Closing summary
Never a boring day with Europe live, it seems!
But now it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa.
Here are the three things to take away from today’s blog:
Micheál Martin has been confirmed as the new prime minister of Ireland, after parties in the Irish parliament find a way to resolve their dispute, which held up his confirmation vote by a day. He offered some first comments on his guiding principles and EU policy (14:59) and relations with the US (15:01). He is completing hew new cabinet this evening, and we will bring you the latest on this tomorrow.
EU and Nato leaders spoke in Davos about the need to increase defence spending to put Europe in a stronger position to defend itself and argue its case in discussions with the new US administration under Donald Trump (see 09:42, 09:47, 09:55) . But they are likely to be alarmed about his latest comments on Ukraine as, against their suggestions (see 10:09) the US president wants to meet with Putin and get China involved (see 18:00). If you want to follow US reactions to his speech, here’s our US blog:
The leader of Germany’s main centre-right opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, promised today to make “fundamental changes” to asylum law if his party gets elected next month. He spoke after a deadly knife attack that killed two people, including a toddler, put the country’s and the EU’s migration policies back in the spotlight (12:23).
On a more different note, I leave you with the news that if you ever end up in a “mouldy” hotel with stale croissants, you can apparently claim thousands in compensation, as one UK family proved.
Finally, for those of you in Ireland – please, stay safe during Storm Éowyn.
That’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. Thank you!
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Updated
Trump's speech at Davos - snap reaction
EU leaders will not be happy with what they just heard from Trump.
In particular, his comments on meeting Putin to discuss Ukraine will cause some concern, given some key EU foreign policy voices explicitly urged him not to do that earlier today (10:09).
Getting China involved and using their “great deal of power over that situation” is also likely to give reignite worries focused around the question – explicitly raised by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy on Tuesday (see 15:02) – whether we could end up in a situation where Europe is marginalised or even not involved in the peace talks.
Finally, what he said on trade and taxes is not new, but will probably keep some EU officials well awake as they try to figure out what could be his next move if he really decides to “do something about it". Jennifer Rankin spoke about it in this blog on Tuesday, too (see 12:28).
