France and Italy have opposed the European Union’s initiative to draft trade agreements exclusively in English in order to speed up the negotiation process, citing constitutional constraints and risks to the multilingual nature of EU institutions, the Financial Times reports.
According to the publication, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič proposed drafting the legal and technical “text” of a new trade agreement with Indonesia entirely in English, with the final text subsequently translated into all 24 official EU languages.
Typically, the process of finalizing trade agreements takes up to two years, as all changes must be agreed upon and implemented in all EU languages. The proposed approach, according to Šefčovič, should reduce the preparation time to one year.
He notes that delays in the process of concluding agreements lead to economic losses and postpone the benefits of trade agreements.
At the same time, France and Italy have expressed objections, citing constitutional provisions and the principle of multilingualism. A French official stated: “This is a matter of the French Constitution. France cannot be bound by or assume obligations under a text that is not drafted in French.”
However, according to sources, there is broad support among EU member states for the idea of accelerating agreement-conclusion procedures.
The European Commission notes that the use of English during the legal and technical drafting phase is standard practice in international negotiations and does not imply a refusal to translate the final documents.
According to The Serbian Economist, the European Commission believes that Serbia’s granting of citizenship to Russian citizens poses potential security risks to the EU, as holders of Serbian passports are entitled to visa-free entry into EU countries.
Guillaume Mercier, the European Commission’s Enlargement Commissioner, stated that this issue had already been raised in the 2025 Enlargement Report. In that report, the European Commission recommended that Serbia continue to align with EU visa policy and ensure more thorough screening of third-country nationals, particularly those from countries that may pose security risks or contribute to illegal migration.
At the same time, the scale of Serbia’s naturalization of Russians remains incomparably lower than in EU countries. According to Serbia’s Migration Profile, 191 former Russian citizens received Serbian citizenship in 2024. In 2023, there were 532 such cases, and in 2022, 275.
By comparison, Germany alone granted citizenship to 12,980 former or current Russian citizens in 2024. That is nearly 68 times more than Serbia granted in the same year. Spain granted citizenship to 2,588 Russians, Finland to about 1,600, Switzerland to 815, Norway to 782, and the United Kingdom to over 2,300.
According to Eurostat, in 2024, approximately 31,000 Russians received citizenship in EU countries.
Estimated data on the granting of citizenship to Russians in Europe in 2024:
EU total – about 31,000 people
Germany – 12,980
Spain – 2,588
United Kingdom – over 2,300
Finland – about 1,600
Switzerland – 815
Norway – 782
Serbia – 191
For Belgrade, this issue is part of a broader dialogue with Brussels regarding visa policy, migration, and European integration.
For Serbia itself, the situation is ambiguous. On the one hand, the country is interested in maintaining relations with Russia, attracting capital and migrants, and supporting a visa-free regime for Russians. On the other hand, visa and migration policy could become an additional source of friction in relations with the EU.
https://t.me/relocationrs/3012
On June 12, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to approve a loan of up to EUR 15 million for Kharkiv to restore heat supply following critical damage in February 2026 to the city’s largest combined heat and power plant, CHPP-5.
According to the bank’s materials, the financing is planned to be used to purchase up to 22 small and medium-sized modular gas-fired boiler houses with cogeneration units, as well as five small cogeneration units for existing boiler houses.
The loan is part of a broader EUR32 million package, which also includes an investment grant from the European Union (EU) of up to EUR17 million.
Given the war risks, the EBRD loan is also expected to receive a partial EU guarantee to cover first-loss risk.
According to the EBRD’s estimates, the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19,100 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
It is noted that the project is expected to restore access to basic heat supply services for a broad and vulnerable group of consumers, including 99,300 residents—more than 16,500 of whom are internally displaced persons (IDPs)—as well as 23 educational institutions and seven medical facilities.
According to the EBRD, as of early 2026, 212,000 IDPs were officially registered in Kharkiv.
The project is being implemented under the Resilience and Livelihoods Facility (RLF) program.
EBRD, EU, heat supply, KHARKIV, TPP-5
Peace in Russia’s war against Ukraine can only be achieved through negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the United States, according to a government statement delivered by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Bundestag on Thursday.
“Our goal for Ukraine remains a just and long-term peace that also takes our security interests into account. For this reason, we support Ukraine. That is the truth. We are doing this today and will continue to do so tomorrow, for as long as necessary,” Deutsche Welle quotes Merz as saying.
Merz stated that support for Ukraine includes a 90 billion euro loan approved by the EU and increased sanctions pressure on Russia; the German government supports efforts aimed at ending the war through negotiations.
“To counter Russia’s open willingness to escalate, we are strengthening NATO’s eastern flank. At the same time, we support efforts aimed at ending this aggressive war by Russia through negotiations. Lasting peace will only be achieved through negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia, the U.S., and Europe. There will be no other option,” the German chancellor noted.
“By waging a defensive war against Russia, Ukraine is also defending our freedom, as well as freedom and security throughout Europe,” Merz added. “After all, Ukraine is part of Europe. In the long term, it will also become part of the European Union,” he emphasized.
Assessing Ukraine’s path toward European integration, the chancellor noted that the country has made significant progress on the path of reforms.
“That is precisely why, a few days ago, I proposed granting Ukraine associate membership in the EU. This would mean Ukraine’s regular participation in EU Council meetings and meetings of the relevant ministerial councils. A Ukrainian commissioner, for now without a portfolio or voting rights, would become Kyiv’s representative in Brussels,” Merz once again explained the essence of his proposal.
The European Union is tightening the rules for screening foreign direct investments. The EU Council has approved an updated regulation that will strengthen oversight of deals in strategic sectors—energy, transportation, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, critical raw materials, and dual-use goods.
The new rules will replace the mechanism in place since 2020. The main change is that all EU countries must have their own investment screening systems, and the approach to such deals will become more uniform across the entire union.
This is particularly important for Ukraine amid EU accession negotiations and future post-war reconstruction. The country needs significant foreign capital for energy, infrastructure, industry, logistics, defense technologies, IT, and raw material extraction. It is precisely these sectors that will now be under closer scrutiny from Brussels.
In practice, this means that Ukraine will have to gradually align its regulations with European standards for investor screening. This may apply to major deals involving capital from third countries, especially when it comes to strategic assets, critical infrastructure, or dual-use technologies.
For Ukrainian businesses, the new rules are also important when entering the EU market. The acquisition of assets, the creation of joint ventures, or investments in sensitive sectors in EU countries may be subject to more detailed scrutiny.
On the other hand, this could be an advantage for Ukraine. If Kyiv establishes a transparent system for monitoring foreign investments, it will boost confidence from the EU and major international investors.
For Ukraine, the main takeaway is simple: in the country’s recovery, it will be not only the volume of foreign capital that matters, but also its origin, transparency, and compliance with EU economic security standards.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) are expanding their support program for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and larger companies in Ukraine, which will enable the mobilization of EUR2 billion in new financing through EBRD partner banks thanks to EUR315 million in additional EU support, the financial institution announced on its website.
The additional EU support is being implemented through the Ukraine Investment Framework (UIF) program and includes EUR200 million in guarantees, EUR105 million in grants, and EUR10 million in technical assistance.
As noted in the press release, the new package is expected to provide loans to at least 3,000 MSMEs and preserve approximately 180,000 jobs.
Funds will be provided through the EBRD’s partner financial institutions in Ukraine. According to the bank’s assessment, the expansion of the program should support businesses’ access to financing amid the war, particularly against the backdrop of rising borrowing costs, disrupted logistics, and companies’ need to replace or modernize damaged equipment.
Ukrainian companies will be able to receive investment incentives in the form of EU grants to cover 10% to 30% of the cost of critical capital investments, primarily in high-efficiency and “green” technologies.
At least 50% of these grant incentives will be directed toward priority categories of MSMEs: enterprises with assets damaged or destroyed as a result of the war, businesses in frontline zones, veteran-owned companies, enterprises supporting the reintegration of internally displaced persons and people with disabilities, micro-companies, startups, small farms, as well as businesses led by women and young people.
The program also provides for support to restore activity in Ukraine’s insurance market, specifically the development of solutions for insuring military risks. As part of a pilot project, insurance subsidies are planned to be provided to MSMEs.
Part of the expanded support will be implemented through the Enterprise Security Enhancement (ESE) mechanism, which the EBRD is rolling out on a pilot basis in collaboration with partner financial institutions in Ukraine. It allows banks to reduce the debt burden for borrowers whose assets have been damaged by the war.
To implement this mechanism, it is planned to use EUR 200 million in first-loss guarantees provided by the EU as part of the new phase of the program. Such coverage of credit risk associated with the loss of assets due to the war is intended to support lending for capital investments and the continuity of economic activity.
This support builds on the first phase of the Financial Inclusion Recovery Program, which confirmed significant demand from Ukrainian businesses for financing through partner banks.
As reported, in May the EBRD launched a pilot ESE donor mechanism in Ukraine to partially write off business debt on investment loans in the event of damage to financed assets resulting from hostilities: with PrivatBank—in the amount of EUR 6.8 million, and with Raiffeisen Bank—EUR 1.2 million.
In 2025, the EBRD allocated a record EUR2.9 billion in financing to Ukraine, including EUR1.2 billion through partner financial institutions, as well as EUR504 million under portfolio risk-sharing programs, which facilitated new lending of up to EUR1.6 billion.
