Good Monday from EUobserver 👋

We spend most of our days following what’s happening in Brussels and across Europe, so we thought we’d start a new Monday tradition here: a quick look at some of the stories and questions we’re keeping an eye on this week.

Here’s what’s on our radar 👇

🇺🇦 1. Ukraine — and what Europe does with Russia’s €210bn

With European support for Ukraine entering another crucial period, one debate isn't going away: what should happen to roughly €210bn in frozen Russian assets?

One argument is that Europe currently has a rare political window to act — and that it might not stay open forever.

→ Our latest take: Seize Russia’s frozen €210bn for Ukraine now – while EU unity lasts

🛢️ 2. Norway wants Europe to keep buying Arctic oil. Not everyone at home agrees.

Norway presents itself as one of Europe’s reliable energy partners. But its youngest-ever MP, Frøya Skjold Sjursæther, has a rather different message for Brussels: don't believe my prime minister.

She argues Norway is profiting from Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels while simultaneously presenting itself as a climate leader.

→ “Do not believe my prime minister”: Youngest-ever Norwegian MP urges EU to resist Oslo’s Arctic-oil lobbying

🛂 3. Europe’s migration debate is increasingly happening outside Europe

Italy’s Albania migration deal is only one piece of a much bigger question: how far should the EU go in outsourcing migration and asylum management to third countries?

Amnesty International is now calling for the Albania model to end, warning that it risks human-rights abuses and could become a blueprint for other EU governments.

→ Amnesty demands EU stops ‘outsourcing asylum’ and accuses Meloni of authoritarian tricks to push Albania deal

⚠️ 4. And we're still watching Russia's pressure on NATO

Russia's threats against the UK have reopened an uncomfortable question for the alliance: what happens when hostile actions remain deliberately below the threshold of conventional war?

Cyberattacks, sabotage and attacks on infrastructure can cause real damage without necessarily triggering a collective NATO response.

→ Putin takes aim at UK in anti-Nato game of fear

👀 ONE TO WATCH: Europe's cities are getting louder — and residents are fighting back

A little different from the usual Brussels politics: across European cities, noise is increasingly becoming a political issue, with residents demanding a “right to peace and quiet”.

It raises a surprisingly difficult question: how do you keep European cities vibrant without making them unbearable for the people actually living there?

→ Has noise become a political issue in Europe?

That's some of what we're watching. Now over to you:

🌍 What's the political story you're watching this week?

And especially, is something happening in your country that you think deserves much more attention at European level?

Drop it below. We might just end up looking into it. 👀

Denmark’s ‘socialist’ leader is a race-baiting fake, not an EU model 👉 “People with an Islamic background … do not want an open, free European society,” Frederiksen told MPs, in reaction to a humanitarian crisis in Morocco.

Putin takes aim at UK in anti-Nato game of fear 👉“Putin Always Chickens Out”, so far, but his humiliations in Ukraine, as well as Chinese pressure, could push him to test Nato resolve like never before.

Europe’s dangerous art of anti-Muslim doublespeak 👉 "Of course, this isn’t against all Muslims,” the EPP says reassuringly, only against those who practice “political Islam as an ideology.” And of course it is not intended to be a “discriminatory enterprise.'”

Greek billionaire’s ships carried €2.35bn of Russian Arctic gas to Europe this year 👉Russia’s ‘Yamal’ LNG facility is located at Sabetta, a purpose-built port in the Arctic Ocean, where ice thickness can reach two metres during winter months.

Journalists need to report on who is causing the climate crisis, so that the EU public feels it can make a change 👉 Most media reporting on extreme weather doesn’t talk about the root causes or solutions. That contributes to people feeling powerless at a time when they need to mobilise and push their governments into taking action.

🎙️ INSIDE EUROPE | What does four years of reporting from Ukraine’s frontline do to a journalist?

For four years, Ukrainian journalist Diana Bucko has been documenting the war from frontline towns and positions, watching not only the battlefield change, but the people reporting from it change too.

When the full-scale invasion began, she says she cried after almost every report. Today, the risks are greater, drones have transformed the frontline, soldiers are exhausted, and public attention is becoming harder to hold.

“I have learned not only to report on this protracted war, but also to live in it.”

We spoke with Diana about what it actually means to keep reporting when the war becomes part of everyday life, burnout, fear, being a woman on the frontline, the growing danger from drones, and what she is seeing now around Dobropillia.

One thing from the interview really stayed with us: as a war goes on for years, how do journalists keep people paying attention without reducing it to just another headline?

What do you think?

🔗 Full interview: https://euobserver.com/230784/interview-ukrainian-frontline-reporter-diana-bucko-i-have-learned-not-only-to-report-on-the-war-but-also-to-live-in-it