Dave Keating Profile picture
Apr 20 8 tweets 5 min read
🇪🇺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
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”
🇪🇺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 🇺🇦”
#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"
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🤔)
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."

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More from @DaveKeating

Apr 20
The 1st and only debate between President #EmmanuelMacron and far-right challenger #MarineLePen in the #presidentielles2022 campaign is about to start.

Watch it live, in English, here:
#LePen had a disastrous performance in her debate with #Macron in 2017. She needs to hit it out of the park tonight to change the momentum now.

There was a brief moment at the 1st round where the gap between them was narrowing, but since then the momentum has been with Macron. Image
#LePen has drawn the right to speak first.

"I will be the president of justice," she says. "Brotherhood is what bonds the French people together. We need to rally around a collective platform" Image
Read 48 tweets
Apr 13
🇸🇪#Sweden and 🇫🇮#Finland's prime ministers have just held a joint press conference outlining plans to join #NATO.

🇫🇮 expected to move first. PM Marin says she won't give a timetable but "it will happen quite fast—within weeks, not within months, we will have the discussion"
🇫🇮&🇸🇪"will deliver decisions independently" says Marin. Assumption has always been 🇸🇪 can't join unless 🇫🇮 does 1st.

"Of course...I would prefer that we would make the similar kinds of choices for the whole region—but it's up to Sweden to decide for yourself"
Sweden's SvD reports that the ruling Social Democrats have already decided to apply for NATO membership (but must wait for Finland to decide to do so first), and will submit the application at the Madrid summit at end of June.
svd.se/a/Wj5gW2/uppgi…
Read 8 tweets
Apr 10
BREAKING: #Macron beats #LePen in French #presidentielles2022 first round election.

A larger spread than 2017. Image
These are exit polls so the actual result we'll know in time, but we know that for sure it will be Macron and Le Pen in the 2nd round.

It's also the worst performance ever for a Socialist Party candidate, according to the exit polls. Image
The full results from the 8pm projection, which has historically proven to end up being accurate.

It is the worst result in history for both the 'big tent' mainsteam parties - the Socialists and the Gaulists.

It is (I think?) the highest vote in history for the far-left. Image
Read 13 tweets
Apr 8
It’s really feeling like the 🇩🇪🇦🇹 position against an 🇪🇺ban on #RussianOil is no longer tenable, and they know it.

Feeling in Brussels right now is: these two demanded drastic sacrifice in 🇵🇹🇮🇪🇬🇷🇪🇸 after mistakes were made there. 🇩🇪🇦🇹 must make sacrifices now for greater good.
The counter-argument is that the negative economic effects of an oil embargo wouldn’t just effect 🇩🇪🇦🇹, they would effect all of 🇪🇺 by destabilising the economy and causing energy prices to surge.

But you can understand why 🇵🇹🇮🇪🇬🇷🇪🇸 are sceptical of such contagion arguments.
Even if 🇩🇪🇦🇹 agree a #RussianOil ban (which would necessarily need to have a long phase-in) the remaining question is 🇭🇺.

#Orban still says he’ll veto any ban on 🇷🇺 oil or gas. Would he risk destroying his alliance with 🇵🇱 for that? Would 🇩🇪🇦🇹 be happy to hide behind his veto?
Read 5 tweets
Apr 1
Speaking after 🇪🇺🇨🇳#EUChinaSummit, @EUCOpresident Michel says this was "not business as usual"

"It was a wartime summit. We are living through the gravest security crisis in Europe since World War 2. Putin's war in Ukraine continues to kill women and children and destroy cities"
"We focused on what can be done to end this war as soon as possible" he says.

"The EU and China agreed that this war is threatening global security and the world economy. This global instability is not in China's interest and not in the EU's interest. We share a responsibility."
"We called on #China to help end the war in #Ukraine," says 🇪🇺 @EUCOpresident.

"China cannot turn a blind eye to Russia's violation of international law. These principles are enshrined in the UN charter and are principles sacred to China."
Read 7 tweets
Apr 1
Today will see the 1st 🇪🇺🇨🇳 #EUChinaSummit in 2 years. It was planned before 🇷🇺Putin's invasion of 🇺🇦, but the topic will obviously dominate today's talks.

The big question: can 🇪🇺 use its economic leverage to stop 🇨🇳 aiding 🇷🇺, and should Europe use a carrot or stick approach?
Ahead of the summit, a senior EU official noted 🇨🇳 has over past 3 decades economically benefitted from the system of international rules that's now under threat from #Putin, therefor should want to side with 🇪🇺🇺🇸.

But 🇨🇳's interests now may be more geopolitical than economic.
"Do you [🇨🇳] want to endanger the stability and growth prospects of the global economy and your own country?” asked the EU official.

The stick approach: If 🇨🇳 supplies 🇷🇺 for #UkraineWar or helps it evade sanctions, may get less economic access to West (or face sanctions itself)
Read 6 tweets

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