The Nobel Foundation’s decision to invite Russian ambassadors to this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies triggered fierce criticism from Swedish and Ukrainian politicians.
The Nobel Foundation announced Thursday it would invite ambassadors from all countries that are diplomatically represented in Sweden and Norway, where award ceremonies are to be held in December. This includes Russia and Belarus, which last year were excluded following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation Vidar Helgesen said in a statement that this decision was made to counter a tendency in which “dialogue between those with differing views is being reduced.”
But the announcement sparked strong reactions in Sweden, with many politicians announcing they would boycott the event. Center Party leader Muharrem Demirok, Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar and Green Party co-spokesperson Märta Stenevi all announced on X, formerly Twitter, they would not attend the ceremonies.
Johan Pehrson, leader of the Liberal Party, said he “will not sit and toast the Russian ambassador while Putin’s disgusting and bloody war of aggression continues in Ukraine.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reportedly said he was “greatly surprised” to see Russia invited and he would not have made the same decision.
Andrii Plakhotniuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Sweden, also criticized the Nobel Foundation’s announcement, urging the foundation to reconsider their decision, while Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said the decision will likely increase the Kremlin’s “sense of impunity and new crimes” and asked the Nobel Foundation to “support international efforts to isolate Russia and Belarus.”
Sweden has been a fierce rival of the United States in international women’s soccer, but that didn’t stop one of its players from jumping to the Americans’ defense when a U.S. journalist bashed them.
Swedish midfielder Kosovare Asllani was still basking in the afterglow of the Swedes ousting the two-time defending champions from the Women’s World Cup when she said the reporter shaded the U.S. squad.
“I had an interview with an American journalist yesterday and he was talking so much in a question,” Asllani said on “The Re―Cap Show” podcast this week.
“I was like, ‘How can you ask me this?’ He asked basically, ‘Oh, the U.S. are talking about the American team is so over, you know, la, la, la.’ And I was like, ‘Don’t talk shit about the American team.’ That’s basically what I said. I was like, ‘You can’t say this.’”
While conservatives led by Donald Trump turned the team’s demise into anti-woke blather, Asllani wasn’t having it. The team’s off-field campaign to boost pay for female players and advocate for LGBTQ rights will long outlive its disappointing showing at the World Cup, she said.
“The U.S. Women’s National Team, they’re pioneers,” Asllani said on the show, hosted by two-time World Cup winners Tobin Heath and Christen Press. “I mean, you are raising the game. You are opening doors for the rest of the community, the rest of the world. You are first with everything.”
Asllani also had positive words for the U.S. right after the Swedes’ shootout victory.
“They will come back for sure, they have so much quality on their team,” Asllani said. “This defeat will not take them down.”
Kosovare Asllani of Sweden plays against Crystal Dunn of USA (R) during a knockout match in the Women’s World Cup.
From China’s Ant Group to Sweden’s Klarna, here is the complete list of the world’s top 200 fintech companies.
CNBC partnered with independent research firm Statista to establish a transparent overview of the top fintech companies.
Statista analyzed over 1,500 firms across nine different market segments, evaluating each one against a set of key performance indicators, including revenue, user numbers, and total funding raised.
The final list includes some of the biggest companies in the sector — Ant Group, Tencent, PayPal, Stripe, Klarna and Revolut — as well as several up-and-coming startups seeking to mold the future of financial services.
The categories include:
Neobanking
Digital payments
Digital assets
Digital financial planning
Digital wealth management
Alternate financing
Alternate lending
Digital banking solutions
Digital business solutions
You can search by country, category, or company name to see which firms made the cut.
For a deep dive on the categories and the standout trends within each one, click here.
Methodology
To identify the top 200 fintech companies, Statista carried out a quantitative analysis of the global market across nine categories.
These categories reflect the fact that fintechs in different fields can’t be compared like-for-like. A business like Monzo, for example, operates in a very different manner to Stripe (Stripe isn’t a licensed bank and can’t originate its own loans).
To help with the research, CNBC issued a public call for nominations in March, giving eligible fintechs the chance to share more information on their business model, revenue, transaction volumes, and other key data.
Since many fintech businesses are privately held, they aren’t required to disclose their accounts publicly. Voluntary sharing of information about business models was key to analyzing the market.
Statistics
More than 1,500 fintech companies were assessed by Statista during the analysis period, and over 10,000 data points were assessed, including annual reports, company websites, and news articles.
Statista developed a scoring model for the companies by calculating the aggregated scores on how firms performed versus their respective KPIs — revenues and revenue per employee, for example — along with a separate score on how the companies performed against specific KPIs within their respective market segments.
Between five and 40 companies were selected for each individual market segment.
To decide which ones should make the cut, Statista broke down the scoring model into a 40% weighting for general KPIs, and 60% for segment-specific KPIs.
The companies with the highest score within their market segment made the list.
The number of companies awarded per market segment varied depending on the size of the respective market segment.
Saturday’s action is highlighted by the mouth-watering clash between European giant France and South American juggernaut Brazil, with As Canarinhas knowing a win will secure passage through to the last 16.
Elsewhere, Sweden takes on Italy, before the potentially historic match up between Jamaica and Panama rounds off the day’s action.
In the US, the matches will air on your local Fox channel. You can also stream the matches by signing in with your TV provider at foxsports.com or on the Fox Sports app. Telemundo and Peacock are providing Spanish-language coverage.
Seven Network and Optus Sport are broadcasting matches in Australia and the BBC and ITV have the rights in the United Kingdom.
A full breakdown of media rights holders in each country is available on the FIFA website.
Sweden vs. Italy starts at 3:30 a.m. ET, France vs. Brazil kicks off at 6 a.m. ET and Panama takes on Jamaica at 8:30 a.m. ET.
With victories in their opening Group G matches, and with Argentina and South Africa drawing on Friday, both Sweden and Italy can qualify for the knockout stages with another three points.
Sweden will be the favorite going into Saturday’s first match, but the growth of women’s football in Italy has continued since the national team reached the second round of the knockout stages for the first time in its history four years ago in France.
The Swedes needed a 90th-minute winner to edge past South Africa in its opening group match, denying Banyana Banyana a first ever Women’s World Cup point, and will certainly need to improve significantly to get past Italy.
Italy’s 16-year-old sensation Giulia Dragoni – nicknamed ‘Little Messi’ – played a crucial role in the heart of the team’s midfield as Le Azzurre earned a narrow 1-0 win.
It’s not often you get a heavyweight clash such as this in the group stages of the World Cup.
There is an added layer of intrigue given France’s 0-0 draw against Jamaica in its opening match, with the pressure firmly on Les Bleues to try and avoid an early exit in Australia and New Zealand.
Brazil, conversely, was impressive in its opening match against Panama, running out a comfortable 4-0 winner. Talisman and icon Marta, playing in her sixth and final World Cup, could come back into the starting lineup against France after starting on the bench against Panama.
France, ranked fifth in the world, will be buoyed by the number of chances it created against Jamaica, but will need to be far less wasteful in front of goal to have any chance of beating Brazil.
After securing the team’s first ever point at a Women’s World Cup, Jamaica will be full of confidence that it can go one better against Panama.
The Reggae Girlz were hugely impressive against France in that goalless draw but will have to try and overcome Panama without star player Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, who was sent off for a second bookable offense late in the previous game.
With the country appearing at a Women’s World Cup for the first time, Panama’s players were reduced to tears during the national anthem ahead of the match against Brazil.
The team will certainly have more of a chance against Jamaica and will likely be eying a first ever Women’s World Cup point.
Recent small-scale protests in Sweden’s capital that saw a man desecrate Islam’s holy book, the Quran, and the prospect of more such demonstrations, have left the Nordic nation torn between upholding its longstanding tradition of freedom of expression and safeguarding residents from potential retaliation from those offended by the acts.
The demonstrations have fueled anger in the Muslim world, and with officials in Iran calling for reprisals, the Swedish government moved this week to enhance its counterterrorism capabilities, instructing 15 government agencies, including its armed forces and various law enforcement bodies, to bolster security measures.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said the measures would enable Sweden to “deter and impede terrorism and violent extremism.”
Iranian protesters burn a Swedish flag during a protest against the desecration of the Quran at demonstrations in the Swedish capital Stockholm, at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, July 21, 2023.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was “deeply concerned” as more requests were being submitted to the country’s police for permission to hold anti-Muslim protests involving the desecration of Qurans.
“If they are granted, we are going to face some days where there is a clear risk of something serious happening. I am extremely worried about what it could lead to,” Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT on Thursday.
He warned that the Swedish Security Service had determined that while the country had long been considered a “legitimate” target for terror attacks by various militant groups and lone actors inspired by them, it was now deemed to be a “prioritized” target.
Animosity toward Sweden in many Muslim nations soared in June, when a Christian Iraqi refugee burned a copy of the Quran outside Stockholm’s Grand Mosque on the day of Eid-ul-Adha, the most important festival on the Muslim calendar.
Two weeks later the same man, Salwan Momika, 37, who sought asylum in Sweden a few years ago, staged another protest where he stomped on a Quran and used the Iraqi flag to wipe his shoes outside the Iraqi embassy in the Swedish capital.
For the second time his actions drew scores of angry Iraqi protesters to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, with the crowd managing to breach the compound’s perimeter and even set part of it on fire.
Protesters scale a wall at the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, July 20, 2023.
Ali Jabar/AP
Iraq’s government cut its diplomatic ties with Stockholm, and many other Muslim nations have summoned Swedish ambassadors in their capitals to formally lodge protests over the demonstrations in Stockholm being permitted.
Iran has taken an even stronger stance, threatening a harsh punishment against the Quran desecrator. Ali Mohammadi-Sirat, the Supreme Leader’s man in the IRGC’s Quds Force — a special military unit responsible for operations outside Iran’s borders — said the man who disrespected the Quran should fear for his life.
According to the exiled dissident news network Iran International, which now bases its operations in Washington, D.C., Mohammadi-Sirat called on Swedish authorities to hand over Momika, stressing that those who insult the Prophet Muhammad and the Quran should face execution.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei echoed the warning, demanding that Sweden hand over the Iraqi refugee.
“The insult to the #HolyQuran in #Sweden is a bitter, conspiratorial, dangerous event,” Khamenei said in a social media post. “It is the opinion of all Islamic scholars that those who have insulted the Holy Quran deserve the severest punishment.”
The insult to the #HolyQuran in #Sweden is a bitter, conspiratorial, dangerous event. It is the opinion of all Islamic scholars that those who have insulted the Holy Quran deserve the severest punishment.
Iran International quoted Major Gen. Hossein Salami, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, as saying that Iran “will not allow those who insult the Quran to have security.”
“If someone wants to play with our Quran and religion, we will play with all his world,” the opposition outlet quoted Salami as saying. “Sooner or later, the vengeful hand of the ‘mujahids’ will reach politicians and stage managers behind these sort of crimes, and we will render the highest punishment to the perpetrator.”
The United States on Tuesday sharply limited Hungary’s participation in its visa waiver program over security concerns regarding new passports issued between 2011 and 2020.
Under the American Visa Waiver Program, citizens of participating countries can travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa, and simply need a so-called Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
But starting Tuesday, ESTA validity for Hungarian passport holders will be reduced from two years to one, and an ESTA will only be valid for a single use.
The unprecedented move, in response to security concerns, affects Hungary as the only one of 40 countries participating in the U.S. program.
After coming to power in 2010, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government implemented a major policy change that granted citizenship to ethnic Hungarians abroad — including in Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine. Domestic critics say Orbán’s controversial move was designed to boost his electoral prospects.
David Pressman, the U.S. ambassador in Budapest, told POLITICO in an interview ahead of the announcement, “There are hundreds of thousands of passports that have been issued by the government of Hungary as part of the simplified naturalization program without stringent identity verification mechanisms in place.”
The U.S. government has been engaging the Hungarian government on this “security vulnerability” for many years and across multiple administrations, Pressman said. But “the government of Hungary has opted not to close” it.
Responding to the American decision, Hungary’s interior ministry said the country “will not disclose the data of Hungarians beyond the border with dual citizenship because that would risk their security” and accused the White House of “taking revenge on Hungarians with the new visa waiver limit.”
“This is a really unfortunate day,” Pressman said. “This is not the outcome the United States sought or is seeking.”
Washington’s move comes at a time when Hungary’s relationship with Western partners is at a low point.
Budapest’s NATO allies are deeply frustrated that Hungary’s parliament has yet to ratify Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.
There are also ongoing concerns about senior Hungarian officials promoting Kremlin-style narratives at home, as well as over efforts to water down European sanctions targeting Moscow. Earlier this year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on a Hungary-based bank linked to Russia.
Many Western countries have spoken out about deteriorating democratic standards in Hungary, as well as policies and rhetoric they say undermine the rights of LGBTQ+ people there.
Pressman underscored how American experts had previously identified ways the security concerns could be addressed.
The U.S. in 2017 made Hungary’s status in the visa waiver program provisional, while security concerns were also behind a decision to render Hungarians born outside the country ineligible starting in 2020.
Now, however, all Hungarian passport holders will be affected.
“This is about a choice,” the ambassador said. “The Hungarian government thus far has chosen not to address that security concern, which has led the United States to respond.”
This article has been updated with a response from the Hungarian interior ministry.
Greta Thunberg was found guilty of disobeying police during a climate protest in Malmö, Sweden, and ordered to pay a little over €200 in fines.
Thunberg appeared at Malmö District Court on Monday morning, facing a charge of disobeying law enforcement, Swedish news outlets reported. The charge dates from June 19, when Thunberg and a dozen other protesters held a demonstration in the Swedish city, blocking the road to the oil port.
Police reportedly ordered protesters to move and detained those who refused — including Thunberg.
At the hearing, Thunberg admitted that she refused to obey the police order, but denied committing a crime, reported Swedish outlet Dagens Nyheter.
“I think we are in an emergency,” she told the court. “There is a climate crisis that threatens life, health and property.”
Thunberg was fined 50 Swedish krona — €4.33 — a day for 30 days, for a total of €129.90, in addition to paying 1,000 krona — €86 — to the Crime Victim Fund, Swedish news outlets reported.
Swedish telecoms company Ericsson is also looking into reports that Iraq has suspended its work permits there.
The Swedish embassy in Iraq is temporarily moving operations to Stockholm, the country’s foreign ministry has said, a day after it was attacked in protest against a second event held to desecrate the Quran in Sweden.
“The embassy’s operations and its expatriate staff have been temporarily relocated to Stockholm for security reasons,” the foreign ministry said on Friday.
Hundreds of Iraqis, mainly followers of the populist Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, stormed the embassy in central Baghdad early on Thursday and set it on fire. The Iraqi government later expelled the Swedish ambassador.
The embassy’s move also comes as the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson said it was looking into reports that Iraq had suspended the work permits of its employees.
Iraqi state media reported on Thursday that Baghdad suspended the permits in protest against the Quran desecration event, but on Friday the Iraqi prime minister’s foreign affairs advisor Farhad Alaadin said that Ericsson had not been suspended.
“The incidents in Sweden, involving the burning of the holy Quran, is deeply offensive to the religious beliefs and values cherished by Muslims around the world,” an Ericsson spokesperson said.
“This act does not reflect Ericsson’s core value of respect.”
Ericsson has about 30 full-time employees in Iraq, whose safety is the company’s top priority, a company spokesperson said.
“We respect all cultures and religions, and we place great importance on respecting our customers and our employees – and the communities in which we operate,” the spokesperson said.
“It is deeply problematic when freedom of expression turns to alienation between different cultures or religions.”
A demonstration was held on Thursday in Stockholm where provocateurs kicked and partially damaged a book they said was the Quran. The protesters did not burn the book as they had initially threatened to do.
Reactions from the Middle East poured in after the event in Stockholm, while Western countries condemned the storming of the Swedish embassy in Iraq.
On Friday, protests took place in both Iraq and Iran to denounce Sweden’s permission for the desecration of the Quran.
The event in Stockholm was planned by Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Christian Iraqi refugee in Sweden, who also burned pages of a Quran on June 28, the earlier incident prompting mass protests in Iraq and condemnations from Muslim-majority countries.
Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan photographed in Nov. 2022. The company wants every car it sells to be fully electric by the year 2030.
Anders Wiklund | AFP | Getty Images
Volvo Cars does not plan to use autonomous driving technology from Tesla and will instead focus on developing its own systems, according to the company’s CEO.
Back in June, the Gothenburg-headquartered carmaker said it had inked an agreement with Elon Musk’s firm that would give its electric vehicles access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday morning, Volvo Cars chief Jim Rowan was asked whether this meant the business would consider using Tesla’s autonomous driving tech in the future.
“We’ve already made that decision in terms of what we want to control internally, in terms of our technology stack,” Rowan said.
“And we’ve chosen that we want to be in full control of our ADAS [advanced driver assistance systems], all the way up to full AD [autonomous driving] software,” he added.
“So we will continue to write that, we will continue to invest in that, and we’ll continue to develop that.”
In a sign of how the company’s strategy is taking shape, Volvo Cars announced late last year that it had taken full ownership of Zenseact, a business specializing in AD software.
Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro
Rowan was speaking to CNBC after Volvo Cars reported second-quarter results. The company said earnings before interest and taxes were 5 billion Swedish krona (around $487.5 million) compared to 10.8 billion Swedish krona in the second quarter of 2022.
“During the quarter, the company reported a continued strong sales performance in electric cars,” it said in a statement accompanying its earnings report. “Sales of fully electric Volvo car models increased by 178 per cent year-on-year during the quarter and accounted for 16 per cent of its total share.”
Volvo Cars’ longer-term electrification strategy is centered around every car it sells being fully electric by the year 2030. This would mean a phase-out of vehicles using internal combustion engines, a category that includes hybrids.
The past few years have seen the automotive industry suffer issues related to supply chains and the cost of materials crucial to the production of electric vehicles.
During his interview with CNBC, Rowan gave an overview of the current state of play. “Last year we saw lithium spike quite dramatically, that’s now come down substantially from its peak,” he said.
“It went from about 10 to about $110 per kilo and now it’s down … below, somewhere between 30 and 40 [dollars],” he added. “So we’re starting to see that normalize, and I think that will keep reducing through the course of this year.”
Rowan also described semiconductors as being “patchy” in 2022 but “much, much better this year.”
This had been shown in Volvo Cars own output, he said. “We manufactured over 50% more cars this quarter than we did in the same quarter last year.”
He added that 2022 had also been affected by Covid lockdowns. “If you remember, Shanghai was locked down for almost 60 days — we had a lot of the suppliers in Shanghai, and that was an effect there,” Rowan said.
“So we’re seeing that bounce back really quickly for us.”
Ahmad Alloush says his intention was to denounce those who burn sacred books such as the Quran in the Nordic country.
Stockholm, Sweden – A man who was expected to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli embassy has abandoned the plan and held a demonstration against desecrating holy books.
Ahmad Alloush, 32, pulled a lighter from his string bag and threw it to the ground in Swedish capital on Saturday, saying he had never intended to burn holy books.
He then brought out a Quran and criticised previous incidents where copies of the Islamic holy book were burned in Sweden.
“If you want to criticise Islam, that is OK”, he said. But burning the Quran is “not freedom of expression”, he continued, switching from Swedish to English; it is “an action”.
Swedish courts have previously permitted the burnings as they constitutionally protected the right to freedom of assembly, expression and demonstration.
“This is a response to those who burned the Quran – freedom of speech has its limits”, Alloush said.
He could never burn a holy book, he repeatedly said in both Arabic and Swedish; he just wanted to demonstrate against the burning of the Quran.
“I made people angry,” he conceded when asked about the reaction to the news that someone planned to burn the Torah and the Bible in Stockholm. “They can be happy now”, he quipped.
Alloush said he was originally from Syria but had lived in Sweden for eight years and was based in the southwestern Borås municipality.
More than a dozen police officers protected Alloush during the demonstration [Nils Adler/Al Jazeera]
Sweden’s constitutional conundrum
The protest comes two weeks after Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee, burned the Quran in front of a Stockholm mosque during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.
There has been little popular support for the burning of holy books within Sweden and no political appetite for the events.
Sweden’s global image has suffered in the wake of the recent burning, as governments in several Muslim countries condemned the decision to allow the burning to take place.
The Swedish foreign ministry has condemned the acts as “Islamophobic”, stating, “The burning of the Quran, or any other holy text, is an offensive and disrespectful act and a clear provocation. Expressions of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance have no place in Sweden or Europe”.
A recent poll conducted on behalf of Swedish national television broadcaster SVT showed that the majority of Swedish people support a ban on the public burning of religious texts.
Sweden could enact a law on incitement against ethnic groups but only to restrict what can be said and where the burnings can occur. A complete ban on desecrating holy scriptures would require a law which Sweden scrapped in the 1970s to be reintroduced.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) approved a resolution on religious hatred and bigotry following the burnings in Sweden.
The motion passed on Wednesday but was opposed by the United States and the European Union, which said it conflicts with their positions on human rights and freedom of expression.
Motion at the UN Human Rights Council urges action over Quran burning incidents in Sweden, which Pakistan says incited ‘religious hatred’.
Muslim nations including Iran and Pakistan say the desecration of the holy Quran amounts to an incitement of violence and called for accountability after a series of stunts in Sweden caused a backlash around the world.
A motion filed at the United Nations human rights body on Tuesday was in response to the latest incident last month, and calls on countries to review their laws and plug gaps that may “impede the prevention and prosecution of acts and advocacy of religious hatred”.
The debate highlighted rifts in the UN Human Rights Council between the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Western members concerned about the motion’s implications for free speech and challenges posed to long-held practices in rights protection.
An Iraqi immigrant to Sweden ripped, burned, and stomped on the Quran outside a Stockholm mosque last month during the Eid al-Adha holiday, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and angry protests in several Pakistani cities.
“We must see this clearly for what it is: incitement to religious hatred, discrimination and attempts to provoke violence,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told the Geneva-based council via video, saying such acts occurred under “government sanction and with the sense of impunity”.
— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) July 11, 2023
‘Irresponsible and wrong’
Bhutto Zardari’s remarks were echoed by comments from ministers from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia, with the latter calling the Quran burning an act of “Islamophobia”.
“Stop abusing freedom of expression,” said Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. “Silence means complicity.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian urged Sweden and European nations to take “urgent and effective measures” against such incidents.
Some Western nations condemned the stunts, but also defended “free speech”.
Germany’s UN Ambassador Katharina Stasch called the acts in Sweden a “dreadful provocation”, but added “freedom of speech sometimes also means to bear opinions that may seem almost unbearable”.
France’s envoy said human rights were about protecting people, not religions and their symbols.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk told the council that inflammatory acts against Muslims, as well as other religions or minorities, are “offensive, irresponsible and wrong”.
The @UN Human Rights Council is holding an URGENT DEBATE to “discuss the alarming rise in premeditated & public acts of religious hatred as manifested by recurrent desecration of the Holy Quran in some European & other countries” https://t.co/Rp5jDsAkcg
— United Nations Human Rights Council 📍 #HRC53 (@UN_HRC) July 11, 2023
Taliban targets ‘Sweden’
The Taliban administration said in a statement it halted all activities by Sweden in Afghanistan “after the insulting of the holy Quran and granting of permission for insulting of Muslim beliefs”.
It did not provide details on which organisations would be affected by its ban. Sweden no longer has an embassy in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in 2021.
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) aid organisation said it was seeking clarification with authorities.
“SCA is not a Swedish government entity. SCA is independent and impartial in relation to all political stakeholders and states, and strongly condemns all desecration of the holy Quran,” the NGO said in a statement.
“For over 40 years SCA has been working in close collaboration with the rural population and in deep respect of both Islam and local traditions in Afghanistan.”
Thousands of Afghan staff work for the organisation throughout the country in health, education and rural development. SCA treated 2.5 million patients in its health clinics last year.
SCA strongly condemns all acts of desecration of the Holy Quran and seeks clarity on the July 11 directive from the DFA on Sweden’s activities in Afghanistan. SCA is not a government entity. Full statement here: https://t.co/J3XoOa3txd
— Svenska Afghanistankommittén SAK/SCA (@SAK_Sweden) July 11, 2023
STRASBOURG — Gather round, gather round, it’s the last big match of the season.
This week, just before lawmakers head into the summer recess, the European Parliament will fight it out over nature restoration.
The EU’s proposal to rehabilitate its damaged ecosystems by 2050 has one last chance at survival in Wednesday’s plenary session. The bill, a key pillar of the bloc’s Green Deal, has limped to Strasbourg to face the full Parliament after failing to pass three committee votes.
If the Nature Restoration Law is rejected on Wednesday, “it’s game over,” said Pascal Canfin, a liberal MEP and chair of Parliament’s environment committee. “Nobody will come back with something else before the next election.”
The vote will be tight. And if the text doesn’t pass, it would be the first major Green Deal legislation to fail in Parliament — adding weight to a conservative campaign to pause environmental lawmaking ahead of the 2024 EU election.
For months, supporters and opponents of the law have been exchanging (metaphorical) punches on social media, in committee sessions and press conferences.
Ahead of the vote, POLITICO looks at the main players in the fight to kill — or save — the Nature Restoration Law.
In the blue corner: The bill’s opponents
1 — Manfred Weber
The European People’s Party has spearheaded a tireless effort to kill off the legislation, arguing that it will have detrimental consequences for the bloc’s farmers by allegedly taking land out of production and jeopardizing food security.
Its leader, Manfred Weber, has been among the most vocal opponents of the bill, seizing on the debate as a way to portray his group as defending farmers’ interests in Brussels.
Political rivals have accused him of using underhand tactics to ensure his MEPs voted against the legislation in the agriculture, fisheries and environment committees, including by substituting regular members with others ready to fall in line — allegations Weber denied. The push has also featured an often bizarre social media campaign to highlight the supposed dangers of the bill, culminating in the group claiming it would destroy Santa’s home in northern Finland.
“This is not the right moment to do this piece of legislation,” Manfred Weber said last month | Philippe Buissin/EP
The EPP leader maintains the group is ready to engage on the legislation — if the Commission comes up with a new version. “This is not the right moment to do this piece of legislation,” Weber said last month.
“Give me arguments, give me a better piece of legislation, then my party is ready to give,” Weber added, calling on the Commission to go back to the drawing board and insisting that achieving the EU’s climate and biodiversity goals can’t come at the expense of rural areas.
2 — Right-wing groups — and a handful of liberals
Weber’s conservative group has found allies further to the right — among MEPs belonging to the European Conservatives and Reformists and the far-right Identity and Democracy.
The ECR’s co-chair, Nicola Procaccini, a close ally of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, called the nature proposal “one of the most significant regulation proposals of the entire legislature,” and said he was “quite convinced” the right-wing alliance could defeat it. He added that it shows alliances are shifting in Parliament: “On the Green Geal it is moving more to the right.”
The EPP’s push has also found support among lawmakers in Renew Europe. About a third of the liberal group — mostly Dutch, Nordic and German MEPs — are set to vote against the bill on Wednesday, mostly out of national concerns.
Swedish liberal MEP Emma Wiesner, for example, has argued that the bill will be bad for Swedish farmers and foresters, while stressing that she still supports “an ambitious climate and environmental agenda.”
3 — Industry lobbies
A host of lobby groups have also come out against the legislation, including those representing European fishermen, foresters and farmers.
The powerful agri lobby Copa-Cogeca — which has been accused of representing the interests of large corporate outfits over smaller farms — has pushed the narrative that burdening farmers with new green obligations while they face the impacts of the war in Ukraine and higher energy prices will threaten their livelihoods.
The draft legislation “is poorly constructed, [and] has no coherent, clear or dedicated budget” to help land managers implement it, the lobby said.
Similarly, some business associations, like the Netherlands’ VNO-NCW, have been critical of the proposal, arguing that it will create a “lockdown for new business and the energy transition.”
A host of lobby groups have also come out against the legislation, including those representing European farmers | Jeffrey Groeneweg/AFP via Getty Images
4 — Skeptical EU countries
Several EU countries have waded into the debate, warning that the new measures would be bad for their farming and forestry sectors, as well as for people’s proprietary rights and permitting procedures for renewable energy projects.
The Netherlands has been particularly vocal against the bill, calling for EU countries to be granted more flexibility in how to achieve the regulation’s targets as it could otherwise clash with renewables or housing projects, for example. “We do have concerns about implementation because of our high population density,” said Dutch Environment Minister Christianne van der Wal-Zeggelink.
Other skeptical countries include Poland, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Belgium.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called for hitting “pause” on new nature restoration rules amid a fierce national debate on the legislation.
In the red corner: Its defenders
1 — Frans Timmermans
The EU’s Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans has been on the front lines of the effort to save the nature rules, going toe-to-toe with EPP lawmakers during Parliament committee discussions and calling out misleading statements spread by opponents to the bill.
“Everybody is entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts,” he told lawmakers in May, stressing that the reason harvests are failing “is linked to climate change and biodiversity loss.”
He’s repeatedly insisted the legislation is intended to help farmers in the long run, as it aims to improve soil and water quality, as well as build resilience against natural disasters like floods, droughts and wildfires. He’s also been adamant that the Commission won’t submit a new version of the bill, as demanded by the EPP.
“There is no time for that,” he explained.
2 — Left-wing groups in Parliament — and (most of) the liberals
The EU’s Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans has been on the front lines of the effort to save the nature rules | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images
The Parliament’s center-left Socialists & Democrats, the Greens, The Left and part of Renew Europe have been vocal advocates of the Commission’s proposal.
Biodiversity loss and climate change are two sides of the same coin, Mohammed Chahim, vice president of the S&D, told reporters. “Not connecting them is either you being naive, at best, and at worst, you really trying to undermine the Green Deal, and that’s what’s happening.”
The Renew group has been divided on the issue, but a majority backed a compromise deal ahead of Wednesday’s vote to try and convince some EPP lawmakers to switch sides and rally enough support in favor of the legislation.
3 —Teresa Ribera
Spain’s environment minister has come out in favor of the proposal, defending its importance both at home and at the EU level as a means to increase resilience to natural disasters and climate impacts like drought.
“It is very important not only to conserve but also to restore nature … There will be time to improve what we have on the table but for the time being, the best thing we can do is to achieve an agreement,” Ribera said at an informal environment ministers’ meeting Monday.
Alongside Spain, 19 EU countries supported the adoption of a common stance on the text in June.
Ribera also signaled that the file will be among the Spanish presidency of the Council’s priorities if the Parliament adopts a position allowing MEPs to start negotiations with EU countries.
4 — Big business and banks
A number of multinationals — including Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Unilever — have urged MEPs to back the legislation, arguing that restoring nature is good for business.
The new rules, they say, will boost the EU’s food production in the long term as it will help tackle pollinator decline and increase absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere, lessening climate impacts.
Owen Bethell, senior global public affairs manager for environmental impact at Nestlé, stressed that farmers’ concerns need to be addressed and argued they should receive support to adapt to the new rules. “But in the short term, I think it’s important to maintain momentum on this law because it sends the right signal, that change needs to happen,” he said.
Green activists have led a forceful push to convince lawmakers to back the proposal | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images
The argument that nature is good for business also received backing from Frank Elderson, an executive board member of the European Central Bank, who warned: “Destroy nature and you destroy the economy.”
5 — Scientists and NGOs
More than 6,000 scientists have shown support for the Commission’s nature restoration plan, arguing that healthy ecosystems will store greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the EU’s objective to become climate neutral by 2050.
“Protecting and restoring nature, and reducing the use of agrochemicals and pollutants, are essential for maintaining long-term production and enhancing food security,” they wrote.
Green activists have also led a forceful push to convince lawmakers to back the proposal, staging protests and making arguments to counter the EPP’s narrative on social media.
“The European Parliament must stay strong against the falsified pushbacks of the conservatives and take firm action to protect citizens from the devastating impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss,” the WWF said in a statement ahead of the vote.
Watching from the sidelines
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a member of the EPP, has stayed conspicuously quiet on the issue, despite mounting calls for her to get involved and help save the bill.
The situation is a Catch-22 for the German official: The nature bill is part of the Green Deal on which she staked her reputation and reelection as Commission president, but speaking in support of it would involve going against her party’s official position.
“I still expect a public reaction from her,” said the S&D’s César Luena, the lead MEP on the file. “Or if it’s not public, then a reaction inside the EPP,” he added, suggesting that her silence could be held against her in a bid for reelection next year if the legislation doesn’t pass this week.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join NATO, the alliance’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.
Stoltenberg tweeted that Erdogan met with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and came to an agreement about Sweden’s membership in NATO, hours after Erdogan said the European Union should first consider his country’s admission to the EU.
In a news conference Monday, Stoltenberg said that Erdogan intends to submit the ratification documents to the Turkish parliament “as soon as possible,” but declined to offer “exact dates.”
He added, “And then of course it is for the parliament then to … have the process and then do the final ratification.”
Hungary, too, has opposed Sweden’s bid to join NATO, but Stoltenberg said that Hungary would not be “the last to ratify.” So, now that Turkey has agreed to Sweden’s accession, “I think that the problem will be solved,” he added.
President Biden, who has supported Sweden’s induction into NATO amid the Russian invasion of Ukriane, hailed the agreement.
NATO member countries are meeting this week in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Stoltenberg offered only a broad description of how Turkey had arrived at its decision to support Sweden’s accession.
“What we have seen is that we have been able to reconcile the concerns that Turkey has expressed with the concerns that Sweden has expressed and then we have been able to find a joint ground common ground, and then move forward based on that,” he said.
Turkey’s communications directorate said in a statement on Sunday that Sweden had “taken some steps in the right direction by making changes in the anti-terrorism legislation,” but it criticized Sweden for allowing protests by organizations that Turkey has designated terrorist groups, including the pro-Kurdish PKK and YPG.
Turkey has also criticized Sweden for allowing protests that involved the burning of the Quran.
Sweden had applied to join NATO along with Finland, which was also initially blocked by Turkey. But Finland and Turkey worked out an agreement, and in April, Finland became the 31st country to join the alliance.
As for Erdogan’s comments about Turkey joining the EU, Stoltenberg noted that he could not speak for the EU. Turkey has long sought membership to the EU, with the organization saying in 1999 that it would formally consider their application. After the 2004 enlargement — which did not include Turkey — the EU adopted a framework for negotiations, but there has been no progress since then.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 29, 2022.
Nacho Doce | Reuters
NATO is convening a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11 to approve new defense plans, and — its leaders hope — announce the full approval of a new member to the alliance, Sweden.
But more than a year after the Nordic country made its application to join the defense organization, Turkey — which has been a member since 1952 and boasts NATO’s second-largest military — stands in the way.
Hungary, an EU and a NATO member, is the only other holdout, though its stance on the issue is expected to follow Turkey’s. Countries need unanimous approval from NATO’s existing 31 member states in order to join.
Turkey is leveraging its strength as a member of the alliance to extract concessions from other countries. It’s a bet that could pay off handsomely for Ankara — or it could further stress relations with the West, backfiring and hurting the country’s already fragile economy.
U.S. President Joe Biden has already told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Washington wants the objection to Sweden’s NATO bid dropped, while Erdogan is pushing the administration for a sale of F-16 fighter jets for the Turkish military. The jets could be something Turkey gains in exchange for a potential approval for Sweden, although Biden officials say the two demands are “totally unrelated.”
With much at stake for Turkey, Sweden, and the NATO alliance, whichever direction Turkey moves in will have significant consequences for them all.
Turkey’s objection stems from Sweden’s support for Kurdish groups that Ankara deems to be terrorists. Kurds, an ethnic minority in Turkey constituting some 20% of the country’s population, have a tumultuous history with the Turkish government, which classifies some Kurdish political groups to be a severe threat. Sweden has made efforts to adjust its policies to Turkey’s demands, but Erdogan says that he isn’t satisfied.
Turkey’s position is also essentially a flex, some observers say, using its role in NATO to win concessions and remind the West that it is a partner whose demands must be taken seriously.
“There’s still a chance that Turkey will allow Sweden to enter NATO in time for the July summit,” Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at Rane, told CNBC. “But there’s clearly a realistic chance that Erdogan will continue to play this thing out well past that deadline.”
Finland and Sweden announced their intentions to apply for NATO membership in May of 2022, reversing a historic policy of nonalignment in the wake of Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.
While official partners of the alliance since the 1990s, the idea that the Nordic states might actually join the group made Moscow bristle — NATO expansion is something it has previously cited to justify invading Ukraine.
This move is part of a broader dance Ankara is performing between Russia and NATO, using its unique position to leverage advantages.
Guney Yildiz
Researcher on Turkey and Syria
Erdogan meanwhile has a friendly relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, operating as a mediator of sorts between Moscow and Kyiv and refusing to adopt Western sanctions against Russia.
Many Kurdish activists living in Sweden say they do not support terrorism but oppose Erdogan and his policies, and now fear Stockholm may sell them out for NATO membership. Turkey’s demands of Stockholm controversially include extraditing certain Kurdish activists to Turkey, some of whom are Swedish citizens and have been protected from extradition under Swedish law.
“President Erdogan said Sweden has taken steps in the right direction by making changes in anti-terrorism legislation,” a statement from the Turkish presidency said on July 5. “But supporters of the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) … terrorist organization continue to freely organize demonstrations praising terrorism, which nullifies the steps taken,” it added.
Turkey is using this opportunity to send an important message about its national security interests, explained Kamal Alam, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
A participant jumps onto a banner showing a portrait of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a demonstration organised by The Kurdish Democratic Society Center against the Turkish President and Sweden’s NATO bid in Stockholm on January 21, 2023.
Christine Olsson | Afp | Getty Images
“A lot of Turkey’s stance is a direct message to Europe that whilst this may look like posturing, Ankara has not gotten over the EU support to the YPG/PYD in north East Syria which also translates into indirect support to the PKK,” he said, referencing Kurdish militant and political groups in Syria that have links to the PKK, but who were vital in the fight against ISIS there.
“This stance is a direct result of the fallout of the war in Syria when Turkey drifted apart from the EU on many fronts,” Alam said. “Whilst the headlines might be of tactical blocking of joining NATO, the overall strategic messaging is don’t mess with Turkey’s national security.”
He also noted the decades-long refusal by the EU to let Turkey into the bloc, adding: “Turkey is saying we are the second largest army in NATO and after all the blackmailing and stalled EU accession, we will now reverse the process of who comes in or out.”
While the bet could pay off for Turkey, it also threatens to rupture already tense relations with Western allies and even backfire economically.
“Turkey’s blockade on Sweden’s NATO progression isn’t a clear-cut ticket to economic fallout, but it is playing with fire,” said Guney Yildiz, a researcher focused on Turkey and Syria.
“This move is part of a broader dance Ankara is performing between Russia and NATO, using its unique position to leverage advantages,” he told CNBC.
“With subtle alignment with the West on other fronts like Russian sanctions, Turkey feels it can take the heat over Sweden for a while. But it’s a ticking clock,” Yildiz warned. “The window to exploit Sweden’s membership for gain is closing. When it does, Turkey will pay a price, especially as the cost of managing its Russian relations escalates, inevitably tipping the scale towards more compromise and less gain.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Turkey’s economy has been on a rollercoaster the past several years, with inflation veering between 40% and 80% in the last year and a currency that’s lost some 80% of its value against the dollar in the last five years.
In such a precarious setting, Turkey can’t afford to take any more risks, says Timothy Ash, senior emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management.
“Either Turkey approves Sweden’s NATO membership at Vilnius or it risks a major break in relations with the West and at a time when Turkey’s macro is on the edge. It’s decision time,” Ash wrote in an email note.
“It will go to the last minute, the 11.5th hour,” he said. “But if it does not happen there will be a major crisis in Turkey-NATO relations — at a time when the Turkish macro looks particularly vulnerable.”
Russia said on Sunday that NATO leaders should discuss conditions at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant at their summit this week, as an accident at the facility could affect the territories of alliance members.
Ukraine warned last week that Moscow could be preparing to blow up the nuclear power station, which could lead to a radioactive disaster, after Russian workers were told to leave the facility.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday accused Kyiv of “systematic infliction of damage” to the Zaporizhzhia plant and warned of the possible fallout from a catastrophe there.
“Key attention should be devoted” to the Zaporizhzhia facility at the NATO meeting starting Tuesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a Telegram post. “After all, the vast majority of the alliance members will be in the direct impact zone” of any potential accident, she said.
Leaders of the NATO alliance will meet on July 11-12 in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, about 1,200 kilometers away from the Zaporizhzhia plant. The summit will discuss crucial issues including the supply of weapons to Kyiv and the accession of Sweden and Ukraine.
According to International Atomic Energy Agency experts, there are not “any visible indications of mines or explosives” at the Zakharova plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on July 7.
Ankara hasn’t seen sufficient progress from Sweden to support its application to join NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned U.S. President Joe Biden in a phone call Sunday ahead of a summit of NATO leaders this week.
“Erdoğan stated that Sweden has taken some steps in the right direction by making changes in the anti-terrorism legislation,” Turkey’s communications directorate said in a statement following the bilateral call.
But the supporters of “terrorist organizations” — pro-Kurdish groups including the PKK and YPG, which are banned in Turkey — continue to hold demonstrations in Sweden, the statement said. “This nullifies the steps taken,” it said.
The call comes ahead of a two-day summit of NATO leaders in Lithuania that starts on Tuesday. Biden has thrown his support behind a push to get a deal done on Sweden at the meeting in Vilnius.
Erdoğan’s administration has been blocking Sweden’s hopes of joining the defense alliance, accusing Stockholm of backing Kurdish separatism. While it had initially accused Finland of doing the same, Erdoğan later gave the green light on Helsinki’s application and the country became a NATO member in April.
Biden and Erdoğan also discussed the sale of U.S. F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in the call, with the Turkish president “noting that it is not correct to associate” Ankara’s request for F-16 aircraft with Sweden’s NATO membership bid, according to the statement.
On the call, Erdoğan also brought up Turkey’s “desire to revive the EU membership process,” according to the statement. The Turkish president said he would like to see EU member states send a “clear and strong message” in support of its EU bid at the NATO summit in Lithuania.
While Turkey became a candidate for full membership of the EU in 1999, talks have effectively stalled over the past decade. The country has not committed to making the reforms required to meet the criteria set out by Brussels.
Erdoğan and Biden agreed to meet face-to-face in Vilnius and discuss Turkey-U.S. bilateral relations and regional issues in detail, according to the Turkish statement.
VILNIUS — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday agreed to drop his resistance to Sweden joining the NATO alliance and to submit the ratification to the Turkish parliament “as soon as possible,” the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.
“Sweden will become a full member of the alliance,” Stoltenberg said ahead of a summit of NATO leaders starting Tuesday.
He said Erdoğan had given a “clear commitment” to move on Sweden’s accession.
The Turkish’s leader’s change of position came after a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Stoltenberg.
In a joint statement following the talks, Turkey, Sweden and NATO underlined that Stockholm had changed laws, expanded counter-terrorism cooperation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and restarted arms exports to Turkey.
Ankara and Stockholm also agreed to create a “new bilateral Security Compact” and that Sweden will present a “roadmap as the basis of its continued fight against terrorism in all its forms,” the statement said.
As part of the deal, Stoltenberg has also agreed to create a new post of “Special Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism” at NATO.
The announcement comes after over a year of wrangling to get Turkey and Hungary to sign off on admitting Sweden and Finland into the alliance, with NATO leaders publicly and privately lobbying the Turkish leader to expand the alliance roster.
Sweden and Finland both ditched their traditional neutrality in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and asked to join the alliance in May 2022.
The accession of the two countries — which have long been close partners of the Western alliance — was easily approved by most NATO members, with Turkey holding out. Finland joined in April following approval by Turkey’s parliament in March.
But Sweden proved to be a thornier problem, with Erdoğan denouncing the presence of Kurdish groups in Sweden. Relations were also inflamed when protesters in Sweden burned copies of the Quran.
Earlier on Monday, Erdoğan linked a change of position on Sweden to a revival of his country’s moribund effort to join the European Union. The recently re-elected Turkish president also met with European Council President Charles Michel on Monday evening.
The Council leader described the session as a “good meeting,” tweeting that the two “explored opportunities ahead to bring” the EU’s cooperation with Turkey “back to the forefront & re-energise our relations.”
Sweden promised to “actively support efforts to reinvigorate” Turkey’s EU membership bid in a seven-point agreement with Ankara. Stockholm also agreed it will not support other Kurdish militant groups and to boost economic cooperation with Turkey.
The next step, according to the agreement, is that Turkey “will transmit the Accession Protocol for Sweden to the Grand National Assembly, and work closely with the Assembly to ensure ratification.”
In a statement after the announcement, U.S. PresidentJoe Biden welcomed the agreement and said: “I stand ready to work with President Erdoğan and Turkey on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area.”
Although Hungary has also refused to back Sweden’s NATO bid, Stoltenberg noted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had promised that his country would not be the last holdout against Sweden’s membership.
Sweden has one of the most capable militaries in Europe and its entry into NATO together with Finland will solidify the alliance’s control of the Baltic Sea.
The agreement on the night before the summit’s official program starts removes a major headache for Stoltenberg and the alliance’s leaders, who are also dealing with Ukrainian demands that Kyiv be given a clear path to membership.
Opinions across NATO differ on how fast Ukraine could become a member. Those disagreements will likely be front and center on Wednesday when Biden holds one-on-one talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Jacopo Barigazzi, Jonathan Lemire, Paul McLeary and Alexander Ward contributed reporting.
VILNIUS — It’s one problem down and one to go for the NATO alliance as leaders prepare to meet for a summit in the Lithuanian capital.
Sweden’s troubled membership bid was accepted by Turkey’s president late Monday but the tricky issue of formulating acceptable language on Ukraine’s membership aspirations still hasn’t been agreed.
After intensive talks on the summit communiqué, there was still no final deal on what will be offered to Ukraine, although a senior NATO diplomat said: “We have made very good progress and I am 100 percent optimistic.”
Officials negotiating the language on Ukraine are now expected to reconvene on Tuesday, the same day leaders will begin their two-day meeting.
“I believe it is coming together — it is very close,” said a second senior NATO diplomat, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy upped the pressure on the alliance on Monday, demanding that NATO send a clear signal his country will join once the war with Russia is over.
“Even if different positions are voiced, it is still clear that Ukraine deserves to be in the Alliance. Not now — there is a war, but we need a clear signal. And we need this signal right now,” Zelenskyy said.
Kyiv’s bid to join NATO after hostilities are over has widespread backing among alliance members, but has run into resistance from Germany and the United States. While all allies formally agree Ukraine will become a member one day, Berlin and Washington are hesitant about offering Ukraine a concrete path to membership, preferring to focus on Kyiv’s immediate needs to battle the Russian invasion.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” U.S President Joe Biden told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday. He added that if Ukraine were a NATO member, “We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”
A senior German official said earlier on Monday: “The time is not right at this summit for an invitation to Ukraine, for concrete steps toward membership. There is no consensus on this among the allies either.”
Biden, who arrived in Vilnius on Monday, plans to meet with Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
Alliance leaders will be able to give their full attention to Ukraine on Tuesday after another big problem — Sweden’s stalled bid for NATO membership — was resolved after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised to put the issue to Turkey’s parliament.
Shoppers are seen at Whole Foods Market on October 14, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elijah Nouvelage | Afp | Getty Images
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
Larger in reality The U.S. economy grew an annualized 2% from January to March, according to the Commerce Department’s third and final estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product. That’s a big jump from the initial estimate of 1.3% and higher than the 1.4% Dow Jones consensus — consumer spending and exports were stronger than previously thought.
Boosted by banks U.S. stocks rose Thursday, buoyed by gains in the banking sector as investors celebrated positive results in the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test for banks. European markets closed mixed. H&M jumped 18% after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter profits. Separately, Spain’s inflation in June fell to 1.9% year on year.
Krona in a corner Sweden’s currency dropped to a record low of 0.0846 krona to 1 euro after the country’s central bank raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75%. Higher interest rates usually causes a currency to appreciate because it’d give more returns — so the drop implies traders are concerned about the state of the Swedish economy.
Successful spaceflight, but shares sink Virgin Galactic successfully completed its first commercial spaceflight yesterday. Named Galactic 01, the flight took off in New Mexico and carried three paying passengers, all of whom are members of the Italian Air Force. Despite the smooth mission, Virgin Galactic shares sank more than 10% yesterday and a further 0.7% in extended training.
[PRO] IPOs come to life The initial public offering market’s stirring to life again. Three big IPOs — Savers Value Village, Kodiak Gas Services and Fidelis Insurance — were priced Wednesday and started trading yesterday. CNBC Pro’s Bob Pisani breaks down their performance, picks a winner and explains what this means for the general IPO market.
Don’t fight the Fed, goes the saying in markets. Traders might want to add a new maxim: Don’t bet against the U.S. economy.
Despite endless warning of an inevitable recession, the U.S. economy defiantly expanded 2% in the first quarter of this year. It was pushed up by a rebound in exports, which rose 7.8% after falling 3.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
More significantly, consumer spending jumped 4.2%, the fastest quarterly pace since the second quarter of 2021 — back when households were still flush with cash from stimulus checks. I previously argued that the U.S. economy might just avoid a recession thanks to the strength of consumers — and it seems this latest data point corroborates that theory.
There are other signs the economy still refuses to buckle. Initial jobless claims for the week ended June 24 fell to 239,000, according to a report from the Labor Department. That figure’s 26,000 lower than the previous week and well below economists’ estimates, implying an unexpected improvement in the job market.
Meanwhile, stock markets rose after a banner day for big banks. The S&P 500 advanced 0.45%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8%, but the Nasdaq Composite closed flat. All three indexes are on track to end the first half of the year at incredible numbers. So far, the S&P has gained 14.5%, the Dow’s up 2.9% and the Nasdaq has popped nearly 30% and is heading for its best first half since 1983.
Can markets sustain that incredible momentum? The personal consumption expenditures price index, coming out later today, will provide some clues. It’s the inflation gauge the Fed watches mostly closely, so if the PCE surprises with a hotter-than-expected reading, consecutive rate hikes might be on the way.
Still, given the resilience of the markets and the economy in the face of 10 consecutive hikes, perhaps they could continue surprising us as we head into the second half of 2023.
BRUSSELS — EU countries are bickering over granting billions in new funds to deal with migration as asylum applications soar and backlogs pile up at the Continent’s borders.
Germany, which received a quarter of all EU asylum applications in 2022, specifically wants to “revitalize” the EU’s ties with neighboring Turkey, according to a senior German official — a nod to the last time the bloc faced such levels of migration.
Then, in 2016, the EU offered Turkey billions in exchange for the country housing thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing civil war. Now, there is a push to authorize up to €10.5 billion in new money for not just Turkey, but also countries like Libya or Tunisia, hoping it would help them prevent people from entering the EU without permission.
The debate has jumped onto the agenda of an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. And countries are sparring over whether to reference a monetary request in the meeting’s final conclusions, according to five diplomats and officials from four different countries.
The behind-the-scenes fight illustrates how much migration has come to dominate the political agenda. Organizers for the summit had hoped to keep the divisive migration talk to a minimum in favor of discussions on Russia, China and economic security. But with high-profile disasters like the recent migrant shipwreck near Greece and arrival figures continuing their steep climb, the heated issue is becoming increasingly hard to avoid.
Notably, draft conclusions for the summit, dated Wednesday evening and seen by POLITICO, still had two indirect references to the fresh migration funds: The €10.5 billion pot and another €2 billion for “managing migration” within the EU’s own borders.
Whether that language survives until Friday is another question.
Germany: Let’s talk Turkey, not money
Germany, as always, is one of the key players in the debate — and in this instance, it is making arguments for both sides.
On one side, Berlin wants to renew the EU’s relationship with Turkey, hoping it can take in more asylum seekers and help cut down on unauthorized border crossings. In return, the Germans want the EU to improve trade ties with the country.
On the other side, however, Berlin is fiercely opposing the attempt to explicitly mention money in the summit conclusions. The logic: Committing to fresh billions now would imperil upcoming talks over whether to add €66 billion to its budget. Germany wants to discuss the whole package at once, instead of approving parts of it in advance.
As of Wednesday night, the summit conclusions draft still contained an indirect endorsement of the money.
Germany, as always, is one of the key players in the debate — and in this instance, it is making arguments for both sides | David Gannon/AFP via Getty Images
The document mentions “financing mechanisms” — seen as a reference to the €10.5 billion — for “the external aspects of migration.” That money would go to countries like Turkey, Libya and Tunisia, which migrants often traverse on their way to Europe.
There’s also an indirect reference to the €2 billion for internal EU migration management. The text calls for “support for displaced persons,” particularly from Ukraine, via “adequate and flexible financial assistance to the member states who carry the largest burden of medical, education and living costs of refugees.” Translated, that would mean more money for countries that host the bulk of Ukrainian refugees, like Poland and Germany.
Yet during a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday, German officials urged their counterparts to cut or massively reduce both passages, according to the five diplomats and officials, who, like other officials in this story, were granted anonymity because they are not allowed to publicly discuss the talks.
As of Wednesday night, that appeal had failed. But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz may take up the issue himself with his counterparts on Thursday.
The German argument is that including the figures would mean EU leaders are essentially making a big step toward endorsing the full budget package — which the European Commission requested just last week — before even discussing it, two of the officials said.
Nevertheless, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to briefly present her €66 billion budget plan during the gathering of EU leaders on Thursday, meaning there will likely be an initial debate about the money, the officials said.
Von der Leyen’s plans are expected to run into resistance from a number of countries, particularly the so-called “frugal” countries, including Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Speaking to a briefing for reporters in Berlin on Wednesday, a senior German official also voiced caution about von der Leyen’s plan.
“One of the questions is: Is the Commission’s assessment of the situation convincing?” said the senior official, who could not be named due to the rules under which the briefing was organized.
Time to work with Erdoğan again?
At the same time, the senior German official stressed Berlin’s interest in renewing the EU relationship with Turkey.
“[Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan has been re-elected, and this must be an opportunity for the EU to take another broad look at its relationship with Turkey,” the official said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images
“For us, it’s a matter of putting EU-Turkey relations once again on the agenda … to possibly revitalize them, if all sides want to commit to this,” the official continued, adding that the European Commission and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell should “come back in the fall with proposals.”
One idea could be an update of the EU’s trade rules with Turkey — a thorny issue, though, as talks between Brussels and Ankara have failed to make progress on modernizing the so-called EU-Turkey customs union for several years.
Germany’s Scholz held a phone call with Erdoğan on Wednesday during which both leaders discussed how “to cooperate further and deepen exchanges on various cooperation issues,” according to Steffen Hebestreit, Scholz’s spokesperson.
Any progress in EU-Turkey relations would also require the agreement of the EU countries perpetually at odds with Turkey — Greece and Cyprus.
At least in that sense, there seems to be progress: “We agreed to include a paragraph on Turkey and the future relations,” a Greek diplomat said.
The latest draft conclusions from Wednesday evening ask Borrell and the Commission “submit a report” on EU-Turkey relations “with a view to proceeding in a strategic and forward-looking manner.”
Barbara Moens, Jakob Hanke Vela, Lili Bayer, Jacopo Barigazzi and Gregorio Sorgi contributed reporting.
