Summary of the day
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said at the Progressive Governance Summit that there is a need for a European debate about European politics. He also stressed the need to give people hope and a feeling of security about the future.
In a move that raises new questions about the political centre in the European parliament, the populist former Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, has announced that his ANO party is leaving the Renew Europe group.
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has criticised the centre-right European People’s party this morning – and in particular its leader Manfred Weber – while also claiming Germany “no longer smelled and looked the same.”
Slovakia’s government has asked police to investigate the former cabinet and defence minister Jaroslav Nad for donating fighter jets and an air defence system to Ukraine.
Nicolas Schmit, the European commissioner from Luxembourg who was the European socialists’ lead candidate in the European elections, has weighed in on the campaign in France, warning that “you cannot be left-wing and anti-Semitic or racist.”
Hervé Breuil, a candidate for France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, was assaulted yesterday as he campaigned in the industrial town of Saint Etienne, near Lyon.
Asked if he has advice for Keir Starmer, Olaf Scholz said:
I spoke a lot with him, I met him quite often. And I think he’s a very good, pragmatic social democratic politician… And it looks really good for the elections there. And after that long time, it’s something as a social democrat I look for.
Updated
-copy-dd1f2bf0.jpeg?w=600)
