Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
US president Donald Trump praised the European Union for being “very nice” in recent trade talks, even as it was “in many respects much worse than China” before, and said it could get a letter with the US offer on tariffs in two days (18:38).
But as European capitals begin to weigh up what is on offer, new views are beginning to emerge (10:22, 11:51, 13:49), with Swedish finance minister calling the proposal “really bad” (11:31).
French president Emmanuel Macron declared Europeans will “never abandon Ukraine, never” (17:53) in a speech in the UK parliament, during which he insisted that faced with new threats and “hesitating alliances,” the Franco-British relation remained of critical importance for Europe’s future (18:01).
Speaking on day one of his state visit to Britain (16:01), Macron spoke of “a shared responsibility” to resolve irregular migration in the English Channel, saying “we cannot allow our country’s rules for taking in people to be flouted by criminal networks who cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals, with so little respect for human life” (18:05).
Calling the UK’s decision to leave the EU “deeply regrettable,” he insisted that Britain, even outside the bloc, had a significant role to play in providing political leadership for Europe (18:08).
The French president also warned against Europe’s “excessive dependency” on the US and China, calling for the continent to stand up to defend its democratic model and warning against the devastating impact of social media platforms (18:12).
In some lighter comments, Macron praised historical links with the UK, and joked “I have to confess that we love monarchy, but especially when it’s not at home” (17:48), as he appealed to community leaders on both sides to “not let the English Channel grow wider” (18:16).
Separately,
A rapidly developing wildfire near Marseille, France forced the local airport to suspend its operations this afternoon, with authorities urging residents to stay indoors and over 720 firefighters battling the blaze (16:18, 16:25, 16:56, 17:14).
Separately, Spain was also tackling a wildfire in the Catalan province of Tarragona which has burned through more than 3,100 hectares of forest, farm and urban land, and led to the confinement of 18,000 people in the area (16:29).
Poland and parts of the Czech Republic were put on alert over expected heavy rainfall with fears about local flooding (16:37).
Elsewhere,
The German foreign ministry has summoned the Chinese ambassador in Berlin after a Chinese warship used a laser to target a German aircraft taking part in an EU operation helping to protect shipping in the Red Sea (13:41).
Three men have been found guilty over an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London, which British officials said was ordered by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group (14:54).
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen warned that Europe “is facing greatest challenges since 1940s” (11:04) as she outlined her country’s plans for its six-months rotating EU presidency, calling for decisive action on defence (11:15), migration (11:20), and cutting red tape (11:24),
EU finance ministers completed the final steps on Tuesday for Bulgaria to become the 21st member of the euro zone from January 2026 (14:05).
A 72-year-old man who shot and wounded Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico last year has gone on trial in Banská Bystrica (10:45).
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.
EU deal with US unlikely in next few days, Eurogroup chair says
An EU deal with Donald Trump over threatened tariffs is unlikely to be concluded in the next few days, the Irish minister and chair of the finance ministers group in the eurozone said before the latest Trump comments.
After a summit of finance ministers in Brussels, Paschal Donohoe, said: “Our assessment is that the negotiation is still ongoing and that we are not at the point where a deal has been done.”
“It does appear that there is a further passage of negotiation ahead, and we’re very much feeding into that in terms of my view on the agreement at the end of it.”
Nervousness and secrecy still surrounds the proposed agreement in principle.
EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the EU was still working full speed for a deal.
“We have been working with this 9 July deadline in mind, but as I outlined, as it seems, the US have now postponed in a sense this deadline to first of August, so that gives us a bit more time, but from our side we remain concentrated.
The faster we can reach the agreement, the better, because that would remove uncertainty surrounding these tariff questions and indeed we see that it is weighing on the economy and also on investment decisions of the companies.”
As European capitals begin to weigh up what is on offer, new views are beginning to emerge.
Earlier on Tuesday the Swedish finance minister Elisabeth Svantesson described what was on offer as “really bad” while MEPs gathered in Strasbourg said they would fight against a baseline 10% tariff.
At a press briefing German MEP Bernd Lang said if the current tariffs remained EU exporters would be paying €100bn a year into US coffers compared to the current €7bn now.
“This is an income for the budget in the United States. And this is not acceptable,” he said.
