Prime Minister Robert Fico’s leftist-populist ruling coalition voted on Tuesday to abolish an office that protects people who report corruption in a further crackdown on the rule of law in Slovakia. The draft bill — passed via a fast-track procedure on International Anti-Corruption Day — shuts down the country’s Whistleblower Protection Office, which was created in 2021 under the EU’s Whistleblower Protection Directive. The shuttered office will be replaced by a new institution whose leadership will be appointed by the government. Critics and opposition parties say the change will strip various protections from whistleblowers. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office warned last month that restricting protection for whistleblowers “seriously limits detection, reporting, and investigation, particularly of corruption.” The Slovak decision, which drew 78 votes in the 150-seat parliament, is expected to spark tensions with the European Commission. The EU executive noted last month that “several elements of this law raise serious concerns in relation to EU law.” “We regret that MPs did not heed the warnings of dozens of experts and international organizations, including the European Commission and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which drew attention to the negative impacts of the new law,” the Slovak whistleblower office said in a post on Facebook. “The level of protection, as well as public trust in the whistleblower protection system that we have painstakingly built at the office over the past years, will be significantly weakened by this law,” it added. NGOs and the political opposition said they view the move as political payback from Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, whose ministry had been fined by the whistleblower office for suspending elite police officers under whistleblower protection without first notifying the office. The suspended officers had been investigating corruption among senior Slovak officials. Slovakia’s Interior Ministry told POLITICO in a statement that “the opposition’s claims of ‘revenge’ are false and have no factual basis.” “The change [with the office] is not personal, but institutional. It is a systemic solution to long-standing issues that have arisen in the practical application of the current law, as confirmed by several court rulings,” the ministry said, adding that the changes are consistent with the EU’s whistleblower protection directive. To become law, the legislation still needs approval from President Peter Pellegrini, who has signaled he might veto it. In that case it could be enacted by the parliament in a repeat vote. Since returning to power in 2023 for a fourth term, Fico’s Smer party has taken steps to dismantle anti-corruption institutions, including abolishing the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which had handled high-profile corruption cases, and disbanding NAKA, the elite police unit tasked with fighting organized crime. The European Commission did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

BRUSSELS — Last year’s gathering of Europe’s far right in Brussels took place behind metal shutters after protesters, police and city politicians tried to stop it from going ahead. This year, the doors are wide open — albeit flanked by security guards — and it’s the EU’s mainstream leadership that is under siege. Just a day after the EU was rocked by the arrest of two senior figures in a corruption probe, many at the Battle for the Soul of Europe conference — hosted by MCC Brussels, a think tank with close links to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and bringing together top officials from Budapest with right-wing politicians, activists and commentators from across the continent — said the time was right to channel public anger at the establishment. The latest corruption scandal is “another sign of double standards,” Balázs Orbán, political director to the Hungarian prime minister and the keynote speaker at the conference, said in an interview with POLITICO. “A corruption-based technocratic elite is mismanaging procedures. This element is very strong and it’s quite visible for the European voters but if you talk to Americans … this is what they see from Europe.” Prime Minister Orbán has repeatedly blasted the “EU elites” as out of touch and has sought to blame them for freezing funding for his own country over backsliding on democracy and the rule of law. There was a bullish mood at the event, held a stone’s throw from the EU Quarter of Brussels. Polish politician Ryszard Legutko, co-chairman of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group, took aim at Commission President Ursula von der Leyen herself. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images Polish politician Ryszard Legutko, co-chairman of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group, took aim at Commission President Ursula von der Leyen herself. “The fish stinks from its head,” he blasted. John O’Brien, one of the organizers of the two-day conference, which kicked off on Wednesday, said “a couple of years ago people were scared to say some of these things about immigration, to raise concerns about environmental extremism, to talk about the mismanagement of economies … now, people are really finding their voices.” “It’s been demonstrated the last few years, time and time again, that Europe is dirty and needs to be cleaned up,” said O’Brien, as waiters in bowties served coffee to attendees. The latest embarrassment for the EU — the detention on Tuesday of former Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini and ex-top diplomatic official Stefano Sannino as part of a fraud probe — has given the right plenty of ammunition. At a panel on Thursday, French National Rally MEP Thierry Mariani and British political commentator Matthew Goodwin are set to take aim at the “deep-state web of civil service, NGOs and captured institutions.” Alice Cordier, a French activist and president of the Nemesis Collective, a self-described feminist campaign group that has been branded a far-right Islamophobic outfit by critics, said “corruption is a big issue.” The scandals, she said, compound public anger that has so far been focused largely on the consequences of migration. Balasz Orbán, however, was skeptical that the scandal would be a game-changer for national elections, including his own boss’s tough re-election fight next year. “Honestly,” he said, the internal corruption allegation is “not a big surprise for me, so it doesn’t add too much.” But according to Daniel Freund, an MEP from the German Greens, the far right is not “in any position” to credibly champion the anti-corruption cause. “They are the problem, not the solution,” Freund said, adding that the far-right Patriots group [in the European Parliament, to which Orbán’s Fidesz party belongs] has voted against “almost every measure that would strengthen the fight against corruption.” For now, the EU’s political leadership has been muted on the fraud investigation and is firmly on the defensive, its hands tied by ongoing legal proceedings. That has some worried: “The credibility of our institutions is at stake,” said Manon Aubry, co-chair of The Left group in the European Parliament. Others from von der Leyen’s own governing coalition want to see her take an unequivocally tough stance before her opponents capitalize on the idea that the Brussels bureaucracy is awash with the abuse of public money. “It needs to be dealt with at a European level,” said Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle, a Dutch MEP from the centrist Renew faction. “Whether it is … Qatargate, or these new fraud suspicions. Zero tolerance and more tools to tackle this.” Max Griera and Dionisios Sturis contributed reporting.

The Bulgarian center-right government on Tuesday withdrew a controversial 2026 budget proposal following a week of Gen Z-led mass protests. “The Council of Ministers has proposed that the National Assembly adopt a decision to withdraw the draft State Budget for 2026,” the government said in a press release. The biggest demonstration Monday drew around 50,000 to 100,000 people to the streets of Sofia, according to various media accounts, including the Bulgarian News Agency, but remained peaceful. After the rally dispersed, some masked rioters that were not previously at the protests hurled firecrackers and bottles at police officers, burned garbage containers and vandalized police cars. Protests also erupted in at least a dozen other cities, including Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. The demonstrations are the largest the country has seen since 2013, when citizens protested the political appointment of media mogul Delyan Peevski as a spy chief. He remains a highly influential behind-the-scenes figure. Protesters had denounced the draft budget for imposing higher taxes and social security contributions on the private sector while channeling more funds to the state sector. Many demanded the resignation of the ruling coalition, carrying signs like “Generation Z is coming,” “Resign” and “Mafia out,” targeting key figures they viewed as controlling the government behind the scenes, including Peevski and Boyko Borissov, the leader of the center-right GERB party. Ivaylo Mirchev, an MP from the opposition coalition We Continue the Change — Democratic Bulgaria, said in a post on X that “Bulgaria has awakened.” “The government has collapsed under its own greed and arrogance. It cannot stay in power … The entire protest has demanded its resignation; they know their time is up, and now they are terrified of this unprecedented energy. Because the ones on stage are the youngest, they want their future, and they will not settle for fakes,” he wrote. The Bulgarian Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. The unrest comes as Bulgaria prepares to adopt the euro on Jan. 1, with roughly half the population skeptical of the move amid fears of inflation and disinformation spread by Russia aimed at undermining public support for the single currency. Antoaneta Roussi contributed to this report.

LONDON — British MP Tulip Siddiq has been handed a two-year prison sentence in Bangladesh in her absence following a corruption trial she did not attend. Siddiq, a former U.K. minister, was found guilty of influencing her aunt, Bangladesh’s ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to secure a plot of land for her family in the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, according to a BBC report of the trial. Siddiq, a former U.K. Treasury minister, has strongly denied the claims and is unlikely to serve the sentence. She is based in London and is the MP for the London constituency of Hampstead and Highgate. The case is one of a number launched by prosecutors against Hasina and her family in Bangladesh. Hasina fled the country last year after more than a decade in charge. The ex-PM was sentenced to death in a separate trial a fortnight ago. Siddiq quit as a  Treasury minister in January following multiple media reports — heavily disputed by Siddiq — that she benefited from her family’s rule of Bangladesh. She said she did not want to be a “distraction” for the government. In a statement at the start of the trial, Siddiq said prosecutors had “peddled false and vexatious allegations that have been briefed to the media but never formally put to me by investigators,” and insisted she had “done nothing wrong.” “Continuing to smear my name to score political points is both baseless and damaging,” she added. A group of senior lawyers, including Britain’s ex-Justice secretary Robert Buckland, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, and Cherie Blair, a human rights lawyer and wife of former prime minister Tony Blair, last week said the trial had been “contrived and unfair.” The U.K. does not have an extradition treaty in place with Bangladesh. In a fresh statement Monday morning, Siddiq slammed what she called a “flawed and farcical” legal process. “The outcome of this kangaroo court is as predictable as it is unjustified,” she said. “I hope this so called ‘verdict’ will be treated with the contempt it deserves. My focus has always been my constituents in Hampstead and Highgate and I refuse to be distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh.”

Andriy Yermak’s exit as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s all-powerful chief of staff is a tectonic shift for Ukraine that sets the stage for a fierce battle over how the country is governed. Nicknamed the “green cardinal” for wearing the military-inspired outfits his boss popularized, Yermak — a once little-known lawyer and B-movie producer — rose to wield immense influence as Zelenskyy’s top aide and was seen by many as virtually a co-president. Opposition politicians will use his firing over a $100 million corruption scandal to press home their demand for a national unity government in Kyiv, something they’ve urged ever since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly four years ago, and Yermak’s exit will embolden those factions. And there can be little doubt that Zelenskyy will miss the steely former attorney. Many Ukrainian commentators cast Yermak as the producer in the ruling duopoly — with the former TV comic-turned-president in the lead role.  Now Zelenskyy will be without his producer as he prepares for fraught negotiations with the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s divisive “peace plan” to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, as winter sets in and Kremlin forces try to push their advantage on the grim battlefields of the Donbas.   That said, Yermak won’t be widely mourned. His monopolization of power had drawn increasing criticism and frustration, both inside Ukraine and from Western allies. Hardly surprisingly, Ukrainian opposition politicians and former officials who had tussled with Yermak welcomed the news of his exit, saying they hoped it would mark a major change in how Zelenskyy rules and a shift away from his tightly controlled style of governing. “I didn’t believe it was possible that he would ever go,” said one former senior Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified so as “not to be seen as dancing on Yermak’s grave.” Critics of Yermak had also pointed to Zelenskyy’s ultimately aborted moves in the summer to curb the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies — a step that initially exacerbated fears the government was tightening its grip over institutions meant to check presidential power. For opposition lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko, Yermak’s departure “shows that there’s zero tolerance for corruption and the president listens to the concerns of the people.” Others said his exit comes as a breath of fresh air.  Now Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be without his producer as he prepares for fraught negotiations with the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s divisive “peace plan” to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. | Ihor Kuznietsov/Getty Images But some opposition lawmakers questioned whether Zelenskyy will seize the moment to pursue more inclusive politics. Former Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze told POLITICO she remains unsure if the drama will change the way Zelenskyy governs. “Exactly that is the question. The way of governing has to go back to the constitution. Parliament has to regain its agency,” she said.  “That means the president has to agree to talk to all factions, we have to review the relationship in the parliament and form a real government of national unity, which will be accountable to the parliament, not the presidential office,” she added.  Iuliia Mendel, a Ukrainian journalist and former Zelenskyy adviser-turned-critic, told POLITICO that Yermak’s resignation was “a desperate reaction to unbearable pressure.” “Zelenskyy has no real replacement ready because he never thought things would go this far. But the heat got so intense that it boiled down to the simplest choice: him or Yermak. And Zelenskyy picked himself,” she added. But Mendel harbors some doubt that things will really change much. “Yermak might just stay the shadow puppeteer,” she warned. 

Kyiv must prosecute corrupt figures in politics and business if it wants to join the EU, a top Brussels official warned, as pressure builds on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over spiraling graft allegations.  In an interview with POLITICO, European Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath said European governments would not support a candidate country like Ukraine to join the 27-member bloc unless it could prove it had an effective system for rooting out crime at the top of society. While the reform process in Ukraine is “a journey,” McGrath said he believes Kyiv is making “best efforts” to tackle corruption, adding that he is in regular touch with the authorities over developments.  He was speaking in response to questions over an alleged plot to skim around $100 million from Ukraine’s energy sector, as a probe widens to include senior figures close to Zelenskyy and in his government. “There has to be, in every candidate country, a robust system for dealing with alleged high-level corruption cases,” McGrath said. “You need to have a robust system for investigation and ultimately prosecutions and convictions, and demonstrating a track record of effectiveness in that area is something that we require of all of our own member states, and certainly of those that wish to join the European Union.” After McGrath made his comments, anti-corruption investigators raided the premises of Zelenskyy’s most powerful adviser, Andriy Yermak, as part of their ongoing inquiry.  The investigation comes at an acutely sensitive time for Ukraine, with U.S. President Donald Trump pushing Zelenskyy to accept a peace deal that could require him to cede land to Russia.  Ukraine is in the process of applying to join the EU, though opposition from Hungary has held up progress. McGrath said “the same standard applies to all candidate countries,” adding that “rule of law and justice reforms are at the heart of the accession process.” “We have a very open and honest relationship with Ukrainian authorities about what those requirements are,” he said. These rule of law standards must be met by all countries joining the EU, he said. “If they’re not, then you will not get support from the member states of the European Union to progress on the accession path.”  Asked if Ukraine is doing enough, he replied: “I think they are making best efforts to achieve the required standard. It is a journey, and we monitor developments closely, and we remain in an ongoing contact with Ukrainian authorities about issues that come to our attention or that are reported publicly.”

Spanish Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz resigned Monday, stepping down before a judicial ruling banning him from holding public office for two years went into effect. Spain’s Supreme Court last week convicted García Ortiz of leaking details of a tax probe involving the partner of Madrid’s regional leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso, a rising star among the country’s conservative voters. The outgoing attorney general denies leaking the information, and several journalists who published articles about the probe testified he was not their source. Although the court announced García Ortiz’s guilty verdict within days of his trial’s conclusion, the panel of judges who tried him has yet to publish the legal reasoning behind the ruling. In a resignation letter addressed to Justice Minister Félix Bolaños, García Ortiz said that his “deep respect” for judicial decisions and “desire to protect the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office” obliged him to step down immediately. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Sunday said he “regretted” the conviction and affirmed his belief in the outgoing attorney general’s innocence. But he also underscored the sanctity of the rule of law in Spain, insisting the government “respects rulings and abides by them.” Sánchez added that there were legal channels by which García Ortiz can “address any controversial aspects of this ruling.” The outgoing attorney general could file an appeal with the country’s Constitutional Court, or even seek to challenge it beyond Spain’s borders. García Ortiz’s conviction has generated immense controversy in Spain, with opinions split largely along ideological lines. While the center-right People’s Party and far-right Vox group have cheered the court’s decision, Sánchez’s ruling coalition has rallied around him, accusing the judiciary of being weaponized by conservative political forces. Groups less friendly to Sánchez have also sided with with García Ortiz, citing their own, unhappy experiences with alleged “lawfare” in Spain. Last week the Catalan separatist Junts party — which recently staged a public breakup with the Spanish government — said it was unsurprised by the ruling “because we know how the Supreme Court works.” The usually critical, far-left Podemos party on Monday said the attorney general’s exit was the result of a “judicial coup.”

Spain’s Supreme Court has just taken its battle with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to a whole new level.  The court on Tuesday banned Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz from holding public office for two years for allegedly leaking details of a tax probe involving the partner of Madrid’s regional leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso, a rising star among the country’s conservative voters. Justice Minister Félix Bolaños said that the government was obliged “to abide by the sentence” and appoint a new attorney general. But he stressed the executive’s disagreement with the conviction, and reaffirmed its belief in García Ortiz’s innocence. The ruling risks turning that feud into a constitutional crisis, with the judiciary seemingly taking aim at members of the executive running Europe’s fourth-largest economy. The clash has taken a toll on Sánchez, who has long claimed to be the target of “lawfare,” accusing conservative judges of pursuing baseless cases against his allies and family.  Last year the prime minister briefly considered stepping down after his wife was named as the target of a judicial investigation that is ongoing, but widely considered to be baseless. His brother, meanwhile, is due to face trial next year on influence-peddling charges linked to a civil service post he took before Sánchez came to power. Both of the prime minister’s family members deny wrongdoing and say the cases are politically motivated. A FAKE STORY AND AN ALLEGED LEAK The case against García Ortiz dates to early 2024, when Spanish media began reporting on a tax fraud investigation into Ayuso’s partner, businessman Alberto González Amador. In March of last year, Spanish daily El Mundo published an article alleging the Madrid prosecutor’s office had offered González Amador a plea deal — a fake news story that Ayuso’s chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, later admitted he spread to selected journalists. When reporters sought confirmation, the prosecutor’s office clarified that it was actually the defense who proposed a plea deal by which the accused would admit to committing tax fraud in exchange for a reduced sentence. But several journalists published articles with that information ahead of the clarification’s release, sparking an investigation into whether emails between prosecutors and González Amador had been leaked. In a surprise twist, García Ortiz was charged over the alleged disclosure. At last week’s Supreme Court trial, the attorney general denied leaking the messages, with his defense attorneys demonstrating that dozens of officials had access to the allegedly leaked emails. Several journalists also testified that García Ortiz was not their source. JUDICIAL TENSION García Ortiz’s case was tried by a panel of seven judges, with the five conservative judges backing the conviction and the two progressives dissenting. The verdict was announced unusually quickly — even before the court had drafted its legal reasoning. It remains unclear how the judges will justify the decision, but it’s possible they were swayed by González Amador’s lawyer, who argued that the journalists who testified had a vested interest in protecting García Ortiz — if he was their leaker. In a surprise twist, García Ortiz was charged over the alleged disclosure. | Gustavo de la Paz/Europa Press via Getty Images Speaking later at an event marking the 50th anniversary of dictator Francisco Franco’s death, Sánchez appeared to allude to the case, warning that “democracy is not a permanent conquest: it is a privilege we must defend every day from unfounded nostalgia, economic interests and attacks that constantly evolve.”  “Today, these attacks take the form of disinformation campaigns and abuses of power,” he added. The leader of the conservative opposition, People’s Party boss Alberto Núñez Feijóo, cheered the conviction, describing the attorney general as “someone who was supposed to be prosecuting crimes, but instead committed them.” He demanded Sánchez step down immediately. But Sánchez’s ruling coalition has rallied around him, accusing the judiciary of being weaponized by conservative political forces. Health Minister Mónica García, from the left-wing Más Madrid party, called the ruling an “affront” to all citizens.  “This is a lethal blow to the rule of law, the requirement to present incriminating evidence, [and] the presumption of innocence,” she added.

Adrian Karatnycky is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the author of “Battleground Ukraine: From Independence to the War with Russia.” The vast corruption scandal unfolding in Ukraine has deeply damaged the country’s image. It has also severely eroded trust in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, turning him into a lame duck at home. Involving a plot to extort around $100 million from Ukraine’s energy sector, the scandal has so far engulfed Zelenskyy’s Justice Minister German Galushchenko, Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk, as well as officials from the country’s atomic energy agency and senior officials from the State Bureau of Investigation. Most damaging to Zelenskyy, however, is that the allegations extend to his most trusted allies: Former business partner Tymur Mindich is said to be at the center of the schemes. And the highly powerful yet unpopular Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak is being accused by adversaries of subverting and impeding the work of the country’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, whose offices uncovered the widespread conspiracy — now called “Mindichgate.” Domestically, these revelations are already causing a seismic shift in Zelenskyy’s political fortunes, contributing to widespread anger. And while there’s no evidence of personal corruption by the president, his style of rule and reliance on governing with the help of a group of pals and cronies has worn thin. Significantly, Zelenskyy came to power on a wave of high-minded rhetoric promising to root out corruption and replace generations of dishonest officials with new faces of integrity. But his inflated assurances have now been punctured by the misrule that’s being revealed each day in plot twists as riveting as a Netflix crime series. So, what, if anything, can he do to restore confidence? In office for nearly six-and-a-half years now, Zelenskyy was long riding high in the polls, bolstered by his courage and inspirational leadership in the face of Russia’s brutal war. In recent months, however, the public has started to look for fresh leaders amid growing discontent over his highly centralized, insular and — at times — authoritarian rule. In October, well before the current scandal unfolded, polls showed only one in four Ukrainians wanted Zelenskyy to run for office again once the war ended. And were he to run, they showed him being handily defeated by Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the popular former commander of Ukraine’s armed forces whom Zelenskyy dismissed. According to opposition Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who played a crucial role in exposing the corruption scandal, polls as yet unpublished now show Zelenskyy losing a further 40 percent of his support, suggesting his electoral base now stands at around 25 percent, making him a lame-duck president. So low is Zelenskyy’s support and so damaging the effect of the corruption crisis that, speaking anonymously, individuals who have worked closely with the president and his inner circle have now hinted he may not seek a second term once circumstances permit a vote. It’s a possibility that’s bolstered by numerous reports stating Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska has long felt the president shouldn’t seek reelection given the extension of his current term and the toll his absence has taken on his family. Furthermore, the crisis has not only reduced Zelenskyy’s chances of reelection, it has also opened the field to new potential challengers. But while public discontent with Zelenskyy is at a wartime peak, the Ukrainian public understands it would be perilous to engage in destabilizing mass protest amid modest Russian territorial advances — a responsible civic position that was confirmed to me by Serhiy Sternenko, a firebrand civic activist with millions of followers on social media. And though Zelenskyy’s position as president remains secure given the wartime setting, as a lame-duck president his main aim must be to restore public confidence in the government, ensure the functioning of an effective parliament, and demonstrate to the international community that Ukraine is being governed both effectively and transparently. To achieve these goals, Zelenskyy would be well advised to begin wide-ranging consultations with civic leaders, anti-corruption experts and the patriotic opposition, aiming to create a technocratic government of trusted officials. He also needs to dismantle his highly centralized presidential rule by limiting his own powers to the areas of defense, national security and foreign policy, and by drastically reducing the powers of his team of presidential aides. This could be done by transferring their domestic and economic policy responsibilities to a restructured government and parliament instead. The fact is, if Zelenskyy doesn’t act, others may do it for him. For years, the Ukrainian leader’s power has derived from his control of a parliamentary majority through his Servant of the People party, but fissures are now appearing within that base. A report from investigative news site Ukrainska Pravda indicates that the head of the party’s parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia, has now joined calls for Zelenskyy to reform the presidential office and replace Yermak. It also reports that Danylo Hetmantsev, a powerful legislator heading the parliament’s finance committee, is planning to create a new party. And on Wednesday, lawmaker Mykyta Poturayev announced his own initiative to create a new parliamentary majority, which would include members of the patriotic opposition. To respond to this pressure and restore confidence, Zelenskyy must try to assemble a strong team that holds the public’s trust, as well as that of Ukraine’s allies. Recruiting such competent officials in the current chaos won’t be easy, but there is a pool of them out there — including First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, former Ambassador to the U.S. and Finance Minister Oksana Markarova, and former Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who was removed from office for unclear reasons. In short, while the damage done to Zelenskyy is likely irreversible, the president has a chance to use the current crisis to set Ukraine on a proper path of greater transparency, and to compensate for diminished support by engaging with and transferring significant authority to a team that enjoys public confidence. Following such a set of steps — coupled with the vigorous and unimpeded prosecution of those involved in the web of corruption that has been exposed — would ensure morale in Ukraine remains strong. It would strengthen the country’s hand amid reports that the U.S. administration is pressuring Kyiv to make major concessions to Russia. Above all, it would ensure a firm basis for Ukraine to continue its courageous and effective resistance in this existential war.

BRUSSELS — The EU is flipping its script on artificial intelligence amid a global race to win cash and influence. The European Commission is on Wednesday expected to postpone the implementation of landmark AI restrictions by at least a year as part of sweeping changes to digital rules aimed at staying competitive with the U.S. and China. For years EU policymakers focused on making regulations to ensure the technology can be trusted. Now, in a year that saw major advances in artificial intelligence and Donald Trump reenter office, the EU is letting go of its dream of being the global leader on regulating AI. The Artificial Intelligence Act, which took years to negotiate, is not even fully in place yet. Throughout 2025 a growing chorus of national governments and executives from tech companies and industry lobby groups have called for a delay of a part of the law, putting the issue at the center of a wider fight in Brussels over how the EU should balance regulation and innovation. Wednesday’s proposal will see industry voices win out, with the announcement made under the same Commission president that heralded the original law as a “historic moment” to make people safer. While the EU executive will present the proposal as a technical adjustment that will ultimately make the EU’s regulation more effective — on the basis that changes will help industry to comply — it follows an intense lobbying effort by the Trump administration in Washington and from corporate lobbies in Brussels against the bloc’s digital rules. “A part of the message that Europe is giving to the rest of the world is that it is open to pressure from tech companies and other nations,” said Natali Helberger, a professor of law and digital technology at the University of Amsterdam. “I would say this harms the credibility.” Under the plans expected Wednesday, a series of AI practices that are classified as high risk — for example using artificial intelligence in recruitment, to assess people’s suitability to get loans or to score exams — won’t face obligations for at least a year longer than planned. A big part of the justification for the decision has been concerns that the regulations will prevent Europe from being competitive at a time when it needs to level up. Tech lobbies have slammed the foreseen timeline as “unworkable.” “If we only could take the foot off the brake and give innovation a bit more chance, I think that’s all we need,” Germany’s Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger said Tuesday when asked about the Commission’s upcoming proposal. The plans are prompting pushback from civil society. “The Commission seems intent on destroying fundamental rights safeguards and setting us up for months, if not years of infighting and legal uncertainty without any tangible gains for EU competitiveness,” said Daniel Leufer, senior policy analyst at AccessNow. Other changes expected Wednesday would exempt more companies from certain rules altogether, and would also give industry a grace period on new rules for watermarking visual content made by AI. TOO AMBITIOUS? The bloc’s AI rulebook was adopted in August 2024 but the rules were always intended to take effect gradually. Some AI practices that carry an “unacceptable risk” such as predictive policing or social scoring have been forbidden since February. The most complex AI models, such as OpenAI’s GPT, have also had to play by a separate set of rules since August. The rules that the EU executive is now pressing pause on — those that pose a risk to people’s health, safety or fundamental rights — were slated to take effect in August next year. Countries and companies argued a delay was necessary due to a delay in the technical standards, designed to help companies comply with the requirements. Standardization bodies missed the deadline to deliver on them twice, and now the standards won’t be ready until 2026. The timeline to come up with standards was a “bit ambitious from the start,” a representative from the standardization bodies told POLITICO in September. By branding it as a technical delay due to the lack of guidance, some in favor of a pause are choosing not to label it as a retreat, but instead to suggest a little more time is needed to get things right. “Many companies would welcome this,” said Wildberger. “But equally important is that we use the time to get certain things right. It’s not just: we postpone it. No, we have some work to do.” Germany and France came out publicly in favor of a one-year pause on Tuesday. Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic and Denmark all called for a pause or a grace period before. Countries had a stake in delaying the process. “It is also motivated by the fact that so far, a lot of member states haven’t assigned and equipped their national regulatory authorities that must enforce the AI Act,” said Helberger. Hitting pause “will give them more time to get their act together at the national level,” she said. Wednesday’s proposal will need approval from EU countries and by the European Parliament before becoming final. There’s a hard deadline of August 2026 when the rules were set to apply. Within Parliament, even critics of the pause have privately conceded defeat and are now focused on keeping the delay as short as possible and avoiding further pushback. “Unfortunately, a pause now seems inevitable given the delay in developing the standards,” Irish Renew lawmaker Michael McNamara said last week after POLITICO first reported that the rules would be delayed by at least a year. McNamara warned that there should be “no further delays,” because “if there were, it would undermine regulation and rule of law beyond just the AI Act.” Mathieu Pollet contributed to this report.