WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said security, energy and competitiveness will be the priorities for his nation’s upcoming presidency in the European Union in the first half of 2025.
Tusk said Europe needs to be more “egoistic” and show more internal solidarity in facing outside competition.
He was speaking Thursday following talks with the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and leaders of the parliament's various political groups about the main points of the presidency, which , he said, he wants to be a “breakthrough” time for the EU.
The priorities of the presidency will be “security in may dimenstions, energy - as one of the main conditions (needed) for the European Union to regain its full competitiveness, protection of various groups of our citizens, honest competitiveness in which Europe really has a chance to win with everyone in the world,” Tusk said.
He stressed that Warsaw's presidency is coming at a “difficult” and ”critical” moment of geopolitical challenges like the war in neighbouring Ukraine, upcoming presidential elections in another neighboouring country, Belarus, as well as conflicts and tensions in many parts or the world and political crises in some of the biggest European countires. Poland is also facing election at a yet-unspecified date in the spring to replace the right-wing president, Andrzej Duda.
He said Poland’s resolve in protecting its border with Belarus from migrant pressure is gaining wider support and the need for protecting its borders is becoming Europe’s shared approach.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, is congratulated by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, after a vote by the European Parliament to approve the new EU College of Commissioners at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, left, and Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson sign an agreement during Thursday's summit at Harpsund in Flen, Sweden, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP)
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks to reporters in Dabrowka, Poland, during a visit to Poland's border with Russia on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of lighting a woman on fire on a New York City subway and fanning the flames as she burned to death made his first appearance in court this week, while authorities were yet to publicly identify the victim.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was arraigned on murder and arson charges on Tuesday afternoon in a Brooklyn court, where he was remanded back to custody. He did not enter a plea and his lawyer did not speak to reporters assembled inside the courthouse. His next court date is scheduled for Friday.
Authorities allege that Zapeta, who federal immigration officials say is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, calmly approached the woman aboard a stopped F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn on Sunday morning and set her clothing ablaze.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Sunday described the case as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being.”
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Zapeta was taken into custody on Sunday, hours after police disseminated images of a suspect in the woman's death.
Police said three high schoolers called 911 after recognizing the person in the image, and officers found him on another subway train in the same gray hoodie, wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jeff Carter said Zapeta is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally after he had been previously deported to Guatemala in 2018. It is unclear when and where he reentered the U.S., Carter said.
Zapeta was arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court on Tuesday. He appeared before a judge in a white jumpsuit and did not speak.
Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg, during Tuesday's court hearing, alleged that Zapeta lit the woman’s clothing on fire and fanned the flames using a shirt.
Rottenberg added that under interrogation Zapeta claimed he didn’t know what happened, noting that he consumes alcohol. But he alleged that Zapeta identified himself to interrogators in images of the attack.
A Brooklyn address for Zapeta released by police matches a service center for Samaritan Daytop Village, which provides housing and substance abuse support. The organization did not respond to a request for comment.
The victim has not been publicly identified as of Thursday. Police have described her only as a woman.
On Thursday, Rev. Kevin McCall led community leaders in a prayer vigil for her at the Coney Island station.
Tisch said Sunday that the victim was “in a seated position” at the end of the train car when she was set on fire. NYPD transit chief Joseph Gulotta said police do not believe the suspect and the victim knew each other and they did not interact before or during the incident.
Police patrol the New York City subways, and there is a vast network of cameras in stations and all subway cars.
But the sheer size of the subway system — 472 stations with multiple entry points and millions of riders each day — makes policing it logistically difficult.
On Sunday, officers were at the station but were patrolling a different platform. They responded after seeing and smelling smoke coming from the fire.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year directed members of the state's National Guard to assist with random bag checks at certain stations.
Violent incidents on the subway and in stations often put people on edge, partly because many New Yorkers take the train multiple times a day and often have their own experiences with uncomfortable interactions in the system.
Broadly, crime is down in the city transit system this year compared to the same period in 2023. Data compiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority shows a 6% decline in what the agency calls major felonies between January and November of this year and 2023.
At the same time, murders in the transit system are up, with nine killings this year through November compared to five in the same time frame last year.
High-profile incidents on the train often attract national attention and further unnerve passengers. Daniel Penny, a military veteran who placed an agitated subway rider in a chokehold, was acquitted of homicide this month.
“When you have these incidents, it overshadows the success and it plays on the psyche of New Yorkers,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a Monday interview on PIX 11, noting that many high-profile incidents in the transit system involve people with mental health issues.
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
A suspect, identified by police as Sebastian Zapeta, is facing murder and arson charges in New York City for allegedly setting a woman on fire inside a subway train and then watching her die after she was engulfed in flames, police said Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (WABC-TV via AP)
FILE - New York Police officers clear a train at the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue Terminal, May 5, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, file)
