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." 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."

#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" "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 🇩🇰🇬🇱."

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…

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."

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.

🇫🇷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.

https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1783424732442063075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Allow me a little #CrossBorderRail rant.

Barcelona-Brussels should be an appealing train route. At 9 hours it's a little over the cusp of what people are willing to endure, but it's doable.

However the lack of cooperation between 🇫🇷&🇪🇸 makes it very difficult. 🧵1/6 There are 2 ways to do it in 9 hours:

🚄1: 🇫🇷TGV BCN-PAR, 🇧🇪Thalys PAR-BXL €288
🚄2: 🇪🇸Renfe BCN-Lyon, 🇫🇷TGV Lyon-BXL €181

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...

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.

It's #Eurovision week!

Yesterday the delegations arrived on the #TurquoiseCarpet, and tomorrow night the first semi-final will air around the world.

As promised, here's a thread about this year's acts. 🧵1/17
youtube.com/live/2M0DtRFx3… 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.

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 (🇯🇵).

In 2 days, #Eurovision2023 week begins in Liverpool with delegations arriving on the #TurquoiseCarpet

Surely the most important thing happening in🇬🇧this weekend😉

I'll be there covering. Here's the mother of all threads on the most important things to know for this year. 🧵1/23 The context: Despite what many think (Europeans' cultural cringe and all), #Eurovision is a big deal.

It's the most-watched annual live event in the world, with an average 200m viewers each year. That's more than the 🇺🇸Superbowl, Oscars & Grammys combined en.as.com/en/2022/03/14/…

It seems Salvini is jealously eyeing Meloni's centrist rebranding and he wants in on the action. She is also reportedly thinking to link with EPP.

Question: Is Europe's far-right becoming more centrist, or is Manfred Weber's #EPP becoming more far-right? euractiv.com/section/politi… One thing is clear: whatever power Marine Le Pen previously had among the European far right has evaporated.

Far-right parties want to distance themselves from 🇫🇷#LePen, seeing her as a loser and 🇮🇹#Meloni as a winner.

Meloni has momentum on the European stage.

🇵🇱Poland, 🇸🇰Slovakia & 🇭🇺Hungary have banned #grain imports from 🇺🇦Ukraine, saying 🇪🇺EU's freeze of import tariffs to help get Ukraine grain around the world is flooding their markets and hurting their farmers.

But such unilateral trade actions cannot be taken nationally. Despite these bans being a clear violation of EU law, the 🇪🇺Commission took a soft approach today and wouldn't even say what possible repercussions there could be.

Why? They likely don't want to become a pawn in Polish election politicking.

Just in: EU national governments have just passed #CombustionEngineBan legislation.

Germany dropped its block on final adoption after being given a written guarantee from the Commission they will create a new category of ICE vehicles running only on #eFuel exempt from 2035 ban Controversially, Germany has instructed the Commission to do this through a delegated act added into existing Euro6 type approval legislation - which could be forced through with no vote by the 🇪🇺Parliament or member states.

Expect already-angry MEPs to push back hard on this.

Tomorrow, the EU's ban on refined Russian oil product imports (petrol/diesel) takes effect. It comes in addition to the existing ban on crude oil.

In addition to that, the EU & G7 agreed last night to ban their companies from shipping Russian petrol/diesel trading above $100. This is expected to be a much more complex and disruptive cap for the world markets than the existing one for crude. It may shock fuel prices.

To limit the impact, there will be a 55 day transition period. The $100 cap is just a bit below the current diesel price of $117.

David Frost is spouting so much nonsense in this interview, but I want to hone in on his claim that 🇬🇧wasn’t a “full democracy” while in 🇪🇺

A nationalist perspective, looking at only 1 layer of governance. 🇪🇺layer “constraining” 🇬🇧 was/is also a democracy.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episo… So many in 🇬🇧, a unitary state, cannot understand the concept of federalism (or, in 🇪🇺 case, an international confederation).

UK citizens directly voted for 🇪🇺Parliament and the ministers who take decisions in 🇪🇺Council. They voted for both “constrainor” and “constrainee”.

A furious-looking @EP_President Metsola is now addressing the Parliament on #Qatargate.

"It would be no exaggeration to say that these have been among the longest days of my career. I must choose my words carefully, in a manner that does not jeapordise ongoing investigations..." "...so if my fury, my anger, my sorrow do not come across, please be assured they are very much present along with my determination for this house to grow stronger."

"Make no mistake, the European Parliament is under attack. European democracy is under attack."

Today at noon: 🇪🇺Commission will announce an unprecedented denial of €7.5 billion in EU budget funds from #Hungary over #Orban's #RuleOfLaw violations and corruption.

Will need to be approved by a majority vote of countries. 🇵🇱&🇮🇹 may vote against, but it has the votes to pass. In retaliation, #Orban has threatened to veto further 🇪🇺aid to #Ukraine, including an €18 billion aid package 🇺🇦desperately needs right now. Hungary also blocking a proposal for a minimum tax on multinational companies.

Will this prompt reform of Council's unanimity traditions?

Some feel that #NATO is returning to the scene of the crime today: the Palace of the Parliament in #Bucharest.

It was here in 2008 that George W. Bush strong-armed European allies into declaring that #Ukraine & #Georgia "will become members of NATO". apnews.com/article/russia… Whether or not the Bush-pushed 2008🇺🇦🇬🇪#NATO accession declaration in #Bucharest needlessly antagonised🇷🇺or was preparation for Putin's inevitable expansion plans is a hot debate.

Either way, that NATO is here 14 years later dealing with a war in Europe is a poignant full circle

#COP27: we have a deal

For 1st time, rich countries have agreed to pay poor countries for damages caused by climate change - a contentious deal 30 years in the making.

But, they could not agree on details of the fund. Decisions on who pays and who receives put off to next year. Live now: 🇪🇺VP @TimmermansEU tells #COP27 plenary: "The world will not thank us when they hear only excuses tomorrow"

"Friends are only friends if they only tell you thinks you might want to hear" says the Dutchman.

"What we have in front of us is not enough of a step forward"

The sun has set here in #SharmElSheikh but there's still no #COP27 deal, 24 hours after talks were supposed to end.

However we may be close, as there appears to be a breakthrough on #LossAndDamage. All eyes on 🇺🇸 to see if they'll accept it. I'm hearing there's been a shift from the Americans in the last hours here at #COP27.

They are ready to agree to creating a fund to help poor countries deal with the consequences of climate change - but only if it doesn't tie compensation to a determination of liability.