European Union

EU won't yet commit funding UN agency in Gaza amid hunger

Updated: 2024-02-29 14:34:42

The European Commission is still discussing on whether to release EU funds to a UN aid agency in Gaza despite a looming famine.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

Updated: 2024-02-29 14:31:51

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Belgium braces for Flemish far-right gains, deadlock looms

Updated: 2024-02-29 06:00:03

Recent polling puts the Flemish nationalist parties, the right-wing N-VA and far-right Vlaams Belang at a combined majority in the Flemish parliament, leading to fears about a far-right government take-over — even sparking worries about the future of Belgium itself.

[Letter] Right of Reply: The EU-ACP Samoa agreement

Updated: 2024-02-28 23:44:22

Portuguese S&D MEP Carlos Zorrinho, chair of the delegation to the OACPS-EU joint parliamentary assembly, responds to EUobserver's piece Energy and minerals disputes overshadow new EU-ACP pact.

[Podcast] Podcast: Hyperlocal meets supranational

Updated: 2024-02-28 18:31:52

In this week's Euroscopic podcast; antisemitism and confusion in France and Germany, Sweden joins NATO, Novaya Gazeta Europe editor Mikhail Komin on Ukraine and EU and a chat with DiEM25, an EP election hopeful campaigning in Berlin.

Von der Leyen appeals for 'new EU defence mindset'

Updated: 2024-02-28 17:14:05

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen urged "a new European defence mindset" to strengthen the bloc's defence capabilities. But will her latest proposal, to use Russian assets for Ukraine's military needs, stir up controversy?

EU supply chain law fails, with 14 states failing to back it

Updated: 2024-02-28 15:56:22

Member states failed on Wednesday to agree to the EU's long-awaited Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive, after 13 EU ambassadors declared abstention and one, Sweden, expressed opposition (there was no formal vote), EUobserver has learned.

[Opinion] Joined-up EU defence procurement on the horizon?

Updated: 2024-02-27 23:12:12

Disputes between member states, notably Germany, highlight the lack of coordination among national industrial capabilities for a European Defence Industrial Strategy — which may include the EU's first ever defence commissioner.

Amazon lobbyists banned from EU Parliament

Updated: 2024-02-27 20:41:37

Amazon lobbyists will officially be banned from the European Parliament until further notice after an internal body decided to withdraw their badges.

MEPs adopt new transparency rules for political ads

Updated: 2024-02-27 16:25:58

MEPs have adopted new rules on transparency and targeting of political advertising, but they won't kick in before the EU elections.

EU nature restoration law approved after massive backlash

Updated: 2024-02-27 16:24:12

Hailed with loud applause by the 329 MEPs that approved the text, the final compromise approved on Tuesday is actually much weaker than the original EU Commission proposal first tabled in 2022.

[Column] Memo from Munich — EU needs to reinvent democracy support

Updated: 2024-02-27 14:49:27

If we pretend that states are democratic because they are in the EU's geopolitical tent, we betray democracy. Conversely, functioning democracies can make geopolitical choices that the EU does not like.

[Opinion] For Ukraine's sake, pass the EU due diligence directive

Updated: 2024-02-27 10:03:39

The EU Commission's 2022 CSDDD proposal did not include provisions incorporating "conflict due diligence", they were added, after the Russian invasion, by the European Parliament and Council into the final directive text — for Ukraine's sake, vote for it.

India makes first objection to EU carbon levy at WTO summit

Updated: 2024-02-26 17:43:11

India raised its first formal complaints about the EU's suite of new environmental laws on Monday, warning against protectionism in the name of environmental protection.

Angry farmers block Brussels again, urge fix to 'unfair' prices

Updated: 2024-02-26 16:20:47

Following weeks of demonstrations across Europe, farmers returned to Brussels to protest over unfair competition in prices, as EU agriculture ministers met just a few metres away to discuss a response. The police used water cannon and tear gas.

Luxembourg denies blind spot on Nato security vetting

Updated: 2024-02-26 15:43:40

Luxembourg has given some 4,000 potentially risky people the all-clear to read Nato and EU secret documents in the past eight years.

[Investigation] Far-right MEPs least disciplined in following party line

Updated: 2024-02-26 13:20:39

In a fractious parliamentary vote, the level of party discipline often decides the fate of legislation. Party discipline among nationalists and far-right MEPs is the weakest, something potentially significant after the June elections. Data by Novaya Gazeta Europe and EUobserver.

[Agenda] More farmers, Ukraine aid, Yulia Navalnaya in focus This WEEK

Updated: 2024-02-26 06:21:00

EU agriculture ministers meet in Brussels amid new farmers' protests. MEPs will hear from Alexei Navalny's widow and give the final green light to the €50bn Ukraine facility, while the CBAM proposal faces a formal challenge at a WTO meeting.

EU rewards Tusk's Poland on rule of law with €137bn

Updated: 2024-02-23 14:48:15

The EU is to reward Poland's new government with €137bn for undoing the rule-of-law misdemeanours of its predecessor, in a lesson for Hungary.

[EUobserved] UK-EU relations defrosting ahead of near-certain Labour win

Updated: 2024-02-23 14:47:48

British and EU officials have formally signed an agreement between the UK and Frontex, the EU's border agency, that, if not a genuine deal on migration co-operation, can at least be sold as such.

EU paid Russia €420-per-capita for fossil fuels since war began

Updated: 2024-02-23 12:26:58

EU paid Russia €420-per-capita for fossil fuels since war began, new research shows.

[Opinion] After two years of war, time to hit Putin's LNG exports

Updated: 2024-02-22 23:13:59

Two years of tragedies, with well over 100,000 Russian war crimes now registered, underscore the urgent need to stop international LNG investments in Russia that continue to fund Vladimir Putin's war chest.

Energy and minerals disputes overshadow new EU-ACP pact

Updated: 2024-02-22 16:57:41

The launch of a new EU treaty with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states was overshadowed by disputes over the clean-energy transition, critical minerals.

Germany speeds up Georgia and Morocco asylum returns

Updated: 2024-02-22 16:46:01

Germany is expanding agreements to return rejected asylum seekers to their countries of origin as part of a wider shift in Europe to curtail migration. Berlin has reached deals with Georgia and Morocco since December.

How Amazon lobbyists could be banned from EU Parliament

Updated: 2024-02-22 14:49:57

Amazon is one step closer to being banned from the European Parliament after the employment committee complained of a lack of cooperation in recent years — what is the process, and when can a final decision be expected?

[Opinion] Blackmailing the Global South on EU carbon border tax won't work

Updated: 2024-02-22 13:40:24

According to the European Commission, CBAM is supposed to prevent "carbon leakage". In other words, it seeks to prevent European industries relocating to jurisdictions with less stringent environmental policies, while also incentivising carbon pricing and industrial decarbonisation abroad.

EU auditors: rule-of-law budget protections only partial success

Updated: 2024-02-22 06:00:03

New instruments to shield the EU's financial interests from rule of law breaches have provided a better protection in recent years, but not immune to "political bargaining", auditors warn.

EU's €723bn Covid recovery fund saw growth, but doubts remain

Updated: 2024-02-21 16:33:42

The €723bn Covid-19 recovery fund, launched three years ago, has been a success, according to a mid-term internal review — but less effective than initially predicted. And according to one NGO, the commission painted an "overly positive picture".

Von der Leyen rejects extremist parties, leaves door open to ECR

Updated: 2024-02-21 15:30:35

Launching her campaign for a second EU Commission president mandate, Ursula von der Leyen rejected collaboration with extremist parties but left the door open to working with rightwing ECR — which may go from fifth to third-largest party in June.

Russian oligarchs failed to get off EU blacklist

Updated: 2024-02-21 13:34:47

Hungary failed to get three Russian and three Chinese names deleted, as the EU approved its 13th package of sanctions ahead of an anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

[Opinion] Ukraine refugees want to return home — but how?

Updated: 2024-02-20 23:17:23

Fewer than one-in-ten Ukrainian refugees intend to settle permanently outside Ukraine, according to new research by the associate director of research and the director of gender and economic inclusion at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

African leaders unveil continent-wide plan to buy medicines

Updated: 2024-02-20 17:07:13

African leaders have promised to establish a continent-wide regime to buy medicines at this weekend's annual African Union summit in Addis Ababa. But momentum towards a pan-African medicines agency remains stalled.

EU urban-rural divide not bridged by cohesion policy, report finds

Updated: 2024-02-20 17:07:03

The EU's cohesion policy has failed to tackle the widening gap between cities and regions — fuelling a growing discontent that is boosting eurosceptic parties across the continent.

[Column] Impending Rafah disaster shows up politics of humanitarian aid

Updated: 2024-02-20 15:59:53

The situation in Gaza provides egregious evidence that humanitarian aid is becoming selective, subjective and seeped in double standards.

Sweden heading into Nato, after Orbán-Kristersson deal

Updated: 2024-02-20 14:02:33

Sweden could join Nato as early as next week after Hungary finally tabled a ratification vote for Monday (26 February) and the Swedish leader said he would travel to Budapest.

'Nightmare' 2024 sees Orbán struggle ahead of EU elections

Updated: 2024-02-19 23:52:02

Viktor Orbán admits that 2024 "could not have started any worse" for his government. The sex-abuse scandal that led to the resignation of the president provides an opportunity for Hungary's opposition — but their fragmentation could be a major obstacle.