Dave Keating Profile picture
Apr 20, 2022 8 tweets 5 min read Read on X
🇪🇺Council President @CharlesMichel giving a press conference with 🇺🇦President @ZelenskyyUa now in #Kyiv.

Zelensky says he personally appreciates Michel’s visit despite the security challenges.
video.consilium.europa.eu/event/en/25730 Image
Zelensky: “On 🇪🇺 membership we have discussed that this is a priority for our country.”

“We are waiting, we have answered the questionnaire. So we are waiting on the meeting on this very important issue for our country” Image
🇪🇺Council President Michel: “This morning I went to #Borodyanka to see the situation with my own eyes. There are no words to explain what I feel… these are atrocities, war crimes”

“It must be punished. They must pay for what they have done there any in many other cities in 🇺🇦” Image
#Zelenskyy says he needs further sanctions and weapons from 🇪🇺.

"I am grateful for the [existing] 🇪🇺€1.5 billion for funding the military needs of the armed forces of #Ukraine. We've agreed for us to get the weapons that are a priority for us."
On whether 🇺🇦 will ever be in 🇪🇺 Michel says: "this is a legal process, it's also a political process"

EU PMs and presidents agreed in Versailles to "start the political debate" but "it's not a secret there are different opinions around the table on the principle of enlargement" Image
Michel says once Commission publishes its opinion in June on whether 🇺🇦 meets criteria to be an 🇪🇺 candidate country, he will decide when to put the issue to the Council for discussion.

"This meeting today was extremely useful because we discussed concrete elements" of accession
Zelensky asked whether he's frustrated with Germany for not being ready to say yes to an embargo of #RussianOil

"🇪🇺countries, because of their unity and because of what happened in 🇺🇦, seem to me to be ready to introduce an oil embargo"

(Wonder what Michel told him privately🤔) Image
President Michel: "I'm convinced, and I said it in 🇪🇺 parliament a few weeks ago, that sooner or later we will target 🇷🇺 oil & gas."

"We've already decided we want to stop our dependencies as soon as possible." Image

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More from @DaveKeating

Feb 2
Tonight the controversial US ambassador to Belgium Bill White was supposed to speak on a Film & Politics panel about European dependence.

He apparently pulled out on short notice. So the moderator @Sanchelen, editor-in-chief of EU Observer, asked the panellists what they would have said to him if he was there.

Latvian MEP @MStakis (former mayor of Riga) said "I would warn him that he is losing the people's hearts and minds in Europe dramatically. It could be quite dangerous. And it's happening so quickly"

"For a country like mine which was the biggest fan of the US in Europe, the friends around me now feel completely differently."Image
Erika Staël von Holstein from the think tank @ReImagineEuropa said that if the US Ambassador had turned up, "I would have said thank you for bringing us together and making us stronger. And it would have annoyed him."

"This is the strategic risk they fail to see. Europe is going to get stronger from this, and the US will get weaker. It takes decades to build trust, and it's being lost rapidly."

"The sense of the American dream which was so powerful for so long, is gone. But what is the european dream? We don't know yet."Image
Isabelle Schwarz from the European Cultural Foundation warned that Europe's previous relationship with America is now gone.

"Nostalgia is not a strategy, it will not come back," she said.

"The danger is that through this succumbing to the desires of others, we risk losing not just power but the greatest strategic risk is losing Europeans."Image
Read 4 tweets
Jan 22
#EUCO summit over. Council chair Costa giving closing presser. No national briefings.

"We believe that relations between partners and allies should be managed in a cordial and respectful way," he says. "Europe and the US have a shared interest in the security of the arctic" Image
"I want to be very clear: the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland have the full support of the European Union," says @eucopresident.

"Only 🇩🇰🇬🇱 can decide on matters concerning 🇩🇰🇬🇱."
Costa welcomes Trump backing off on his tariff threats.

"Our focus must now be on moving forward on the implementation of that deal" he says. "The goal remains the effective stabilisation of the trade relatons between the EU & US."

"At the same time the EU will continue to stand up for its interests, and will defend itself, its' member states, its citizens and its companies against any form of coercion. It has the power and the tools to do so, and will do so if and when necessary."
Read 8 tweets
Dec 24, 2025
It begins.

The EU lawmaker who was in charge of digital affairs during 🇪🇺President von der Leyen's 1st term has been banned from the US, because the 🇺🇸 tech giants and government don't like the EU's tech laws.

What will be the 🇪🇺President's response? theguardian.com/technology/202…
A critical test.

🇪🇺President VDL notoriously loathes her former digital commissioner. But if she and Macron let stand that the US can ban EU lawmakers simply because the government doesn't like EU laws, that is a watershed moment in European servility.
unherd.com/newsroom/von-d…
Still no response yet from 🇪🇺President @VonDerLeyen to 🇺🇸government following through on its threat to sanction 🇪🇺lawmakers over digital laws.

But Commission put out an official reaction and the Council chair Antonio Costa put this out 20 minutes ago:
Read 4 tweets
Oct 9, 2024
In ten minutes Viktor Orban begins his debate with the 🇪🇺Parliament.

MEPS are expected to demand that he unequivocally states he will accept the result of the 🇺🇸election. Concerns have been raised after he reminded in a press conference yesterday that he's planning to use the Council presidency to host an informal meeting of EU prime ministers and presidents in Budapest 3 days after the 🇺🇸election - at a time when it is very likely Trump will be challenging the result if Harris wins.

"We will open several bottles of champagne if Trump is back," Orban told journalists.

In 2020, Orban and his ally Janez Jansa from Slovenia initially refused to recognise Biden's win.
Orban has entered the chamber.

Parliament speaker Roberta Metsola says introducing him: "The Hungarian presidency arrives at an important moment of institutional change [start of new term after 🇪🇺election] - a new mandate here brings new challenges and opportunities." Image
"Europe may not be perfect, and while we must be honest where we can do better, we must also not shy away from celebrating our successes," says 🇪🇺Parliament speaker Metsola.

"Prime minister, many of us recall the very lively debate [with you] 6 years ago here in the chamber. I expect no less today. Because in this house of democracy, as in Europe where the rule of law and freedom of expression are sacrosanct, we may not always agree but we will always give space for the respectful sharing of views."Image
Read 25 tweets
Jun 19, 2024
Breaking: The European Commission is opening an 'excessive deficit procedure' against France for the first time.

This should have happened long ago, but France's power in Brussels for years made the Commission look away.

How will this impact the 🇫🇷legislative election? Image
Procedure also started for 🇮🇹🇵🇱🇧🇪🇭🇺🇲🇹🇸🇰

Romania currently the only country already under the excessive deficit procedure. Commission announces it will stay there.

The rules are meant to prevent a repeat of the 💶debt crisis, making countries tighten fiscal policy or face fines.
🇫🇷 had the 2nd-highest deficit (5.5%) in🇪🇺 in 2023, after 🇮🇹

For years EU officials openly acknowledged that France was getting special treatment, with 🇪🇺President Juncker famously explaining why France wasn't being put under the procedure by saying: "Parce que c'est la France"
Read 6 tweets
Apr 25, 2024
🇫🇷President @EmmanuelMacron's much previewed speech on the future of 🇪🇺 is about to start.

Watch live with English interpretation here: youtube.com/live/tkDUSYHoK…
#Macron opens his speech by saying this. isa follow-up to his speech about Europe 7 years ago. He says he wanted to see more progress by now.

But he notes: "European sovereignty - a term that may have seemed very French 7 years ago" has now been embraced.
Macron says the EU has weathered several crises over the past 7 years, including #Brexit (plus Covid & Russia).

But he says the union remained strong in the face of these challenges, and as a result, nobody speaks about leaving the union anymore.
Read 15 tweets

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