Brussels is slowly cooling after a punishing heatwave that shattered records from Denmark to the Czech Republic, but the political temperature remains high. The debate over whether Europe should embrace air conditioning as a standard response to rising temperatures is intensifying, particularly in France, where the far-right Rassemblement National has seized the moment to push a national rollout plan.
Marine Le Pen's party is expected to present its €40 billion “plan clim” to the National Assembly this week, ahead of next year's presidential elections. Critics, however, have slammed the proposal for lacking transparency, substance, and credible cost estimates, with senior party officials often citing inconsistent figures. The plan has nonetheless forced even the pro-climate Ecologist party to shift its stance, with party leader Marine Tondelier acknowledging that air conditioning has a role, especially in hospitals and schools.
France saw schools and energy sites close and critical infrastructure damaged during last week's extreme heat, with estimates suggesting at least 1,000 excess deaths linked to the heatwave. The situation is mirrored across the continent, as many parts of Europe remain unprepared for such events. The cultural and political dimensions of the debate are becoming increasingly pronounced, as our colleagues Tamsin Paternoster and Estelle Nilsson-Julien explain in their analysis of the nuanced social and scientific questions involved.
In Brussels, the heat even forced the shutdown of air conditioning systems in most of the European Commission's Berlaymont headquarters on Friday, according to an internal message seen by Euronews. Crucially, the top floors where President Ursula von der Leyen and her top team work were spared the outage.
EU-China Trade Talks and Central Banking Focus
Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is set to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao in Brussels today, amid rising tensions between the EU and China. Despite Beijing's repeated threats of retaliation over EU efforts to protect its market from Chinese overcapacity, the 27 member states have urged the Commission to maintain dialogue. They have also given von der Leyen a mandate to assess and strengthen the bloc's trade defence instruments. With a €1 billion-a-day trade deficit with China, Europeans want to preserve leverage while keeping channels open—a delicate balancing act.
Meanwhile, the Sintra Central Banking Forum opens today in the resort town west of Lisbon, featuring heavyweights like Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde. The main action comes on Wednesday, when Lagarde and others discuss monetary policy outlooks. Warsh's first public speech outside US financial markets will be closely watched, as investors gauge whether he will maintain the Fed's independence or align with President Trump's push for lower interest rates. The war in Iran has added a curveball, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushing energy prices higher and stoking inflation. The ECB raised rates in May, and the path for inflation will dominate the conference.
Europe's dependence on China is well known, but a new analysis by Peggy Corlin explores where China still depends on Europe—in semiconductors, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, automotive chips, robotics, and quantum computing. Experts caution that the EU has little leverage to exploit these dependencies as trade tensions escalate, given China's monopoly over rare earths essential for Europe's green technologies and defence.
For more on the heatwave's impact, see our coverage of Swiss glaciers hitting record early melt and France's 1,000 excess deaths. In Berlin, police deployed water cannons to cool the public as Germany baked in record heat, as reported here.
