Despite broad backing by EU leaders for Von der Leyen’s nomination, getting European Parliament’s nod is trickier

Despite broad backing by EU leaders for Von der Leyen’s nomination, getting European Parliament’s nod is trickier
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a press conference at the end of the European Council Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 28 June 2024
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Despite broad backing by EU leaders for Von der Leyen’s nomination, getting European Parliament’s nod is trickier

Despite broad backing by EU leaders for Von der Leyen’s nomination, getting European Parliament’s nod is trickier
  • Portuguese ex-PM and Estonian leader also tapped for top posts
  • EU also signs security pact with Ukraine at summit

BRUSSELS: European Union leaders agreed to nominate Ursula von der Leyen of Germany for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive body.
At a summit in Brussels, the bloc’s 27 national leaders also picked former Portuguese premier Antonio Costa as the future chair of their European Council meetings and selected Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as the next EU foreign policy chief.
“Mission accomplished! The European Council has delivered,” the body’s current chair, Charles Michel, told reporters early on Friday morning.
The leadership package represents continuity at the top of the bloc of some 450 million people, with centrist pro-EU factions keeping hold of top posts despite a far-right surge in elections to the European Parliament earlier this month.
The trio won broad backing but right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni abstained from the vote on von der Leyen and voted against Costa and Kallas, according to diplomats.
Meloni said on X that she decided not to support the leadership slate “out of respect for the citizens and the indications that came from those citizens during the elections.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another right-winger, voted against von der Leyen and did not vote for Kallas, diplomats said.
Von der Leyen’s nomination still needs approval from the European Parliament in a secret ballot — widely seen as a trickier proposition than her endorsement by EU leaders.
“It is a matter of convincing — if possible — a broad majority for a strong Europe,” von der Leyen said. “This is what I’m going to be working for.”
The leadership package is balanced politically as well as geographically. Von der Leyen hails from the center-right, Costa from the center-left and Kallas from Europe’s liberal group.
“This is an enormous responsibility in this time of geopolitical tensions. There’s war in Europe, but there’s also growing instability globally,” Kallas told reporters.
Costa said he would be “fully committed to promoting unity among the 27 member states” in his new role.

Defense debate
At the summit, the EU also signed a security agreement with Ukraine, debated how to bolster EU defenses against Russia and agreed bloc’s strategic priorities for the next five years.
The security deal underlines EU support for Kyiv fighting off Moscow’s invasion for a third year, despite gains by the far-right in European elections, uncertainty created by French snap elections and the US presidential vote in November.
The agreement lays out the EU’s commitments to help Ukraine in nine areas of security policy — including arms deliveries, military training, defense industry cooperation and demining.
“These commitments will help Ukraine defend itself, resist destabilization, and deter future acts of aggression — more concrete proof of the EU’s unshakeable resolve to support Ukraine for the long haul,” Michel said.
The leaders reiterated their pledge to support Ukraine as long as it takes, stressing that “Russia must not prevail” and that Ukraine must get back the land annexed by Moscow.

The war in Ukraine laid bare the EU’s lack of preparedness for a conflict as the bloc struggles to supply Kyiv with enough weapons against Russia, prompting calls for more EU coordination of defense systems and investment in defense industries.
Diplomats said von der Leyen told the summit that between 1999 and 2021, the EU increased defense spending by 20 percent, China by 600 percent and Russia by 300 percent, even before Moscow’s massive rise in military spending after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to diplomats, von der Leyen told leaders the EU needed to invest 500 billion euros ($535.30 billion) in defense over the next 10 years. Financing options ranged from national contributions, dedicated revenue streams — called the EU’s own resources — and joint borrowing, von der Leyen said.
Investment in defense is part of the EU’s “strategic agenda” that the leaders aim to agree before dinner on Thursday — a document that tells EU institutions what European governments want them to focus on during their 2024-2029 term.
Apart from defense, the agenda calls for a more competitive EU to withstand economic pressure from China and the United States and for preparing the bloc for enlargement that would include Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans.


Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital

Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital
Updated 20 February 2025
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Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital

Delhi swears in new chief minister as Modi’s party retakes India’s capital
  • Loyalist of Modi’s party, Rekha Gupta is the fourth woman to hold the capital region’s top office
  • BJP won Delhi election on promises to tackle air and river pollution, and subsidize poor women

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s loyalist and Delhi’s new chief minister, Rekha Gupta, was sworn in on Thursday, as India’s ruling party regained power in the national capital region after a 27-year gap.

The national vice president of the BJP’s women’s wing, Gupta had previously served as the party’s general secretary in Delhi.

She is the fourth woman to hold the office of Delhi’s chief minister.

“We will empower Delhi through modern infrastructure, excellent healthcare services, excellent education and new employment opportunities,” she said upon inauguration.

“Today, I took oath as the chief minister with the resolve to develop Delhi under the guidance of Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is not just a responsibility but an opportunity to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Delhi.”

A first-time legislator, Gupta won the capital’s Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency in February’s assembly elections.

Modi’s party won 48 of the 70 assembly seats — over twice more than the opposition Aam Aadmi Party of the previous chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, Modi’s fierce critic.

The win was a boost for the Hindu-nationalist leader after last year’s general election saw him lose his parliamentary majority.

The BJP’s victory came on the promise of cleaning the capital’s Yamuna River, one of the most polluted waterways in the world. The Yamuna is particularly polluted downstream of New Delhi, which dumps about 60 percent of its waste into the river. At the same time, the river provides more than half of the Indian capital’s water.

Another promise was to tackle Delhi’s air pollution, which during winters soars to hazardous levels. In December, it was 35 times over the safe limit set by the World Health Organization, leaving residents complaining of breathing problems.

The toxic smog, which seasonally chokes the city for months, is caused by several factors, including construction activities, vehicle emissions, industrial pollutants and the seasonal burning of crop residue in neighboring states.

“The two biggest issues in Delhi are the river and the air. And I don’t see how they can do it,” said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst and the author of Modi’s biography “Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.”

While the farmers around Delhi have regularly been blamed for the pollution, the region’s air quality remained bad in February, even as there was no burning of paddy stubble to clear the soil for the next crops.

“So why is Delhi still so polluted at the moment? ... Automobile pollution is possibly one of the biggest things, but would the Indian government be doing anything to reduce the numbers of vehicles which have been sold in Delhi and the National Capital Region? No, it will not because it involves a lot of further financial matters,” Mukhopadhyay told Arab News.

Another promise was monthly payments of 2,500 Indian rupees ($28) to poor women, a one-time payment of 21,000 rupees to every pregnant woman, subsidized cooking gas, a monthly pension of 2,500 rupees for the elderly, and 15,000 rupees for youth preparing for competitive exams.

“Fiscally it is going to be a big challenge. I do not know from where they will provide this money,” Mukhopadhyay said.

“It is going to be very difficult, but they will have to do it otherwise within three months, there will be a backlash against the BJP. It is going to be fiscally mind-blowing.”


Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda

Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda
Updated 20 February 2025
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Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda

Kremlin says topic of another Russia-US prisoner swap is on the agenda
  • At least 10 Americans remain behind bars in Russia, including two who have been designated as “wrongfully detained” by Washington

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Thursday that the idea of a possible new prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States was on the agenda after Moscow and Washington agreed to start work on restoring relations at all levels.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked by reporters about the possibility of a new swap, said US-Russia talks in Riyadh had contributed to a general rapprochement between Russia and the US.
At least 10 Americans remain behind bars in Russia, including two who have been designated as “wrongfully detained” by Washington. Moscow freed an American citizen, Kalob Byers, days before the Russian and American delegations met in the Saudi capital.


G20 meeting of foreign ministers gets underway in South Africa amid tensions with US

G20 meeting of foreign ministers gets underway in South Africa amid tensions with US
Updated 20 February 2025
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G20 meeting of foreign ministers gets underway in South Africa amid tensions with US

G20 meeting of foreign ministers gets underway in South Africa amid tensions with US
  • Analysts say that Rubio and Bessent’s absence signalled the USwas pulling back from the G20 and demonstrated how strained relations are

JOHANNESBURG: A meeting of foreign ministers from G20 countries will get underway in Johannesburg on Thursday, but US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend amid diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the US.
Diplomats including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are expected to attend the gathering, while the US will be represented by acting ambassador to South Africa Dana Brown.
The European Union, the United Nations and the African Union, which is part of the G20, will also be in attendance.
Rubio snubbed the meeting after an executive order by US President Donald Trump stopped foreign aid to the country over a law that the White House said amounts to discrimination against the country’s white minority. The US is also displeased with South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has said that Rubio’s decision was “not a complete boycott of South Africa’s G20.” He said the US would be represented in Johannesburg this week “in one form or shape or another.”
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent has also confirmed his will not attend a meeting of G20 finance ministers scheduled to take place in South Africa next week.
Bessent said on the social media platform X that he would not participate in the event because of obligations in Washington. A senior Treasury official will attend in his place, he said.
Analysts say that Rubio and Bessent’s absence signalled the US was pulling back from the G20 and demonstrated how strained relations are.
“I think if we want to really know what message the US administration is trying to send, you have to know whether the treasury secretary will come next week or not. And if he chooses not to come as well, that’s a quite serious sign,” said political analyst Daniel Bradlow.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to officially open and address the gathering under the theme “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability,” which Rubio has described as a diversity, equality and inclusion framework — one that the new Trump administration vocally opposes.
South Africa will host over 130 working group meetings and 23 ministerial-level meetings this year as part of their G20 presidency, which began in December last year.
The US is expected to take over the G20 presidency in 2026 after South Africa’s tenure.


China’s sprawling rail projects, from Pakistan to Indonesia

China’s sprawling rail projects, from Pakistan to Indonesia
Updated 20 February 2025
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China’s sprawling rail projects, from Pakistan to Indonesia

China’s sprawling rail projects, from Pakistan to Indonesia
  • In Pakistan, railway linking Gwadar Port with China’s Xinjiang province has long been on the cards
  • If the project moves ahead, a 2023 Chinese study estimated an eyewatering price tag of $58 billion

TOKYO: Vietnam approved plans on Wednesday for a multi-billion-dollar railway with China, boosting links between the two communist countries.
Around the region, China has been financing railways under its Belt and Road Initiative, which funds infrastructure projects globally, but has come under fire with a number of plans stalled or mired in controversy.
Here are some of the key instalments in Asia’s China-backed railway network:
PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, a railway linking southwestern Gwadar Port with China’s northwestern Xinjiang province has long been on the cards but has yet to materialize.

This official route map, posted on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor website, presents a monographic study on transport planning for CPEC’s Railway Network, covering the period from 2014 to 2030. (Photo courtesy: CPEC)

If the project moves ahead, a 2023 Chinese study estimated an eyewatering price tag of $58 billion.
INDONESIA
Indonesia launched Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway in October 2023, after years of delays. The $7 billion China-backed project links the capital Jakarta to the city of Bandung in 45 minutes — slashing the journey by about two hours.

A hi-speed train built in cooperation between Indonesia and China moves along its dedicated track, prior to a dynamic test, in Tegalluar on November 9, 2022. (AFP/File)

Built by a joint venture of four Indonesian state companies and Beijing’s China Railway International Co, it was initially set to cost less than $5 billion and be completed by 2019. But construction challenges and the pandemic led to delays and surging expenses.
Indonesia’s then-president Joko Widodo nevertheless hailed its opening as a symbol of modernization.
LAOS
Laos unveiled its $6 billion Chinese-built railroad in 2021, bringing hopes of an economic boost despite backlash after thousands of farmers had to be evicted to make way for construction.
The 414-kilometer (260-mile) route connects the Chinese city of Kunming to Laotian capital Vientiane, with plans for the high-speed line to ultimately reach Singapore.

This photo taken on October 12, 2024 shows passengers boarding a high-speed train in the railway station in Laos' capital Vientiane. (AFP/File)

Infrastructure-poor Laos, a reclusive communist country of about 7.4 million people, previously had only four kilometers of railway tracks.
It was hoped that the railway would boost the Southeast Asian country’s ailing tourism industry, which struggled to rebound from the pandemic.
But experts also raised concerns over whether cash-strapped Laos — where public debt made up 116 percent of GDP in 2023 — would ever be able to pay back Beijing.
THAILAND
After long delays, Thailand is pressing ahead with a Chinese-backed high-speed line set to partially open in 2028. The $5.4 billion project aims to expand the connection to Kunming, running to Bangkok via Laos by 2032.
Thailand already has nearly 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) of railway but the sluggish, run-down network has long driven people to favor road travel — despite extremely high accident rates.

In this photo taken on March 29, 2023 a train sits below an elevated track, still under construction as part of the Thai-Chinese Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed railway project at Sung Noen Station in Nakhon Ratchasima province. (AFP/File)

When the new railroad is fully complete, Chinese-made trains will run from Bangkok to Nong Khai, on the border with Laos, at up to 250 km/h.
Unlike Laos, Thailand signed a deal to cover project expenditures itself and has pitched it as a way to boost the economy through trade with China.
KYRGYZSTAN
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov inaugurated construction in December of a railway linking China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with hopes it will serve as a supply route to Europe.

In this handout picture taken and released by the Kyrgyz presidential press office on December 27, 2024, fireworks explode behind state flags during the commencement ceremony of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project in the settlement of Tash-Kitchu. (Photo courtesy: VCG/File)

“This route will ensure supply of goods from China to Kyrgyzstan and then onto Central Asia” and nearby countries “including Turkiye” and “even to the European Union,” he said.
The project, which Kyrgyz authorities estimate could cost up to $8 billion, includes construction through mountains and in areas of permafrost, where the ground never fully thaws.
VIETNAM
Vietnam this week approved an $8-billion railroad running from its largest northern port city to China. The line will operate through some of Vietnam’s key manufacturing hubs, home to Samsung, Foxconn and Pegatron factories, many of which rely on components from China.

Railway workers guide a train at a railway crossing in Hanoi on February 18, 2025. (AFP/File)

Another yet-to-be-approved line to China would connect Hanoi to Lang Son province, traveling through more areas packed with manufacturing facilities.
MALAYSIA
Malaysia has revived construction of a nearly $17 billion railroad to carry passengers and freight between shipping ports on its east and west coasts. The China-backed, 665-kilometer project was originally launched in 2011 under ex-leader Najib Razak, but shelved due to a dispute about payments.
After blowing past several deadlines and budgets, it now looks set to be operational by 2027.
MYANMAR
In coup-hit Myanmar, talks on building a railway from Mandalay to China’s Yunnan province appear to have stalled.
And in the Philippines, plans for China to fund three railways flopped after Manila backed out of talks in 2023 as the South China Sea dispute heated up.


Europe needs to ‘wake up’ following US policy shift, Greek PM says

Europe needs to ‘wake up’ following US policy shift, Greek PM says
Updated 20 February 2025
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Europe needs to ‘wake up’ following US policy shift, Greek PM says

Europe needs to ‘wake up’ following US policy shift, Greek PM says

ATHENS: Europe should wake up and build its own defense policy following a dramatic shift by the United States over Ukraine and geopolitical developments in recent months, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said late on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump upended US policy on the Ukraine war this week, denouncing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and suggesting Kyiv started the three year war between Ukraine and Russia.
Trump warned that Zelensky had to move quickly to secure peace or risk losing his country, deepening a feud between the two leaders that has alarmed European officials.
The US and Russia held peace talks in Saudi Arabia this week without Ukraine, stunning Kyiv and its European allies.
Ukraine has said it will not accept a deal imposed on it without its consent, which European leaders have echoed, while Russia has ruled out conceding land it has won.
Addressing a business conference in the city of Thessaloniki late on Wednesday, Mitsotakis said that Europe needed to “wake up from the geopolitical and economic lethargy into which it has unfortunately fallen for some time.”
“Recent developments and this different view of things from the United States now oblige us not only to face the truth, but to move at a very high speed and implement decisions that we have been discussing for long,” he said.
Mitsotakis pointed to Europe setting up a defense policy which will allow it to develop its own deterrent power and reduce reliance on the United States.
His comments were made shortly after he joined virtually a second meeting that France convened with European leaders and Canada to discuss Ukraine.
Europe has relied heavily on US might within NATO for security and Trump has consistently demanded Europe spend more on defense. Trump has now demanded that Europe provide more military muscle for any future Ukraine peace(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Michael Perry)