WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE Eu - euobserver daily news - Donderdag 12 februari 2026.

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Good morning. To achieve Mario Draghi’s competitiveness goals for the EU, €1.2 trillion a year needs to be invested. The funny thing then is that the investment gap isn’t highest on the agenda of the informal competitiveness summit taking place in a Belgian castle today. Instead, most leaders are expected to try to outdo each other in their calls to light up the EU’s regulatory bonfire even more. Last year the EU Commission rolled out 10 Omnibus bills, seven of which were aimed at the bloc’s own Green Deal. According to the commission’s own estimates, these cuts shaved a little less than €12bn off the administrative burden last year, which commission president Von der Leyen presented as a “vital” achievement in the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week. Others, however, read that figure as a sign the EU doesn’t have its priorities straight. Economist Sander Tordoir described €12bn in annual simplification savings as “macroeconomically meaningless” on social media. Greens co-chair and MEP Bas Eickhout raged in the same Strasbourg debate that annual savings amounted to just “one percent” of the investment needed to remain competitive.  “Stop being so focused on this one percent, and start talking about the 99 percent,” he said. “We need to close the investment gap.” Wester van Gaal, economics editor Top story ‘Deregulation’ tops leaders’ retreat, but critics point to investment gap and corporate lobbying EU leaders will discuss simplification and competitiveness and even a ‘Buy European’ strategy at their informal retreat on Thursday — but others see a simple focus on competitiveness as self-defeating, writes Wester van Gaal. What else you need to know Nato ‘launches’ new Arctic mission — but so far it only exists on paper Nato has launched a new Arctic mission — but on paper only, as Western allies try to mop up the mess left by US invasion threats against Greenland. Watchdogs say €650bn EU fund still ripe for fraud The EU’s €650bn pandemic era fund remains wide open to fraud with weak accountability and oversight, according to financial watchdogs A shared market for services? EU leaders’ competitiveness summit blind spot In Europe, goods and people mostly move freely — but services are still largely stuck behind a web of national bureaucracy. We are, in effect, sanctioning our own economies, warns MEP Barry Andrews. EU Commission unveils new anti-drone plan including ‘no-fly’ zones The European Commission announced its new drone action plan to counter malicious drones on Wednesday, with new measures to detect malicious flyers with 5G, protect critical infrastructure, and respond to threats.  Red carpet for Meloni at African Union summit — but wars and financing threaten to overwhelm welcome Italian premier Giorgia Meloni hopes on Friday to cement her status as one of the bridges between Europe and Africa, as African leaders roll out the red carpet for her in Addis Ababa.But there are several crises brewing, writes Ben Fox. Galloping forward — advancing Beijing-EU relations in the Chinese Year of the Horse China always views its relations with the EU from a strategic and long-term perspective, and considers Europe as an important direction of China’s major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and a key partner in achieving Chinese modernisation, writes ambassador Cai Run. In case you missed it Russian chess boss, Central Asia, crypto targeted in new EU sanctions Russia’s world chess king and Asian sanctions-busters feature in the draft new round of EU measures, which also cover chemical weapons, killer drones, mercenaries in Belize, crypto, and salt. Europe’s democratic winter — How EU leaders impose deregulation, bypassing citizens and MEPs At their ‘leaders’ retreat’, we are seeing the curtailing of EU democracy in the name of saving Europe’s economy. They should be unleashing citizens’ demand for a stronger, independent Europe. UN ‘faces financial collapse by July,’ Baerbock warns MEPs The United Nations faces financial collapse in July, said Annalena Baerbock, the German former foreign minister who now presides over the UN general assembly. Fear, power politics and migration: whatever happened to Germany’s ‘welcome culture’? Ten years ago, Germany symbolised Europe’s ‘Willkommenskultur’ (Welcome Culture). Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open borders to refugees in 2015 was framed as a moral and historical responsibility. What has happened since? US Republicans accuse the EU of ‘decade-long censorship campaign’ In a fresh effort to recast regulation as censorship, a new 160-page report from the US House Judiciary Committee alleges Brussels pressured Big Tech platforms to censor US speech, including around the 2024 presidential elections. MEPs approve ‘safeguards’ to halt cheap Mercosur imports if EU farmers suffer MEPs say the so-called ‘safeguards’ regulation will ensure European farmers are not put out of business by cheap imports from South America.