BRUSSELS — Russian-linked vessels are continuing to leak oil off Europe’s shores — despite Western sanctions — underscoring the continent’s inability to rein in Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet. In the past year, at least five tankers from Russia’s sanctions-dodging armada have carried on sailing unimpeded in European waters after leaving oil slicks near the continent, according to a joint investigation by the not-for-profit journalism group SourceMaterial and POLITICO. Two of those vessels had been individually sanctioned by the United Kingdom before they left the slicks. These new revelations, which draw on satellite footage from the SkyTruth NGO paired with shipping data from the Kpler commodities platform, follow a 2024 investigation by POLITICO documenting oil spills by the Russian shadow fleet. They highlight the difficulty Western governments face in throttling Russian oil exports and minimizing the risk of ecological disaster in their waters. The incidents are “a huge problem,” said Latvian Energy Minister Kaspars Melnis. “We are quite lucky at this moment that we don’t have any environmental catastrophe happening.”  SANCTIONS SPILLOVER In 2022, the Group of Seven industrialized nations imposed a price limit on Russia’s global oil sales, which make up about a quarter of the Russian budget. Since then, Moscow has increasingly shipped its oil on a growing flotilla of underinsured, creaky tankers with opaque ownership structures. That shadow fleet now numbers 1,300, according to the Lloyd’s List Intelligence maritime analysis firm, and has been linked to massive oil spills and damage to critical subsea infrastructure.  European governments have sanctioned individual tankers, with Brussels so far blacklisting 444 vessels, preventing them from docking at EU ports or using Western services. The hope is also that the measures will prompt non-EU governments where the tankers are registered — known as flag states — to bar them from operating. The U.K. has sanctioned 450 vessels. Experts warn the decrepit state of the tankers renders them more prone to accidents and collisions, while their murky ownership makes them untraceable and unaccountable to Western authorities. Because of the sanctions, they often sail underinsured. “How good or not are already existing sanctions — [it’s] hard to say,” said Melnis. A large oil spill left by such a tanker could cost up to €1.4 billion to clean up, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air think tank has estimated. The bill would likely be paid by European taxpayers if the offending vessel could not be tracked down. “The shadow fleet is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s desperate and dangerous attempt to cling onto his oil profits and polluting the sea in the meantime,” said a U.K. foreign office spokesperson. “He’s using ships that ignore basic safety standards, increasing the chance of catastrophic oil spills.” After POLITICO revealed that Russia-linked tankers were dumping oil across the world’s oceans last year, Brussels blacklisted one of the offending vessels, formerly called Innova. The new findings illustrate the limits of that approach. In one example from Nov. 15, 2024, a 12-kilometer slick appeared in Spanish waters off the Bay of Biscay in the wake of the Dinasty, a 280-meter-long tanker that was sailing from India to the Russian port of Primorsk.  The vessel was under U.K. sanctions, with the EU following suit after the incident took place. The Dinasty’s registered owner and commercial manager at the time of the incident — Libra Shipping and Moonlight Shipmanagement — could not be reached for comment. POLITICO was unable to contact the vessel’s current commercial manager and registered owner, Dreamer Shipmanagement and White Agate Marine. The vessel’s erstwhile and present-day flag states, Barbados and Oman, did not reply to requests for comment. The Spanish coastguard did not respond to detailed questions from POLITICO. “What does this say about European and U.S. sanctions? It proves that actually, regardless of whether the ships are sanctioned or not, they will still be able to find a way and a place to trade,” said Richard Meade, editor of Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Given that shadow fleet tankers — which often ignore international shipping rules — now represent a fifth of the total world’s maritime feet, it also illustrates how “we are [unintentionally] undermining shipping safety by taking this approach to sanctions,” he added. OUT OF THE SHADOWS The incidents are prompting calls for renewed action — and for a change in approach. As part of the EU’s 19th sanctions package since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, unveiled in September, the European Commission proposed adding 118 new Russian-linked vessels to its expanding blacklist. Experts and the bloc’s Russia hawks have already called for more. In addition to putting sanctions on even more ships, the EU must hit “the whole value chain” involved in carrying sanctioned oil, Finnish Energy Minister Sari Multala told POLITICO. In practice, that means blacklisting more refineries that unload oil from Russian tankers linked with slicks, said Isaac Levi, Russia lead at the Helsinki-based CREA think tank, and sanctioning the vessels’ service providers and flag registries. National coastguards should also detain vessels as they pass through European waters if they have historically left spills, operate without legitimate insurance or fly false flags, he argued. In some cases, national authorities have taken matters into their own hands — but they haven’t acted systematically. In April, Estonia detained a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker. And on Wednesday, French soldiers boarded a similar vessel after suspecting it of being used to bypass EU sanctions. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said European military chiefs and NATO would develop new “joint actions in the coming weeks” to “impede suspicious ships” in its waters. A Commission spokesperson told POLITICO that EU countries are required to “impose penalties … for situations of illegal discharge from ships of pollutants.” Brussels is also targeting “enablers” of shadow fleet vessels such as refineries and commercial registries, the spokesperson said, and putting “diplomatic pressure” on relevant flag states. “This course of action will be actively pursued,” the spokesperson added. But for Levi, the evidence of continued slicks showcases just how much this strategy is falling short. “It seems shocking to me that these tankers, after having shown evidence of an oil spill and environmental damage … haven’t been detained,” he said. It’s like “driving a car into a shop and then driving off … without being chased by a police car.”

Europe’s trees are having a nightmare 2025. As the European Union reels from its worst wildfire season on record, two different EU laws aimed at protecting forests this week fell victim to the anti-red tape wave sweeping Brussels. On Tuesday, Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall announced that the European Commission planned to delay the implementation of its flagship anti-deforestation law. Then, just hours later, lawmakers voted to reject a separate law designed to monitor forests’ health and resilience to climate change. “Between Forest Monitoring and the one-year delay of the [EU Deforestation Regulation], this is a dark day for European forests,” said Socialists and Democrats Member of the European Parliament Eric Sargiacomo. Forest ecosystems are home to over half of the world’s terrestrial species and, as natural absorbers of carbon dioxide, they play a crucial role in combating climate change. Protecting them has therefore been a central pillar of the EU’s environmental policy. But as the EU’s priorities shift toward industrial competitiveness and defense, support for forest protections has waned. Announcing the proposed delay of the anti-deforestation rules, Roswall cited issues with the IT system handling businesses’ due diligence statements as the rationale. But the move falls in step with a long-standing demand from the center-right European People’s Party, the bloc’s biggest political group and one of the loudest agitators for slashing EU regulations. The law — which requires companies to police their supply chains to make sure any commodities they use, such as palm oil, beef or coffee, have not contributed to deforestation — was adopted in 2023 and already delayed by a year in 2024 following calls by businesses saying they needed more time to comply. This week’s announcement is seen as the latest in a long string of actions by the Commission since late last year to weaken or delay environmental rules passed under the European Green Deal, part of a grand push to boost the global competitiveness of European industry. In a second blow to Europe’s trees, later that Tuesday MEPs voted against proposed EU forest monitoring rules, following motions to reject the law presented by the center-right EPP, the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists and the far-right Patriots for Europe group. It spells a complicated way forward for the law, which sets out rules for collecting data on the health of Europe’s forests, with the goal of improving management and protecting them from climate change. “Without the detailed, specific evidence on Europe’s forests this law would provide, it will be immeasurably harder to support forest owners to adapt to the climate crisis and secure a sustainable wood supply for industry,” said Kelsey Perlman, a campaigner at the forest NGO Fern. “Poorer information will inevitably lead to unhealthier forests,” she added. EPP CLAIMS VICTORY Both developments are being claimed as wins by the EPP, which sees the laws as antithetical to the EU’s ongoing simplification drive. The EPP has “protected foresters from unnecessary paperwork by rejecting the Monitoring Framework for Resilient European Forests,” the group said in a press statement, having voted with right-wing and far-right groups to reject the law. That rejection still has to go to a plenary vote, but the outcome is likely to be the same. As for the EU’s deforestation rules, the Commission’s push to delay shows that “our consistent criticism has finally been taken seriously,” said EPP MEP Alexander Bernhuber. | Armin Weigel/Picture Alliance via Getty Images “Ursula von der Leyen declared 25 percent less bureaucracy,” said MEP Stefan Köhler, referring to a promise from the Commission president — who also hails from the EPP — to create a “more favorable” business environment through an “unprecedented simplification effort.” “The Commission should therefore recall 100 percent of [the forest monitoring law],” Köhler added. As for the EU’s deforestation rules, the Commission’s push to delay shows that “our consistent criticism has finally been taken seriously,” said EPP MEP Alexander Bernhuber. But a delay isn’t enough, he added, calling for “substantial changes” to be delivered in the “coming weeks.” That’s got fire alarm bells ringing on the left flank of the Parliament. “European forests are burning, and the EPP, allied with the far right, prefers to play the arsonist by blocking all European legislation aimed at sustainable forest management,” said Sargiacomo, the Socialist MEP. “Once again EPP proved that they prioritize populist gains instead of taking responsibility,” said Swedish centrist lawmaker Emma Wiesner of the forest monitoring vote, who led work on the file. TURN IT OFF AND ON AGAIN The Commission, for its part, on Tuesday stressed the importance of the EU’s anti-deforestation push and cited an issue with the IT system that deals with the submission of businesses’ due diligence statements as the rationale for postponing. It wouldn’t be able to handle all the notifications coming from economic operators, said a Commission official. “This is a first of a kind legislation in terms of the scope and the sophistication of the provisions in the EUDR,” said the official. “As always, when you have no blueprint, you have a great number of uncertainties in the design of the implementation mechanisms, and this is particularly true when it comes to IT systems.” Business groups have long complained about the impracticality of the EU’s system for proving they’re compliant. But Green groups and MEPs are having none of it. “This would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic,” said ClientEarth lawyer Michael Rice in a press statement. “The Commission is making a fool of itself by using its own inadequate IT system as an excuse to delay the world’s most important forest law for a second time in 12 months.” The Commission also had to bat away accusations of caving to pressure from upset trade partners like the United States and major palm oil exporter Indonesia. In a joint statement issued by the EU and the U.S. last month, formalizing their tariff truce, the EU made a vague promise to address U.S. concerns regarding the EU’s deforestation law. Tuesday’s announcement also came one day after the EU finalized a new trade agreement with major palm oil exporter Indonesia — whose foreign affairs ministry said last week it was hoping for new flexibility in the law. “Receiving this news on the same day that we learn of the signing of a free-trade agreement with Indonesia favoring palm oil is more than disturbing,” said Green MEP Marie Toussaint. “After bowing her head to Donald Trump, is Ursula von der Leyen ready to sacrifice the European model to every foreign whim?” Louise Guillot contributed to this report.

CHIATURA, Georgia — Giorgi Neparidze, a middle-aged man from near the town of Chiatura in western Georgia, still has marks on his lips from where he sewed his mouth shut during a hunger strike last year. He says Georgian Manganese, a mining company with close links to the government, has wrought environmental devastation around his home and has ignored the rights of its workers. He is seeking compensation.  Europe, which imports Georgia’s manganese, is partly to blame for the black rivers and collapsing houses in Chiatura district, Neparidze says. The former miner-turned-environmental and civil rights activist claims that in one village, Shukruti, toxic dust from the pits is making people unwell. Filthy black water, laced with heavy metals, periodically spurts out of pumps there. Houses are collapsing as the tunnels underneath them cave in.  Manganese, a black metal traditionally used to reinforce steel, is crucial for Europe’s green energy transition as it is used in both wind turbines and electric car batteries. The metal is also vital for military gear like armor and guns. In 2022, the European Union bought 20,000 metric tons of manganese alloys from Georgia — almost 3 percent of its total supply. A year later the bloc added manganese to its list of critical minerals. But Chiaturans say their lives are being ruined so that Western Europeans can breathe cleaner air. “We are sacrificed so that others can have better lives,” Neparidze says. “There are only 40,000 people in Chiatura. They might feel ill or live in bad conditions but they are sacrificed so that millions of Europeans can have a cleaner environment.” Neparidze says cancer rates in the region are unusually high. Doctors at a hospital in Chiatura back up the observation, but no official study has linked the illnesses to the mines. An aerial view of Chiatura with the polluted Kvirila River running through the town | Olivia Acland Hope that things will improve appears dim. European companies often don’t know where their manganese is sourced from. As ANEV, Italy’s wind energy association, confirms: “There is no specific obligation to trace all metals used in steel production.”  Last year the EU enacted a law that was meant to change that. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive obliges companies to run closer checks on their supply chains and clamp down on any human rights violations, poor working conditions and environmental damage.  But barely a year after it took effect, the European Commission proposed a major weakening of the law in a move to reduce red tape for the bloc’s sluggish industry. EU member countries, motivated by this deregulation agenda, are now pushing for even deeper cuts, while French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz want to get rid of the law altogether.  Meanwhile, Europe’s appetite for mined raw materials like manganese, lithium, rare earths, copper and nickel is expected to skyrocket to meet the needs of the clean energy transition and rearmament. Many of these resources are in poorly regulated and often politically repressive jurisdictions, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Indonesia and Georgia. Weakening the EU supply chain law will have consequences for communities like Neparidze’s. “Only an empty shell of the directive remains,” says Anna Cavazzini, a member of the European Parliament’s Green Party, adding that the legislature caved to pressure from businesses seeking to reduce their costs. “Now is not the time to abandon the defense of human rights and give corporations a free hand,” she says.  A resident of Chiatura standing on a collapsed house following a mining-related landslide in Itkhvisi village. | Olivia Acland As Georgia’s government pivots toward Russia and stifles dissent, life is becoming increasingly dangerous for activists in Chiatura. On April 29, four activists including Neparidze were arrested for allegedly assaulting a mine executive. A statement put out by Chiatura Management Company, the firm in charge of staffing Georgian Manganese’s underground operations, says that Tengiz Koberidze, manager of the Shukruti mine, was “verbally abused and pelted with stones.” Supporters call it a staged provocation in which Koberidze tried to incite violence, and say it’s part of a broader campaign to silence resistance. If convicted they face up to six years behind bars. Koberidze did not respond to requests for comment. Chiatura residents are protesting over two overlapping issues. On one side, miners are demanding safer working conditions underground, where tunnel collapses have long been a risk, along with higher wages and paid sick leave. When the mine was temporarily shut in October 2024, they were promised 60 percent of their salaries, but many say those payments never materialized. Workers are also raising concerns about mining pollution in the region. “The company doesn’t raise wages, doesn’t improve safety, and continues to destroy the natural environment. Its profits come not just from extracting resources, but from exploiting both workers and the land,” says one miner, David Chinchaladze. Georgian Manganese did not respond to interview requests or written questions. Officials at Georgia’s Ministry of Mines and the government’s Environment Protection and Natural Resources Department did not respond to requests for comment. A collapsing building in Shukruti. | Olivia Acland.  The second group of protesters comes from the village of Shukruti, which sits directly above the mining tunnels. Their homes are cracking and sinking into the ground. In 2020, Georgian Manganese pledged to pay between 700,000 and 1 million Georgian lari ($252,000 to $360,000) annually in damages — a sum that was meant to be distributed among residents. But while the company insists the money has been paid, locals — backed by watchdog NGO Social Justice — say otherwise. According to them, fewer than 5 percent of Shukruti’s residents have received any compensation.  Their protest has intensified in the last year, with workers now blocking the roads and Shukruti residents barring entry to the mines. But the risks are intensifying too. Since suspending EU accession talks last year amid deteriorating relations with the bloc, Georgia’s ruling party has shuttered independent media, arrested protestors and amplified propaganda. The country’s democracy is “backsliding,” says Irakli Kavtaradze, head of the foreign department of the largest opposition political party, United National Movement. Their tactics “sound like they come from a playbook that is written in the Kremlin,” he adds. ‘KREMLIN PLAYBOOK’ In the capital Tbilisi, around 200 kilometers east of Chiatura, protesters have taken to the streets every night since April 2, 2024 when the government unveiled a Kremlin-style “foreign agents” law aimed at muzzling civil society.  Many demonstrators wear sunglasses, scarfs and masks to shield their identities from street cameras, wary of state retaliation.  A scene from the 336th day of protests in Tbilisi in April 2025. | Olivia Acland. Their protests swelled in October last year after the government announced it would suspend talks to join the EU. For Georgians, the stakes are high: Russia already occupies 20 percent of the country after its 2008 invasion, and people fear that a more profound drift from the EU could open the door to further aggression. When POLITICO visited in April, a crowd strode down Rustaveli Avenue, the city’s main artery. Some carried EU flags while others passed around a loudspeaker, taking it in turns to voice defiant chants. “Fire to the oligarchy!” one young woman yelled, the crowd echoing her call. “Power lies in unity with the EU!” another shouted. They also called out support for protestors in Chiatura, whose fight has become something of a cause célèbre across the country: “Solidarity to Chiatura! Natural resources belong to the people!”  The fight in Chiatura is a microcosm of the country’s broader struggle: The activists are not just taking on a mining company but a corporate giant backed by oligarchs and the ruling elites.  Georgian Manganese’s parent company, Georgian American Alloys, is registered in Luxembourg and counts Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky as a shareholder. He is in custody in Kyiv over allegations that he hired a gang to kill a lawyer who threatened his business interests in 2003. Kolomoisky has also been sanctioned by the United States for his alleged involvement in siphoning billions out of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank.  Giorgi Kapanadze — a businessman closely connected with the ruling Georgian Dream party of Bidzina Ivanishvili — is listed as general manager of Georgian American Alloys.  Until recently, Kapanadze owned Rustavi TV, a channel notorious for airing pro-government propaganda. The European Parliament has called on the EU to hit Kapanadze with sanctions, accusing him of propping up the country’s repressive regime. Kolomoisky and Kapanadze did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. The government swooped in to help Georgian Manganese in 2016 when a Georgian court fined it $82 million for environmental destruction in the region. The state placed it under “special management” and wrote off the fine. A new government-appointed manager was tasked, on paper, with cleaning up the mess. He was supposed to oversee a cleanup of the rivers that flow past the mines, among other promises. Manganese mining pit in Chiatura region, Georgia. | Olivia Acland But POLITICO’s own tests based on four samples taken in April 2025 from the Kvirila River, which runs through Chiatura, as well as its tributary, the Bogiristiskali, which were examined in a U.K. licensed laboratory, show the manganese levels in both rivers are over 10 times the legal limit. Iron levels are also higher than legally permitted. Locals use the polluted water to irrigate their crops. Fishermen are also pulling in increasingly empty nets as the heavy metals kill off aquatic life, according to local testimonies. The water from the Kvirila River flows out into the Black Sea, home to endangered dolphins, sturgeons, turtles and sharks.  A 2022 analysis by the Georgian NGO Green Policy found even worse results, with manganese in the Kvirila River averaging 42 times the legal limit. The group also detected excessive levels of iron and lead. Chronic manganese exposure can lead to irreversible neurological damage — a Parkinson’s-like condition known as manganism — as well as liver, kidney and reproductive harm. Lead and iron are linked to organ failure, cancer and cardiovascular disease. On Georgian Manganese’s website, the company concedes that “pollution of the Kvirila River” is one of the region’s “ecological challenges,” attributing it to runoff from manganese processing. It claims to have installed German-standard purification filters and claims that “neither polluted nor purified water” currently enters the river. Protesters like Neparidze aren’t convinced. They claim the filtration system is turned on only when inspectors arrive and that for the rest of the time, untreated wastewater is dumped straight into the rivers. BLOCKING EXPORTS Their protests having reaped few results, Chiaturans are taking increasingly extreme measures to make their voices heard.  Gocha Kupatadze, a retired 67-year-old miner, spends his nights in a tarpaulin shelter beside an underground mine, where he complains that rats crawl over him. “This black gold became the black plague for us,” he says. “We have no choice but to protest.” Kupatadze’s job is to ensure that manganese does not leave the mine. Alongside other protesters he has padlocked the gate to the generator that powers the mine’s ventilation system, making it impossible for anyone to work there. Kupatadze says he is only resorting to such drastic measures because conditions in his village, Shukruti, have become unlivable. His family home, built in 1958, is now crumbling, with cracks in the walls as the ground beneath it collapses from years of mining. The vines that once sustained his family’s wine-making traditions have long since withered and died. Gocha Kupatadze, an activist sleeping in a tarpaulin tent outside a mine. | Olivia Acland. For over a year, protesters across the region have intermittently blocked mine entrances as well as main roads, determined to stop the valuable ore from leaving Chiatura. In some ways it has worked: Seven months ago, Chiatura Management Company, the firm in charge of staffing Georgian Manganese’s underground operations, announced it would pause production.  “Due to the financial crisis that arose from the radical protests by the people of Shukruti village, the production process in Chiatura has been completely halted,” it read. Yet to the people of Chiatura, this feels more like a punishment than a triumph.  Manganese has been extracted from the area since 1879 and many residents rely on the mines for their livelihoods. The region bears all the hallmarks of a mining town that thrived during the Soviet Union when conditions in the mines were much better, according to residents. Today, rusted cable cars sway above concrete buildings that house washing stations and aging machinery.   While locals had sought compensation for the damage to their homes, they now just find themselves out of work.  Soviet-era buildings and mining infrastructure around Chiatura. | Olivia Acland.  Making matters worse, Georgian Manganese, licensed to mine 16,430 hectares until 2046, is now sourcing much of its ore from open pits instead of underground mines. These are more dangerous to the communities around them: Machines rip open the hillsides to expose shallow craters, while families living next to the pits say toxic dust drifts off them into their gardens and houses.  MORE PITS The village of Zodi is perched on a plateau surrounded by gently undulating hills, 10 kilometers from Chiatura. Many of its residents rely on farming, and cows roam across its open fields. “It is a beautiful village with a unique microclimate which is great for wine-making,” says Kote Abdushelishvili, a 36-year-old filmmaker from Zodi.  Mining officials say the village sits on manganese reserves. In 2023, caterpillar trucks rolled into Zodi and began ripping up the earth. Villagers, including Abdushelishvili, chased them out. “We stopped them,” he says, “We said if you want to go on, you will have to kill us first.” A padlocked gate to the mine’s ventilation system. | Olivia Acland Abdushelishvili later went to Georgian Manganese’s Chiatura office to demand a meeting with the state-appointed special manager. When he was turned away, he shouted up to the window: “You can attack us, you can kill us, we will not stop.” Two days later, as Abdushelishvili strolled through a quiet neighborhood in Tbilisi, masked men jumped out of a car, slammed him to the pavement and beat him up. Despite the fierce resistance in Chiatura, Georgian Manganese continues to send its metal to European markets. In the first two months of 2025, the EU imported 6,000 metric tons of manganese from Georgia. With the bloc facing mounting pressures — from the climate crisis to new defense demands — its hunger for manganese is set to grow. As the EU weakens its corporate accountability demands and Georgia drifts further into authoritarianism, the voices of Chiatura’s people are growing even fainter.  “We are not asking for something unreasonable,” says activist Tengiz Gvelesiani, who was recently detained in Chiatura along with Neparidze, “We are asking for healthy lives, a good working environment and fresh air.” Georgian Manganese did not respond to requests for comment. This article was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

The European Union and the United States have issued a statement to formalize their tariff truce. Now the hard work begins. The framework agreement builds out the handshake trade agreement struck by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Donald Trump in Scotland in late July. The text sets out a roadmap for implementing the trade commitments they made. “This is not the end; it’s the beginning. This framework is a first step,” EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefcovič said. But the document, which runs to only four pages, skirts several issues. For one, it doesn’t mention U.S. calls for the EU to dilute its regulation of Big Tech. Nor does it refer to a call by Brussels for European wines and spirits to be exempted from the 15 percent U.S. baseline tariff that took effect this month. That’s one that Šefcovič still hopes to get a deal on. We break down the wins, the losses, the fudges — and the omissions — from the Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade. CARS  Under the joint statement, the U.S. will lower its 27.5 percent tariffs on cars and automotive parts to match the baseline 15 percent.  But there’s a catch: The U.S. will only meet its lower tariff commitment after the EU eliminates “tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods,” including its own 10 percent tariff on vehicles. Šefčovič said the Commission will initiate legislation this month to ensure Washington lowers tariffs retroactively on cars and auto parts effective Aug. 1, as foreseen in the deal. A separate clause of the joint statement makes clear that the two governments will start collaborating in other areas around cars, including to “provide mutual recognition on each other’s standards.”  The joint statement doesn’t clarify which standards will be mutually recognized, but any change will have ripple effects across the sector. “By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the United States, the European Union has waved the white flag on road safety,” said Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council. “This is not a technical detail — it is a political choice that puts trade convenience ahead of saving lives.” — Jordyn Dahl DRUGS, SEMICONDUCTORS, STEEL These industries are at the heart of Washington’s efforts to relocate industry back to the United States and are covered by separate trade investigations, known as Section 232, which allow the U.S. president to restrict imports to protect national security.  The U.S. will cap tariffs on European pharmaceuticals, lumber and semiconductors at 15 percent regardless of the results of the ongoing investigations.  Steel and aluminum imports will continue to face a 50 percent tariff until the EU and the U.S. explore the possibility of joining forces to tackle overproduction. | Erik S. Lesser/EPA This ceiling doesn’t apply to steel and aluminum imports, however, which will continue to face a 50 percent tariff until the EU and the U.S. explore the possibility of joining forces to tackle overproduction — especially coming from China — and the possibility of setting tariff-rate quotas. The European pharmaceuticals industry warns that the outline trade deal could cost companies up to €18 billion. “We remain concerned for the future of patients and our sector in Europe,” said Nathalie Moll, director general at Europe’s EFPIA pharma lobby. Still, while branded pharmaceuticals could end up being subject to the tariffs, the EU did succeed in broadening an exemption for lower-priced generics. — Camille Gijs and Mari Eccles DIGITAL RULES  The European Union managed to keep its rules on digital competition and content moderation out of the U.S. trade deal, despite heavy pressure. For now.  The Commission has for months maintained that its ability to regulate U.S. Big Tech companies is not part of the trade negotiations.  The Trump administration has been on a campaign, attacking both rulebooks and claiming they amount to censorship of Americans (the Digital Services Act) and unfairly target U.S. companies (the Digital Markets Act). While Šefčovič confirmed to reporters on Thursday that the rules weren’t part of the talks, he didn’t rule out that the two sides would return to the issue in the future.  “We kept these issues out of the trade negotiations. We were focusing on what was very clearly the priority and therefore you won’t find it referenced in the joint statement,” he said. “Will it come later, will it be discussed? Our relationship is so vast that for sure there will be a lot of issues which will be discussed.” European Parliament lawmakers will continue to pressure the Commission not to treat the rules as a bargaining chip. “Tech legislation and tariffs are two distinct matters and should remain such,” said Bulgarian conservative lawmaker Eva Maydell. — Pieter Haeck WINES AND SPIRITS Wines and spirits won’t be exempted from tariffs, even though the European Union pushed hard to obtain relief for a sector that has been caught in the crossfire from both Washington and Beijing. This means they will be subject to a 15 percent U.S. tariff.  That’s a blow for European exporters, who long benefited from tariff-free access on most spirits until successive trade wars tore it up. Wines and spirits won’t be exempted from tariffs, even though the European Union pushed hard to obtain relief for a sector that has been caught in the crossfire from both Washington and Beijing. | Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA Šefčovič admitted that the talks had fallen short — but insisted the fight isn’t over.  “The tariffs on wine and spirits was one of the very important offensive interests of the European Union. Unfortunately, here we didn’t succeed … but the doors are not closed forever,” he told reporters.  — Bartosz Brzeziński GREEN RULES  The EU made a vague promise to address U.S. concerns regarding EU laws on mandatory sustainability reporting (the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), supply chain oversight (the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) and deforestation (the EU Deforestation Regulation). Brussels mainly pitched ideas it already wants to implement, however.   The EU will ensure its rules “do not pose undue restrictions on transatlantic trade” by reducing the administrative burden on businesses in the CSDDD and by proposing changes to the EU’s civil liability regime, which holds companies legally accountable for human rights violations and environmental damage in their supply chains.   Scrapping the EU’s liability regime is already a major point in the Commission’s omnibus proposal announced last February, which rolls back many features of the CSRD and CSDDD among other files.  Crucially, those changes have not yet received the official green light from EU countries or lawmakers.   On deforestation, the EU says it recognizes that U.S. commodities production “poses negligible risk to global deforestation,” having already labeled the country as “low risk” in its classification system last May.  — Marianne Gros AVIATION Washington commits to exempting aircraft and parts from higher tariffs, applying its very low most favored nation duties to the industry. Irish lobbyists are breathing a collective sigh of relief. A trade war slapping American tariffs on Airbus and European tariffs on Boeing would have hit the industry’s key middleman, Dublin, particularly hard. The Irish capital is the world’s biggest hub for aircraft leasing with an ecosystem of lessors and financial advisers overseeing most of the world’s leased aircraft. Ireland’s Central Statistics Office values that Irish-managed fleet at €268 billion.  Small wonder, then, that Prime Minister Micheál Martin singled out aviation when welcoming the newly published details of the EU-U.S. agreement. “Given the significance of the airline sector to Ireland, a specific carve-out for aircraft and aircraft parts is welcome,” he said. — Shawn Pogatchnik DEFENSE  The EU promised to buy more American weapons under Thursday’s trade deal, although a senior official downplayed any impact on efforts to boost Europe’s military industrial complex. The EU “plans to substantially increase procurement of military and defence equipment from the United States, with the support and facilitation of the U.S. government,” the joint statement said.  That could deal a blow to the European defense industry, which Brussels has been trying to strengthen with initiatives like the €150 billion loans-for-weapons Security Action for Europe regulation to boost joint procurement, or the €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Programme still under discussion with the European Parliament. — Jacopo Barigazzi INVESTMENTS Although it’s unclear how exactly it will fulfill its promises, the EU “intends to” procure $750 billion worth of U.S. energy, including liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear energy products, through 2028.  It will also buy “at least” $40 billion worth of U.S. artificial intelligence chips. Europe already relies heavily on U.S.-based AI chip suppliers such as Nvidia, since it has no own-production capacity in that space.  On top of that, “European companies are expected to invest an additional $600 billion across strategic sectors in the United States through 2028,” the document adds. — Camille Gijs and Pieter Haeck

BRUSSELS — Man-made climate change made the July heatwave that blanketed Norway, Sweden and Finland 10 times more likely and 2 degrees Celsius hotter, according to a scientific report published Thursday. “However, this is likely an underestimate,” said the researchers from the World Weather Attribution, a group of climate scientists that draft rapid analyses showing climate change’s role in extreme weather events.  The findings, which used peer-reviewed methods and models to compare the recent heatwave to the pre-industrial revolution world, come after the Nordic countries spent two weeks in mid-July grappling with abnormally hot temperatures for the region. Healthcare and social services were strained, with some hospitals canceling surgeries and struggling to keep their buildings cool. It was also peak holiday season, leaving healthcare facilities operating with reduced staffing. “This heatwave was relentless,” said Clair Barnes, researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, and one of the authors of the analysis. “Two weeks of temperatures above 30°C in this region is unusual and, of course, highly concerning.” The heat blast upended the region’s ecosystems. Reindeer fled from the countryside into cities, searching for water and escaping unexpected insects. The analysis noted that such changing migration patterns affect people’s livelihoods, such as Sámi reindeer herders. “I watched a reindeer stay in the same patch of shade for three days straight without grazing, a quiet sign of the strain the heat was causing,” recalled Maja Vahlberg, a climate consultant at Swedish Red Cross. Dry conditions also increased the risk of fires. And as climate change accelerates, the situation will only deteriorate further, the researchers warned: “Similar heatwaves are now estimated to be twice as likely as they were in 2018,” they said. “We definitely expect more of these events in the future and we also expect them to become more intense,” said Erik Kjellström, professor in climatology at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, who also worked on the study. The Nordic heatwave illustrates how pervasive climate change is becoming across Europe, spreading hot weather beyond areas built to accommodate it. “This heatwave was a stark reminder of the threat of climate change in cold-climate countries that aren’t normally considered vulnerable,” Vahlberg said. “Our infrastructure was not built to withstand these extreme temperatures, and our aging population is increasingly susceptible to dangerous heat.” Climate consultant at Swedish Red Cross Maja Vahlberg said that the Nordic heatwave “was a stark reminder of the threat of climate change in cold-climate countries that aren’t normally considered vulnerable.” | Jouni Porsanger/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images HOT EUROPE While the situation has slightly cooled in the Nordics, Southern Europe is still baking. “And we can say with confidence that climate change has intensified those weather conditions,” Barnes said. A heatwave is currently sweeping through France and Spain, with temperatures reaching into the mid-40 Cs. Heat warnings were also issued in Germany, Italy, the U.K., Albania and Montenegro this week. In both France and Spain, national meteorological institutes said the heatwave will last at least through this week and possibly into next week. “Heatwaves have always happened, there will always be heatwaves, but all of the temperatures are just getting higher, so the chances of reaching these potentially dangerous temperatures are just ratcheting up as the world warms,” Barnes said. Additionally, most southern European countries, including Portugal, Spain, Greece, the Balkans and Turkey, are also battling wildfires. Two people died in Spain, including one firefighter, while thousands had to be evacuated across the country. In Greece, three people died and blazes are threatening the country’s third-largest city, Patras, west of Athens, forcing thousands to evacuate. In Albania, roughly 50 fires have been recorded over the past few days, with the most intense blazes hitting the southern region of Gramsh, where one elderly man died. Meanwhile, fires claimed at least 17 lives in Turkey last month. And in France last week, the country experienced its worst fire since 1949, according to national authorities. With climate change drying out the landscape, these blazes are only becoming harder to contain. According to the European Forest Fires Information System, more than twice as much area has burned thus far in 2025 as last year over the same period. The EU’s fire danger forecast for the coming days is bleak. It predicts “extreme to very extreme conditions across the entire continent,” citing numerous southern, central and eastern countries.  And in a sign of the changing patterns, it also notes that “high anomalies” can be expected “in Sweden, parts of Norway, and eastern Finland.”

Poland is stepping up to protect farmers fielding complaints from disgruntled neighbors about the smells coming from pig farming. Polish Minister of Agriculture Stefan Krajewski plans to introduce legislation to protect farmers from lawsuits related to odor or noise, said ministry spokesperson Renata Kania-Miętusiewicz. It’s a reaction to a 2012 lawsuit filed by neighbors upset with the smell and antisocial working hours of Szymon Kluka’s 65-hectare farm, which holds 360 pigs. The Polish Supreme Court in May upheld a verdict requiring that Kluka pay a 110,000 złotys (€26,000) penalty and take action to reduce the “unbearable” smell of his farm. Those measures include requirements that the farmer not work in the evenings or during holidays, that he only spread manure during certain weather conditions, and that he plant a hedge around his farm. “I’ve lived here for generations — from my grandfather and great-grandfather. They are the ones who moved here,” Kluka told agricultural news site Rolnicy, referring to the plaintiffs. Krajewski, who took over the ministry in last month’s government reshuffle, is a member of the farmer-friendly conservative Polish People’s Party, part of the ruling coalition. He called the ruling “erroneous,” complaining it doesn’t reflect the realities of running an agricultural business. “The character of rural areas is changing,” Krajewski told Poland’s RMF FM radio station. “There are more and more new residents in rural areas, and sometimes they do not accept the nuisances associated with agricultural production. Our task is to protect the interests of farmers. Noise, night work during harvest time, and odors are inextricably linked to rural areas and agricultural activities.” As well as pledging the new bill, Krajewski also met Kluka in late July to show his support, stating that his political party would cover 80,000 złotys of the fine. This may not be the end of the case. Krajewski’s ministry said he has spoken to both Poland’s minister of justice and the country’s human rights commissioner about filing an extraordinary complaint — a legal mechanism introduced in Poland’s controversial legal reform in 2017 — which allows the Supreme Court to reopen a case. The Polish Supreme Court in May upheld a verdict requiring that Kluka pay a 110,000 złotys penalty and take action to reduce the “unbearable” smell of his farm. | Jakub Kaminski/EPA Kluka is continuing to farm but said he’s worried about being hit with another lawsuit, something he said could also affect other farmers in his area raising pigs, chickens and cattle. “Sometimes one also begins to doubt whether it is worth continuing to struggle, living in constant fear: Will someone call the police again, report the matter to the environmental protection authorities, file another complaint?” he told the farming portal. Poland is one of the EU’s larger pig producers, with almost 12 million animals. It is also the bloc’s largest chicken producer, responsible for about a quarter of the market.