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The number of vehicles using oil, i.e. diesel, increased to 278,096 vehicles in 2020, compared to 118,109 in 2012. This means that in just eight years, the number has risen by almost 160,000. An environmental tax for diesel, gasoline and...

In 2009 Connie Hedegaard presided over the Copenhagen climate conference that ended in rancour - and left Europe on the sidelines. Hedegaard went on to become the first European commissioner for climate action.

Belgrade remains interested in preserving the peace and the status of Republika Srpska (RS) and ensuring compliance with the Dayton peace agreement, Ivica Dačić, speaker of the Narodna Skupština (parliament of the Republic of Serbia) has said. He added that...

Some 128,000 workers aged under 35 have left the Croatian labour market in the past 13 years. Now they account for only a third of the country’s workforce, the Večernji List newspaper wrote. This summer, the Croatian government boasted that...

Hódmezővásárhely mayor Péter Márki-Zay who has won the united opposition’s primaries to become the six-party coalition’s candidate to challenge Viktor Orbán next year, presented an incriminating dossier on Monday that Fidesz supposedly prepared for his former opponents, who instead handed...

Czech authorities have asked Poland to come back to the negotiating table and finally solve the Turów mine issue. “The continuation of negotiations is in the interest of all parties, particularly of the Liberec region,” Deputy Environment Minister Vladislav Smrž...

Spanish health authorities rolled out the COVID-19 booster drive to the over 70s on Monday (25 October), planning to give them at the same time as influenza jabs in some regions, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported. The vaccine campaign has taken...

The Italian government’s months-long negotiations to sell state-owned bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) to international banking group Unicredit failed, it was announced on Sunday (24 October). The world’s oldest bank, MPS is the fourth largest Italian commercial and...

The leader of Greek socialist party (Pasok) Fofi Gennimata died on Monday following years of fighting cancer. All political forces praised Gennimata for her bravery and honesty. “A brave woman who gave dignity to all the battles of her life,...

China poses challenges in and outside Europe that will be addressed in the new NATO strategy currently being negotiated, said the military alliance’s Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, in a Helsinki press conference. According to Stoltenberg, NATO needs an updated strategy. The...

Scientists have initiated an examination of a new ‘Delta plus’ COVID-19 variant in Ireland to ascertain if the virus is more transmissible and severe than the existing Delta variant. Dr Cillian de Gascun, Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory...

The European Commission has demanded the immediate release of the detained Sudanese leadership, including its prime minister and other cabinet members. "We call on the security forces to immediately release those they have unlawfully detained," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. PM Abdalla Hamdok was detained after the military dissolved the civilian government and declared a state of emergency.

The European Union has demanded Israel stop settler expansion, after Israeli authorities on Sunday announced the publication of tenders for the construction of more than 1,300 housing units in the occupied Palestinian territories. "We call upon the government of Israel to halt settlement construction and to not proceed with the announced tenders," said an EU spokesperson in a statement.

The French electricity transmission system operator (RTE) presented on Monday (25 October) six scenarios for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The experts also took into account the security of supply of the French electricity system. In the first three proposals of...

Facebook will fuel more episodes of violent unrest around the world because of the way its algorithms are designed to promote divisive content, whistleblower Frances Haugen told the British parliament, Reuters writes. According to Haugen the social network follows a start-up culture where cutting corners was a good thing and said it was "unquestionably" making hate worse.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has "welcomed" comments by eight out of the 10 embassies whose envoys he threatened to expel they would abide by the Vienna Convention on non-interference in internal affairs. The statements by Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden were a "step back", pro-Erdoğan media added. France and Germany said nothing. The 10 ambassadors earlier called for justice for a jailed Turkish philanthropist.

Germany starts its 20th legislative period as parliament holds its constitutive session following September’s elections on Tuesday (26 October). There are two major items on the Bundestag’s agenda on Tuesday: the end of the so-called ‘epidemic situation’, which saw the...

Poland is raising the number of soldiers on its Belarus border from 6,000 to "about 10,000" to stop Middle East migrants being flown in by the Minsk regime, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Monday. Two border guards were temporarily hospitalised over the weekend when a group of 60 to 70 asylum-seekers tried to storm a barbed-wire fence. One guard was hit in the face with a stone, Poland said.

An EU foreign-service spokesperson urged China to "act in line with its international commitments and to respect Hong Kong's rights and freedoms" on Monday, after Amnesty International said it was closing its office there due to a Chinese security law. EU states have not issued a high-level statement on Hong Kong since Hungary vetoed one in May, despite promises to do so at the EU 26-level, leaving out Hungary.

The two Balkan countries have the lowest vaccination rates across the bloc, and the epidemiological situation is getting out of control again. Our reporters in Sofia and Bucharest analyse the reasons behind the failure of both countries to tackle the...