Candidate countries waiting to enter the EU must make geopolitical choices and align with the bloc on fundamental questions before joining the bloc, Commissioner Marta Kos, in charge of EU enlargement, has told Euronews.

👇👇

Gabrielius Landsbergis, Former Foreign Minister of Lithuania, said it plainly: "Putin never escalates when we help Ukraine. He escalates when we don't help enough." This isn't philosophy. It's a pattern. Weakness invites aggression. Support raises the cost. 👇

Liberal-progressive party D66 wins election, Dutch media report

An extremely direct and far reaching first panel at the #Internationalexpertforum on #Ukraine. Defense, security and does the West have a plan? Many good statements but perhaps best from @JaroslawaBarbieri 1/3 Ukrainian resilience is not an unlimited resource www.for-ua.eu/uk/attitude

Van der Plas: 'Van de Tweede Kamer is bekend dat er wel veel D66-mensen zitten'

Good to remind people today that the Netherlands has an über-proportional electoral system with only one electoral district: it means that you only need 0,67% (100%/150 seats) of the national vote to get a seat. It makes it possible for even very small parties to get seats.

1 op de 3 mensen moet in de zorg werken – hij komt al een paar keer terug https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/10/28/1-op-de-3-mensen-moet-in-de-zorg-werken-hij-komt-al-een-paar-keer-terug-a4911134

🚨🚨Excellent news: After three years of reasoning, pleading and conceding, the EU has had enough. On Monday, the EU's MS are expected to back a new bill that will permanently cut #Russian gas supplies to #Hungary and #Slovakia — whether they like it or not. 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...

Meanwhile, the EU Commission is busy working on the next rule of law country report for Slovakia due in July 2026... after rewarding local autocrat with €799M last October on the basis of a reality-denial assessment #PlusCaChange www.politico.eu/article/eu-r...

🚨🚨 Brussels wants to grab another €25B from frozen Russian assets for Ukraine. The bloc already has its eyes on €140 billion in Moscow’s frozen assets, but @ec.europa.eu is tempted to take additional funds from private bank accounts. www.politico.eu/article/brus...

As Slovak prime minister Fico says he is not interested in more sanctions on Russia, ahead of the European Council next week, I looked at some of his domestic backsliding initiatives open.substack.com/pub/antoanet...

Finally! It was time👇🏻

Dismissals without oversight: A few days later, on 9 and 11 September, he moved to fire the CLO, CFO, and COO without consulting the Works Council, which was a breach of Dutch corporate rules.

Corporate culture issues: A long-serving finance head resigned, saying Nexperia had become a “purely Chinese company” where top-down decisions were imposed without proper governance

Sobering words from the German intelligence services - “We must not sit back and assume that a possible Russian attack would come in 2029 at the earliest. We are already under fire today.” For deterrence now we must take the necessary decisions now. www.euractiv.com/news/german-...

Kremlin tactics spotted ahead of Netherlands’ election. It is precisely its less visible nature that makes the influence of foreign interference in Western democracies so insidious. defenddemocracy.eu/kremlin-tact...

In my substack, I follow the erosion of democracy in parts of Europe that are not often in the spotlight. This week, I wrote about trash as a tool in the authoritarian toolbox: open.substack.com/pub/antoanet...

Voorstellen #EUCO van iets minder unanimiteit in #toetredingsonderhandelingen gaan echt over kleine aanpassingen. Als de #EU een aantal hoofdstukken opent voor onderhandeling met QMV, dan kunnen kandidaten onderhandelen en moeten toch is de laatste stap van die cluster afronden met unanimiteit. 1/3

Vandaag is het 3 oktober. Leiden viert het Leids Ontzet. In 1574 brak de stad het Spaanse beleg. Niet met overleg, maar door vol te houden en de tiran te verjagen. Toch geloven sommigen nog steeds dat je tirannen kunt paaien met redelijkheid.

And sure thing nobody seems to know where these drones detected over Europe come from. or who piloting them . just some mystical drones coming from a mystical place where all the wild drones live

👇🏻

NATO reports two Hungarian Gripen fighters were scrambled from Šiauliai, Lithuania on Sept 25 as part of NATO Baltic Air Policing, intercepting three Russian MiG-31s, a Su-30 and a Su-35 flying close to Latvian airspace.

🇨🇿 Petr Pavel: If Russia wins this unjust war, it will legitimize the triumph of brute force.

If you are a U.S. taxpayer, know that $20 billion are about to be used to bailout Argentina’s IMF backed libertarian economic experiment of shock doctrine and austerity, which took only a year and a half to complete collapse like a house of cards.

Onbestaanbaar dat een wetenschapper bij naam en toenaam mag worden aangevallen in het parlement, en dat de minister dan ook nog toezegt dat hij het CvB onder druk zal zetten om in te grijpen. www.scienceguide.nl/2025/09/rech...

Dutch justice minister repeatedly refuses to admit that there were neo-Nazis involved in Saturday’s riot- despite them carrying Nazi flags and doing Hitler salutes. This is where appeasing the far right takes you: defending the indefensible in the hope you’ll keep your job, which you’ll lose anyway

Russia floods Czech election with disinformation as populist right-winger Andrej Babis leads in the polls for the Oct. 3-4 vote www.politico.eu/article/russ...

Norway has joined the growing list of NATO members reporting airspace violations by Russian warplanes. meduza.io/en/news/2025...

This should have been front page news www.ft.com/content/6596...

Vilnius was lovely and peaceful, on 10 September. But as a participants in a conference on Belarus, I could not tune the geopolitical turmoil and anxiety out. and the stories of 'old' autocracy, as a cautionary tale and reminder of Belarussians denied freedom: open.substack.com/pub/antoanet...

Als een partijkantoor wordt aangevallen IS het politiek. Punt.

Arendt: under “Hitler, the whole state machinery enforced what [are] normally criminal activities…there was hardly an act of state which according to normal standards was not criminal…[M]en who did wrong…acted under conditions in which every moral act was illegal & every legal act was a crime”

Russia is escalating its military provocations. We shall “escalate” the strengthening of our #DefenceReadiness and deterrence capabilities.

‼️ NATO describes MiG jets' incursion into Estonia as "reckless Russian behaviour"

🇵🇱✈️⚠️ Two Russian fighter jets conducted a low pass over the Petrobaltic platform in the Baltic Sea. The platform's safety zone was violated. The Polish Armed Forces and other services were notified.

@pkrugman.bsky.social at Leiden University in The Hague: leading a broad debate ranging from unemployment in disadvantaged regions to geopolitics and why we cannot and should not try to reverse globalization @fggaleiden.bsky.social

#Belarus The Prosecutor General Andrei Shved has submitted a petition to the Supreme Court to recognize the European Humanities University as an "extremist organization." So much for de-escalation and dialogue with the West.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson slammed Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán for spreading “outrageous lies” after Orbán said Sweden is on the brink of collapse because of rampant organized crime.

🇷🇴 The Romanian authorities have announced a danger for settlements near the Romanian-Ukrainian border.

BREAKING: Romania says a Russian drone violated its airspace, fighter jets scrambled

🇪🇺✅ The EU Council has extended sanctions against Russia until March 15, 2026. They affect more than 2,500 people and entities and include an entry ban, asset freeze and financial resource restriction.

"The United States is lifting sanctions on the Belarusian airline Belavia." - U.S. Special Representative John Cole announced during his visit to Minsk. According to him, U.S. President made this decision after a phone call with Lukashenko. The U.S. also plans to reopen its embassy in Minsk.

EU court annuls the Commission’s approval for Hungary’s Rosatom-built Paks II, saying Brussels failed to justify bypassing EU procurement rules. Budapest says the project remains on schedule and will work with the Commission to show compliance. Brussels is reviewing next steps.

Lukashenka pardoned 52 political prisoners. Among them are Nikolai Statkevich, Uladzimir Matskevich, Igor Losik and 14 foreigners. Maria Kolesnikova and Viktar Babarika are not among those released

#Belarus leader Lukashenko, close ally of #Putin, frees 52 political prisoners after talks w #Trump envoy Group includes opposition activists, journalists, protesters, 14 foreign nat'ls Lukashenko: “Our main task to stand w Trump & help him in his quest for peace" re #Russia invasion of #Ukraine

Moscow had been preparing drone attacks on Poland since July, using Polish and Lithuanian SIM cards in UAVs, Defense Express reports. Polish authorities were warned about test connections to their mobile networks. The likely goal was to gather intel on Poland’s air defense systems.

Is het kabinet al bijeen? Wanneer was de laatste keer dat Nederland ongepland oorlogshandelingen uitvoerde?

Politici die politici gaan onderzoeken, what could go wrong?

The main lesson from last night for Poland (indeed all NATO in CEE) should be that their defense starts in Ukraine. Imagine the results if Russians could launch a massive UAV attack on Poland from just over the border in Ukraine?