Euractiv.com

Britain neither wants Brexit nor knows how to escape from it. The result is that everybody loses, and the camp of losers just gets bigger and bigger, writes Denis MacShane.

The economic relations between the EU and Japan have been strong for a long time, but are now about to take new steps forward as they have concluded an Economic Partnership Agreement that significantly will reduce barriers to trade.

With only 5 months before the European elections, we discuss whether the European Union has really delivered tackling the social challenges facing citizens and what are the priorities for the new legislature.

The EU is taking seriously the idea expressed recently by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev for holding a four-way summit to defuse global tensions, an EU diplomat told an audience on Tuesday (4 December).

Facebook Inc offered some companies, including Netflix and Airbnb, access to data about users’ friends it did not make available to most other apps in 2015, according to documents released by a British lawmaker who said the social media company dodged questions about privacy practices and market dominance.

Poland’s determination to continue providing financial assistance to coal power plants beyond 2030 has sunk an attempt to reform Europe’s electricity market, negotiators have said.

A four-strong contingency of European Commissioners came out with fighting talk against fake news on Wednesday (5 December), as the EU's executive presented its action plan on disinformation. But the funding shortfall in this field somewhat dampened the spirit of the announcement.

Over this special series on COP24, EURACTIV gives you a glimpse into the goings on of the UN climate conference in Katowice and what is driving the conversation there. In this edition: An update on the negotiations, Bulgaria, Canada, open letters, the shipping and car industry, and more.

The climate targets of the EU and UN have moved sustainable financing to the top of the agenda of the finance industry. This means banks and investors are called upon to provide green incentives and become more involved in saving the planet, writes Karl Ludwig Brockmann.

The European Commission presented on Wednesday (5 December) a strategy to strengthen the international role of the euro days after member states continued to drag their feet to complete the economic and monetary union.

The public health community needs to adopt a consistent science-based view on new generation tobacco products in order to properly inform regulators around the world and thereby shape a stable framework, James Murphy, the head of Reduced Risk Substantiation at British American Tobacco (BAT) told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

This month, all eyes are on the Polish city of Katowice, where the global climate community is meeting for COP24. Katowice is an important step to make the Paris Agreement a success by defining a robust transparency and accountability system to track progress towards the long-term goal.

Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal came under fire from allies and opponents alike on Wednesday (5 December) after the government was forced to publish legal advice showing the United Kingdom could be locked indefinitely in the EU's orbit.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday (5 December) urged Russia and the US to save a Cold War arms control treaty after Washington issued a 60-day ultimatum to Moscow.

In the middle of the “yellow vest” crisis, France has failed to unblock tax proposals on financial and digital transactions. These two measures for fiscal justice had been advocated by Paris for a long time. EURACTIV France reports.

The European Commission has just released a short-term action plan regarding disinformation, and an assessment of prior commitments. Remarkably, sustainability of the media sector is hardly addressed. Scenarios for this key element of the public sphere are needed, for decisions to be made early in the next mandate.

Police arrested dozens of suspected mobsters in Europe and South America on Wednesday (5 December) in a huge international swoop targeting Italy's notorious 'Ndrangheta mafia clan, officials said.

Germany and France will welcome Spain as a full partner in their programme to develop a next-generation air combat system, and expect to sign an agreement finalising the move at the Paris Air Show in June, German government sources said on Wednesday (5 December).

China will always stick to "mutual respect" in its efforts to deal with global challenges, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday (5 December) in Lisbon, where he signed agreements to link Portugal to Beijing's One Belt - One Road initiative.

The leader of the main Greek opposition party, New Democracy (EPP), called on Wednesday (5 December) on Greek political parties to block the name change deal recently reached between Athens and Skopje after almost thirty years of dispute.