Closing summary
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and earlier my colleague Taz Ali, for today. Thanks for following along.
Here is a round-up of the day’s main news lines:
Britain said it would send a further £540m worth of weapons to Ukraine, including spending £150m on buying US made interceptors, using a Nato-run funding scheme for the first time. The latest commitment comes ahead of a meeting of the 50 country Ukraine Contact Group, which coordinates international weapons supplies to Kyiv, immediately after the Nato defence ministers summit.
The United Nations has called on Russia to stop its attacks on Ukraine’s energy sites, which have plunged entire cities into darkness in the coldest winter of the four-year war. Moscow has stepped up strikes on Ukraine’s power and heating infrastructure, and conducted another nationwide attack on energy facilities overnight that killed two people, AFP reported.
Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who is at the Belgium summit with other EU leaders this morning, said Europe should stop sending money to Ukraine it is serious about wanting to boosting its economy. Orbán, widely viewed as Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, made the remarks to reporters as he headed into the informal talks
The top adviser to the EU’s highest court has said it should annul a decision by the European Commission to unfreeze billions of euros of payments to Hungary that had been suspended because of serious concerns over corruption and the rule of law. Tamara Ćapeta, the advocate general of the European court of justice, said on Thursday the commission should not have paid out the funds because Hungary had not actually carried out the judicial reforms that were a condition for their release.
Belgian police searched European commission buildings on Thursday as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities over a €900bn property deal. The Guardian understands that Belgian police were involved in the raids as part of an inquiry initiated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).
Leaders from across the European Union met in a Belgian castle as the 27-nation bloc faced antagonism from US president Donald Trump, strong-arm economic tactics from China and hybrid threats from Russia. “We all know we must change course, and we all know the direction,” said Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever on Wednesday ahead of the meeting. “Yet it sometimes feels like we’re standing on the bridge of the ship staring at the horizon without being able to touch the helm.”
The US is “totally invested in Nato”, said Mark Rutte, as he brushed aside concerns that Washington has stepped back from its leadership role of the military alliance. Nato’s secretary general said he has a “very good relationship” with US defence secretary Pete Hegseth (or officially the US Secretary of War) and that they are in direct contact.
Elbridge Colby, the US undersecretary for war, said it was time for the US and Europe to “march out together,” sounding a rare conciliatory note as he arrived in Brussels for a meeting of alliance defence ministers earlier today.
Norwegian police searched the homes of former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland on Thursday, his lawyer said, as part of an ongoing investigation into ties between prominent Norwegians and late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Images circulated by Norwegian dailies VG, Dagbladet, Dagens Naeringsliv and Aftenposten showed investigators carrying cardboard boxes into Jagland’s Oslo residence.
Italy’s prime minister says her government will deploy every tool at its disposal to “guarantee the security of our borders” after approving a bill authorising naval blockades to stop boats from arriving in Italy during periods of “exceptional pressure”. The bill is the latest step in the crackdown on irregular immigration by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government, which has included tough measures against charity rescue ships, harsher jail terms for human smugglers and schemes aimed at swiftly repatriating people.
Portugal is under pressure to draw up plans to adapt to the climate emergency as the country continues to be lashed by an unprecedented series of storms that have killed at least 16 people and left tens of thousands without electricity. More than 3,000 people were evacuated from the Coimbra area of central Portugal on Wednesday as the Mondego River reached critical levels, while part of the country’s main motorway, the A1, collapsed after a dyke on the Mondego gave way under the weight of flood water.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said “sport shouldn’t mean amnesia” in response to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to ban Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych over the use of a helmet honouring Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia. Heraskevych, a skeleton racer, was informed only minutes before he was due to compete in his Winter Olympics event that his accreditation had been rescinded.
Bulgarian president Iliana Yotova, in an attempt to quell the country’s ongoing political instability, has appointed a senior central bank official as interim prime minister until national elections in April. Andrey Gyurov, deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, will lead a caretaker government whose main task will be to organize a free and fair vote in a country that is holding its eighth election in five years.
Belgian police searched European commission buildings on Thursday as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities over a €900bn property deal.
The Guardian understands that Belgian police were involved in the raids as part of an inquiry initiated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). Searches took place at different commission properties, reported the Financial Times, which broke the story.
Asked about police raids at the commission, an EPPO spokesperson confirmed that an investigation was underway, without disclosing details.
The EPPO can confirm that it is conducting evidence-collecting activities in an ongoing investigation. There is nothing else that we can share at this stage, in order not to endanger the ongoing procedures and their outcome.
The European commission said it was aware of an ongoing investigation pursued by EPPO concerning the sale of 23 commission buildings to the Belgian state in 2024, adding: “As far as the European commission is concerned, the sale of the buildings followed established procedures and protocols and we are confident that the process was conducted in a compliant manner.”
In April 2024 the Belgian state bought 23 properties from the commission for €900bn in a deal hailed by both sides as enabling the transformation of Brussels’ EU quarter into “a modern, attractive and greener area”. Following the post-Covid trend, the commission is seeking to reduce office space, grouping staff in larger and more energy-efficient buildings. For their part, Belgian authorities would to revitalise the sterile glass and steel European quarter, opening up space for more housing, shops and green areas.
The EU’s auditor identified problems with the sale in its latest annual report on the EU budget, flagging concerns there was only one bidder and that the commission’s evaluation committee lacked independence.
It is the second known instance when EPPO has raided EU buildings in three months. In a separate probe last December Belgian police raided the headquarters of the EU foreign service as part of an investigation into suspected fraud related to an EU training programme for junior diplomats.
