News summary for
Austria places Signa founder René Benko under house arrest
European governments are experimenting with novel ways to meet their administrative obligations. Belgium's Flemish regional government balanced its budget by deferring a multi-billion euro public works bill to the next generation. Portugal's emergency network failed to buy 780 generators despite having nine million euros sitting in a dedicated fund. Romania's Liberal party offered to back a new cabinet, but strictly limited its support to six months. In the UK, the Chancellor is attempting to close a fiscal gap by extracting a billion pounds from online retailers.
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In more detail
Flemish government balances budget by deferring public works bill
The Flemish government balanced its books by deferring a multi-billion euro bill for public works into the future. The Audit Court noted that while this improves the current ledger, it primarily operates by moving the burden to the next generation.
Public sector strike closes schools and hospitals
A strike by 300,000 public sector workers closed schools and disrupted hospitals in the largest industrial mobilisation since 2009. Union leaders called the government's recent pay offers promising, though evidently not promising enough to call off the walkout.
Russian ballistic missiles hit three Kyiv power plants
Russian ballistic missiles hit all three thermal power plants in Kyiv, leaving residents without heat or water. The strikes arrived as President Zelenskyy confirmed the United States has threatened to halt intelligence sharing if the military continues targeting Russian oil refineries.
Liberals offer new cabinet exactly six months of support
The Social Democrats are demanding nine ministerial portfolios to join a hybrid government. Their prospective partners, the National Liberals, agreed to support the cabinet for exactly six months, ensuring the new administration will have an expiration date before it even takes office.
Key themes House arrest National strike Infrastructure attacks Budget deferrals Concealed weapons