Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play Acast With just weeks to go until the European Parliament election, we’re bringing you the state of play. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by Elisa Braun, POLITICO’s Brussels correspondent, and Nicholas Vinocur, POLITICO’s editor at large, to discuss the many political challenges facing EPP lead candidate Ursula von der Leyen: “Pfizergate,” “Piepergate” and the internal rebellion by a group of fellow commissioners. Later, a panel of keen election watchers — Eddy Wax, who covers the European Parliament for POLITICO, technology reporter Clothilde Goujar ..read more

Germany’s new law legalizing recreational cannabis use came into effect on April 1. At midnight, hundreds of Berliners held a “smoke-in” at the Brandenburg Gate to publicly consume marijuana and celebrate decriminalization. Germany is the third country in the European Union to legalize recreational use of cannabis, after Malta in 2021 and Luxembourg in 2023, according to Agence France-Presse. Medical associations, police organizations and judges have misgivings about the law, arguing that marijuana can have a negative effect on the brain, which is still developing up until age 25 — or tha ..read more

Protesters clashed with Brussels police on Monday during a pro-Kurdish demonstration in front of the European Parliament. Over 200 people gathered in Place du Luxembourg at midday in response to riots that erupted Sunday in Heusden-Zolder and Houthalen-Helchteren in eastern Belgium. The riots, which followed violent clashes between Turkish and Kurdish groups, left at least six people injured, local media reported. At the Monday Brussels demonstration, tensions between protesters and police escalated after 1 p.m., local media reported. Police reportedly used water cannon and tear gas to dispers ..read more

In the blue corner … the European Commission. In the red corner … the European Parliament. Fight! The two EU institutions are limbering up for a legal battle over the Commission’s decision to unfreeze more than €10 billion in EU funds for Hungary. The root of the skirmish goes back to last December when the EU executive, led by Ursula von der Leyen, decided Budapest had met stringent rule of law criteria set by Brussels relating to the independence of its judicial system, and unfroze a tranche of money that had been withheld. The timing was curious to say the least as it came on the eve of a E ..read more

A handful of governments have opposed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plan to use profits generated by frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine. Hungary, Slovakia, Malta and Luxembourg pushed back against the idea during a meeting of the European Union’s 27 ambassadors on Wednesday, according to six officials and diplomats who were granted anonymity to speak freely about private talks. These fraught discussions might be a signal of what is to come during an EU summit next week, when leaders hope to decide on how to use the proceeds of the assets that have been immo ..read more

The Chinese government on Thursday announced that Irish, Swiss, Hungarian, Austrian, Belgian and Luxembourgish citizens will be able to travel visa-free to China. “I would like to inform you that starting from March 14, China will further implement the visa-free policy for Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg on a trial basis,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a press conference during the National People’s Congress meeting in Beijing. Citizens from the named countries will be able to stay in China up to 15 days for business, tourism, family visits and transit pu ..read more

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ROME — The leading center-left candidate for the European election in June kicked off his campaign by calling for an “immediate cease-fire” in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. “Today it’s our duty to urge for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza,” Luxembourg’s EU Commissioner Nicolas Schmit said in his speech, moments after delegates at a congress of Socialist leaders and activists in Rome confirmed his unopposed run to be both the face of their three-month campaign and their candidate to be the next president of the European Commission. Schmit, a social democrat on the left of his party whose c ..read more

Oil income: slashed. Oligarchs’ assets: frozen. Access to weapons: choked. Russia has faced a historic slew of penalties from Washington, Brussels and beyond since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The punishments, chiefly economic sanctions, were designed in large part to drain Russia’s coffers so it would struggle to fund its war. And more pain has been promised as both the U.S. and EU unveiled new sanctions against Russia this week, some tied to the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Yet, two years on, Russia’s economy has rebounded. Its fac ..read more

Bears, cars and angry farmers fuel green backlash A 28-country guide to how climate policies are splitting Europe. Illustration from iStock Europe’s hopes for a greener future are being doused in pesticides, thrown in the furnace, hunted down, hit by cars and crushed by herds of cows. And Green parties are taking the hit — polling shows they will face deep electoral pain when EU citizens vote in June. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also trying to run away from the green parts of her legacy. In fact, those pushing for faster action to protect the climate and na ..read more