U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that the U.S. used cyberattacks or other technical capabilities to cut power off in Caracas during strikes on the Venezuelan capital that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. If true, it would mark one of the most public uses of U.S. cyber power against another nation in recent memory. These operations are typically highly classified, and the U.S. is considered one of the most advanced nations in cyberspace operations globally. “It was dark, the lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have, it was dark, and it was deadly,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago detailing the operation. Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during the same press conference that U.S. Cyber Command, U.S. Space Command and combatant commands “began layering different effects” to “create a pathway” for U.S. forces flying into the country early Saturday. Caine did not elaborate on what those “effects” entailed. Spokespeople for the White House, Cyber Command and Space Command did not respond to requests for comment on the cyber operations in Venezuela. Internet tracking group NetBlocks reported a loss of internet connectivity in Caracas during power cuts early Saturday morning. Alp Toker, founder of NetBlocks, said in an email Saturday that if cyberattacks contributed to these outages, “it will have been targeted, not impacting the broader network space.” Saturday’s offensive marked the latest cyberattack targeting Venezuelan infrastructure in recent weeks. Venezuelan national oil and gas company PDVSA, or Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., last month accused the U.S. government of carrying out a cyberattack that led to delays in operations across the country. The Trump administration has not publicly commented on whether the U.S. was involved in the December attack. PDVSA said its facilities were not damaged in the strikes on Saturday.

LISBON — Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission should continue to enforce its digital rules with an iron fist despite the outcry from U.S. officials and big tech moguls, co-chair of the Greens in the European Parliament Bas Eickhout told POLITICO. As Green politicians from across Europe gather in the Portuguese capital for their annual congress, U.S. top officials are blasting the EU for imposing a penalty on social media platform X for breaching its transparency obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act, the bloc’s content moderation rule book. “They should just implement the law, which means they need to be tougher,” Eickhout told POLITICO on the sidelines of the event. He argued that the fine of €120 million is “nothing” for billionaire Elon Musk and that the EU executive should go further. The Commission needs to “make clear that we should be proud of our policies … we are the only ones fighting American Big Tech,” he said, adding that tech companies are “killing freedom of speech in Europe.” The Greens have in the past denounced Meta and X over their content moderation policies, arguing these platforms amplify “disinformation” and “extremism” and interfere in European electoral processes. Meta and X did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publication. Meta has “introduced changes to our content reporting options, appeals process and data access tools since the DSA came into force and are confident that these solutions match what is required under the law in the EU,” a Meta spokesperson said at the end of October. Tech mogul Musk said his response to the penalty would target the EU officials who imposed it. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the fine is “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments,” and accused the move of “censorship.” “It’s not good when our former allies in Washington are now working hand in glove with Big Tech,” blasted European Green Party chair Ciarán Cuffe at the opening of the congress in Lisbon. Eickhout, whose party GreenLeft-Labor alliance is in negotiations to enter government in the Netherlands, said “we should pick on this battle and stand strong.” The Commission’s decision to fine X under the EU’s Digital Services Act is over transparency concerns. The Commission said the design of X’s blue checkmark is “deceptive,” after it was changed from user verification into a paid feature. The EU’s executive also said X’s advertising library lacks transparency and that it fails to provide access to public data for researchers as required by the law.  Eickhout lamented that European governments are slow in condemning the U.S. moves against the EU, and argued that with its recent national security strategy, the Americans have made clear their objective is to divide Europe from within by fueling far-right parties. “Some of the leaders like [French President Emmanuel] Macron are still desperately trying to say that that the United States are our ally,” Eickhout said. “I want to see urgency on how Europe is going to take its own path and not rely on the U.S. anymore, because it’s clear we cannot.”

Children’s math and reading skills have “significantly worsened” across most European Union countries, posing a huge risk to how well the bloc’s future workforce can power its economy, according to a European Commission employment report. Rates of underachievement – when students don’t reach minimum proficiency – have been increasing over the past 12 years with a dramatic decline in basic skills in 2022, possibly as a result of pandemic school closures. The EU is currently far off its target to reduce underachievement to 15 percent by 2030, the report said. Nearly one in three 15-year-olds didn’t have basic skills in math and one in four couldn’t reach minimum levels in reading and science. The report rated these poor results as a threat to labor productivity and competitiveness in the medium term. It cited employer surveys as saying it’s crucial to have skilled workers and pointed to labor shortages as holding back companies’ ability to scale up production. “Well-functioning and effective education and training systems are thus crucial for equipping young people and adults with labour market-relevant skills for quality jobs, also in view of the big transformations that the EU is facing,” it said. Roxana Mînzatu, the Commission’s executive vice president for skills, said the figures show the danger that the green and digital transition could “risk leaving our citizens behind.”  Underachievement rates for math are worst in Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania. Poorer students across the EU do far worse with nearly half underperforming in math in 2022, “a significant increase from 38.2% in 2018,” the report said. But the decline also hit richer children with the report flagging a lack of qualified teachers, “aggravated in the last few years by, among others, the COVID-19 pandemic.” Several governments are taking action with Finland introducing more mandatory lessons and the Dutch planning to give €500 per student to schools willing to improve basic skills. Mînzatu is due to present a skills plan at the beginning of March. She said this “will focus on investment in skills, adult and lifelong learning, vocational education and training, skills retention and skills recognition.” The Commission also intends to review a digital education plan and draw up a roadmap on the future of digital education and training. Giovanna Coi contributed to this story.

Roxana Mînzatu has only been an MEP for a matter of months. Now, she has to demonstrate if she’s up to the task of commissioner. Romania nominated Mînzatu after initially putting forward a male candidate, in response to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s push for gender balance. The Romanian nominee was offered one of six executive vice president roles in the Commission. While she may be a newbie MEP, she is no stranger to European affairs. She’s previously held the top job in Romania’s Ministry of European Funds, although she has also had a few stints in the private sector. One thing that has irked some socialists, however, it that this commissioner title no longer contains the words “employment” or “social rights.” That could be a sore point for the S&D Group, of which she is a member. We’ll be bringing you all the live action from 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 12. Background reading: * How the hearings work * Leaked: Tense correspondence between EU commissioner hopefuls and Parliament * Leaked documents: Which EU commissioners have the most property, money and influence * Meet the commissioners: Class of 2024 PS. If you want to follow more of the action from the hearings, our reporters will be delivering blow-by-blow updates from all 26 commissioner interviews here.