EsadeGeo Daily Digest, 18/07/2022

Financial Times – Ben Hall / Volodymyr Zelenskyy fires security chiefs over ‘treasonous’ officials

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the head of Ukraine’s state security service and the chief prosecutor on Sunday over allowing alleged treachery and collaboration by scores of their officials with Russian forces in occupied territories.
• Announcing the sackings in his nightly television address, Zelenskyy said more than 60 staff belonging to the two law enforcement agencies had “remained in the occupied territory and are working against our state”.
• In total, 651 criminal proceedings had been opened for “treason and collaboration activities”, he added.
• “Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the state’s national security, and the links recorded between Ukrainian security forces and Russian special services raise very serious questions about their respective leaders,’’ he said.
• President of Ukraine – Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Actions and inaction of every official in the security sector and in the law enforcement agencies will be evaluated - address by the President of Ukraine

The Guardian / France braces for temperatures as wildfires rage across Europe

• France was bracing on Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean, as wildfires continued to rage across Europe.
• Forecasters have put 15 departments in France on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the south-west, where wildfires have already wrought havoc.
• It comes as firefighters battled to contain blazes across south-west Europe on Sunday as a heatwave showed no sign of abating, and Britain was poised to set new temperature records this coming week.
• Blazes in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to flee.
• Bloomberg – Verity Ratcliffe / European gas prices jump as heat wave boosts cooling demand

Financial Times – Marton Dunai / North Macedonia approves EU proposal to start accession talks

• North Macedonia’s lawmakers have approved a proposal to help resolve a longstanding dispute with neighbouring Bulgaria over history and language that opens the way for EU accession talks, a move that furthers the EU’s expansion in the Western Balkans.
• The EU has stepped up efforts to convince the region’s countries to set aside long historical disputes and expand the bloc at a time when the war in Ukraine has elevated an urgency to complete enlargement and choke off increasing Russian influence.
• North Macedonia’s government has accepted the French proposals after they were amended to guarantee that Macedonian would be a recognised language in the EU and that bilateral issues with Bulgaria would no longer be a factor in the accession talks. It was passed in the country’s 120-member parliament with 68 votes despite a walkout by the opposition, which has said it feared a “Bulgarianisation” of the country.
• “Congratulations and huge thanks to the MPs who showed a democratic capacity today, supported the conclusions of the European proposal and voted for the European future of the country,” premier Dimitar Kovačevski wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
• European Council on Foreign Relations – Engjellushe Morina / Enlarged and in charge: Why the EU needs a new approach to accession

The Guardian – Heather Stewart / ‘It’s socialism’: heated Tory leadership debate exposes deep divisions

• Rishi Sunak accused his rival Conservative leadership candidates of promoting “socialism” by promising unfunded tax cuts, as the deep divisions in the party over economic policy were exposed in a bad-tempered televised debate.
• As the contenders clashed repeatedly over tax and spending in the ITV debate, Liz Truss confronted her former cabinet colleague, saying: “Rishi, you have raised taxes to the highest level in 70 years. That is not going to drive economic growth.
• “The fact is that raising taxes at this moment will choke off economic growth,” she added.
• Truss has promised tax cuts worth as much as £30bn, suggesting they can be paid for through additional borrowing and faster growth.

• Politico – Annabelle Dickson / Kemi Badenoch: the UK Conservative Party’s next leader-but-one?

Today’s longer reads:

• Financial Times – Joe Miller and Guy Chazan / Russian gas cuts threaten to shutter Germany industry
• Project Syndicate – Shlomo Ben-Ami / Talking peace in Ukraine

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