Europe Day Celebrations Marred By Russia’s War

End of World War II in Europe commemorations will be held amid unstable security on the continent.

Upcoming on Visegrad Insight:

• Dorka Takacsy analyses how Moscow is using Hungarian disinformation for its domestic audience.
• The May Monthly Foresight will be out on Thursday, highlighting what to expect from upcoming regional elections and developments.
• Marco Nemeth looks into why the Slovak parliament has been inundated with legislative proposals and what it means for September’s elections.

EU/REGIONAL

• US President Joe Biden formally announces he will run for re-election in 2024.
• US Banking Woes: Another bank, First Republic, failed yesterday and was quickly taken over by JP Morgan. First Republic is even larger than the Silicon Valley Bank, which failed in March, making it the second-largest bank to fail in US history. While JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, attempted to downplay the implications, many investors and analysts are seeing analogies of the 2008 financial crisis.
• As part of negotiations surrounding the closely-watched EU-US Transatlantic Data Agreement, US negotiators are questioning their EU counterparts about the checks on national security agencies’ surveillance in EU member countries such as France, Hungary or Poland, Politico reported
• EU launched its joint natural gas purchasing platform on 25 April. Some 80 companies are taking part in the initiative, with 76 buyers and sellers signed up to use the platform and another five committed to signing up.
• Anti-corruption proposal to be adopted this Wednesday, 2 May, by the European Commission. The proposal will see increased funding for relevant bodies as well as cross-border cooperation. Critics say it will help investigations in non-EU countries but fails to address many of the internal mechanisms that are vulnerable, such as those unveiled through Qatargate.
• Suspension of EU duties on Ukrainian imports renewed for another year to support the Ukrainian economy. International Trade Committee approved the draft report by 27 votes, one against and seven abstentions. MEPs will hold a vote on the draft report during the 8-11 May plenary session.
• Europe Day festivities will be held to mark the 73rd anniversary of the Schuman Declaration signed on 9 May and paving the way for the coexistence of European nations in the aftermath of the WWII devastation.
• Nordstream sabotage. According to a Politico report, a Danish vessel spotted a Russian ship near NS pipelines days before sabotage.
• Vladimir Putin expressed support to Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the elections in Türkiye on 14 May, the Russian state agency TASS reported. Putin did so during a videoconference on Russian fuel supplies to the Turkish first Nuclear Power Plant at Akkuyu, which is being built by the Russian state agency Rosatom.
• China, for the first time, does not vote against a UN resolution in which Russia is described as an aggressor
• Pope Francisco, while in Hungary, mentioned that the Vatican is secretly engaged in peace talks with Russia. Ukraine denied any knowledge of such talks.

ГенАсамблея 122 голосами «за» і 5 голосами «проти» ухвалила резолюцію про співпрацю ООН та Ради Європи @coe . Спроба рф зняти згадку про агресію щодо України провалилася в ГА. Проти резолюції проголосували 5 відомих борців з правами людини – рф, Білорусь, Нікарагуа, Сирія, КНДР https://t.co/BuKoYyP4hT pic.twitter.com/raXtZBHBoL