Hello from Brussels. I’m Mared Gwyn.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Washington and Israel exchanged further fire with Iran overnight, as fears mount that the conflict could spill over beyond the Middle East after an US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean yesterday afternoon.
Earlier this morning, the US Senate rejected a bill that would have curbed President Donald Trump’s war powers, with the vote split along party lines. The House of Representatives is expected to put Trump’s war powers to another vote tomorrow.
Later today, EU foreign ministers will meet virtually to discuss their common response to the conflict, which has been hamstrung by internal divisions and limited diplomatic influence.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said on Wednesday that the emergence of a democratic Iran is “far from certain”, while warning of a “widening war” in the region and a “dangerous moment” for Europe.
Speaking to Europe Today, Belgium’s Defence Minister Theo Francken cast doubt over the legality of the initial US-Israeli intervention, but described it as a “righteous cause to try to decapitate the Ayatollah regime.”
“I think that this may be problematic concerning international law, but I think it can be defended as well,” Francken told our reporter Lauren Walker. Watch.
Meanwhile, the diplomatic spat between Washington and Madrid, the only EU state to unequivocally condemn the initial US-Israeli strikes, continued on Wednesday.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares issued a statement denying Spain was backing Washington’s campaign, moments after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Madrid had come round and agreed to help the US.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is meanwhile capitalising on the political moment to revive the “no to war movement”, evoking painful memories of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq in a speech delivered on Wednesday.
Our EU editor Maria Tadeo writes that Sánchez seeks to cement his image as the last bastion of progressive socialism in Europe amid a rightward shift, while also mobilising his voters at home. Read.
The EU executive also said on Wednesday that it stands ready to defend the EU’s trade interests, after President Trump threatened to sever all trade with Spain in response to Madrid’s critical stance.
European Commission Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné said that when it comes to trade policy, “any threat against a member state is by definition a threat against the EU.”
Reminder: Trade is an exclusive EU competence, and the EU-US trade deal clinched last summer remains frozen after MEPs halted its implementation following February’s US Supreme Court ruling declaring the 2025 US tariffs illegal.
Meanwhile, Hungary and Slovakia’s spat with Ukraine over disruptions to oil supply via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline continues. On Wednesday, Hungarian energy company MOL and its Slovak subsidiary Slovnaft filed a formal complaint with the European Commission claiming Croatian crude oil transportation company JANAF is abusing its position of power.
JANAF has emerged as a solution as Hungary and Slovakia, both granted special exemptions to EU restrictions on Russian oil, face disruptions to supply via Druzhba after the pipeline was hit in Ukraine in late January.
MOL, Hungary’s energy giant, had previously threatened legal action if JANAF did not “immediately” guarantee access for unsanctioned Russian oil shipments. While JANAF has expressed readiness to fulfill both countries’ needs through alternatives to Russian crude, it has not yet confirmed whether it will allow Russian oil to pass through its pipeline, also known as Adria.
In a statement, JANAF has denied MOL’s claims that it is engaging in unfair pricing practices and threatening security of supply.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó was in Moscow yesterday for discussions which focused on energy, with Szijjártó saying Russia will “deliver the natural gas and crude oil needed to supply our country at unchanged prices, despite the international energy crisis.” Moscow also agreed to release two Hungarian-Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary. Sándor Zsiros has more.
Iran war revives spectre of energy crisis in Europe, fuelling economic anxiety
Trump’s decision to strike Iran, pursue regime change and reshape the balance of power in the Middle East has revived a formidable ghost that the European Union thought it had managed to banish for good: energy crisis.
Jorge Liboreiro reports that the spiralling war has sent gas prices soaring, prompting panic among investors and anxiety among governments. On Tuesday, gas prices at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), Europe’s benchmark trade hub, closed at €54.3 per megawatt-hour (MWh), a striking rise from €31.9 MWh prior to the strikes.
The sudden hike has been fuelled by a convergence of troubling events, notably Qatar’s decision to halt production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the wake of Iran’s retaliatory strikes, and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
EU leaders are on high alert. Rob Jetten, the new prime minister of the Netherlands, said his government would be ready to take extra measures “if necessary”.
“The Iran war can have a big impact on strategic reserves, not only in Europe but also in Asia. So we have to prepare ourselves for any case that this war will continue for many more weeks and impact the strategic reserves in the Netherlands and abroad,” Jetten said on Tuesday on his first trip to Brussels since taking office.
In Brussels, EU officials insist the bloc remains well supplied because the majority of its LNG imports, about 58%, come from the US, with Qatar providing just 8%.
If the war in Iran stretches over time and production in Qatar remains halted, countries like China, South Korea, Japan and India, the main consumers of Qatari LNG, will have no choice but to turn to the US in search of a substitute.
An increase in competition for US-made LNG would pit Europe against Asia in a frantic bid and drive prices to unpredictable heights.
Jorge has more.
EU slams door on China with ‘Made in Europe’ push
The European Commission has unveiled its long-awaited industrial plan, rolling out a “European Preference” that shuts China out of European public funding and tightens the screws on Beijing’s future investments in the European Union, my colleague Peggy Corlin reports.
The move comes after 200,000 European jobs were wiped out in energy-intensive industries and the automotive sector since 2024, with 600,000 losses projected this decade in carmaking alone, as China floods Europe with exports while building plants that create scant local employment.
“Facing unprecedented global uncertainty and unfair competition, European industry can count on the provisions of this act to boost demand and guarantee resilient supply chains in strategic sectors,” EU Industry Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné said, presenting the EU executive’s much-anticipated Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA).
The strategy targets three strategic sectors: clean technologies, car manufacturers, and energy-intensive industries such as aluminium, steel and cement.
It introduces “Made in Europe” thresholds, including a 70% EU-content requirement for electric vehicles –with notable exceptions for most battery components – 25% for aluminium and 25% for cement.
“It will create jobs by directing taxpayers’ money to European production, decreasing our dependencies and enhancing our economic security and sovereignty,” Séjourné added.
Peggy has the full story.
MORE FROM OUR NEWSROOMS
Is the EU being dragged into war? MEPs debate Middle East crisis on The Ring. MEPs Hana Jalloul and Reinhold Lopatka go head to head to debate the escalating conflict in the Middle East, and its implications for the European Union, in the latest episode of The Ring. Watch.
Macron asks Netanyahu to ‘refrain from a ground offensive’ in Lebanon. In his first conversation with Netanyahu since last year, Macron urged the Israeli Prime Minister to “preserve Lebanon’s territorial integrity and to refrain from a ground offensive.” More.
We’re also keeping an eye on
- EU foreign ministers meet virtually to discuss the Middle East conflict
- EU justice and home affairs ministers gather in Brussels
That’s it for today. Jorge Liboreiro, Maria Tadeo, Lauren Walker, Sandor Zsiros and Peggy Corlin. Remember to sign up to receive Europe Today in your inbox every weekday morning at 08.30.
