Vatican confirms Conclave to begin on 7 May
The Vatican has now confirmed that the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis will begin on 7 May.
Key events
Air traffic in Spain, Portugal affected by outages – Flightradar
Air traffic monitoring service Flightradar reported issues in Spain and Portugal related to “widespread electrical outages affecting both countries.”
“We’re not yet seeing widespread cancellations, but we are monitoring the situation as it develops,” they said.
Russia declares surprise three-day ceasefire in Ukraine around Victory Day anniversary
Elsewhere – there’s a lot of news happening today! – Russian president Vladimir Putin has declared a full ceasefire in Ukraine between 8 and 10 May as Russia celebrates the Victory Day over Nazi Germany, AP reported.
“Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example. In the event of violations of the truce by the Ukrainian side, the Russian armed forces will give an adequate and effective response,” the Kremlin said, in a statement reported by AFP.
But Russia has said it would ensure “an adequate and effective response” in case of ceasefire violations by Ukraine.
Madrid residents hit by energy disruptions
Ashifa Kassam
On the streets of Madrid’s Arguelles neighbourhood neighbours milled around, trading stories of friends caught in different places, from the metro to traffic jams caused by downed traffic lights.
One doorman told of helping an elderly lady trapped between floors in her elevator when the power went out, others rushed to the supermarket to stock up on basics — only to realise they had no cash on them, only cards that don’t work.
Spanish electricity grid operator Red Eléctrica said in a social media update it was “beginning to recover power” in parts of the Iberian Peninsula, but it continued working on the outage.
Major disruptions across cities, transport systems in Spain, Portugal – reports
To give you an idea about the extent of power outages in Spain and Portugal, here’s a quick round up of reported consequences via their national media:
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Barcelona and Seville are among major Spanish cities affected, with Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid metro systems reportedly affected, and disruptions at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, which reports delays in flights (El Mundo, Barajas website).
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Spain’s national railway operator Renfe reported stopping trains as a result of the disruption.
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Widespread disruptions were reported in Portugal, affecting mobile networks, transport services, and airports, as well as traffic lights in Lisbon and Porto (El Pais, Publico).
The exact extent of the outages and the number of people affected are not immediately clear.
This is a developing story.
Vatican confirms Conclave to begin on 7 May
The Vatican has now confirmed that the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis will begin on 7 May.
Spain, Portugal report major electricity disruptions
We are hearing reports from Spain and Portugal about a major disruption to energy supply in the two countries.
Electricity grid operator Red Eléctrica said it has activated plans to restore the supply, with “all resources dedicated to solving” the disruption.
Portuguese media are reporting severe disruptions to telecoms and transport operations.
This is a developing story; we will bring you more as soon as we can.
Greenland ready for strong partnership with US, but ‘never piece of property that can be bought,’ prime minister says
Miranda Bryant
Elsewhere, in his first visit to Denmark since becoming the Greenlandic PM, Jens-Frederik Nielsen announced over the weekend that Greenland is ready for a “strong partnership” with the US, but warned that Greenland will “never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought”.
The press conference on Sunday – in which the Danish PM, Mette Frederiksen, took a more conciliatory tone than previously, conceding that the Danish kingdom needed to modernise – came amid a flurry of diplomacy between Denmark and Greenland.
Today, Nielsen will visit the Danish King, Frederik, at Amalienborg palace in Copenhagen before flying together to Nuuk where they are due to arrive tonight.
On Tuesday, the King will have a coffee meeting open to the public in Nuuk before later going on a hike and in the evening attending a Greenlandic government dinner. On Wednesday he will visit biology students at Sila before heading to the most northerly staffed station in Greenland with Danish defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen. On Thursday he will head out with the Sirius dog sled patrol, a unit of the Danish Special Forces Command.
It comes after a tense few months between Copenhagen and Nuuk after Trump’s election to the White House during which he has made repeated threats to gain control of Greenland – a former Danish colony that remains part of the Danish kingdom – and sent his vice-president, JD Vance, to visit the US military base in Greenland, Pituffik, so soon after Greenland’s general election that the government’s new coalition had yet to be formally announced.
Soon after, Frederiksen visited Nuuk for the first time in over a year during which she issued a message to Trump from an inspection ship, saying: “You cannot annex another country.”
Conclave to elect new pope to begin on 7 May – Reuters
We are just getting a line from Reuters news agency saying that the Conclave to elect new pope will start on 7 May, according to its source.
We have not independently verified this report.
Sistine Chapel to be closed from today ‘for requirements of Conclave’
The Sistine Chapel will be closed to the public from today “for the requirements of the Conclave,” the Vatican Museums said in a statement.
The message welcomes visitors to the Vatican Museums’ website.
It adds that all tours of the Vatican Gardens and the Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis are also suspended.
No date for Trump-von der Leyen meeting, EU spokesperson says
The commission spokespeople got also asked about the brief conversation between Trump and commission president Ursula von der Leyen at Pope Francis’s funeral during which the pair reportedly agreed to meet at a later date.
Pinho said there was “no date for the moment,” with only early “interest expressed,” as she added that “the right moment for it will be when there is a package to be agreed upon at the level of the two presidents.”
Pressed further, she said “there are a number of issues on the table,” including tariffs,” adding that there are “no further details.”
“The funeral of Pope Francis was not the moment or the place to discuss … such details,” she said.
EU welcomes Trump’s comments acknowledging Russia’s attacks, says North Korean backing shows Russia’s desperation
At the European Commission’s midday press briefing, the chief spokesperson Paula Pinho has just been asked about the EU’s reaction to Donald Trump’s comments over the weekend after he met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.
She said:
President Zelensky has been very much aligned with the EU position, and vice versa, we’ve been very much aligned with President Zelensky on the position with regard to peace and negotiations regarding a ceasefire agreement, where absolutely the position of Ukraine is the determining position.
We’ve also heard, indeed, the comments by President Trump after these talks, and we welcome those comments that go in the sense of also acknowledging that the attacks of Russia on Ukraine, which, by the way, continued over the weekend, cannot be accepted.
Adding to her comments, the commission’s spokesperson on foreign policy, Anita Hipper, said that “Russia’s deepening military cooperation with North Korea … sends a very clear message: Russia is not interested in peace; on the contrary, Russia’s goal remains to suppress Ukraine, and Russia is desperately seeking any help they can get to help with this illegal aggression.”
She said it was a sign of Russia’s “desperation” to rely on North Korea, and stressed it showed “just … how isolated they are.”
25 arrested after spate of attacks on French prisons
Twenty five people were arrested in police raids across France after a series of coordinated attacks on prisons rattled the government this month, a source close to the case said, AFP reported.
The early morning arrests took place outside Paris as well as in Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux, the source told AFP.
Unknown assailants this month hit several jails and other facilities across France, torching cars, spraying the entrance of one prison with automatic gunfire, and leaving mysterious inscriptions.
The assaults have embarrassed the right-leaning government whose tough-talking Justice and Interior ministers, Gérald Darmanin and Bruno Retailleau, have vowed to intensify the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime.
Bardella ready to stand in for Le Pen in 2027 race
In other European developments over the weekend, the National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said he would be ready to step in as the French far-right’s presidential candidate in 2027 if Marine Le Pen is ultimately barred from running.
Le Pen was handed a five-year public office ban after a court found her and some members of her party guilty in March of misappropriation of funds.
The Paris appeals court has said it will deliver a verdict on her case by next summer, potentially allowing her to contest the 2027 presidential race if her conviction is overturned, which is seen as unlikely, or the ban on running for public office lifted.
Speaking to the Le Parisien newspaper, he insisted that “Marine is presumed innocent and we will continue to use all possible means … to continue to proclaim our innocence in this matter.”
But in quotes translated by AFP, he added:
“There is no ambiguity about the fact that Marine Le Pen is my candidate, and if she was prevented tomorrow, I think I would be able to say to you that I will be the candidate. I cannot be clearer than that.”
Vatican expected to set timeline for pope election
Meanwhile in the Vatican, cardinals are expected on Monday to pick a date for the conclave to elect a new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, after the death of Pope Francis, AFP said.
Under the rules, a conclave should begin 15 and 20 days after a pope’s death or resignation, indicating an early May date, when the official period of mourning ends.
There are more than 250 cardinals in total, but those over the age of 80 are ineligible to take part in the conclave. That leaves 135 eligible cardinals, most of them appointed by Pope Francis.
Russia ‘ready’ for talks, but demands recognition of occupied territories
Russia claimed it was ready to conduct talks with Ukraine ‘without any preconditions’, AFP said state media reported, after US president Donald Trump questioned Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s willingness to halt the three-year offensive.
But then in other comments, reported almost simultaneously by AFP, the country’s most senior diplomat said that its claims over five Ukrainian regions including Crimea were “imperative” to talks aimed at resolving the conflict.
“International recognition of Russia’s ownership of Crimea, Sevastopol, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is imperative,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Brazilian newspaper O Globo, using the Kremlin’s names for the Ukrainian regions.
In the interview, published online here, Lavrov also said the ball was “not in our court” as he tried to put pressure on Kyiv to make concessions in order to progress the talks.
Pro-Ukraine politician picked to lead German diplomacy in Merz’s government
In good news for Kyiv elsewhere, Johann Wadephul, an experienced pro-Ukraine politician from the conservative CDU, will be Germany’s next foreign minister, the party said in a statement.
Wadephul, 62, has long been a close confidant of incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz and a key adviser to him on foreign policy issues, AFP noted, adding that he is known for pushing for more weapons to support Ukraine.
Wadephul will be the first German foreign minister from CDU since 1966.
In other interesting appointments, Katherina Reiche is expected to get the economy portfolio, and Karsten Wildberger, CEO of MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group, will lead the new digital ministry tasked with rapid digitisation of public services.
But all of these appointments hinge on the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition deal being formally confirmed by SPD members. Their vote closes tomorrow, with the result expected on Wednesday.
If all goes well, Merz should be formally elected new chancellor, replacing Olaf Scholz, in early May.
Morning opening: What’s next for Ukraine?
US President Donald Trump has said he thinks Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, despite his Ukrainian counterpart’s previous assertions on the Black Sea peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Not sure if Zelenskyy or Ukraine will agree with that suggestion.
Speaking over the weekend, just days after the pair met at Pope Francis’s funeral in the Vatican, Trump said “Oh, I think so,” in response to a question on whether he thought Zelenskyy was ready to “give up” the territory.
German defence minister Boris Pistorius on Sunday said the US proposal for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia was “akin to a capitulation”.
In an interview with the broadcaster ARD, he said that Kyiv knew that a peace agreement may involve territorial concessions.
“But these will certainly not go … as far as they do in the latest proposal from the US president,” Pistorius said. “Ukraine on its own could have got a year ago what was included in that [Trump] proposal, it is akin to a capitulation. I cannot discern any added value.”
Despite the comments on Crimea, the US president expressed newfound sympathy for his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, saying he “wants to do something good for his country” and “is working hard”.
Asked what he wants Putin to do, Trump replied: “Well, I want him to stop shooting. Sit down and sign the deal. We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it.”
“Do you trust President Putin?” Trump was asked.
“I’ll let you know in about two weeks,” Trump said.
Just this morning, Putin thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the “feat” of Pyongyang’s troops in helping wrest back the area held by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, AFP reported.
“The Korean friends acted, guided by the sentiments of solidarity, justice and real camaraderie,” the Kremlin cited Putin as saying.
Let’s see what updates we’re going to get during the day.
We are also expecting updates on the new government formation process in Germany, a Danish royal visit to Greenland, and potential updates on the timeline for the process to pick Pope Francis’s successor.
It’s Monday, 28 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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