Euractiv.com

With the European Commission's 'strategic dialogue' between policymakers, farmers and agriculture stakeholders due to start on Thursday (25 January), agriculture ministers on Tuesday said the initiative is coming too late.

Many travellers are opting to take a plane rather than train between London and Paris despite climate concerns and the Eurostar rail service connecting the two capitals in just over two hours.

In a rare show of unity, environmental organisations and oil companies have both warned that the EU’s targets for green jet fuels are in danger of being missed as investment into the production of synthetic fuels is so far not materialising.

Belgian finance minister Vincent Van Peteghem has said that developing an 'Industrial Deal' will be one of the key priorities of his country’s EU Council presidency, adding that “cutting red tape” and improving the bloc’s general investment climate are key to arresting the bloc’s industrial decline.

Bosnia will miss the chance to start EU accession talks this year if it does not adopt the laws demanded by the EU within the next six weeks, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković warned during their visit to Sarajevo on Tuesday.

Bulgarian MPs from the ruling majority are preparing a law to free Russian property and give the Bulgarian state control over the huge Russian tourist resort of Kamchia on the Black Sea coast.

Slovakia is potentially sliding towards an Orban-like model, and Berlin intends to put the rule of law on the table at Wednesday’s meeting between Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the deputy head of the German-Slovak parliamentary group in the Bundestag Jorg Nurnberger said in an interview with Euractiv.

German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann stressed the importance of restoring the rule of law during a visit to Warsaw on Tuesday, as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk currently faces backlash in his efforts to overhaul the country’s legal system.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s ruling socialist PSOE party and the Catalan separatist formation JxCat agreed on Tuesday to make some specific terrorist offences part of the future amnesty law, paving the way for the self-exiled former Catalan president Carles Puidgemont to return to Spain.

Anti-European, populist and far-right parties are expected to get a significant number of votes in the June European Parliament elections, according to a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) released on Wednesday (24 January).

Turkey's parliament approved Sweden's accession bid to become the 32nd member of  NATO on Tuesday (23 January), leaving Hungary as the only hurdle on the Nordic country's way to full membership.

The implementation of the "Spyros Doxiadis" Action Plan of public health screening is expected to get back on track within the first semester of 2024, as Greece’s new health minister takes office. First up is the cervical cancer screening programme, due to start next month.

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Amid growing farmers' protests across the EU, the French EU Greens chief on Tuesday (23 January) called for a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that temporarily insures farmers' pay and limitations on free trade deals that could undermine EU farmers' competitiveness.

With an EU space rulebook in the works, Europeans should already look at the space programme's next generation, including a launcher demand aggregator, and threat mapping strategy, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Tuesday (23 January).

In an internal document obtained by Euractiv, the Belgian presidency shared preliminary thoughts on supporting and regulating online influence, tapping into an open discussion at the EU and national level.

The European Ombudsman’s inquiry has found maladministration regarding the European Commission’s meetings with tobacco lobbyists, but the EU executive insists there are sound transparency measures in place.

Last weekend, around a million protesters took to the streets in various German cities to protest against the far right. However, even this new wave of civil commitment is unlikely to stop the astronomical rise of the AfD party.

The European Commission released on Tuesday a proposal to review the timelines for companies to comply with the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation to ensure availability and avoid shortages.

The European Commission is set to adopt a decision establishing the European Artificial Intelligence Office, according to a draft document obtained by Euractiv.