‘Shame on you’: Polish prime minister hits out at US Republicans
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has issued a sharp public rebuke to American Republicans.
In a post on social media this morning, the centre-right politician said:
Dear Republican Senators of America. Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.
The unusually strong critique of politicians from Warsaw’s most important bilateral security partner came after the US Senate blocked a bipartisan $118bn bill on US-Mexico border and Ukraine. The bill would have provided $60bn in military assistance for Kyiv.
Tusk is one of Europe’s veteran politicians, having served as prime minister of Poland from 2007 until 2014, president of the European Council from 2014 until 2019 and president of the European People’s party from 2019 until 2022, before returning to the post of prime minister at the end of last year.
Dear Republican Senators of America. Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) February 8, 2024
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Spain and EU to sign migration deal with Mauritania as people-smuggling rises
Lisa O’Carroll
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, have flown to Mauritania to sign a series of deals on migration and energy, as data reveals there has been a surge in people-smuggling operations to the Canary Islands.
Figures soon to be published by Frontex, the EU’s border agency, are expected to show that the number of people risking their lives by making the perilous journey from west African shores to the Spanish islands has risen dramatically in the past year.
The EU leaders will meet Mauritania’s president, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, on Thursday morning to “discuss security, migration and stability in the Sahel region”, a statement said.
The west African country, along with its southern neighbour, Senegal, is a significant embarkation point for thousands of people seeking to reach the Canaries. Sources say the route is now the “most active” for people-smugglers luring travellers into high-risk journeys to the EU.
Data shows 7,270 people were smuggled across the 900-mile stretch of water in January, up from 566 in the same month in 2023, the Spanish interior ministry said last week.
Last year, Frontex recorded 380,000 irregular border crossings, the highest number since 2016.
Read the full story here.
Here’s the background to Donald Tusk’s blunt post this morning.
Joan Greve, senior US political reporter for the Guardian, writes:
The Senate blocked a bipartisan border and national security bill from advancing on Wednesday, as Democrats accused Republicans of bending to the political wishes of Donald Trump at the expense of their constituents.
The vote was 49 to 50, with 45 Democrats and four Republicans supporting the bill’s advancement. Sixty votes were needed to begin debate on the bill.
The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, initially supported the bill’s advancement but then changed his vote – a procedural maneuver that would allow the chamber to revisit the proposal in the future.
With the border deal dead, the Senate attempted to advance a separate foreign aid package that would include only the funding for US allies outlined in the bipartisan bill. There was some apparent confusion over how much support that bill had, forcing senators to keep an initial vote on the proposal open for four hours as they debated the best path forward.
When the vote finally closed on Wednesday evening, 58 out of 100 senators were on record supporting the bill’s advancement. But 60 votes will ultimately be required to approve the bill, so it currently lacks the necessary support to pass the Senate. Taking to the Senate floor on Wednesday evening, Schumer announced the chamber would reconvene Thursday to vote on the bill again.
However, it remained deeply unclear whether a foreign aid package without border measures could pass the Senate, which considered a similar proposal back in December. Republicans, who insisted that the legislation must address the border, previously blocked that package from advancing.
The $118bn bipartisan bill would have granted the president a new power to shut down the border when daily crossings pass a certain limit while also expediting the asylum review process, which could have led to quicker deportation for many migrants.
The bill would have provided $60bn in military assistance for Ukraine, $14bn in security assistance for Israel and $10bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by wars in Ukraine, and Gaza and the West Bank.
‘Shame on you’: Polish prime minister hits out at US Republicans
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has issued a sharp public rebuke to American Republicans.
In a post on social media this morning, the centre-right politician said:
Dear Republican Senators of America. Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.
The unusually strong critique of politicians from Warsaw’s most important bilateral security partner came after the US Senate blocked a bipartisan $118bn bill on US-Mexico border and Ukraine. The bill would have provided $60bn in military assistance for Kyiv.
Tusk is one of Europe’s veteran politicians, having served as prime minister of Poland from 2007 until 2014, president of the European Council from 2014 until 2019 and president of the European People’s party from 2019 until 2022, before returning to the post of prime minister at the end of last year.
Dear Republican Senators of America. Ronald Reagan, who helped millions of us to win back our freedom and independence, must be turning in his grave today. Shame on you.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) February 8, 2024
Welcome to the blog
Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.
Today we will be looking at transatlantic tensions, as some European leaders worry that Washington’s commitment to Ukraine is waning.
We will also delve into the EU’s efforts to curb migration by striking deals with African governments, as senior leaders visit Mauritania.
And we will be keeping a close eye on realignment of Europe political families, as the EU enters its pre-election season.
Send tips and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
