Hints and tips:
...The plans would mark the first step in changing rules that would then have to be negotiated by member states and the European parliament....
...Gerb are members of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s EPP group, and their capture of the prime minister’s chair was set to give the EPP 13 of the EU’s 27 leaders for the June discussions...
...Last night the CDU bigwigs dined in Berlin, and this morning they will formally mark their cards with von der Leyen’s name. The news will be made official just after midday....
...Russia has said the exercise, which runs until late May, marks the “irrevocable return” of Nato’s cold war stance....
...Omtzigt, whose new party has applied to join von der Leyen’s EPP, said that should be a one-off....
...Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte squashed the proposal at the outset. He used an early intervention at the leaders’ summit to voice his country’s opposition to the idea....
...Top politicians in the EPP, which has positioned itself as the party of farmers, have opposed measures to limit the use of pesticides and protect biodiversity....
...According to an EPP spokesman, it is already “politically dead”....
...This marks just the start of a battle among parliamentarians, countries and the European Commission on this issue....
...The centre-right EPP had sought to water down the measures so MEPs rejected the legislation, sending it back to committee, writes Andy Bounds....
...He is likely to be succeeded by Roberta Metsola, a Maltese MEP selected by the EPP as its candidate for president....
...This marks the best performance in the UK and points to the nation prospering under the Northern Ireland protocol....
...Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, who led the charge, even asked Orban to consider triggering the Article 50 exit process to leave the bloc if he was unwilling to repeal the legislation....
...Despite all the emphasis on preserving the balance, the EPP’s latest triumph has led to grumbling....
...The intervention by the European People’s party, the parliament’s large centre-right grouping, marks the most direct call yet from Brussels for the UK to lift the uncertainty hanging over business by agreeing...
...The EPP’s next political assembly meeting is scheduled for June 11-12....
...Planet Europe Charming Europe’s frugal chieftain Mark Rutte is the most in-demand man in the EU ahead of next week’s European Council summit — but not for the right reasons....
...It’s made up of the centre-right EPP, centre-left S&D, and centrists Renew Europe....
...The EPP includes governments in Greece and Cyprus and also Germany....
...Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister and a driving force behind the initial agreement, vowed never to negotiate with a “knife at our throat”....
...Central bankers, notably Mark Carney at the Bank of England, have long been pushing for more action to deal with the financial risks of climate change....
...“The gloves were off,” says an EPP official....
...Mr Orban has accused Donald Tusk, head of the EPP, of “sowing the seeds of division” in the group by suggesting he is expelled for violations against the rule of law....
...Mark Rutte, the Dutch premier said the speculation about a compromise deal in Japan was “over the top”. “This is a moving target....
...“An extension of the transition period is the only responsible thing to do,” said Christophe Hansen, an EPP member of the parliament’s international trade committee, in a statement issued by the group....
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