Who are Europe’s emerging power players? As part of this year’s #POLITICO28 ranking, we’re also spotlighting the 10 rising figures who are already challenging the order around them. See who made our list of ones to watch 👇🧵 https://t.co/ZEMRQRVLAv

Companies and organizations operating Europe's energy networks, hospitals, banks and other key infrastructure can’t find enough people to defend their digital systems, the European Union's cyber agency has warned.

Riding on the wave of anti-Shein backlash at home, the French government is lobbying for EU-level restrictions on foreign e-commerce platform. It says it wants to stop the flood of cheap and unsafe products coming into the EU market.

Current and former European security officials we spoke to said a key question for the continent is no longer if Europe can take over primary responsibility for its defense and security ... but when.  🔗 https://t.co/gSbYQ3zVK2

Belgium is demanding that the EU provide an extra cash buffer to ensure against Kremlin threats over a €210 billion loan to Ukraine using Russian assets, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

Brussels’ battle over whether plant-based foods can be sold as “veggie burgers” and “vegan sausages” ended the year in stalemate today, after talks between EU countries and the European Parliament collapsed without a deal.

Britain’s top Europe minister Nick Thomas-Symonds today defended a decision to keep the U.K. out of the EU's customs union, saying that Tuesday's non-binding British parliamentary vote on rejoining risked reviving bitter arguments about Brexit. https://t.co/IJ0suYsuQh

Trump talks Ukraine peace deal with Macron, Merz and Starmer

While Germany’s far-right AfD has welcomed Donald Trump’s support, France’s National Rally has kept its distance. The reason has more to do with domestic political calculations than differing ideologies.  🔗 https://t.co/x87TtBuGaQ

OPINION: As Europe and the U.S. look to maintain their edge, they must rethink not just how they produce and move energy, but how to secure the industrial base behind it. 🔗 https://t.co/GBSXiVCb7Q

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to change the Ukrainian law that bans elections during wartime to demonstrate that antidemocratic accusations against him are baseless and to win clear security guarantees for Kyiv. https://t.co/tTqmucp01I

Britain’s chief foreign minister praised Donald Trump’s role in trying to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, despite fears he may lose interest in finding a settlement that is acceptable to Kyiv. https://t.co/aT3KaURDvF

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is “buying into [Donald] Trump’s agenda” by slashing regulations on businesses, according to the head of the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament. https://t.co/5DIaao2Vvw

Poland is Europe’s largest defense spender as a percentage of gross domestic product, aiming to spend 186.6 billion złoty (€44 billion) on its military this year. But Warsaw's domestic industry is absorbing only a sliver of that money. 🔗 https://t.co/42dU0icyD2

The EU has unveiled another plan to roll back green rules. https://t.co/I9o1vUvWM9

@AlexandraGeese @bpkaracsonyg @EuMordue @knafo_sarah @SMuresan See the full list of emerging power players here: https://t.co/ZEMRQRVLAv And explore the whole #POLITICO28 power ranking here: https://t.co/jUMNpHVop8

@AlexandraGeese @bpkaracsonyg @EuMordue @knafo_sarah Normally sidelined in long-term budget talks, the European Parliament has already forced the European Commission to revise its proposal. And Romanian MEP @SMuresan is leading the charge. More on the lawmaker: https://t.co/ZmblqsoRxM

@AlexandraGeese @bpkaracsonyg @EuMordue Once best known as the strategist behind the far-right provocateur Eric Zemmour, MEP @knafo_sarah is now eclipsing him on the nationalist right. If she runs for mayor of Paris as expected, it would thrust her onto the national stage. Why we chose her: https://t.co/3ASycj2HZY

@AlexandraGeese @bpkaracsonyg @EuMordue is von der Leyen's new major hire in her drive to tighten her grip on foreign policy. The EU official has spent over three decades in the institutions and has a portfolio spanning Africa, Turkey and the Western Balkans. Why he made the list: https://t.co/gSOZKx8AJP

@AlexandraGeese When Viktor Orbán moved to ban Budapest Pride, it was the capital’s mayor, @bpkaracsonyg, who pushed back, allowing for the parade to take place. The event cemented him as the country’s foremost defender of liberal values. Why he made the list: https://t.co/Lf4ciSBRf2

@AlexandraGeese has emerged as one of the European Parliament’s most influential digital voices. The Greens’ MEP has helped shape the bloc’s recent wave of digital regulation. Can she press the Commission to hold the line against MAGA? Why we chose her: https://t.co/LJsXc5grwP