Serbian prime minister Vučević resigns
Serbian prime minister Miloš Vučević has resigned in the last few minutes.
His resignation comes just a day after Serbian students have staged a daylong blockage of a major traffic intersection in Belgrade with the support of farmers, stepping up pressure on the president, Aleksandar Vučić.
The wave of student-led demonstrations began as a protest against government corruption after the collapse of a roof of a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad on 1 November, which killed 15 people.
His resignation comes after president Vučić sought to open a dialogue with the protesters and indicated on Monday he would reshuffle the government.
The wave of student-led demonstrations began as a protest against government corruption after the collapse of a roof of a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad on 1 November, which killed 15 people.
On Monday, the demonstrators occupied the Autokomanda junction, where two major roads from the south-east converge on the way to Belgrade’s centre.
Key events
Frederiksen’s ‘top political speed dating’ over Greenland – snap reaction
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is expected in Paris shortly, where she is going to meet with French president Emmanuel Macron.
Our Nordic correspondent Miranda Bryant writes in on Frederiksen’s euro trip:
The last 24 hours have seen a raft of announcements – including on defence and tackling racism against Greenlandic people in Denmark – by the Danish government aimed at appeasing Greenlanders and the US as Donald Trump continues to target his attentions on attempting to acquire Denmark.
Now the Danish PM Mette Frederiksen is on a whistle stop European charm offensive to Berlin, Paris and Brussels in a bid to reassure her colleagues that Denmark has Europe’s full support if Trump follows through on his threats of a trade war.
In what Danish newspaper Berlingske describes as “a form of top political speed dating” she first met German chancellor Olaf Scholz and is later due to meet French president Emmanuel Macron and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte.
It has been a challenging January for Frederiksen which has seen Denmark singled out by the US and publicly threatened not just with tariffs but potential military intervention over Greenland.
On Sunday night, amid leaks of her reportedly “horrible” 45-minute call with the US president, she put on a show of Nordic unity by sharing a photo on social media of a very cosy looking dinner eating what looked like home-cooked food at a kitchen table with Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre, Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson and Finnish president Alexander Stubb.
Ukraine update
Speaking of Ukraine, here’s our latest briefing to bring you up to date on what is happening there.
Veterans’ help and healthcare among NGOs whose USAid funding has been cut off; Hungary steps aside from blocking Russia sanctions.
Here is what we know on day 1,070 of the war:
And here are some moving pictures from Kyiv-based photographer Vic Bákin who turned his camera on the crumbling homes and young, shaven-headed recruits that have symbolised the war with Russia
Ukraine ceasefire favourable to Russia remains top global risk to EU, experts say
The EU Institute for Security Studies and the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute in Florence have published their 2025 report on global risks to the EU this morning. And it does not make for pretty reading.
The report, compiled by the EUI’s Veronica Anghel based on submissions from foreign policy experts across Europe, says that a ceasefire in Ukraine that would be favourable to Russia remains “the highest risk” to the bloc, given Ukraine role “as a critical shield for EU interest.”
The experts also warned that US isolationism “is as dangerous for Europe as a Russian nuclear strike,” with the latter seen as “the least likely risk,” despite worries about “new Russian military action in non-Nato neighbouring states.”
(Anghel jokingly admitted that experts failed to foresee the Greenland crisis.)
The study also raised alarm about “the risk of a disruptive cyber-attack on EU infrastructure,” classified as one of the top threats. “Variations in infrastructure resilience and cybercrime awareness across member states are likely to challenge EU policy coherent,” it said.
It also made a pointed comment on “the risk of subsea sabotage … growing, prompting Baltic states to take increasingly assertive measures to protect subsea infrastructure.”
On migration, the report warned against “large-scale irregular migration from the Middle East and north Africa and sub-Saharan Africa to the EU,” with a separate warning that this topic “has been instrumentalised by far-right forces to fragment EU politics.”
Responding to the report, Nato’s director of policy planning, Benedetta Berti, said this:
This really exemplifies, to me, what has been our dominant strategic assumption for the past few years, which is we are in the most complex, volatile and dangerous security environment that we have seen as transatlantic community, as Europeans, in the few generations.
… This is, in a nutshell, what we’ve been saying for since 2022 … which is, we’re not at war, but we’re not at peace [either]. This is not a peacetime threat assessment.
Gulp.
The full report is here.
‘Borders must not be moved by force,’ Scholz says in a swipe at Trump
Speaking alongside Frederiksen, German chancellor Olaf Scholz went further by making a very pointed remark on territorial integrity, which sounded like a swipe at Trump.
Speaking in German, seemingly about Ukraine, he said:
We will support Ukraine in the distribution of its sovereignty and its freedom, as long as it takes. With our partners in Washington That is why we now agree that this war must end, but it must not be a dictated peace. Putin must be clear that he is sending his soldiers into a senseless battle. The inviolability of borders is a fundamental principle of international law. Russia broke this principle with its attack on Ukraine …
But then he went on:
The principle must apply to everyone. I made that clear again from this point a few days ago: Borders must not be moved by force.
Before adding, unusually, in English and with a stern look on his face:
To whom it may concern.
‘Up to Europe to define the future of our continent,’ Danish PM says in Berlin
Denmark’s Frederiksen spoke in Berlin over the last hour, where she begun her European tour meeting German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
She did not explicitly reference US president Donald Trump or Greenland, but let’s see if you can spot a certain theme or subtext in her comments.
This morning, we are facing more uncertain reality, a reality that calls for an even more united Europe and for more cooperation. Our ties are rooted in our history, our values, and in our interests, in Europe and also across the Atlantic. …
We need a stronger and a more resolute Europe standing increasingly in its own right, capable of defending and promoting Europe and the European interests. It is up to Europe to define the future of our continent. I think we have to take more responsibility for our own security. …
Europe, our continent, is based on the idea of that cooperation rather than confrontation will lead to peace, to progress, to prosperity, and let us honour that idea.
Now, quickly a final word on yesterday’s event in Oświęcim and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration camp in Auschwitz.
Our Europe correspondent Jon Henley was there and here is his report.
On a day of startling blue skies, Auschwitz survivors stood before princes and presidents on Monday to remind the world, perhaps for the final time, of the horrors they suffered there during one of the darkest moments of human history.
Beneath a white marquee erected in front of the gate to the former Nazi death camp, four former inmates – the youngest 86, the oldest 99 – warned world leaders on the 80th anniversary of its liberation against the danger of rising antisemitism.
For detailed minute-by-minute coverage, check our Europe live blog from yesterday.
Morning opening: With friends like these
Jakub Krupa
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen travels to Berlin, Paris and Brussels at short notice today as she seeks to seek European unity in response to US president Donald Trump’s repeated plans to “get” Greenland.
“Denmark is a small country with strong allies. And it is part of a strong European community where together we can meet the challenges we face. … With war on the continent and changes in geopolitical reality, … unity is crucial,” she said in a statement in Danish published last night.
Her trip comes after a similar show-of-unity meeting over the weekend when she hosted the prime ministers of Sweden and Norway and the president of Finland in Copenhagen for what looked like the cosiest, most relaxed dinner between world leaders ever.
But pictures can be deceiving.
On Monday, Denmark announced plans to invest £1.65bn ($2bn) to boost its security in the Arctic region with new ships, long-range drones, and satellites to help police the area. One of the priorities is tellingly named “asserting the sovereignty.” (No word on extra dog sleds, which Trump ridiculed last week.)
Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the country’s intelligence services warned against a higher-than-usual threat level in the region. And presumably, they do not just mean the usual suspects in the Russians and the Chinese.
Even putting military pressure aside, the US is Denmark’s biggest export market, with pharmaceutical, machinery, and technical equipment top of the list. Any disruption – for example, through Trump’s favourite word, tariffs – would hurt and could easily escalate quickly as the EU would be expected to respond as a bloc.
Danish parliament speaker Søren Gade said this morning in the Danish press that Trump’s words on Greenland felt “like a kick in the gut” after years of close cooperation within Nato, with Danish troops joining US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a telling passage of his interview with the Politiken newspaper, he said he would usually trust the US and follow the country’s view on defence issues. Still, even he is bewildered by the current diplomatic crisis.
In line with what the Financial Times is reporting as a deliberate tactic to avoid further public confrontation with Trump, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas sought to play the situation down when she addressed reporters yesterday.
She backed Denmark but insisted that “we are not negotiating on Greenland,” and “we shouldn’t also go into speculation about what-ifs because this is not the situation right now.”
But the nerves are palpable, and Frederiksen will not want to take risks. That’s why she is off around Europe.
On Tuesday morning, she said that “we need a stronger and more resolute Europe, standing increasingly in its own right” in the context of growing Russian and Chinese challenges.
Could she mean someone else, too?
It’s Tuesday, 28 January 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
Good morning.
