Latvia prime minister resigns days after ‘stray’ drone incursion – as it happened

From 18h ago 10.24 CEST Latvia's prime minister resigns in aftermath of drone incursion Jakub Krupa Latvian prime minister Evika Siliņa has announced her intention to resign from the post after her coalition partners, the Progressives, refused to support her dismissal of the country’s defence minister, Andris Sprūds, over a recent drone incident (Europe Live last week). Siliņa was frustrated with the response to the incident. The Progressives declined to back the replacement minister, Raivis Melnis, and said they effectively no longer supported the prime minister, leaving her with no majority in the parliament. Latvian prime minister Evika Siliņa arrives for a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels, Belgium. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters In a hastily arranged media statement this morning, the prime minister said that while resigning to protest at what she called petty party squabbles, Siliņa emphasised she is “stepping down, but not giving up.” Her comments will perhaps be read as a hint at her intentions ahead the upcoming parliamentary elections, already scheduled for October. In the meantime, further talks on getting out of this political crisis are expected shortly, with a potential interim government formed to lead the country until the election. The country’s president Edgars Rinkēvičs is planning meetings with leaders of parliamentary parties on Friday. “Latvia cannot afford political uncertainty and instability,” he said on Facebook last night, as the crisis deepened. Share Updated at 10.56 CEST 12h ago 16.36 CEST Poland's capital registers first same-sex marriage in milestone moment for LGBTQ movement Poland’s capital, Warsaw, registered its first same-sex marriage on Thursday, implementing court rulings that require the country to recognise same-sex marriages registered abroad, AP reported. The European Union’s highest court in November ordered Poland to register same-sex marriages that were entered into in other EU countries even if Polish law does not currently permit them. In March, Poland’s supreme administrative court cited that ruling in ordering authorities to recognise the marriage in Germany of two Polish men. “This morning we issued the first transcription of a marriage certificate for a same-sex couple, in accordance with the court rulings,” Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski announced. AP said the mayor also promised his city would proactively recognise other Polish same-sex marriages registered elsewhere in the EU even without a specific court ruling. Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan, who married in Berlin in 2018 but had been repeatedly refused recognition in Poland, confirmed they had finally received their Polish marriage certificate, AFP said. AP noted that Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk said earlier this week that his government would find ways to implement the rulings as soon as possible, and, addressing same-sex couples, apologised “to all those who, for many years, felt rejected and humiliated.” Tusk appealed to Polish officials, regardless of their personal opinions, “to respect the dignity of each individual and to remember that these people live around us, among us, near us, and that they deserve the same feelings of respect, dignity and love as any other person.” LGBTQ+ individuals for decades have been fighting for equal rights in Poland, where same-sex marriage and civil partnerships are illegal. None of the rulings mean that Poland is obliged to legalise same-sex marriage, AP noted. Share Updated at 16.37 CEST 12h ago 16.30 CEST EU proposes end to ‘five tabs, three apps and a prayer’ for cross-border train bookings Jennifer Rankin Brussels correspondent Cross-border train journeys through several European countries are the stuff of many a holidaymaker’s dreams. View image in fullscreen All aboard, choo-choo! Photograph: ANP/Alamy But the reality of trying to buy the tickets, navigating multiple websites without knowing who can help if a connection is missed, can prove less than relaxing. double quotation mark As one MEP puts it, it can often require “five tabs, three apps and a prayer”. Now, however, the European Commission has proposed that before the end of the decade passengers should be able to buy one ticket for one journey and be better protected when trains are late or cancelled. “Europeans will be able with the click of a button to plan, compare and purchase multimodal journeys across borders while benefiting from stronger rail passenger rights, greater transparency and better protection every step of the way,” the EU transport commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said on Wednesday, as he published new rules intended to transform the “excessively complex” experience he said rail travellers met when booking tickets. Asked about the timing, he said: “Before the end of this commission mandate [in 2029] we will have this new era of rail on the ground working.” Under the plans, major railway companies, such as Deutsche Bahn, SNCF and Trenitalia, would be forced to sell competitors’ tickets on their websites, and share data with booking platforms enabling an offer of single tickets for long cross-border journeys. In an expansion of consumer protection laws, passengers would be entitled to help in the event of a missed connection: the operator that caused the delay would ensure the passenger has the right to hop on the next train, or reimbursement, food and accommodation, depending on the circumstances. The plans have to be agreed by EU member states and the European parliament before they become law, and they already face stiff opposition from train operators. EU proposes end to ‘five tabs, three apps and a prayer’ for cross-border train bookings Read more Share 12h ago 16.30 CEST In other news, there’s an important update for those of you who love travelling across Europe by trains (hey, that’s me, too!). Let’s cross over to our Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin. Share 13h ago 15.52 CEST Russian ambassador summoned by Hungary's foreign minister over 'unacceptable' attacks on Ukraine's border region As reported earlier, the Russian ambassador to Hungary has been summoned to the country’s foreign ministry over yesterday’s attacks on the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine, neigbhouring with Hungary and home to many ethic Hungarians. These summons are now almost routine elsewhere but still somewhat unprecedented in Hungary, which had maintained close ties with Putin’s Russia until last week’s change of government. View image in fullscreen Russia's ambassador to Hungary, Evgeny Stanislavov, is surrounded by media as he leaves the Hungarian foreign ministry building in Budapest. Photograph: AP In a video on Facebook, Hungary’s new foreign minister, Anita Orbán, said she told the ambassador the attacks were “unacceptable” and that Hungary “deeply condemns” these strikes. Share 13h ago 15.23 CEST Latvia's prime minister resigns after 'stray' drones incident Jon Henley Europe correspondent Latvia’s centre-right prime minister has resigned over her government’s handling of Ukrainian drones that strayed into Latvian territory from Russia, bringing down her coalition government months before elections, due in October. View image in fullscreen Latvia's prime minister Evika Siliņa attends a press conference in Helsinki last year. Photograph: Heikki Saukkomaa/Reuters Evika Siliņa announced her resignation on Thursday, a day after the Progressives party, her left-leaning coalition partner, withdrew its support over her decision to fire the defence minister, Andris Sprūds, a Progressives member. The Progressives’ move left Siliņa, who leads the centre-right New Unity party, without a ruling majority. Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, is due to meet all party representatives on Friday for talks on a new government. Sprūds was forced to resign on Sunday after Siliņa said he had lost her trust, and that of the public, over the handling of incidents involving stray drones, suspected to be from Ukraine, that had crossed into Latvia. In the most recent, on 7 May, two drones exploded at an oil storage facility. That “clearly demonstrates that the political leadership of the defence sector has failed to fulfil its promise of safe skies over our country”, Siliņa said on Sunday. The head of the army said it had not detected the drones, flying in from Russia, for which Siliņa blamed Sprūds for not having overseen development of anti-drone systems fast enough. Numerous Ukrainian drones have strayed from Russia into Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since March. Government critics in Latvia say this reveals weaknesses in the country’s response to potential threats. Latvian prime minister resigns amid row over drone incursions Read more Share 13h ago 15.22 CEST Jakub Krupa If you’re only joining us now, let’s bring you a handy summary of what’s the situation in Latvia, from our Europe correspondent, Jon Henley. Share 14h ago 14.57 CEST Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “expecting [its] own separate contacts with Xi Jinping” when asked by the Russian Tass news agency whether Beijing and Moscow will discuss the outcome of Donald’s Trump’s visit to China. He announced earlier today that Vladimir Putin will also make a trip to China soon. Meanwhile, Trump and Xi are enjoying a lavish state banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the US president – in an apparent attempt to show how close US-China relations have become – told a room full of government officials, business leaders and such that Chinese people love wearing blue jeans and watching basketball. You can follow our live coverage of Trump’s trip to China here: Trump China visit live: ‘US and China should be partners, not rivals’, Xi says after earlier warning on Taiwan Read more Share Updated at 15.20 CEST 14h ago 14.46 CEST Also today, we are seeing conflicting reports about the US apparently cancelling a planned deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland. Poland’s defence minister, Władysław