European Union

Prosecutors are investigating George Simion, leader of Romania's far-right AUR party, for allegedly orchestrating the falsification of thousands of signatures needed for Silvestru Șoșoacă's candidacy as an independent in the EU elections, something AUR denies.

The Bulgarian army is struggling to shake off the pre-election wave of disinformation that soldiers are about to be sent to fight in Ukraine, despite pro-Russian far-right political forces and President Rumen Radev continuing to say this is in the works.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who survived an assassination attempt, posted a video on Facebook in which he said he did not believe the attack on him had been carried out by a "lone madman", blaming the media and the opposition.

Respect for European values is the absolute "red line" of the conservative Partido Popular (EPP), the main opposition force in Spain, for any future alliance in the European Parliament after Sunday's elections, the party's main candidate in the European elections Dolors Montserrat told Euractiv's partner EFE in an interview.

The deal to have the asylum applications of thousands of migrants picked up at sea by Italy processed in Albania should be replicated at the EU level, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, adding that it could be part of a structural solution for the EU.

Franco-German armoured vehicle manufacturer KNDS is to open its first factory on Ukrainian soil, France confirmed, with details to be worked out between Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy when they meet at the Normandy landings commemorations on Thursday.

Germany's exit from the EU, labeled as "Dexit", would cost the country's economy €200 billion a year, business lobby INSM warned, as Germany's far-right AfD party, currently second in the polls ahead of this weekend's EU elections, maintains a strong anti-EU rhetoric.

Disinformation is in full swing in Slovakia, with pro-Russian forces accusing opposition leader Michal Šimečka of the Progressive Slovakia party (PS) of planning an uprising similar to the 2014 Maidan in Ukraine, alongside narratives that foreign entities plotted the assassination of Prime Minister Robert Fico and that the EU wants to kill cows and force citizens to eat worms instead.

A more right-wing European Parliament could mean fewer regulatory initiatives in the area of tech, a weakened push for market integration, but more support for defence tech, according to party manifestos and an interview with an expert.

Dutch voters on Thursday (6 June) kicked off a four-day election marathon across the 27 nations of the European Union -- providing an early litmus test of how far right the next EU parliament might shift.

Today is the first day of the European elections, with citizens heading to the polls to determine who will sit in the new European Parliament, first in the Netherlands today and then in the other EU countries on 7-9 June. 

With Belgians voting in regional, federal and European elections on the same day, the far-right and the far-left are set to make serious gains as experts differ on whether the substantial number of people aged 16-23 voting for the first time will influence the outcome.

Natural disasters prompted by climate change are putting pressure on EU forest resilience, but the bloc’s Forest Monitoring Law could help forest owners, researchers, policymakers and civil society address these risks.

In the face of escalating ecological, social, economic, and political challenges threatening life on Earth, a European network championing community-led climate change and sustainability initiatives has evolved.

Beijing has toughened its critical tone towards the European Union’s protectionist measures against China, warning of increased friction in trade relations. As a trade war brews, the EU is uniting with Japan in fending off Chinese clean tech competition.

To catch the enlargement train, EU candidate countries must run simultaneously with the European Union, argues the EESC’s Dimitris Dimitriadis. He says responsibility for an increasing Western Balkans' disillusionment with the EU is shared.

Eurozone finance ministers gave their political backing on Wednesday (5 May) to a G7 plan to provide loans to Ukraine by using windfall profits generated from Russian assets, which they are ready to discuss after a G7 leaders' summit later in June.

The EU institutions are playing their part in defending the European elections on 6-9 June against disinformation and information manipulation targeting European democracy.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The EU institutions are playing their part in defending the European elections on 6-9 June against disinformation and information manipulation targeting European democracy.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The EU invited on Wednesday (5 June) Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to attend an 'ad-hoc' EU-Israel Association Council to discuss the country's compliance with its human rights obligations under the deal.