In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about Bulgaria having a real shot at entering the eurozone in 2025, former Czech commissioners calling for the euro adoption, and so much more.

The world's trade ministers gathered in the UAE on Monday (26 February) for a high-level WTO meeting with no clear prospects for breakthroughs, amid geopolitical tensions and disagreements.

In a year of European elections, it’s time to shape the social Europe we want. A new social contract, empowering skills and appropriate regulation to handle digitalisation: these are the needed ingredients for futureproof labour markets that work for all.

Following TikTok, Meta also announced on Monday (26 February) its preparations for the upcoming EU elections, focusing on combating misinformation and countering the risks posed by Artificial Intelligence.

Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen clashed throughout the Gaza Strip over the weekend, as mediators picked up the pace of talks on a possible ceasefire to free hostages held by Hamas and bring a measure of Ramadan respite to the battered enclave.

Bulgaria has a real chance of joining the eurozone in 2025 because it will be able to meet all the conditions for membership, Finance Minister Asen Vasilev said after an informal meeting of economic and finance ministers in Ghent last week.

The December elections were legitimate, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said in a live TV appearance in response to the opposition as well as the international community and the European Parliament’s call for an international investigation, adding that such a move would infringe on Serbia’s sovereignty.

Polish Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski will call for restrictions on the European Green Deal at Monday’s EU Council meeting as farmers continue to protest, the minister commented during a Ministry conference on Sunday.

After Justice Minister Boris Susko cancelled the call for applications for a €769,500 grant under the Human Rights 2024 programme without explanation, NGOs have signed a petition urging him to reconsider his decision.

The Czech Republic must adopt the euro if it wants to be involved in the EU’s future developments, all three former Czech EU commissioners, Pavel Telička, Vladimír Špidla and Štefan Füle, told the Czech News Agency, adding that the EU must undergo reforms.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is under pressure from the opposition to remove former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos from his position as MP over suspicions that he knew about a €50 million corruption scandal involving the purchase of masks during the pandemic, demanding he shed light on the case in parliament.

Jordan Bardella, the head of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) list for the upcoming EU elections, reiterated his desire to remain part of the EU’s agricultural policy while criticising the “diminishing” project of the Green Pact for Europe at the Paris International Agricultural Show on Sunday.

The government has changed the spelling of the Ukrainian capital in its official communications from ‘Kiew’ to the Ukrainian ‘Kyjiw’, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Paris will host 20 heads of state on Monday to mobilise European production capacity and explore ways better to support Ukraine in its military response to Russian aggression as the war enters its third year and troops on the ground are both outgunned and outmanned.

Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko said he would run for president again in 2025, Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported on Sunday (25 February). This would be its seventh term as head of state.

European lawmakers are set to debate an amended version of the driving licence directive on Tuesday (27 February), with Parliament’s decision to change rules surrounding driving licences still mired in a debate over whether to impose mandatory medical checks on licence holders.

Russia is preparing a new offensive against Ukraine starting in late May or summer, but Kyiv has a clear battlefield plan of its own, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Sunday (25 February).

The European Left party elected its President Walter Baier as their lead candidate for the EU elections in June during the general assembly on Saturday (24 February), as advanced by Euractiv in January, while also vouching to bring working classes at the heart of the fight against the climate crisis.

Newly-elected Renew Europe Group President Valérie Hayer is set to become the French liberal lead candidate for oncoming EU elections, Euractiv has learnt, confirming media reports released over the weekend.

Welcome to Euractiv’s Global Europe Brief, your weekly update on the EU from a global perspective. You can subscribe to receive our newsletter here. As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its third year, Ukrainians remain as adamant as they were on...