European Union

The Finnish government submitted on Thursday a proposal to parliament, which would restrict freedom of movement and introduce mandatory face mask wearing for three weeks in the country’s most affected areas.  The new measures would cover the Helsinki Metropolitan area...

The Irish government does not support the establishment of a citizens assembly to discuss what a united Ireland may look like, said Foreign Minister Simon Coveney at the third meeting of the shared island dialogue series. Coveney commented that such...

The UK may be set to begin the process of easing COVID-19 restrictions next week but on Thursday, lawmakers voted to extend emergency coronavirus powers, which give ministers sweeping powers, for another six months. The emergency law has been used...

The lower house of parliament approved the legislation for the EU recovery plan on Thursday, with Chancellor Angela Merkel stressing that the EU’s plan to take on joint debt and channel the money to member states worst hit by COVID-19...

After an alleged incident at the Belarusian nuclear plant in Ostrovets earlier this month, radiation monitoring stations across the country went dark, making the publicly accessible radiation monitoring data in Belarus disappear for several hours, Lithuanian officials said. On 7...

The suspension of traffic through the Suez Canal has deepened problems for shipping lines that were already facing disruption and delays in supplying retail goods to consumers, shipping sources said.

The Conference on the Future of Europe should not be a PR exercise but a genuine people’s convention to deliberate all the tough issues we face together and to hear what citizens expect from Europe, argues Hans van Baalen.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the Bulgarian government changed the country’s COVID-19 measures for the first time in 10 days on Thursday, allowing large non-food stores to open if they limit their capacity,  but changed measures again just a mere five...

The Croatian government adopted a proposal to prolong its job-keeping aid for sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic throughout April on Thursday, saying that 10 billion kunas (€1.3 billion) had been granted for that purpose, covering around 120,000 employers and...

Slovenia’s National Assembly rejected a motion of no confidence against Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti, with 43 votes in favour of his dismissal and 40 against, but still falling short of the majority of 46 votes needed. Three MPs of the...

The European Parliament adopted on Thursday the report of MEP Vladimir Bilčík on Serbia’s progress towards EU accession, seeing 538 MEPs voting in favour of the report, 69 voting against, and 79 abstaining. In the report based on the European Commission’s report...

We are counting on the wisdom of the speaker of parliament and the prime minister, and the ability of the leaders of political parties to see the essence when they go through mutual frictions due to the change of government...

As the biggest opposition Democratic Party (DP) and the governing Socialist Party (SP) started their campaigns on Thursday evening, the public took to the streets to show support. To prevent clashes between supporters of the two parties, law enforcement cordoned...

Spain has absorbed 50% of its allocated European Union structural and investment funds for the 2014-20 period, the country's finance minister, María Jesús Montero, has said. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

Elma jumped in her car with her mother and brother as soon as she heard that Serbia was offering free COVID-19 vaccines to foreigners, and made the five-hour trip from her home in Bosnia to queue up for a shot.

The EU needs to invest €300bn in 5G telecoms infrastructure if it wants super-fast internet across the bloc in line with efforts to revive its economy after the pandemic, a study by consulting firm 'BCG' for telecoms lobby 'ETNO' has said. One way to speed things up would be "pursuing new ownership models involving voluntary infrastructure sharing, which can allow faster roll-out," the study said.

Reeling from the blockage in the Suez Canal, shipping rates for oil-product tankers have nearly doubled this week, and several vessels were diverted away from the vital waterway as a giant container ship remained blocked, Reuters writes. The suspension of traffic through the narrow channel linking Europe and Asia has deepened problems for shipping lines that were already facing disruption and delays in supplying retail goods to consumers.

China sanctioned organisations and individuals in the United Kingdom over what it called "lies and disinformation" about Xinjiang, days after Britain imposed sanctions for human rights abuses in the western Chinese region, Reuters reports. The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement it sanctioned four entities and nine individuals, including lawmakers such as former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission.

The European Commission has made it clear that industries covered by the EU’s upcoming carbon border levy will no longer receive free CO2 allowances under the bloc’s carbon market, the emissions trading scheme (EU ETS).

Some 53 percent of Scottish people would vote for independence, but only if Scotland was guaranteed to join the EU afterward, according to a survey by pollster Survation for the Press and Journal newspaper. Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon has called for a second vote in the wake of Brexit. But EU countries have in the past been wary of encouraging separatism, for instance in the Spanish region of Catalonia.