POLITICO’s reporters are speaking to voters to find out what will convince them to head to the ballot box (or not) in the European election in June. LUXEMBOURG/MOSELLE, France — Every weekday Lucas Joyeux, like thousands of others, gets in his expensive, German car and drives from France to Luxembourg. With a soda can always at arm’s reach and while listening to French songs from well before his time, the 23-year-old IT specialist navigates small countryside roads to avoid the overcrowded A31 highway. (He asked that we don’t reveal his route to avoid others catching on.) “There’s the traffic ..read more

It’s been a long five years. The European Parliament term now drawing a close started off with 751 elected representatives from 28 countries, but will close with just 705 from 27 member nations. In calmer times the United Kingdom’s exit from the bloc would have been this term’s headline event. Yet by her own admission, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has forgotten all about Brexit. Even without a war, a cost-of-living crisis, a global pandemic, and embattled Green Deal legislation, tracking the dealmaking of more than 700 lawmakers representing dozens of national parties acr ..read more

LUXEMBOURG — The European Commission will look into ways to deal with Russia’s shadow oil fleet as part of the next package of sanctions, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in an interview Monday. The shadow fleet, which consists of an estimated 1,400 ships with opaque ownership, is “not only aiding Russia with circumventing the sanctions, but it’s also a clear environmental threat,” Billström told POLITICO and a number of other media outlets on the margins of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg. The fleet, he stressed, “is such a large problem … when it comes t ..read more

BRUSSELS — European leaders praised the passage of a $60.8 billion Ukraine aid package by the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday, but some warned that more support is urgently needed from Europe ahead of what’s expected to be fierce Russian offensives in the coming months. The lower chamber of the U.S. Congress passed the measure in a 311-112 vote, overcoming fierce conservative opposition to the funding. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has stressed that, without the assistance, Ukraine could lose in its defense against Russia’s invasion by the end of the year. “I welcome that ..read more

BRUSSELS — EU leaders are on a grandiloquent streak, even by their standards. The EU can stay relevant in a world of resurgent big power politics. Europe won’t drown in the sea of public cash the U.S. and China are throwing at futuristic industries. We can muster military might and prevent climate catastrophe. We can grow a green economy. One pledge you don’t hear? We’ll break the piggy bank to get there. That’s because EU leaders all know: The piggy bank’s already in smithereens. On Thursday, the EU’s 27 leaders will build on these lofty goals in Brussels, proclaiming a new “deal” to keep Eur ..read more

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