Good morning. Today our parliament correspondent previews the Hungary-on-Hungary battle of words in Strasbourg, and our finance correspondent reports on the procedural steps that begin today to take a €35bn loan for Ukraine from idea to reality.

Face-off

Domestic Hungarian politics will take over the European parliament today as a speech by prime minister Viktor Orbán is poised to turn into a rare opportunity for his most potent foe to take him on, writes Andy Bounds.

Context: Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and tradition dictates that the presiding country’s leader addresses the Strasbourg assembly. Péter Magyar, whose Tisza party took several seats from Orban’s Fidesz in June’s European elections, will be among the MEPs speaking in response.

Orbán has largely plied Hungary’s media and parliament to his will, rarely facing opposition at home. The European parliament, by contrast, frequently denounces him.

“[In his speech] he will present himself as a competent and strong council presidency . . . but he will stay silent about the corruption, the total state capture, his 24-hour propaganda machinery and his authoritarian chokehold on virtually every aspect of the Hungarian society,” said Tineke Strik, Green MEP and rapporteur on the rule of law in Hungary for the European parliament. 

The European Commission last year unblocked €10bn — about a third of EU funds destined for Hungary but frozen over rule of law concerns — causing howls of outrage.

Magyar will focus on domestic issues, hoping to reach some of those watching back home. Aides say he will mention the poor healthcare standards, and charge that Orbán is filling the pockets of cronies rather than financing public services.

Magyar was once an acolyte of Orbán, but split when his now ex-wife, the former justice minister Judit Varga, was forced to resign over the controversial pardon of a convicted criminal.

Orbán has friends in parliament, too: His Patriots political family has 83 MEPs and is the third-largest group.

They have already targeted Magyar, whose party has joined the centre-right European People’s party (EPP), accusing him of theft. Hungary’s chief prosecutor has charged Magyar for throwing the phone of someone who was filming him at a nightclub into the Danube.

Magyar claims the charges are politically motivated. “This is because our party, Tisza, is polling head-to-head with Fidesz . . . each and every one of their fabricated cases have failed,” Magyar said in a statement.

Parliament’s legal affairs committee will now assess whether Magyar’s immunity should be lifted over the affair.

Chart du jour: Wet hot

Rising global temperatures helped drive “extreme rainfall events” around the world in September, including deadly floods in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria.

Under pressure

A majority of EU countries is set to approve the bloc’s share of a G7 loan to Ukraine, but US participation is still uncertain, writes Paola Tamma.

Context: Last month, the European Commission proposed to issue a loan of up to €35bn, on the back of future profits arising from immobilised Russian state assets. Contributions from Canada, Japan and the UK would bring the total to about $50bn, the amount agreed by G7 leaders in June.

But one big country is missing.

The US has made its participation conditional on an extension of EU sanctions, which currently need renewal every 6 months, to three years. “The scale of our participation depends on the strength of EU assurances that the Russia reserves will remain immobilised,” a US official said.

While a wide majority of member states are expected to approve the EU share of the loan today, extending the sanctions regime requires a unanimous decision, and Hungary has said it wants to wait for the result of US elections on November 5.

“We believe this issue should be decided after the US elections. We have to see in which direction the future US administration is going on this issue,” said Hungary’s finance minister Mihály Varga.

The issue is likely to be discussed by EU leaders next week, who could pile pressure on Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to relinquish his veto on extending EU sanctions — allowing the US to join in after all.

“He’ll have a lot of pressure from member states, from the [European] commission, and hopefully they have a lot of pressure from the US as well,” said an EU diplomat.

The European parliament still needs to approve the loan as well, which is expected later this month.

What to watch today

1. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gives a speech at the European parliament in Strasbourg.

2. Czech and Polish governments hold a joint meeting in Prague.

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STORY: Google could be forced to break up.

The U.S. said Tuesday it may ask a judge to make the search giant sell off businesses like its Chrome browser and Android phone operating system.

It all flows from an August court ruling, when Google was found to be operating an illegal monopoly in search.

Now the Justice Department is considering what penalties to demand, with a breakup among the options.

Another would be to require Google to supply rivals with the indexes, data and models it uses for search functions.

Officials could also seek to stop payments the firm makes to have its search engine pre-installed or set as the standard option for new devices.

Google pays billions every year to companies like Apple to secure default status for its products.

The proposed fixes will also extend to ensuring the firm doesn’t build a new monopoly in artificial intelligence.

Google denies all the charges against it, and plans to appeal the case.

But some of the possible remedies have previously been backed by smaller rivals like search engine DuckDuckGo.

Reviews site Yelp, which sued Google over search in August, says spinning off its Chrome browser and AI services should be considered.

Now the Justice Department is expected to submit more detailed proposals to the court by November 20.

Google will have a month after that to put forward its own ideas.

Whatever happens, it’s likely to shrink the firm’s revenues – and reshape how Americans use the internet.

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Boeing has withdrawn its pay offer to striking machinists as negotiations between the aircraft maker and union members stall and the company’s debt teeters on the edge of a junk rating.

“Our team bargained in good faith,” Stephanie Pope, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, wrote to employees in a letter released late on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, the union did not seriously consider our proposals.”

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said in an update on its website that Boeing was “hell-bent” on sticking to its now-rescinded offer made on September 23.

On Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings put the company’s triple B minus credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on a negative credit watch. Anything below triple B minus is considered a junk credit rating.

“The CreditWatch listing reflects the increased likelihood of a downgrade if the strike persists toward the end of the year,” S&P said.

Boeing’s September 23 offer sparked fury among the 33,000 IAM members employed by the plane maker who have been on strike since September 13. The union said the 30 per cent pay increase offered by the company circumvented normal bargaining by taking the offer directly to workers.

“When we surveyed our members on that offer, the response was overwhelming — those who participated said it was not good enough,” IAM said on Tuesday.

The union added that Boeing, in its most recent negotiations, “refused to propose any wage increases, vacation/sick leave accrual, progression, ratification bonus [and] also would not reinstate the defined benefit pension”.

Pope, in withdrawing Boeing’s pay offer, said IAM “made non-negotiable demands far in excess of what can be accepted if we are to remain competitive as a business”.

IAM’s original demand was for a 40 per cent pay rise, as well as improved conditions. The machinists’ pay has risen 4 per cent over the past eight years.

Boeing is struggling to improve its finances and operations after five punishing years that included two fatal crashes, a pandemic that curtailed travel demand and, most recently, an incident in which a door panel blew off one of its aircraft mid-flight.

The company has used billions of dollars in cash this year as it has slowed production to try to improve its manufacturing and quality processes. Analysts have said the company is also considering issuing equity of about $10bn to shore up its cash position.

Shares of Boeing are down about 5 per cent since the strike began on September 13.

Additional reporting by Claire Bushey in Chicago

In addition to the personnel losses, Ukrainian defenders have inflicted substantial damage on Russia’s military equipment.

Over the past day alone, four enemy tanks and eleven armored fighting vehicles were destroyed, bringing the totals to 8,944 tanks and 17,751 armored vehicles lost since the invasion began.

Other key figures include:

• Artillery systems: 19,222 (+19)

• Multiple rocket launchers: 1,223

• Aircraft: 369

• Helicopters: 328

• Operational-tactical UAVs: 16,718 (+31)

• Cruise missiles: 2,618

• Vehicles and fuel tankers: 26,240 (+55)

The General Staff also noted that recent intelligence updates have led to some adjustments in the reported totals, particularly for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and aircraft.

Despite the large number of losses, Ukraine continues to push back against Russian forces, with Ukrainian defenders recently destroying 180 Russian drones over the past week alone.

BBC

EDF

Why so much water?

EDF

Can they stop the fish?

How to compensate?

Why have plans changed?

PA Media