zelenskiy: 'I thank everyone who supported our package, this is a solution for protecting life. I personally thank Speaker Mike Johnson and all American hearts who believe, as we do in Ukraine, that Russian evil must not win'

Next Thursday: 11pm. Most MEPs will be traipsing from Strasbourg back to their constituencies after last parliamentary session before election. Wait... I know! It's the nature restoration law... It's back!

60bn aid that Zelenskyy desperately needs finally approved - will send a message to the Kremlin says European council president Charles Michel. UA losing territory against war machine that sucks of 30% of GDP in Russia - military chiefs said this week compares to 2% of allies GDP

I welcome the vote of the US House of Representatives approving the - long overdue - crucial USD 60 billion aid package for Ukraine.

This sends a clear message to the Kremlin: Those who believe in freedom and UN charter will continue to support Ukraine and its people.

This smells like a diplomatic fiasco. The UK and EU have been toying with a youth mobility agreement for months. But after the Commission asks member states for the mandate to start the talks, the UK side rejects that. Whatever has happened, it makes both sides look silly.

Some reflections on this and other aspects of UK-EU relations. First, it seems clear that the Commission did this not because they wanted to start a negotiation with the UK but because they didn't want member states negotiating their own, bilateral deals 1/6