Nicolai von Ondarza

More movement amongst the EP political groups, this time from the EPP towards the ECR. This would bring the ECR up to 81 MEPs, just below the 84 'Patriots for Europe'.

Overall, it is a further symbol of the shift within the European right away from the centre:

Well, he was foreign minister at the time. Honestly, this was one of the few things I could think of why he someone could actually nominate him for a major European honour...

It is quite funny, you can see from the list that they put a lot of thought into getting a broad geographic and political representation in this first list of people being honoured, and yet everyone will also find someone on the list to be annoyed with.

First list of the European Order of Merit honoured today.

Merkel will probably draw the most political discussion, but here I am wondering about Wolfgang Schüssel, who played a big role in bringing Austria into the EU, but was also the first to form a government with a far-right party, the FPÖ:

I remember talking to a group of students about EU foreign policy and when mentioning 9/11 and the Iraq war, all of them had this 'Well, this happened when I was in Elementary School' look... and that lesson was about 10 years ago.

Catherine Ashton - Labour Member of the House of Lords, former EU Commissioner, Member of Gordon Brown's Cabinet... reads almost like a former UK ambassador to the US, doesn't it

Всем нефтям назло! Как Владимир Путин решил использовать войну во благо

Last week I wrote that #Russia would make the best of the #Iran war.

And here it goes: #Putin is threatening that oil exports to the #EU may end before the EU stops them itself — unless, of course,

www.kommersant.ru/doc/8497260?...

Was there any public discussion on this ambassadorial post at all in the UK? I had not seen anything previously.

Though to be fair, this might also fit the different styles - Trump's Washington might need a politician, whereas for the EU as skilled diplomat with deep EU knowledge fits better.

To be clear, as somebody not working on China, I haven't followed her work there as UK ambassador, but from what I have seen she was a very well respected UK ambassador in what was probably a rather difficult period, from 2020 to 2025.

Boris Johnson video shows 'excruciating' exchange with Foreign Office adviser 'Astonishing, it's the real life The Thick of It,' Twitter user writes

"“We shouldn’t probably use the cake analogy too much,” Ms Wilson responds."

I can't help but remember this clip from a BBC documentary of Caroline Wilson (and her facial expression) trying to explain French and the French position on Brexit to then UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson:

Image of FDCO announcement appointing Dame Caroline Wilson to UK Ambassador to the EU

Interesting choice - Dame Caroline Wilson, who was previously Europe Director in the FCDO during part of the Brexit years and later UK ambassador to China, will become the next UK Ambassador to the EU:

@robin.berjon.com co-founder of Eurosky is testifying in the French Parliament today - watch live 👇

EP President @president.europarl.europa.eu is an example for celebrating both the 'liberation' of Venezuela and that Iran could now finally get freedom:

EP President @president.europarl.europa.eu is an example for celebrating both the 'liberation' of Venezuela and that Iran could now finally get freedom:

Must be a grave disappointment for those in Europe who briefly applauded Trump's intervention in Venezuela and his war on Iran for supposedly bringing democratic change, which seems to be coming for neither.

Special leaders’ VTC: Energy prices will also be discussed today in a video-conference of EU leaders ahead of a European Council gathering on March 19, according to four diplomats who spoke to your Playbook author and Camille Gijs. Germany, Belgium and Italy are hosting the pre-summit meeting, in a repeat of the breakfast they hosted ahead of the Alden Biesen summit in February. RSVP: The leaders will be talking about how to cut more EU red tape as well as the ongoing energy crisis, according to two of the diplomats. It wasn’t clear on Monday evening which leaders had confirmed their participation, but one diplomat said it was in the “double digits.”

Not just a one-off - Merz (EPP), Meloni (ECR) and De Wever (ECR) are organising another pre-European Council meeting of selected leaders on competitiveness, which for them holds a big focus on simplification/deregulation:

Trump's total ambiguity / lack of coherence on US aims in its war against Iran seemingly could go two ways: Allow Trump to declare 'victory' anytime to retreat or totally screw up US strategy and get drawn into a conflict spiralling out of control.

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: