European Union

In other news, the EU was still working with Serbia on the three-year sector budget support project, worth €80 million, the chief of the EU Delegation in Serbia, Sem Fabrizi told BETA News Agency on Thursday (1 October), stressing that...

Serbia could see a 3.5% drop in its GDP in 2020, followed by an 3% increase in 2021, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in its latest forecast on the effects of the pandemic on the region,...

Slovenia’s Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT) filed an indictment against Prime Minister Janez Janša in the Ljubljana District Court on Thursday (1 October), daily Večer learned unofficially. The sitting prime minister is accused of abuse of office over a property sale...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has already visited Greece, Italy and the Vatican as part of his European tour, is stopping in Dubrovnik on Friday (2 October), but will not be meeting with Croatia’s president, who ahead of...

Hungary, who has previously caused controversy over its relations with Azerbaijan, on Thursday (1 October) announced its backing for Baku, on the eve of an EU summit meant to deal with the escalating situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. “The Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karabakh lies...

Support for civil society in Belarus should be among the priorities of EU foreign policy, according to the Czech and Polish foreign ministers, Tomas Petricek and Zbigniew Rau, who held talks in Prague on Thursday (1 October) ahead of a...

While the EU carbon tax should be introduced at the bloc's borders by 2022, a report details the challenges and options of this mechanism, which still has many grey areas. EURACTIV France reports.

Italy’s state of emergency could be extended until 31 January 2021, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte confirmed, adding that he “will ask parliament for the extension.” Health Minister Roberto Speranza added that “everyone will have to resist the best they...

A Scottish National Party MP is facing calls to stand down from the UK parliament after admitting that she had travelled on public transport from Scotland to Westminster despite suffering COVID-19 symptoms and testing positive. Margaret Ferrier said on Thursday...

The eight EU member states around the Baltic Sea have signed a ministerial declaration to protect and clean their joint marine environment, aimed at reaching tangible commitments in accordance with the European Green Deal and its Biodiversity Strategy and Zero...

Belgium’s new government, led by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, is the first federal government to achieve gender balance, with 10 female and male members each. On Thursday (1 October), the assignment of portfolios has been finalised between the seven...

A platform was launched yesterday (1 October) to find 25,000 volunteers to carry out large-scale clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines, following a request made by France’s ministries of health and of higher education and research. In the Paris region, the...

Few topics have divided Europe as much in recent years as migration and asylum. The New Pact on Migration and Asylum puts migration back on the EU agenda, writes Michael Spindelegger.

BlackRock's controversial contract to advise the European Commission should be put on hold and new transparency criteria introduced to prevent such conflicts of interest, writes Aurore Lalucq and a group of 58 MEPs.

After weeks of bickering, EU leaders broke a longstanding deadlock to impose sanctions against members of the Belarus regime on Friday night (2 October) and fired a warning at Turkey over its gas drilling activities in the eastern Mediterranean.

Boris Johnson's large majority has not made him immune from the demands of the eurosceptic European Research Group in his party, argues Brendan Donnelly, warning that that makes a 'no deal' scenario more likely.

Commission takes UK to court, spat erupts as Orban falls short, and Belgium finally has a government... of a sort.

Officials in the Spanish capital have 48 hours to introduce tighter measures on social life and implement a partial lockdown preventing residents from leaving the city limits without justification, according to new criteria approved by the Spanish government on Thursday (1 October). EURACTIV's partner EUROEFE reports.

On Friday morning, American president Donald Trump announced on Twitter he and the first lady had tested positive on Covid-19 and will go into quarantine. "Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!," he tweeted. Trump is a candidate to serve again as president in elections in November.

EU leaders have agreed to impose sanctions on 40 or so Belarusians, but not president Alexander Lukashenko, for violence and election-rigging using a fast-track written procedure on Friday. They also warned Turkey it would face sanctions in future unless it stopped "provocations" against Cyprus and Greece by sending gas-drilling ships into their waters. Cyprus had previously vetoed the Belarus move unless it got a tough line on Turkey.