The European Commission started a case in front of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic over the refusal of these countries to take in refugees. The refugees concerned here are those who should have been distributed across Europe according to the European distribution mechanism, negotiated in 2015. The case follows upon various infringement procedures launched earlier this year.
Beata Szydło submitted her resignation as prime minister on Thursday after weeks of speculation of a major government reshuffle. Szydło will be replaced by the current minister of finance, Mateusz Morawiecki. Morawiecki served under the Tusk administration as economic advisor and he is the major architect of the long-term economic plans of the current PiS government, which include programs such as 500+.
On Monday, Portugal's minister of finance was elected as the new leader of the Eurogroup. Within the framework of the Eurogroup, the ministers of finance of Eurozone countries meet monthly. The platform is designed for crisis management but has gained importance after 2013 and it was vital in establishing bail-out programs for Greece and bail-ins in Cyprus. Centeno will replace the former Dutch minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
Within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the member states of the EU met the countries of the Eastern Partnership on Friday in Brussels. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the EU came to a joint declaration emphasising the need to tackle issues sovereignty and unresolved conflicts. They set out an action plan of 20 deliverables to be implemented by 2020, concerning areas of good governance, transport, energy security and youth employment.
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After a frosty start of the newly elected Macron and the government of Poland the two leaders met on Thursday amid talks of a French-Polish submarine deal. In Paris, both Macron and Szydło struck a conciliatory tone, emphasising the similarities between the two countries as well as finding common ground on issues such as the EU post-Brexit and defence cooperation. Macron, although he expressed his preoccupation with the state of rule of law in Poland, said he would leave the matter to the European Commission and that he would not press the issue at this time. On top of that, he will be attending the 100th aniversary of the independence of Poland next year in November.
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After weeks of coalition talks the liberal FDP walked away from the table, saying it was ‘better not to govern than to govern in a bad way’. The failure of the talks is Germany’s biggest political upheaval in many years. The talks collapsed as the parties could not reconcile their ideas on energy and above all, migration. As the ‘Jamaica coalition’ of the Greens, FDP and Merkel’s CDU was the only logical outcome of the elections this year, an uncertain time for Germany and indeed Europe has arrived.
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After the Catalan parliament declared its independence from Spain on Saturday following the outcome of the referendum earlier this month, the Spanish federal government stripped the Catalonian government of its powers and autonomy. The referendum was ruled unconstitutional by Spain’s highest court and the Spanish government blocked several voting stations. The Catalonian government ignored the calls from Madrid and pushed ahead with a secret vote anyway, prompting Spain’s government to act.
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After a record 225 day formation following the March parliamentary elections Mark Rutte’s third term cabinet was sworn in on the 26th of October. The coalition of four parties took long to form and relies on a 1 seat margin and replaces the ‘Grand Coalition’ of the past four years.
‘Czech Trump’ Andrej Babiš won the Czech general elections on Saturday. ANO, the party of Babiš, secured over 29% of the votes and it won in every constituent. The Czech Republic is the third European country after the Netherlands and Germany where the ‘Grand Coalition’ loses control after elections. In the Czech Republic, the Social democratic ČSSD and centre right ODS have ruled since the fall of communism, but this era has come to an end.
Winning her fourth federal election, Angela Merkel faces a relatively splintered parliament with the worst electoral result of the Christian democrats CDU and social democrats SPD since the 1950s. The ‘Grand Coalition’ of CDU and SPD lost heavily as the Liberal FDP returned to parliament after a four-year absence and the AfD, branded as a far-right party, enters the Bundestag for the first time. The latter is unprecedented as far-right politics have been virtually absent in Germany’s parliament since the 1950s.
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