Agreement with Mercosur postponed to January

Russian personnel linked to the country's military and security services conducted espionage activities in European waters while working clandestinely on ships carrying Russian oil, sources from the Western and Ukrainian intelligence services told CNN exclusively. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has developed a 'shadow fleet' of hundreds of oil tankers, which transport Russian crude oil from the Baltic and Black Sea ports, generating hundreds of millions of dollars each year for the Kremlin. In recent months, some of these ships have reportedly added suspicious crew members.

"With regard to the agreement on Mercosur, as already stated in Parliament by President Giorgia Meloni and also reiterated to the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Italian government is ready to sign the agreement as soon as the necessary answers are provided to the farmers, which depend on the decisions of the European Commission and can be defined in a short time". This was announced by Palazzo Chigi after today's telephone conversation between the Prime Minister and the President of Brazil.

"My surprise was to learn that Italy, together with France, did not want to sign the (EU-Mercosur) agreement. I spoke to Meloni and she explained to me that she is not against the agreement, that she is experiencing some political embarrassment because of the Italian farmers, but that she is sure she can convince them to accept it. Then she asked me that if we were patient for a week, 10 days, a month at most, Italy would join'. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said this today at a press conference in Brasilia.

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko announced that the new Russian Oreshnik missile system entered service on Belarusian territory as of yesterday, 17 December. He said this in his address to the Belarusian people and parliament during the Belarusian People's Assembly in Minsk. "The first positions are equipped with the Oreshnik missile system; it arrived yesterday and is entering service," Lukashenko said, quoted by Ria Novosti.

Tension rose in Brussels during the tractor protests in Place du Luxembourg, in front of the European Parliament buildings. The police initially intervened with water cannons to disperse the protesters and then advanced by throwing smoke bombs. Protesters threw potatoes, beets, eggs, stones, bottles and firecrackers. The windows of the Europa Station building, which overlooks the square, were damaged. The riots lasted a few minutes. Afterwards, the security forces moved back along the barbed wire fence installed to prevent access to the Eurochamber.

"I am not going to elaborate on this issue, because it is something that is under review, that is being worked on right now, and it is the responsibility of European leaders, and it is the expression of foreign policy. So it is not up to a central bank to have political views or to choose what is appropriate or not'. This was said by ECB President Christine Lagarde, responding to a question on the handling of frozen Russian assets. "Our job, and we are doing it as best we can, even during the odd hours of the day or over the weekend, is to respond to the requests that are made to us to determine that whatever choices are made by leaders respect treaties, respect international law and do not harm financial stability. This is the scope of our duty. Beyond that, it is something that is outside our competence,' Lagarde further explained.

The ECB is not targeting the euro exchange rate, but it is attentive to its effects on the economy and inflation and 'the current yuan exchange rate is something we are watching carefully'. This was said by ECB President Christine Lagarde, adding that today's Governing Council discussed neither a rate hike nor a rate cut.

To read more: ECB leaves interest rates unchanged at 2%

'EU membership is a crucial component of the peace negotiations'. This is what emerged in the enlargement debate among EU leaders, according to a senior EU official. 'Support for a prosperous and democratic Ukraine in the EU is a key element of the EU's contribution to peace and security in Ukraine,' it is pointed out. 'Ukraine has made enormous efforts under very difficult conditions. It is therefore crucial to find ways to move the accession path forward'.

The heads of state and government meeting for the European Council closed the debate on EU enlargement. The discussion now shifts to the next Multiannual Financial Framework, i.e. the EU budget for the period 2028-2034, which the Twenty-Seven will address over lunch. This was reported by EU sources.

The digital euro takes a key step towards its introduction: tomorrow Friday, 18 December, the EU Council adopts thegeneral approach on the legislative package governing the establishment of the new ECB digital currency, following the political agreement reached last Friday at Ecofin. The governments' green light paves the way for negotiations with the European Parliament and strengthens the framework of the proposal presented by the Commission in June 2023.

From the draft regulations seen by ANSA, it appears that the Council's general approach is not just a political green light, but introduces substantial clarifications and reinforcements, in particular in the areas of payment resilience, cash protection and digital euro acceptance rules.

On the sidelines of the European Council, Council President Giorgia Meloni, together with the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, and the Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, hosted a new informal meeting between 15 Member States most interested in the topic of innovative migration solutions.

Together with Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and the European Commission, the meeting was attended by the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Malta, Hungary and Sweden. President von der Leyen outlined the main strands of work, focusing in particular on the substantial progress made on the negotiations on the Return Regulation and the European list of safe countries of origin.

On Mercosur 'the account does not add up' and 'this agreement cannot be signed'. This was said by French President Emmanuel Macron, arriving at the EU summit. It is about the 'coherence of a Europe that protects its agriculture and its producers'. "We are for trade, France is a great agricultural and agri-food power that exports," he said, but "we cannot accept sacrificing the consistency of our agriculture, our food and the food security of our compatriots on agreements that are not yet finalised". We need 'an escape clause, an emergency brake' and 'reciprocity measures'.

"On Mercosur there was the agreement on safeguards: according to the European Parliament the agreement had to take into account the opinion of our farmers. Now we will see if there is a qualified majority in the Council. In that case the Parliament will be ready to go ahead'.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola said this at a press conference on the sidelines of the European Council.

"On the reparation loan, once a decision has been taken, as was done this week on a legislative issue that we had to deal with urgently, we could already do so in the next plenary session. So this week we decided, by a large majority, to use the urgency procedure at the request of the EPP, the S&D and the Renew Europe groups, and if there was a decision today, we could already vote on it in January, so this is a timeline, of course negotiations are needed, but there are majorities and there is the will of the Parliament, there will be absolutely no obstacles."

This was statedby the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, at a press conference on the sidelines of the European Council.

From the early hours of the morning, dozens of tractors poured onto the streets of Brussels to protest against European policies, which were deemed inadequate; the police used tear gas and water cannons. Due to the procession, there are considerable disruptions on the roads and on the Stib public transport network. According to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, nearly 8,000 demonstrators and more than 500 tractors are expected in the city centre for a total of about 40 representative organisations from the 27 EU states.

European Council President Antonio Costa and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with a delegation of farmers' representatives: "Our farmers need reliability and support. And Europe will always support them'.

The EU Council today imposed restrictive measures on a further 41 ships, which are part of Russia's 'shadow fleet' of oil tankers and contribute to the country's energy revenues. These 41 ships are thus added to the list of those banned from entering ports and providing a wide range of services related to maritime transport. This measure aims to target non-EU oil tankers that are part of Putin's shadow fleet circumventing the oil price cap mechanism or supporting the Russian energy sector, or ships responsible for transporting military equipment for Russia or involved in transporting Ukrainian grain and cultural goods stolen from Ukraine.

Today's decision, which brings the total number of designated ships to almost 600, is closely linked to recent Council decisions to establish a list of nine ships supporting the shadow fleet and to adopt a declaration by the EU and its Member States on the full use of the international maritime regulatory framework in relation to threats from the 'shadow fleet' and the protection of critical submarine infrastructure.