Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha urged the EU to adopt further sanctions against Moscow as he rejected Russian accusations that Kyiv didn’t want to progress peace talks and reiterated that Kyiv was ready to hold them anytime (15:16).
But EU diplomats reportedly failed to agree the 18th package of sanctions on Wednesday, after it was once again blocked by Slovakia (17:27).
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian parliament formally dismissed the outgoing prime minister Denys Shmyhal as part of a major government reshuffle initiated by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week (14:25).
Elsewhere,
The European Commission has presented the key elements of its new €2tn draft budget for the European Union for 2028-2034 (16:29, 16:39, 17:20), getting rather cool first reactions from EU lawmakers (17:14).
French prime minister François Bayrou also faced “furious” reactions from opposition lawmakers in France over his draft budget proposal, which could even see his government toppled this autumn (11:51, 12:02).
EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič was confirmed to be flying to Washington for further talks with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer as the bloc hopes to escape prohibitive tariffs proposed by president Donald Trump (12:09, 12:23).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
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.
Complaint upheld against Belgian ticket inspector who said ‘bonjour’ in Flanders
A complaint against a Belgian ticket inspector who gave passengers a bilingual greeting in Dutch-speaking Flanders has been upheld, shedding light on the country’s strict language laws.
The conductor, Ilyass Alba, said Belgium’s Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control had upheld a complaint made by a commuter in 2024.
The passenger had objected to Alba’s use of the French word “bonjour” while the train was in Dutch-speaking Flanders.
Alba said he had greeted the carriage with “Goeiedag, bonjour” (good day in Dutch and French), as the train approached Vilvoorde (Vilvorde), near the outskirts of Brussels, which is officially bilingual.
The commission upheld the passenger’s complaint that Alba should not have used French in the Dutch-speaking part of the country, unless approached by a passenger speaking French.
“What a country!” Alba wrote on Facebook. He said he understood why a passenger concerned to protect his mother tongue would file such a complaint, but “that the commission would rule in his favour when travellers from all over the world visit Belgium is a sign of narrow-mindedness on the part of a small Flemish elite.”
For its part, the commission, which was created in 1966 to police Belgium’s language rules, said it was upholding the law and only the legislature could make changes.
Under Belgium’s strict language rules, conductors on the national rail service SNCB (NMBS in Dutch) should only use Dutch in Flanders, French in the southern-speaking Francophone region, and both languages in bilingual Brussels. The rule applies to passenger announcements and onboard electronic screens.
