Nicolai von Ondarza

The clearest indication yet of how extensive the UK-EU SPS agreement will be. Covers almost everything.

It also shows you where the current differences between the UK and EU lie (ie, what isn't included on the list): precision breeding/NGTs, veterinary meds, and (to a lesser extent) animal welfare.

The odd one out to me here is Ghana, which would be the first African country to sign a security and defence partnership with the EU. So far, to my knowledge, it has not been amongst the closest EU partners in Africa and will be interesting to see how its SDP differs in scope and focus.

The SDP with Australia is aimed to be signed together with the trade agreement, in a similar fashion to India.

Iceland is also a natural NATO partner with now a renewed interested in restarting EU accession talks, further bolstering EU security cooperation in the Arctic.

EU to sign defence partnerships with Australia, Iceland and Ghana, Kallas says The EU will ​sign defence partnerships ‌with Australia, Iceland and Ghana in ​the coming ​days, EU foreign ⁠policy chief Kaja ​Kallas said ​on Monday.

As foreshadowed, EU plans to sign additional Security and Defence Partnerships with Australia, Iceland and Ghana in the coming days:

🇫🇷‼️ France is assembling an “unprecedented” fleet of eight frigates, an aircraft carrier and two helicopter carriers in the eastern Med and “off the straits of Hormuz”, President Emmanuel Macron said today. 1/

UK-EU SPS Agreement - Legislation in scope To cut red tape and costs for importing and exporting with the EU, the UK will align with EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) legislation.

UK government releases list of 76 EU laws that it says UK will align with under food standards treaty with EU www.gov.uk/government/n...

Could very well also have the opposite effect, with calls to further dismantle climate regulation growing with the argument that prices on fossil fuels need to be driven down fast:

Also in this picture: Viktor Orban, having gone 120% pro Trump and facing an election in just over one month.

UK should not back a war that boosts Vladimir Putin Rising energy prices inadvertently strengthen Russia and weaken incumbent European governments

Today's newsletter on the British political implications and policy consequences of Donald Trump's war with Iran.

This will surprise you but they are not good!

AI-generated Iran war videos surge as creators use new tech to cash in The US-Israel war with Iran is being monetised by online creators with AI-generated misinformation.

Who could have predicted this… 😑

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Spare a thought to Danish PM Frederiksen, who called a snap election as the Danish rallied behind her over Trump's threats on Greenland, and now suddenly has an election on 24th of March during a global energy crisis.

Here, take a bit of anti-doom scrolling medicine:

Here we have the same discussion in the UK - framed as a choice between Trump's 'drill baby drill' and Ed Milibands push for clean energy:

Quote from the FT: Italy’s industry minister Adolfo Urso has called for the immediate suspension of the EU’s carbon emissions trading system to help cut soaring energy prices. “The suspension of the ETS [European trading system] should be considered precisely as an emergency response to the conflict, pending a more thorough revision of the system,” Urso told an Italian newspaper. The ETS requires polluting industries to purchase permits for their carbon emissions. Urso had called for its suspension before the war erupted, but said the issue was more urgent now because of the current surge in energy prices. Scrapping the system, he said, would cut the cost of Italy’s gas-reliant electricity production by €25-€30 per megawatt hour.

Quite noteworthy that the same people who years fighting the energy transition are now demanding quick dismantling of climate laws in response to the US/Israel-Iran war-made energy crisis.

How much better would we be prepared in Europe if we had more forcefully transitioned to headpumps and EVs?

I would not be surprised if the Turkish deployment of F-16s to Northern Cyprus and sending of naval assets by Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and France to the island are coordinated events among the European components of NATO.

SPD is in there, just with a very small group. But still - Greens and CDU will have 2/3 majority, and AfD the major opposition, so it will be a strange combination.

My feed is full of political and economic doom this morning, but this brought a short smile to my face:

Second thought - for the UK and US foreign ministers not to have engaged one week into a major war/military operation by the US which also affect UK bases is quite something.

Two thoughts - a more distant position towards Trump's Iran war may become a defining moment for Keir Starmer in the way (the later disgraced) Gerhard Schröder built his second tenure partly on opposition to the Iraq war.

🇹🇷🇨🇾 Turkey is considering the deployment of ‌F-16 aircraft to Cyprus, - Reuters

Source said such move was one of the steps being considered amid the phased planning underway ‌to ⁠ensure the security of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in ⁠the north of the island, as conflict ⁠spreads in the region.

Trump's rants can be overstated, but he seems to now have firmly added the story of the UK under Starmer not fulfilling its role as ally to the US to his narratives:

On Iran/Middle East much less than Spain I'd argue, as Poland is less engaged there and much more focused on Russia, Ukraine and it's more immediate neighborhood.

Israeli attacks on UNIFIL peace keepers tonight. Irish service men were not directly hit, but they aided their counterparts from Ghana. This will further deteriorate Irish Israel relations.

Please don’t spread misinformation. Tomahawks fly at low altitude. It’s climbing like a THAAD interceptor (we are out of interceptors).

Another way of putting this: the US constitution failed to do the main thing its framers intended - to prevent charismatic monarchy and imperial domination. It's been overwhelmed by money, partisanship and changes in media technology.

Ein paar Gedanken zu den europäischen Reaktionen auf den US-Angriffskrieg gegen #Iran.

Iranian strategy to raise the costs of this war for the US and its allies in the Gulf and in Europe seems to be working.

Almost a Covid like moment for the Cyprus EU Council Presidency:

Meanwhile, Spain's massive investment in renewables is paying dividends now: with prices for Spanish industry and consumers low and stable compared with other European economies.

www.ft.com/content/ac77...

Signs of the times is that at this first post, I wondered for a second about which country Kallas was talking about: