European Union

Belgium’s National Security Council meets this Wednesday (23 September) to evaluate the current COVID-19 situation and discuss adjustment of measures. Potentially on the table: a long-term colour code plan and the adjustment of the “social bubbles”. Experts advising the National...

US President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that China must be held accountable for having “unleashed” COVID-19 on the world, prompting Beijing to accuse him of “lies” and abusing the UN platform to provoke confrontation.

China has promised to end its contribution to global heating and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, in a huge move for global climate action. EURACTIV's media partner, Climate Home News, reports.

While recognising the positive role of forests in mitigating global warming, the European Commission has riled the agroforestry and biomass industries by stating its intention of limiting growth in the sector.

At the next European summit, Austria wants to speak openly about sanctions against Ankara, including the possibility to break off accession talks with Turkey, the country's EU Minister Karoline Edtstadler told EURACTIV Germany.

The term “chemical recycling” should only be used for plastic waste reconverted into new plastics. If those plastics are transformed into fuels or petrochemical products, the process should be called “recovery” instead, write Shanar Tabrizi and Fanny Rateau.

A new report lays bare the widespread encroachments to the fundamental rights of Romani people in Western EU countries, providing the latest piece of evidence of discrimination against Europe's largest ethnic minority.

Beware of US elections, which may end up with the world’s most powerful nation bogged down in a constitutional crisis, writes Dick Roche. Dick Roche is a former European Affairs minister of Ireland. On 3 November US voters will elect...

The US coronavirus death toll has passed 200,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the BBC reports. More than 6.8 million people are recorded to have been infected in the US, more than in any other country in the world. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the death toll was a "horrible thing", adding China "should have stopped" the virus.

Divisions among EU governments remain between those who want to suspend EU funds if rule of law is not respected, and those who want to narrow down conditionality.

EU countries agree on the need to better coordinate their Covid-19 measures, but the issue remains highly sensitive as health competencies belong to member states.

The EPP, S&D, and Renew Europe have all dropped their support for a Belarus dissident with homophobic views, hours after EUobserver published an expose.

Athens and Ankara have agreed to start the 61st round of exploratory contacts in Istanbul to discuss their contested maritime claims in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean, Greece's Foreign Ministry said in a brief announcement on Tuesday, Ekathimerini reports. The announcement follows a call between the leaders of Turkey, Germany and the European Union.

Energy ministers from Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Italy signed on Tuesday the charter of a new Middle East energy forum that will promote natural gas exports from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe and other markets, Ekathimerini writes. "The East Mediterranean Gas Forum, [...] is in fact becoming a real international organisation," said Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz. Turkey has not been invited.

Denmark, Greece, Hungary and Sweden joined Germany and Romania as host states of the medical equipment strategic reserve, the EU Commission announced on Tuesday. The stockpile, that was set up in the wake of the pandemic and is financed by the commission, is building up common European stocks of lifesaving protective and other vital medical equipment that can be distributed across Europe at times of medical emergencies.

Maltese police have arrested Keith Schembri, the former prime minister Joseph Muscat's chief of staff, in an investigation into alleged money-laundering connected to the sale of Maltese passports. A Maltese court also issued an order for all his assets and those of his family and companies to be frozen. Schrembi is friends with the person suspected of the 2017 murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The European Commission is being legally pressed to investigate alleged infringements by Greece on migration and asylum - following reports of push-backs and the denial of basic rights for people demanding international protection.

The European Parliament's civil liberties committee on Tuesday supported - by 51 votes to 14 and one abstention - a proposal setting out an EU mechanism to protect democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights. The mechanism would establish an annual reporting and recommendation cycle, which the EU already does for the economy, and includes budget conditionality. The plenary could vote on the proposal next month.

Experts are now warning of the "very serious" surge in Covid-19 cases in Europe - where new weekly cases exceede those reported in March. The worst-hit countries are Spain and France - while Italy is resisting the much-feared second wave.

France opposes returning to EU rules on a cap on deficits and public debt after the coronavirus crisis, EU affairs minister Clement Beaune told AFP. "We cannot imagine putting the same pact back in place," Beaune said. The deficit rules were suspended at the start of the pandemic, to give governments space to stimulate their economies with spending programmes to offset the historic downturn caused by the Covid-19 crisis.