Closing summary
Donald Trump is committed to the success of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán because his leadership is crucial for US national interests, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said. “President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success,” Rubio said, standing next to Orbán at a joint press conference in Budapest.
At a news conference in Budapest, Rubio said US-Hungary relations - which both he and Orbán described as experiencing a “golden age” under Trump - go beyond mere diplomatic cooperation. “I’m going to be very blunt with you,” Rubio said. “The prime minister and the president have a very, very close personal relationship and working relationship, and I think it has been beneficial to our two countries.”
German finance minister Lars Klingbeil said on Monday the European Union was at a turning point in which countries should not hide behind national interests but accelerate progress to strengthen EU influence and sovereignty. “We want to cut through knots, we want to find solutions always with the goal of strengthening Europe’s sovereignty and making Europe strong,” Klingbeil said in Brussels. “This is a very European moment.”
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul suggested that France needs to boost its defence spending. “He repeatedly and correctly refers to our pursuit of European sovereignty,” Wadephul said of French president Emmanuel Macron. “Anyone who talks about it needs to act accordingly in their own country.”
The Kremlin has dismissed assessments from five European countries that concluded that the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin administered by the Russian state two years ago. The assessment was made from the foreign ministries of the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands after analysis of material samples found on Navalny’s body.
Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials are to meet this week in Switzerland for a second round of talks brokered by the Trump administration, days before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The two-day meeting, kicking off on Tuesday, is expected to mirror negotiations held earlier this month in Abu Dhabi, with representatives from Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in attendance.
Avalanches from heavy snowfall in the European Alps claimed more lives over the weekend, as a train was derailed by a snow slide in Switzerland on Monday and roads and villages around Mont Blanc were closed or placed under evacuation orders. As large areas of the western Alps remained under a high risk of avalanche – following a week in which alerts reached category 5, the highest level – Swiss police said a train derailment caused by an avalanche injured five people near the town of Goppenstein.
Authorities in Cyprus have urged residents to reduce their water intake by 10% – the equivalent of two minutes’ use of running water each day – as Europe’s most south-easterly nation grapples with a once-in-a century drought. The appeal, announced alongside a €31m (£27m) package of emergency measures, comes as reservoirs hit record lows with little prospect of replenishment before the tourist season starts.
Spain announced earlier this month that it would seek to ban under-16s from using social media platforms, following Australia’s ban for under-16s in December and French lawmakers passing a bill that would ban social media use by under-15s. To enforce the ban, the Spanish government will reportedly seek to order platforms to put stringent age verification methods in place.
German finance minister Lars Klingbeil said on Monday the European Union was at a turning point in which countries should not hide behind national interests but accelerate progress to strengthen EU influence and sovereignty.
“We want to cut through knots, we want to find solutions always with the goal of strengthening Europe’s sovereignty and making Europe strong,” Klingbeil said in Brussels. “This is a very European moment.“
Speaking before a meeting of EU finance ministers, he said Germany was ready to make compromises. “The pace we have today at the European level is not commensurate with the challenges we face as Europe.”
