Kallasová rejected Schröder, EU approved sanctions. Hormuz fell by 89 percent, DPRK changes nuclear rules

In Brussels on Monday, two lines of European politics converged. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallasová rejected Putin’s weekend proposal to deploy Gerhard Schröder as a mediator for Ukraine — Ukraine’s ambassador in Berlin, Oleksij Makejev, said directly that a person who “represented Russian interests in Germany for years” has “neither moral nor political legitimacy”. At the same time, after the fall of Orbán’s government, the Hungarian blockade of the sanctions package collapsed: the Union approved sanctions against three Israeli settlers and four settler organizations, Hamas officials and Russian individuals linked to the deportations of Ukrainian children. Madrid’s El Confidencial headlined it as “the end of the Orbán era”. Outside the day’s main line: transit through Hormuz has fallen by 89 percent in recent months, the UN is warning of a humanitarian crisis involving fertilizers, and in Pyongyang they changed the constitution — after the Iranian experience, nuclear retaliation is to be automatic.

“Classic Putin”: how Brussels withstood Schröder’s trap

The Berlin daily Welt framed Monday’s situation with the headline “classic Putin”: according to the text, Moscow’s proposal to deploy Schröder is not meant to improve negotiations, but to divide Europe. Kallasová said in Brussels that Schröder would “sit on both sides of the negotiating table”. From Berlin, Bundestag vice-president Omid Nouripour (Greens) joined in: he called Putin’s idea a “bad joke” and criticized the social democratic SPD for having “jumped on it immediately” — according to him, the party still has not shaken off the “bad habits of the Moscow connection”. In parallel, European foreign ministers agreed that same day on the sanctions package that Hungary had blocked in previous months: the targets are three Israeli settlers and four settler organizations for violence in the West Bank, Hamas officials and Russian individuals linked to the deportation of more than 20,000 Ukrainian children. Canada and Britain aligned their sanctions the same day. Welt ↗ Tagesspiegel ↗ ZDF heute ↗ El Confidencial ↗ ABC ↗

Hungary after Orbán: the first day of committee hearings

In Budapest, committee hearings began for ministers of the new government of the Tisza party. The website 444 described the hearings of candidates for health minister Zsolt Hegedűs and economy minister István Kapitány, while Austria’s Der Standard added that the Hungarian-American Nobel laureate Katalin Karikóová will become an adviser to the health ministry. The candidate for agriculture minister, Szabolcs Bóna, assured applicants for state land in HVG that they “have nothing to fear if they bid lawfully”. Prime Minister Magyar Péter, leader of Tisza after its April victory over Fidesz, criticized President Tamás Sulyok in his first parliamentary speech for remaining silent during Fidesz scandals, and Tisza deputy chair Tarr Zoltán hinted in Telex at a meeting with Zelenskyy “in the near future”. The pro-Fidesz daily Magyar Nemzet headlined that “Magyar received praise from Brussels because of Ukraine”. HVG also reported that Budapest and Bratislava had resumed diesel imports to Ukraine after months. Poland’s Rzeczpospolita, meanwhile, describes how Donald Tusk’s government is dealing with the flight of two PiS politicians — Zbigniew Ziobro and Marcin Romanowski — from Hungarian asylum toward the United States. 444 ↗ Der Standard ↗ HVG ↗ Telex ↗ Magyar Nemzet ↗ HVG ↗ HVG ↗ Rzeczpospolita ↗

Read also: Kallasová rejected Putin’s proposal for Schröder as mediator in the conflict

Turkey pressures the opposition, Macron seeks room in Africa

In Istanbul, a second trial began against former mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu — Erdoğan’s main rival from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). This time it is not about corruption, but about an accusation of “political and military espionage”. Berlin’s Tagesspiegel and Germany’s Handelsblatt read it as a continuation of the systematic elimination of rival candidates before the 2028 parliamentary elections. In Kenya, meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron led the Africa Forward summit with more than thirty African leaders — he announced 23 billion euros in French and African-French investments and declared the restitution of artworks looted during the colonial period an “irreversible” process. The French television channel France 24 noted the same day that Donald Trump had left thirty-seven ambassadorial posts in Africa unfilled. Tagesspiegel ↗ Handelsblatt ↗ France 24 ↗ France 24 ↗

Transit through Hormuz fell by 89 percent, DPRK changes nuclear rules

The Italian agency ANSA published figures that had so far remained hidden behind military headlines. The Strait of Hormuz carries 37 percent of the world’s seaborne oil and 28 percent of global LPG — daily transit has fallen by 89 percent in recent months, and goods worth 23.7 billion dollars have remained stuck. Saudi Aramco, by contrast, increased its adjusted net profit year-on-year by roughly 26 percent — it can bypass Hormuz through a pipeline to the Red Sea. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto admitted in parliament that the government is considering “moving Italian ships closer” to the area — “but the mission has not started yet”. According to ANSA, Donald Trump is considering reviving the American operation “Project Freedom”. In India, Prime Minister Naréndra Módí, after a rise in fuel prices, called on the public to work from home, limit travel and save gold. And in Seoul, South Korean intelligence services declassified on May 7 that on March 22 the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK amended Article Three of the constitution — in the event of Kim Čong-una’s elimination, command of the nuclear forces is to pass automatically to predesignated commanders. France’s BFM TV recalled that according to South Korean services, Pyongyang adopted the change in response to the spring American-Israeli strike against Iran’s leadership, which killed Supreme Leader Alí Chameneího. ANSA ↗ Il Fatto Quotidiano ↗ Il Sole 24 Ore ↗ Handelsblatt ↗ BFM TV ↗

Under the radar: Russian mafia in Germany, Iranian “disposable” agents

The German federal government admitted in Monday’s liveblog by the daily FAZ that Moscow systematically uses organized crime for contract killings — the Polish daily Onet turned it into a major headline: “The Russian mafia has spread its wings in Germany. Putin’s people are pulling the strings.” Berlin’s Tagesspiegel, in parallel, writes about a new terrorist group Hayi (“Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand”), which CNN and German security sources link to pro-Iranian circles and possible influence by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Since March, it has claimed responsibility for arson and knife attacks in London, Amsterdam, Paris and Antwerp, recruiting activists through Telegram — through the “VIPEmployment” channel, it offered an Israeli IDF reservist 33,000 dollars to kill his commander. Onet closes the week with an analysis under the headline that “Putin’s sophisticated plan is beginning to fall apart”: military sources describe fatigue at the front, the wounded remaining in the field and the Kremlin’s fear that the scale of the problems can no longer be hidden. German defence chief Boris Pistorius added dryly from Kyiv that Putin’s talk of the war’s imminent end is “another lie”. FAZ ↗ Onet ↗ Tagesspiegel ↗ Onet ↗

Europe is living differently too: tariffs, Eurovision and Carney as anti-Trump

Trump’s car tariffs have already cost European manufacturers more than eight billion euros, with Volkswagen feeling it most strongly (Audi and Porsche without their own factories in the US), writes Italy’s Open. The Fim Cisl unions are asking Stellantis for a written commitment that it will not close any factory in Italy. Eurovision is divided ahead of its seventieth edition in Vienna: Ireland, Spain and Slovenia will not broadcast the contest this year in protest against Israel’s participation. And in Berlin, Tagesspiegel asks what makes Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “the right man at the right time” — media are beginning to see him as the first portrait of an anti-Trump among Western leaders. Open ↗ ANSA ↗ Libération ↗ Tagesspiegel ↗

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