Polish president hits out at ‘anarchy’ after new government’s sweeping changes to state media – Europe live | Poland

The ouncil of the EU today approved an extension of current rules of origin for electric vehicles until the end of 2026.

In a statement, the ouncil said:

Today the council approved a proposal to give manufacturers of electric vehicles in the EU and the UK more time to comply with the local content requirements for electric vehicles and batteries under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

It adopted a decision which will allow the EU to agree with the UK on the extension of the current rules of origin for electric vehicles and batteries until 31 December 2026.

This will prevent the entry into force of more stringent rules from 1 January 2024 and the application of a 10% tariff on goods traded between the EU and the UK which do not meet those requirements.

Brussels today disbursed €1.5bn for Ukraine – the last past of a 18 billion package.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said: “We must find an agreement to keep providing Ukraine with the support it needs to recover, rebuild and reform.”

EU leaders attempted last week to find an agreement on a new, multiyear €50bn package for Kyiv, but Hungary’s Viktor Orbán blocked a deal.

The commission is now looking at technical solution that could possibly allow 26 member states to go ahead and fund Ukraine on their own, while efforts continue to bring Hungary on board.

Leaders will meet again in February.

Lorenzo Tondo

Italy’s ruling party drafts law to ‘safeguard’ school nativity scenes

Italy’s ruling far-right party has identified a new battleground in its war to protect the country’s “cultural roots”: the school nativity scene.

A draft law proposed on Wednesday by the Brothers of Italy party (FdI) seeks to clamp down on schools that hold general celebrations in the holiday season thereby acknowledging the growing diversity of Italy’s classrooms.

“For some years now we have witnessed unacceptable and embarrassing decisions by some schools that ban nativity scenes or modify the deep essence of Christmas by transforming it into improbable winter festivities so as not to offend believers of other religions,” said Lavinia Mennuni, an FdI senator and primary signatory of the proposed bill.

According to the party, which is led by the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, the move “is absolutely essential to safeguard and protect [Italy’s] cultural roots, which are exemplified by the nativity scene”. If passed the new legislation would mean headteachers who continued to remove nativity scenes would face disciplinary measures.

The proposal was immediately attacked by opposition parties, who described it as yet another attempt by Meloni’s party to exploit religion for political purposes.

“Punctual as a Swiss clock, during Christmas, the rightwing proposals to safeguard Italian Christian traditions return,” said Riccardo Magi, secretary of the leftwing party More Europe (Più Europa).

Alluding to the government’s anti-immigrant agenda, Magi said: “[This is] the same right wing, led by Giorgia Meloni, for whom today, the holy family fleeing from persecution would probably end up in a detention centre, maybe in Albania, waiting to find out from some judge in Italy whether or not they are worthy of setting foot on Italian territory.”

Read the full story here.

Speaking at an international press conference in Budapest today, with a number of independent media outlets excluded from attending, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, outlined his current thinking on EU funding for Ukraine.

• If we want to give money to Ukraine, it shouldn’t be for several years, because we don’t know what happens in five years.

• The amount should be determined based on how much support the US is providing.

• If money is provided, it shouldn’t be channeled through the EU budget.

• Hungary doesn’t want to take on debt with other EU countries.

• If other EU countries want to amend the bloc’s long-term budget and ask for different things, Hungary would as well.

• Hungary doesn’t want to connect funds for Ukraine with questions about Hungarian money.

At a summit last week, the Hungarian prime minister blocked an EU leaders’ decision on providing Ukraine a multiyear 50 billion euro funding package.

Leaders will meet again at the beginning of February to discuss aid to Kyiv.

Billions in EU funds earmarked for Hungary are currently frozen due to different concerns related to the rule of law. Earlier this month, the European Commission moved to unfreeze about 10 billion euros – roughly a third of the total amount suspended.

The Hungarian government had hinted earlier that approving fresh aid to Kyiv could be contingent in its view on the unfreezing of funds.

Andrzej Duda, Poland’s president, spoke out this morning against the new Polish government’s moves to change state media.

This week, the country’s new culture minister, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, announced that the chairs and boards of state television, news and radio had all been removed, prompting lawmakers from the conservative Law and Justice party to protest outside the headquarters of state broadcaster TVP.

The TVP 24-hour news service’s regular broadcast was suspended on Wednesday.

Speaking on private broadcaster Radio Zet this morning, Duda said the new government’s measures violated the constitution by skipping the necessary parliamentary procedures, Reuters reported.

“These are completely illegal actions,” the Polish president said. “This is anarchy.”

Poland’s new government sacks state TV, radio and news bosses

Shaun Walker

The new Polish government has gutted the top management of public television, making good on a campaign promise to reform a broadcaster that functioned as a mouthpiece of its rightwing populist predecessor, but also prompting criticism of their methods from some quarters.

The government led by the prime minister, Donald Tusk, was sworn into office last Wednesday. It has promised to launch an ambitious programme to reverse the damage done to rule of law in the country during eight years of government by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Under PiS, state media were accused of promoting the party’s policies and launched vicious, personal attacks on opposition figures, and Tusk in particular. “We will need exactly 24 hours to turn the PiS TV back into public TV. Take my word for it,” Tusk said during a campaign rally in early October.

In the end, it has taken his government a week. On Tuesday, the new parliament adopted a resolution calling for the restoration of “impartiality and reliability of the public media”. After the resolution, the new culture minister, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, announced that the chairs and boards of state television, news and radio had all been removed.

The vote prompted PiS lawmakers to stage a protest outside the headquarters of TVP, the state broadcaster. “There is no democracy without media pluralism or strong anti-government media, and in Poland these are the public media,” the PiS leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, told reporters at the entrance of the state television building on Tuesday evening, promising that the protest would go on indefinitely.

The TVP 24-hour news service’s regular broadcast was suspended on Wednesday, with only the television logo visible on TV screens.

Read the full story here.

Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.

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