Tag: Infrastructure

UK slams ‘protectionist’ Biden

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LONDON — Joe Biden’s “protectionist” Inflation Reduction Act won’t help the U.S. counter the rise of China and could create a “single point of failure” in key supply chains, Britain’s trade chief Kemi Badenoch warned.
Speaking at a POLITICO event Tuesday night, Badenoch — recently promoted to head up the U.K.’s new Department for Business and Trade — predicted the flagship law would not achieve its key aims, and insisted the U.K. is not sitting on the sidelines in the transatlantic tussle over the plan.
The comments came just minutes after the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. mounted a spirited defense of the IRA at the same event.

The Inflation Reduction Act offers billions in subsidies and tax credits to try and incentivize take-up of electric vehicles and build up green infrastructure. But European and British carmakers are particularly concerned about the impact on their own industries of massive help for U.S. firms.
Speaking on Tuesday night, Badenoch said Britain — which has been lobbying against the plan but is not prepping its own subsidies — is “working very well with a group of like-minded countries who are worried about the Inflation Reduction Act.”
“The EU is very worried and we’re working jointly with them on it,” she said. “It’s not just the EU doing stuff and we’re not in the room. Japan is worried. South Korea is worried. Switzerland is worried.”
Many countries, Badenoch contended, are now “looking at what the U.S. is doing” with concern.
“It is onshoring in a way that could actually create problems with the supply chain for everybody else,” she said.
“And that will not have the impact that it wants to have when it’s looking at the economic challenge that China presents. So no, I don’t think it’s a good idea, not just because it’s protectionist. But it also creates a single point of failure in a different place, when actually what we want is diversification and strengthening of supply chains across the board.”
Speaking earlier Tuesday night, U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Jane Hartley argued that the plan could have major positive implications for countries beyond the U.S.
“One of the things I would say is there’s going to be a huge amount of money, R&D — the technology is going to improve, the technology is going to be cheaper,” she said. “The technology is going to be used by everyone in the world — not just the U.S.”
Hartley stressed that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is “looking pretty hard” at the act during its so-called comment period, when U.S. agencies take feedback on a plan. Both President Biden and U.S. Trade Secretary Katherine Tai had, she said, stressed that their country “didn’t do this to hurt our allies — we want to protect our allies.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated Janet Yellen’s job title. She is the treasury secretary.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 21, 2023
Putin is staring at defeat in his gas war with Europe

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There’s more bad news for Vladimir Putin. Europe is on course to get through winter with its vital gas storage facilities more than half full, according to a new European Commission assessment seen by POLITICO.
That means despite the Russian leader’s efforts to make Europe freeze by cutting its gas supply, EU economies will survive the coldest months without serious harm — and they look set to start next winter in a strong position to do the same.
A few months ago, there were fears of energy shortages this winter caused by disruptions to Russian pipeline supplies.

But a combination of mild weather, increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and a big drop in gas consumption mean that more than 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas is projected to remain in storage by the end of March, according to the Commission analysis.
A senior European Commission official attributed Europe’s success in securing its gas supply to a combination of planning and luck.
“A good part of the success is due to unusually mild weather conditions and to China being out of the market [due to COVID restrictions],” the official said. “But demand reduction, storage policy and infrastructure work helped significantly.”
Ending the winter heating season with such healthy reserves — above 50 percent of the EU’s roughly 100bcm total storage capacity — removes any lingering fears of a gas shortage in the short term. It also eases concerns about Europe’s energy security going into next winter.
The positive figures underlie the more optimistic outlook presented by EU leaders in recent days, with Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson saying on Tuesday that Europe had “won the first battle” of the “energy war” with Russia.
EU storage facilities — also vital for winter gas supply in the U.K., where storage options are limited — ended last winter only around 20 percent full. Brussels mandated that they be replenished to 80 percent ahead of this winter, requiring a hugely expensive flurry of LNG purchases by European buyers, to replace volumes of gas lost from Russian pipelines.
The wholesale price of gas rose to record levels during storage filling season — peaking at more than €335 per megawatt hour in August — with dire knock-on effects for household bills, businesses’ energy costs and Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
Gas prices have since fallen to just above €50/Mwh amid easing concerns over supplies. The EU has a new target to fill 90 percent of gas storage again by November 2023 — an effort that will now require less buying of LNG on the international market than it might have done had reserves been more seriously depleted.
“The expected high level of storages at above 50 percent [at] the end of this winter season will be a strong starting point for 2023/24 with less than 40 percent to be filled (against the difficult starting point of around 20 percent in storage at the end of winter season in 2022,” the Commission assessment says.
Analysts at the Independent Commodity Intelligence Services think tank said this week that refilling storages this year could still be “as tough a challenge as last year” but predicted that the EU now had “more than enough import capacity to meet the challenge.”
Across the EU, five new floating LNG terminals have been set up — in the Netherlands, Greece, Finland and two in Germany — providing an extra 30bcm of gas import capacity, with more due to come online this year and next.
However, the EU’s ability to refill storages to the new 90 percent target ahead of next winter will likely depend on continued reduction in gas consumption.
Brussels set member states a voluntary target of cutting gas demand by 15 percent from August last year. Gas demand actually fell by more than 20 percent between August and December, according to the latest Commission data, partly thanks to efficiency measures but also the consequence of consumers responding to much higher prices by using less energy.
The 15 percent target may need to be extended beyond its expiry date of March 31 to avoid gas demand rebounding as prices fall. EU energy ministers are set to discuss the issue at two forthcoming meetings in February and March.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 16, 2023
Technology, innovation critical factors for improving healthcare infrastructure: NITI Aayog CEO

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New Delhi: Technology and innovation are the critical factors that will play a crucial role in improving the healthcare infrastructure of India, NITI Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer said on Monday.
Addressing 9th Edition of the International Patient Safety Conference (IPSC) organised by Apollo Hospitals, Iyer said artificial intelligence has transformed the way healthcare sector is performing now.
From diagnosis of the disease to providing treatment, the use of artificial intellgience is proving beneficial in transforming India’s healthcare system, he added. In the coming years, Iyer noted that there will be a significant amount of increase in the number of digital healthcare solutions.
“To bring an effective change into the healthcare system of India, we must focus more in fostering public-private partnerships,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Apollo Hospitals Group’s Joint Managing Director Sangita Reddy said as India moves closer to achieving universal health coverage, patient safety and digital health should be given high consideration.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 13, 2023
As Kyiv steels for offensive, Russia launches missile raids and builds up troops near Kupyansk

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KYIV — Russia has launched extensive missile raids across Ukraine and is building up troops near the northeastern city of Kupyansk to test Ukrainian defenses, just as Kyiv is warning that Moscow is gearing up to launch a new offensive.
Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, commander in chief of Ukraine’s army, said in a statement that two Kalibr cruise missiles entered the airspace of Moldova and NATO member Romania, before veering into Ukrainian territory. Romania, however, cautioned that radar only detected a missile launched from a Russian ship in the Black Sea traveling close to its airspace — some 35 kilometers away — but not inside its territory.
“At approximately 10:33 a.m., these missiles crossed Romanian airspace. After that, they again entered the airspace of Ukraine at the crossing point of the borders of the three states. The missiles were launched from the Black Sea,” Zaluzhnyy said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added, “Several Russian missiles flew through the airspace of Moldova and Romania. Today’s missiles are a challenge to NATO, collective security. This is terror that can and must be stopped. Stopped by the world.”
Governors in Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Khmelnytskyi reported power cuts due to the barrage.
The attack started before dawn in the eastern region of Kharkiv, according to the governor, Oleg Synegubov.
“Today, at 4:00 a.m., about 12 rockets hit critical infrastructure facilities in Kharkiv and the region. Currently, emergency and stabilizing light shutdowns are being employed. About 150,000 people in Kharkiv remain without electricity,” Synegubov said.
Synegubov said the barrage came the same morning as Russian invasion forces increased their attacks near Kupyansk, a city in the Kharkiv region that Ukrainian forces liberated last fall. “The enemy has increased its presence on the front line and is testing our defense lines for weak points. Our defenders reliably hold their positions and are ready for any possible actions of the enemy,” Synegubov said in a statement.
He also reported that about eight people were injured in one of the latest Russian missiles strikes in Kharkiv. Two of the victims are in critical condition.
Meanwhile, in the west of the country, Ukrainian air defense units are firing back at multiple cruise missile attacks. “That is Russian revenge for the fact that the whole world supports us,” Khmelnitskyi Governor Serhiy Hamaliy said in a statement. He also reported a missile strike in the city, saying that part of Khmelnitsky was without power.
Ukrainian Air Force Command reported the destruction of five cruise missiles and five of seven Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones Russia launched from the coast of the Sea of Azov. The Russians also launched six Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles from a Russian frigate in the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian Air Force added that air defense units shot down 61 of 71 cruise missiles that Russia launched.
“The occupiers also launched a massive attack with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from the districts of Belgorod (Russia) and Tokmak (occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region),” the air force said in a statement. “Up to 35 anti-aircraft guided missiles (S-300) were launched in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, which cannot be destroyed in the air by means of air defense. Around 8:30 a.m. cruise missiles were launched from Tu-95 MS strategic bombers.”
This article has been updated.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 8, 2023
Rs 15,626 cr sanctioned under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund: Govt

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New Delhi: Loans amounting to Rs 15,626 crore have been sanctioned under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to create 21,380 infrastructure units at an aggregate investment of more than Rs 32,000 crore all over the country till January this year.
The Central Government is providing grants-in-aid to states to promote Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and to improve agriculture.
Ministry of Agriculture in a reply in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday said, “In order to increase agriculture productivity and export, various measures were taken by the government, including Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) which encourages farmers, agri-entrepreneur, start-ups, Farmer Producers Organization, SHGs etc to adopt innovation and farm mechanisation in Indian agriculture.”
Apart from bridging the infrastructure gap in Indian agriculture in a bid to curtail post harvest losses, boosting productivity through facilitating loans from lending institutions for activities like, organic inputs production, bio stimulant production units, nursery, tissue culture, seed processing etc, said the reply.
Other activities in the category of infrastructure for smart and precision agriculture aim at making this sector attractive for the new generation are: Farm/harvest automation, setting up of custom hiring centres, purchase of drones, putting up specialized sensors on field, block chain and AI in agriculture etc. Introduction of remote sensing and Internet of Things (IOT) such as automatic weather station, farm advisory services through GIS applications constitute other such initiatives. AIF also aims at improvising supply chain services that include creation of e-marketing platforms, said the reply.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 7, 2023
Billions in rail grants let Biden hail his infrastructure wins

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“For years, people talked about fixing this tunnel. With the bipartisan infrastructure law, though, we’re finally getting it done,” the pro-Amtrak president said Monday near a 150-year-old rail tunnel in Baltimore, where he hailed more than $6 billion in upgrades that will allow trains to travel through the city at up to 110 mph. Whistles from two Amtrak engines sounded off to mark the start of construction of a new tunnel, named after Frederick Douglass.
Biden and Buttigieg are following that Tuesday with an appearance on the west side of Manhattan, where they will announce a nearly $300 million grant for a long-debated rail tunnel under the Hudson River. Both announcements stem from the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure law that Biden signed his first year in office, and the New York money will aid a project that the Trump administration had pointedly blocked.
Beyond the benefits associated with the projects themselves, Biden aides have said they believe that they showcase his ability to strike deals across the aisle, in contrast with the partisanship on display in the new GOP-led House and the Republicans’ potential 2024 field.
White House aides also said Biden himself, long a lover of trains, has said he was delighted to partake in the unveiling of rail projects so close together. And he has never tired of joking about the failures of his predecessor’s so-called “infrastructure weeks” when Biden himself can tout a legislative milestone that will stand for decades.
“It lets people know that we’re really getting things done,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a major backer of the project, in an interview with POLITICO. “It shows we can do big, important, necessary things when it comes to infrastructure.”
The New York rail funding will go toward the first phase of the Gateway Program, a series of projects aimed at supplementing the crumbling, century-old tunnels that carry freight and passenger rail under the Hudson. It will also replace a decrepit rail bridge in New Jersey.
The new tunnel — technically a pair of tunnels that can each carry a train — would reduce headaches facing commuters in and out of New York City and repair damage incurred during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Top transportation officials have warned that if the aging tunnel fails it could have catastrophic impacts for the regional economy.
Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.), who represents the New Jersey side of the rail tunnel, said voters will begin to care about the new infrastructure investments when they start seeing tangible benefits to their commutes or travel times.

“Once people have access to an updated rail line and they see fewer delays, better facilities and better experiences, that will immediately crystallize what all this work will be about,” he said.
When Buttigieg visited Westfield, New Jersey in the summer of 2021 to promote what became the infrastructure law, Shelley Brindle, the mayor of Westfield, N.J., told him that delays and stressful commutes meant she was “never the mom I wanted to be.” Buttigieg has repeated her story during other infrastructure events.
And that’s the kind of impact the administration hopes will stick in voters’ minds — not cable news footage of passengers stranded at airports for days on end, or fears that a rail strike could provoke shortages of electricity and drinking water.
In Baltimore, Biden threw a bone to Buttigieg, who has faced weeks of Republican attacks for his handling of Southwest’s holiday debacle and a subsequent Federal Aviation Administration computer failure that snarled thousands of flights.
“This is just one example of the great work you’re doing, Pete, I appreciate it a lot,” Biden said Monday, referring to the Baltimore project.
Whether lawmakers will agree with that assessment remains to be seen.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who oversees airlines from her perch as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who chairs the House Transportation Committee, are both expected to hold hearings on the airline industry as well as its FAA overseers.
In addition, their committees are actively working on a major aviation policy bill that is due to be finished by the end of September, which would be a natural vehicle to host any number of changes to the aviation system and DOT’s powers.
During his remarks in Baltimore, Biden sounded the alarm for infrastructure investment and underscored that his administration is delivering. He warned that an inoperable tunnel in Baltimore or New York would be disastrous for commuters and the economy.
“Over 2,200 trains run over this corridor every single day,” Biden said. “If this line shuts down, in just one day it would cost the country over $100 million.”
The new grant money Biden will announce Tuesday is earmarked for installing concrete casing on the far west side of Manhattan, which will allow the future rail tunnel to connect to New York Penn Station. Construction is expected to begin this year and cost $600 million.
Development of the tunnels still faces lingering hyperlocal obstacles, such as concerns about construction noise in one New Jersey town the tunnels will run beneath, along with competition for a key piece of land in Manhattan. If all goes as planned, work would begin in the fall of 2024.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat who represents many New Jersey commuters, said the project is now a done deal thanks to the infrastructure law, which includes money specifically for mega projects like Gateway.
“The good news is it’s full steam ahead. Now we just have to keep it on track,” Gottheimer said.
Biden also used Monday’s speech to praise labor unions, some of whose members have criticized the way he intervened to head off the potential freight rail strike last year. He declared that the Baltimore and New York-New Jersey projects are “all union work.”
Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department, praised the administration’s insistence that big-ticket projects like the Gateway Tunnel and Baltimore rail tunnels be constructed with collective bargaining agreements between building trade unions and contractors.
“If you’re looking at what the administration’s done, there’s a clear focus on getting money out the door but getting money out the door in the right way,” said Regan.
Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 31, 2023
Reporting corruption in a time of war: The Ukrainian journalists’ dilemma

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When a major corruption scandal broke in Ukraine last weekend, reporters faced an excruciating dilemma between professional duty and patriotism. The first thought that came to my mind was: “Should I write about this for foreigners? Will it make them stop supporting us?”
There was no doubting the severity of the cases that were erupting into the public sphere. They cut to the heart of the war economy. In one instance, investigators were examining whether the deputy infrastructure minister had profited from a deal to supply electrical generators at an inflated price, while the defense ministry was being probed over an overpriced contract to supply food and catering services to the troops.
Huge stories, but in a sign of our life-or-death times in Ukraine, even my colleague Yuriy Nikolov, who got the scoop on the inflated military contract, admitted he had done everything he could not to publish his investigation. He took his findings to public officials hoping that they might be able to resolve the matter, before he finally felt compelled to run it on the ZN.UA website.

Getting a scoop that shocks your country, forces your government to start investigations and reform military procurement, and triggers the resignation of top officials is ordinarily something that makes other journalists jealous. But I fully understand how Nikolov feels about wanting to hold back when your nation is at war. Russia (and Ukraine’s other critics abroad) are, after all, looking to leap upon any opportunity to undermine trust in our authorities.
A journalist is meant to stay a little distant from the situation he or she covers. It helps to stay impartial and to stick to the facts, not emotions. But what if staying impartial is impossible as you have to cover the invasion of your own country? Naturally, you have to keep holding your government to account, but you are also painfully aware that the enemy is out there looking to exploit any opportunity to erode faith in the leadership and undermine national security.
That is exactly what Ukrainian journalists have to deal with every day. In the first six months of the invasion, Ukrainian journalists and watchdogs decided to put their public criticism of the Ukrainian government on pause and focus on documenting Russian war crimes.
But that has backfired.
“This pause led to a rapid loss of accountability for many Ukrainian officials,” Mykhailo Tkach, one of Ukraine’s top investigative journalists, wrote in a column for Ukrainska Pravda.
His investigations about Ukrainian officials leaving the country during the war for lavish vacations in Europe led to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposing a ban on officials traveling abroad during the war for non-work-related issues. It also sparked the dismissal of the powerful deputy prosecutor general.
The Ukrainian government was forced to react to corruption and make a major reshuffle almost immediately. Would that happen if Ukrainian journalists decided to sit on their findings until victory? I doubt it.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended up imposing a ban on officials traveling abroad during the war for non-work-related issues | Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images
Is it still painful when you have to write about your own government’s officials’ flops when overwhelming enemy forces are trying to erase your nation from the planet, using every opportunity they can get to shake your international partners’ faith? Of course it is.
But in this case, there was definite room for optimism. Things are changing in Ukraine. The government had to react very quickly, under intense pressure from civil society and the independent press. Memes and social media posts immediately appeared, mocking the government’s pledge to buy eggs at massively inflated prices. Ultimately, the deputy infrastructure minister was fired and the deputy defense minister resigned.
This speedy response was praised by the European Commission and showed how far we really are from Russia, where authorities hunt down not the officials accused of corruption, but the journalists who report it.
As Tkach said, many believe that the war with the internal enemy will begin immediately after the victory over the external one.
However, we can’t really wait that long. It is important to understand that the sooner we win the battle with the internal enemy — high-profile corruption — the sooner we win the war against Russia.
“Destruction of corruption means getting additional funds for the defense capability of the country. And it means more military and civilian lives saved,” Tkach said.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 24, 2023
Ukraine wants to join EU within two years, PM says

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has a tight two-year timetable for securing EU membership that is bound to dominate discussions at this week’s historic EU-Ukraine summit, the first to take place on Ukrainian soil.
The problem? No one within the EU thinks this is realistic.
When EU commissioners travel to Kyiv later this week ahead of Friday’s summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the heads of the European Commission and Council, their main task is likely to involve managing expectations.

Shmyhal himself is imposing a tough deadline. “We have a very ambitious plan to join the European Union within the next two years,” he told POLITICO. “So we expect that this year, in 2023, we can already have this pre-entry stage of negotiations,” he said.
This throws down a gauntlet to the EU establishment, which is trying to keep Ukrainian membership as a far more remote concept.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last year it could be “decades” before Ukraine joins. Even EU leaders, who backed granting Ukraine candidate status at their summit last June, privately admit that the prospect of the country actually joining is quite some years away (and may be one reason they backed the idea in the first place.) After all, candidate countries like Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro have been waiting for many years, since 1999 in Ankara’s case.
Ukraine is a conundrum for the EU. Many argue that Brussels has a particular responsibility to Kyiv. It was, after all, Ukrainians’ fury at the decision of President Viktor Yanukovych to pull out of a political and economic association agreement with the EU at Russia’s behest that triggered the Maidan uprising of 2014 and set the stage for war. As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put it: Ukraine is “the only country where people got shot because they wrapped themselves in a European flag.”
Ukraine’s close allies in the EU such as Poland and the Baltic countries strongly support Kyiv’s membership push, seeing it as a democracy resisting an aggressor. Many of the EU old guard are far more wary, however, as Ukraine — a global agricultural superpower — could dilute their own powers and perks. Ukraine and Poland — with a combined population of 80 million — could team up to rival Germany as a political force in the European Council and some argue Kyiv would be an excessive drain on the EU budget.
Short-term deliverables
Friday’s summit in Kyiv — the first EU meeting of its kind to take place in an active war zone — will be about striking the right balance.
Though EU national leaders will not be in attendance, European Council officials have been busy liaising with EU member states about the final communiqué.
Some countries are insisting the statement should not stray far from the language used at the June European Council — emphasizing that while the future of Ukraine lies within the European Union, aspirant countries need to meet specific criteria. “Expectation is quite high in Kyiv, but there is a need to fulfill all the conditions that the Commission has set out. It’s a merit-based process,” said one senior EU official.
Ukraine is a conundrum for the EU. Many argue that Brussels has a particular responsibility to Kyiv | Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images
Still, progress is expected when Zelenskyy meets with von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.
Shmyhal told POLITICO he hopes Ukraine can achieve a “substantial leap forward” on Friday, particularly in specific areas — an agreement on a visa-free regime for industrial goods; the suspension of customs duties on Ukrainian exports for another year; and “active progress” on joining the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) payments scheme and the inclusion of Ukraine into the EU’s mobile roaming area.
“We expect progress and acceleration on our path towards signing these agreements,” he said.
Anti-corruption campaign
The hot topic — and one of the central question marks over Ukraine’s EU accession — will be Ukraine’s struggle against corruption. The deputy infrastructure minister was fired and deputy foreign minister stepped down this month over scandals related to war profiteering in public contracts.
“We need a reformed Ukraine,” said one senior EU official centrally involved in preparations for the summit. “We cannot have the same Ukraine as before the war.”
Shmyhal insisted that the Zelenskyy government is taking corruption seriously. “We have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption,” he said, pointing to the “lightning speed” with which officials were removed this month. “Unfortunately, corruption was not born yesterday, but we are certain that we will uproot corruption,” he said, openly saying that it’s key to the country’s EU accession path.
He also said the government was poised to revise its recent legislation on the country’s Constitutional Court to meet the demands of both the European Commission and the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe. Changes could come as early as this week, ahead of the summit, Shmyhal said.
Though Ukraine has announced a reform of the Constitutional Court, particularly on how judges are appointed, the Venice Commission still has concerns about the powers and composition of the advisory group of experts, the body which selects candidates for the court. The goal is to avoid political interference.
Shmyhal said these questions will be addressed. “We are holding consultations with the European Commission to see that all issued conclusions may be incorporated into the text,” he told POLITICO.
Nonetheless, the symbolic power of this week’s summit is expected to send a strong message to Moscow about Ukraine’s European aspirations.
European Council President Michel used his surprise visit to Kyiv this month to reassure Ukraine that EU membership will be a reality for Ukraine, telling the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) that he dreams that one day a Ukrainian will hold his job as president of the European Council.
“Ukraine is the EU and the EU is Ukraine,” he said. “We must spare no effort to turn this promise into reality as fast as we can.”
The key question for Ukrainians after Friday’s meeting will be how fast the rhetoric and promises can become a reality.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 24, 2023