Waiting for the 🇪🇺 energy ministers to arrive for the emergency summit to agree an oil embargo against #Russia and a united stance on #Putin’s demand to pay for gas in #rubles.
The decisions taken today will have ripple effects throughout the global economy.
@BarbaraPompili,🇫🇷French Minister for Ecological Transition who convened this emergency meeting of energy ministers, stresses upon entering that the purpose of today's summit is to respond to Russia shutting off the gas taps to #Poland & #Bulgaria, not to discuss the #OilEmbargo.
"Today's council is exclusively on the question of gas and not on the question of oil," Pompili tells a reporter who asks about the embargo.
"We have other discussions that are ongoing, but we must stay focused today on the issue of gas."
Playing down expectations?
Austria's energy minister Leonore Gewessler doesn't seem to have gotten the 🇫🇷memo that today's meeting is supposedly not about the oil embargo.
She very much speaks as if it's being discussed today, but is vague about Austria's current position.
"Russia's demand for payment in #rubles is an attempt to divide the European Union, so we must respond in unity and solidarity," says 🇪🇺Energy Commissioner @KadriSimson.
She says ministers will discuss an update on contingency plans, gas storage and diversifying supply.
Commissioner Simson also not toeing the 🇫🇷line that today's meeting isn't also about the oil embargo.
"We will discuss it today with ministers. If they task us to do so then we are willing to [draw up an embargo proposal]". She notes there's a Commission college meeting tomorrow
For Spain's part they are supportive of an EU embargo on Russian oil.
🇪🇸Minister for Ecological Transition @TeresaRibera says gas storage is critical. She praises 🇩🇪 designation of gas storage as critical infrastructure. "We cannot rely on the [storage] management coming from🇷🇺"
"Today us as #Poland we will call for immediate sanctions on oil *and* gas," says 🇵🇱Climate Minister @Moskwa_Anna.
"I do believe that during today's meeting we will have solidarity."
"We appeal to countries not to pay in rubles. We shouldn't support 🇷🇺's economy."
🇮🇪Ireland's minister @EamonRyan (the 1st male minister to enter today's meeting, BTW) says agreement on 🇷🇺 oil embargo "is possible" today.
"We need to be strong & fast, otherwise this war could go on for long"
"We need to also push efficiency measures" to protect customers.
German Energy Minister Robert Habeck says an oil ban now would cause "local problems, rising prices & maybe supply chains are not secure, *but* it wouldn't hit the national economy as a whole."
"So after 2 months of work I can say Germany is not against an oil ban on Russia."
But 🇩🇪Habeck says the EU's oil embargo should be phased in to give time to prepare.
"It would help if we have some weeks or months to do technical preparations. We have to find some ships carrying oil from west to east, we have to prepare the harbors and the pipelines."
However Habeck says 🇩🇪 isn't the country most in need of time & exceptions.
"Other countries have bigger problems. As I have asked for solidarity and understanding for the German situation, I'm also of course willing to understand the maybe more difficult situation for others"
🇧🇪Belgian Energy Minister Tinne Van Der Straeten asked whether oil embargo exemptions should be granted to 🇭🇺Hungary & 🇸🇰Slovakia.
She says she wants solidarity, "EU measures at EU level, but we also have to understand each others' position."
🇱🇺Luxembourg's energy minister @ClaudeTurmes says he doesn't expect an agreement on #GasStorage today but "we're almost there, we expect next week we could have a deal which would then come very soon."
"The institution which is lagging is the European Parliament."
France's energy minister is right to say today's emergency meeting has been called only to discuss Russia shutting off #RussianGas taps to Poland & Bulgaria, and to prepare for further escalation.
But of course the impending embargo of #RussianOil will also be discussed today.
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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?
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"
The problem with the first option is you need to take the metro between train stations in Paris to switch, whereas in Lyon it's the same station
But...
🇪🇸Renfe & 🇫🇷SNCF don't have a ticketing agreement, so there's no way to get the preferred option as a combined ticket.
It doesn't show up on either website (Renfe won't even let you choose Brussels as a destination). Even 3rd party sites like SNCB Intl & Trainline can't show it
Tonight is the first semi-final for #Eurovision2023 in 🇬🇧Liverpool.
It's happening on the 25th anniversary of the 1998 contest hosted in 🇬🇧Birmingham, a transformative year that marks the boundary between the 'old' and 'new' Eurovision.
In 1998 Dana International became the first trans (and 1st openly LGBT) person to win the ESC.
Following the '98 contest it was decided to make two major rule changes: countries no longer had to sing in their national language and they weren't required to use an orchestra.
Those changes transformed what had become a stale archaic-looking contest in '90s into the explosion of spectacle in 2000s - helped also by the entry of enthusiastic Eastern European countries unable to participate during Communism.
The bookies have 🇸🇪Sweden as the favourite to win, followed by 🇫🇮Finland and 🇫🇷France.
But Sweden's odds have gotten worse since rehearsals started.
The singer, #Loreen, already won for 🇸🇪 in 2012 with Euphoria, a global hit hitting number one on the charts in 21 countries.
Among fans, I keep hearing "I predict Sweden will win but I don't want it to win". People like the song but think a 🇸🇪win is too predictable. 🇸🇪has dominated the contest for 2 decades.
If 🇸🇪win again they'll match Ireland's record for most wins - 7.
As the 🇬🇧#Coronation takes place in London, here's some fun facts about monarchies around the world.
I find Americans have the mistaken impression that Europe has many monarchies. In fact, excluding microstates, there are just 8 - and only 3 have been there more than 200 years.
There are actually more monarchies in Asia than in Europe.
The world has 16 kings, and only one queen (🇩🇰). Then there are 4 princes, 3 sultans, 2 emirs, 1 pope and 1 emperor (🇯🇵).
There are 4 types of monarchies remaining in Europe:
🇬🇧British
🇸🇪🇩🇰🇳🇴Scandinavian
🇳🇱🇧🇪🇱🇺Low Countries
🇪🇸Iberian
🇻🇦🇱🇮🇦🇩🇲🇨Microstates
This map shows when other European monarchies ended (most give the year of national independence from a imperial monarchy)