PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron outlined his priorities for the future of the European Union on Thursday in an almost two-hour stump speech with about six weeks to go until the European election in June. The marathon address at Sorbonne University in Paris covered everything from the recent farmer protests to financial regulation. Here’s what you need to know: More cash Macron wants Europe to become the global leader by 2030 in five sectors: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, the space industry, biotechnology, and new forms of clean energy such as hydrogen and nuclear fusion ..read more

PARIS — It seemed like a good idea at the time. French President Emmanuel Macron promised the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics on the banks of the River Seine in July would be a “moment of beauty, art, celebration of sports and our values.” Instead, the grand opening and accompanying circus surrounding the sporting extravaganza threatens to turn into a nightmare for France’s security apparatus. Earlier this month, Macron for the first time opened the door to moving the Olympics opening ceremony away from the Seine to a more conventional venue like the Stade de France, which will als ..read more

LONDON — Britain is finally leading the world … on AI-powered surveillance. While politicians in Europe tie themselves in knots trying to set limits on how facial recognition tools should be used by law enforcement, ministers in the post-EU U.K. have shown no such qualms. Instead, they are aggressively promoting the technology, which has been used to police football matches, concerts — and even King Charles III’s coronation. Now, they want to go further, with plans to give more forces the ability to scan crowds in real-time as part of a £230 million police “productivity and technology” plan. C ..read more

BRUSSELS — The United States is worried enough about TikTok’s security risks to force the app’s sale under the threat of a ban. Europe is less convinced.  A U.S. bill that would require TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell the popular video-sharing app within a year — or face a national ban — became law Wednesday, buoyed by unprecedented support. Fueled by fears of Beijing’s potential data access and interference, U.S. lawmakers adopted the controversial bill in recent days as part of a larger aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan; President Joe Biden signed it Wed ..read more

BRUSSELS — The incoming CEO of Europe’s largest tech firm finds himself caught between the United States and China in a microchips-driven geopolitical clash. Frenchman Christophe Fouquet takes the reins today at Dutch chip equipment supplier ASML. It’s a fraught time for the company, entangled in the U.S. and China’s escalating trade war after the U.S. last year pressured the Netherlands to block some of ASML’s exports to China — one of its biggest customers — to cut off the country’s access to advanced chips.  Fouquet is simultaneously a “known entity” — as described by his predecessor a ..read more

The Senate sent a $95 billion foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan to the president’s desk Tuesday — a long-awaited result after months of congressional haggling over whether to provide funding for the allies. The bill also included a provision that would require TikTok’s parent company to either sell the social media app or face a ban, as well as a measure that permits selling off Russian oligarch assets. Though the legislation passed with bipartisan support, 79-18, the political ramifications will be felt throughout the Capitol. It’s a win for Democrats and defense-focused ..read more

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure Saturday that aims to force a sale of TikTok, and also to seize frozen Russian assets to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction, as well as impose sanctions and other punitive measures against Russia, China and Iran. The bill, filled with Republican policy sweeteners, was included in Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid funding package as a way to bolster Republican support for tens of billions of dollars in long-delayed aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. The House approved the measure in an overwhelming 360-58 vote ..read more

The Dutch government is warning it could stop using Facebook Pages before the summer over data protection concerns on how the platform targets its users. Dutch state secretary for digital affairs Alexandra van Huffelen told POLITICO she was in talks with Meta to change how it operates its Facebook Pages product, upon advise of the country’s data protection authority. “I want as soon as possible, the latest before the summer recess, clarity from Meta how they will meet our concerns,” Van Huffelen said in a statement to POLITICO. “Otherwise we will be forced to quit our activities on Facebook pa ..read more

BRUSSELS — Enrico Letta, former prime minister of Italy, is facing a tall order: Make everyone fall in love with the single market. It’s a task former Commission President Jacques Delors famously said was “impossible.” More concretely, Letta was charged back in June 2023 with authoring a report on how to make the single market fit for purpose. In his report, which came in at 147 pages, the former prime minister said he had wanted to start exactly where Delors stopped: bringing into the single market three sectors — energy, telecoms and finance — that Delors was forced to leave to the sovereign ..read more

LONDON — Britain is considering cracking down on foreign research funding amid concern its universities are being left open to Chinese and other overseas influence. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told an event in London Thursday that while Britain’s universities are “a jewel in our crown,” the funding of research by foreign powers could put at risk the development of sensitive dual-use technology and “has the potential to become a chink in our armor.” Dowden said he would summon university bosses to a meeting “in the coming weeks” to brief them on a government review of academic security ..read more