Draft legislation in Poland aimed at relaxing some of Europe's strictest laws surrounding onshore wind-turbines has been derailed by a surprise last minute amendment, which could put Poland back on a collision course with the EU.
Industrial energy-intense sectors, outside Germany and France, will not move to the US. They will go bust, as they cannot compete in a fragmented single market. So to save industry in two member states, we will kill the rest?
Europe accelerated its electricity transition in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with solar energy developers leading the charge.
The European Parliament special committee still wants to hear from EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, whose undisclosed text messages with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during the crisis have raised transparency concerns.
The EU's border agency Frontex will spend around €100m this year to return unwanted and rejected asylum seekers.
The EU is set to propose a plan to simplify tax credits in an effort to counteract the US $369bn [€339bn] Inflation Reduction Act #IRA ahead of next week's summit of EU leaders.
MEPs are expected to present their migration and asylum priorities on Wednesday (1 February), before EU leaders will focus on the issue at the 9-10 February special European Council.
Political scientist David Rowe has been looking into why so much of Europe wasn't ready for Putin — and the consequences for the Western allies of not spilling their own blood in Ukraine.
Pressure is mounting for EU states to ease multiple-entry visas for human rights defenders from Belarus and Russia. But with EU states in charge of issuing visas, the possibilities for a coordinated EU approach appears limited.
Last June, a Latvian socialist MEP went to Azerbaijan and sang its praises — but the EU Parliament committee he claimed to represent had no idea he was there.
The ECHR ruled that Russia was in "effective control" of separatist regions of Eastern Ukraine from 11 May 2014. In doing so, the court has formally acknowledged the inter-state character of the conflict and Russia's culpability for human rights abuses.
Nick Aiossa, deputy director of Transparency International EU said there is a "culture of impunity" in the parliament among MEPs, which contributed to the Qatargate scandal that has rocked the insitution at the end of last year.
If just one-in-five barriers were removed from EU internal border regions, it could gain around two percent in GDP.
A no-confidence vote on the Greek government is set for Friday, following revelations of state-led surveillance on senior military officials and a minister.
The European Parliament does not rule out mandatory anti-harassment training for MEPs — but has left questions of greater support for victims of bullying and abuse open-ended.
Over the last few decades, the fossil-fuel industry has shown that you do not need to all-out oppose EU legislation in order to resist it. Muddying the waters can be enough to ensure that action is paused, watered-down, or shelved.
"We must do everything we can to be ready with this new system for the next European elections," MEP Sandro Gozi said after the committee vote.
"At the current levels, benefits are not enough to lift people out of (relatively) poverty", the EU's advisory Social Protection Committee warned in 2022.
Europe's response to Elon Musk's Starlink broadband internet system — currently used by Ukraine in its war against Russia — is to deliver its first services sometime next year.
MEPs should pay for their own foreign trips to avoid suspicion of undue influence, a German deputy has said after rebelling over a recent visit to Azerbaijan.
Some 5,000 refugees and asylum seekers were registered in Ukraine in 2021. Small in the context of the millions now displaced, but one of the most at-risk groups in this crisis.
Poland is urging other EU states with Leopard-class tanks to send them to Ukraine after Germany softened its position on re-export.
The auditors are set to focus on actions taken by the commission for 6 member states., Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Italy and Greece.
Companies are increasingly using software to spy on employees working remotely, said Polish computer forensics analyst Maciej Broniarz. "The market for highly intrusive spyware is snowballing," Broniarz told MEPs.
On Monday, Brussels will see EU foreign affairs ministers focusing on a 10th sanctions package against Russia, a special tribunal, and preparing the EU-Ukraine summit on 3 February in Kyiv.
Legal scholars, however, have argued that without the backing of the UN general assembly, it would be legally challenging to set up a tribunal to prosecute Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Olivier Vandecasteele, an experienced and respected Belgian humanitarian worker, is being arbitrarily detained in an unknown location in Iran, sentenced to a cumulative total of 40 years of prison and 74 lashes.
EU Commission estimates suggest that between 1.7 and 4.1 million workers are currently misclassified as 'self-employed'.
"If we want to safeguard our national security in the light of Putin's invasion of Ukraine with all its wider implications, we all have to contribute", said the Danish minister of labour.
The EU Parliament has cast doubt on whether Hungary's commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, is fit to do his job following his antics in the Western Balkans.
Unlocking the €35.4bn in grants and loans allocated for Poland as part of the EU's Covid-19 fund is key for the Law & Justice (PiS) government to boost its chances ahead of the upcoming elections in the autumn.
The EU Parliament has urged the EU Commission to carry out "an independent and impartial investigation" into whether Olivér Várhelyi, Hungary's EU commissioner in charge of enlargement policy, deliberately tried "to circumvent and undermine the centrality of democratic and rule of law reforms in EU accession countries". The move comes after Várhelyi faced criticism over allegedly watering down EU criticism of Serbia and for cozying up to Bosnian-Serb separatists.MEPs voted Wednesday to elect MEP Marc Angel from the Socialists and Democrats as the new vice-president of the European Parliament. The vote came after former vice-president Eva Kaili, also S&D, was held in detention on corruption allegations in the Qatargate scandal. Angel received 307 of the 590 votes cast, ahead of Annalisa Tardino from the far-right ID group with 185 and Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield with 98.
The Socialists & Democrats want to regain the vice-presidency seat previously held by Eva Kaili, a Greek socialist MEP charged over allegations of corruption linked to Qatar. The Greens have other ideas and have put forward their own candidate.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced a 'Net-Zero Industry Act' to counter US and Chinese competition.