Austria’s dependence on Russian gas has grown from 80% to 98% in two years, prompting the country’s energy minister to ring the alarm bell ahead of a national election in the Autumn.

Respondents fear climate-change-driven migration more than the security threat posed by Russia, according to a fresh survey for the Munich Security Conference (MSC) published on Monday (12 February).

The European Commission launched a consultation on a draft proposal to phase out the use of the controversial chemical bisphenol A in food contact materials, including plastic boxes, protective coatings for cans, and food processing equipment. 

EU telecom associations have criticised the course pursued by negotiators on the Gigabit Infrastructure Act, saying the text will allow the speeding up of telecom infrastructure roll-out but will have a minimal impact due to shrinking returns on investments.

A court-mandated rerun of the 2021 national election in Berlin on Sunday (12 February) changed little about the composition of the federal parliament, but voters punished the Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD/S&D) while overall, his three-party ruling coalition lost one seat.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Polish farmers backing EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, Spain's Partido Popular saying it would pardon Puigdemont if he accepted to be tried and renounced his calls for independence, and so much more.

Infighting within the ruling coalition over who will be the new foreign minister is threatening the stability of the Bulgarian government ahead of the scheduled change of prime minister in March.

Russia has not launched any deliberate attacks on Romania and will not do so in the future, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Saturday, after residents of Tulcea, which borders Ukraine, received warnings of possible objects descending from the skies.

Croatia’s opposition fears that Ivan Turudić, the country’s new attorney-general, will use his new position to obstruct the work of the EU Prosecutors Office specialised in fighting EU funds fraud.

A narrowly divided US Senate moved closer to passing a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Sunday (11 February), showing undiminished bipartisanship despite opposition from Republican hardliners and Donald Trump.

Robert Fico’s government is mulling the exclusion of NGOs in the government’s plans to fight disinformation, which plans to scrap the former “non-conceptual” action plan “with elements of politicisation”.

Republican frontrunner and former US president Donald Trump’s recent comments about how he would not protect NATO countries that do not abide by their spending obligations if he were to be re-elected led to Czech MEP Mikuláš Peksa (Pirates, Greens/EFA) calling for a European army.

Spain’s main right-wing opposition party, Partido Popular, said it would consider a pardon for former Catalan president and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont if he agrees to be tried, serves his sentence, renounces calling a referendum on self-determination and abandons plans to declare the region’s “independence”.

The German conservatives have urged Chancellor Olaf Scholz to adopt measures they hope will address the country’s economic problems, including getting rid of the EU supply chain law known as the corporate sustainability due diligence directive.

French candidates leading the EU election lists have hit back at French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin’s announcement of a tailor-made constitutional amendment on citizenship for the overseas region of Mayotte.

Alexander Stubb of the centre-right National Coalition Party narrowly won Finland's presidential election on Sunday, defeating liberal Green Party member Pekka Haavisto, who conceded defeat.

Polish farmers have come to the defence of EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski after Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and the opposition made calls for his resignation.

Foreign ministers from the French-German-Polish ‘Weimar Triangle’ will meet outside Paris on Monday for a ‘working meeting’, with the threat of a potential Trump re-election in November and military leaders warning of Russia’s threat to NATO looming in the background.

Israel launched a special forces operation that freed two Israeli hostages in Rafah amid air strikes early on Monday (12 February), which local health officials said killed 37 people and wounded dozens in the southern Gaza city.

Echoing other delegations’ concerns, Romania’s rising far-right party AUR has expressed they will backtrack on their decision to join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament if Hungarian ruling party Fidesz joins.