European Union

An analysis of member states' national energy and climate plans by think tank Ember on Monday found that seven countries are blocking Europe's electricity transition. Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Germany, Belgium, Romania and Italy will be responsible for 80 percent of the sector emissions by 2030 due to their reliance on coal and gas. Fossil fuels are still expected to generate 25 percent of EU electricity by 2030.

As a means to tackle the negative side effects of the online short term rentals market, governments should be allowed better access to data from platforms such as Airbnb as part of the EU's Digital Services Act, the Netherland's Deputy Prime Minister Kajsa Ollongren has said.

Length of video : 57'

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Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The environmental impact of flying may have decreased in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic but sustainability is still on the radar of the industry, which is increasingly eyeing greener fuels as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Austrian Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz wanting more powers for him and his government to combat terrorism, Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček urging EU leaders to wait before imposing tariffs on the US, and so much more.

Romania will enforce more severe restrictions nation-wide starting Monday after if favoured a regional or even local approach in the past few months. But with coronavirus infections rising abruptly last week, the government was forced to intervene just as the...

Bulgaria informed the European Commission that it cannot accept the proposed draft negotiating framework for North Macedonia and the attached draft declaration because it does not provide the necessary guarantees for meeting the conditions set by Sofia. Bulgaria considers it...

As long as EU spending is tied to rule of law criteria, Hungary is prepared to veto the bloc’s long-term budget and recovery fund, wrote Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a letter to the leaders of the current and next...

Biden’s victory in the US election may be interpreted as good news in Athens, however analysts and policymakers fear that until he officially takes over in January 2021, there is a strong risk that Turkey will make “desperate moves”. In...

Spain’s largest region known as Castilla y León has adopted fresh measures in a bid to stop the fast spread of the second coronavirus wave. In a bid to curb the “alarming increase of (contagion) figures”, the regional government (Junta...

The current three-stage lockdown set to last until 3 December was issued to avoid generalised closures, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said, adding that “refusing the current system could only lead to a complete lockdown, which will not bring...

A citizens’ initiative with more than 61,000 signatures is speeding up the process for Finland to adopt a separate and detailed law banning what is already the crime of female genital mutilation (FGM), similar to other Scandinavian countries. The initiative’s...

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has welcomed Joe Biden’s win in the US Presidential elections over the weekend, expressing his pride of the fact Biden has Irish heritage. “I offer warmest congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as the 46th President...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to strengthen relations with US President-elect Joe Biden on Sunday (8 November), emphasising the common ground between himself and the on free trade and climate change. “We have the real prospect of American global...

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) urged parliament to give him and his government wider competences in preventing terrorist attacks and to reform the Office of the Protection of the Constitution in response to last week’s terrorist attacks in Vienna. While...

The latest coronavirus measures including the curfew and lockdown implemented by the executive are “slowing the pandemic’s progression”, Health Minister Olivier Véran said on Sunday during a joint broadcast by France Inter, franceinfo and Le Monde. The 20% increase in...

After police tried to break up Saturday’s anti-coronavirus protest in Leipzig (Saxony) because most of the 20,000 participants were not wearing masks or adhering to distancing rules, some attendees clashed with police and attacked counter-protesters and journalists, despite organisers calling...

In December, the new ‘Justitia’ court will open on the site of the old NATO headquarters for one of the biggest Belgian trials in history. The trial surrounding the terrorist attacks of 22 March 2016 at Brussels Airport and the...

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he intends to wait for all the voting procedures to be complete, while Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have not congratulated the president-elect Joe Biden. And in Europe, some...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday (8 November) a trade deal with the European Union was "there to be done", suggesting his view that the agreement's broad outline was already "pretty clear" was shared in Brussels.