European Union

Thursday, 17 December

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday (16 December) US sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of Russian defence systems were a "hostile attack" on its sovereign rights and defence industry, and the move was bound to fail.

Planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from buildings and construction are jeopardising global goals to keep devastating climate change at bay, a UN-backed coalition warned on Wednesday (16 December), after data showed they hit an all-time high in 2019.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Germany, France, Austria, Italy announcing their vaccination strategy, Bulgaria paying for a media in North Macedonia, and so much more.

PCR tests costs between €40 and €120 across Balkan countries, with the cheapest – on average – being in North Macedonia and the most expensive in Slovenia. In the majority of countries, the prices vary depending on whether the test...

Ludovic Orban, prime minister again? The centre-right parties are yet to form a coalition as they have not settled on the name of the prime minister. PNL (EPP) has proposed Florin Citu, the current finance minister, as prime minister, but...

With 133 votes in favour, six against and three abstentions, the European People’s Party Group withdrew all rights to speaking time in plenary on behalf of the group, to be nominated to lead political files on behalf of the group...

Poland’s parliament adopted by a large majority a law amending the scope of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence known as the Istanbul Convention. The new law allows the president to...

5G broadband frequency networks auction concluded on Wednesday and all three main mobile companies – German-owned Cosmote, multinational Vodafone and fund owned WIND – were awarded some spectrum for the new generation networks. The government got a total price of...

Portugal’s Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva is hoping the first tranche of EU recovery fund will reach member states “in the first half of 2021”, saying Portugal aims to reach the end of its EU Council presidency with “all national...

Lithuania has become the first European country to launch an investigation into crimes against humanity potentially committed by the Belarusian security forces. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main leader of the Belarusian opposition who was forced to flee to Lithuania, called on...

While 38% of Finns reject the country’s participation in the EU’s €750 billion recovery package, close to half (49%) believe Finland’s influence on the EU is next to unrecognisable, according to a survey published on Tuesday by the Finnish Business...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlić Radman that “the EU is not quite ready for good relations with Russia, but Russia has good relations with Croatia”. Radman called the meeting an “incentive to...

Behind the corporate battle for French media company Lagardère, there’s a political tug-of-war involving the country’s richest man, a media magnate and President Emmanuel Macron.

British pet owners will need a new document to enter the European Union with their animals after the Brexit transition period ends on 1 January next year, the government said on Wednesday (16 December).

The European Medicine’s Agency is expected to approve Pfizer’s vaccine at an extraordinary meeting on 21 December and then, within three days, the European Commission is set to give its final green light. As for the vaccination process, in practice, everything depends on the readiness of EU countries, especially when it comes to logistics.

The centre-right group in the European Parliament has disciplined Hungarian MEP Tamás Deutsch, from the ruling Fidesz party, for likening a German colleague to Nazi-era police. The group "strongly condemns" Deutsch's remarks, it said in a statement Wednesday. It barred him from speaking on its behalf in debates and from holding formal posts, such as rapporteur. Some 40 fellow centre-right MEPs had urged the group to expel Deutsch altogether.

British pet owners who want to take them to the EU after 1 January can do so by filing certificates, some 10 days ahead, that they do not have rabies, the European Commission agreed in ongoing Brexit talks Wednesday, The Times reports. The rules will apply even if there is a no-deal Brexit. Previous rules could have seen British cat, dog, and ferret owners wait over three months for clearance.

All British Facebook users will, from 1 January, have their data handled according to Californian state law, where the US firm is based, in order to avoid EU laws on data protection, Reuters reports. "Like other companies, Facebook has had to make changes to respond to Brexit and will be transferring legal responsibilities and obligations for UK users from Facebook Ireland to Facebook Inc.," the company confirmed in a statement.

"It's our moral duty to support them [Belarusian protesters]," EU parliament president David Sassoli told Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanvoskaya in Brussels on Wednesday.