An under-appreciated take on Barrow, but as a senior official, he has effectively led the UK's policy on the EU for several years now. His departure will open some new doors in UK-EU relations.

This is so confused I don't even know where to start.

Almost €2.5m in donations for the Ukraine ammunition fund now, with thanks to Robert Fico’s petulance.

Anyone can donate here:

municiapreukrajinu.sk

This smells like a diplomatic fiasco. The UK and EU have been toying with a youth mobility agreement for months. But after the Commission asks member states for the mandate to start the talks, the UK side rejects that. Whatever has happened, it makes both sides look silly.

99-year-old Slovak National Uprising veteran Otto Šimko told me why he supports Mier Ukrajine civil initiative Peace for Ukraine:

'I lived through the Second World War. I fought in it. I can tell you there was no point negotiating with Hitler and there is no point negotiating with Putin.'

bbc.com/news/world-eur…

Very, very good news that the Commission is looking to open negotiations with the UK over youth mobility. Lots of low-hanging fruit in this area (eg, the right to work/study, student exchanges, work experiences, fees, etc), all which can make a real difference to people's lives.

Interesting study of Chinese and Russian views of national competitiveness, emphasising: national ambition & will, unified national identity, & an active state (plus unique culture). Now a more influential imaginary globally than neoliberalism etc. rand.org/pubs/research_…

Critical mineral supply-chain de-risking, not so much.

Striking chart from Bloomberg. 'What’s becoming clearer, though, is the European Union and China risk slow-walking into a trade war as Beijing resists requests to open up its economy, triggering .. defense measures. '

If you're an economist who would like to influence government policy, this post is really worth reading.

The Commission unblocks the RRF for Poland.

I suspect there will soon be an announcement going the other way – suspending the RRF for Slovakia in light of Fico undermining of the rule of law, threatening independent media, and failing to meet the necessary policy milestones.