European Union

The European Commission launched a new global fundraising campaign on Thursday (28 May) to finance the development and worldwide distribution of testing, vaccines and treatments against COVID-19, seeking to address concerns they may not be equally shared.

In this special edition of the agrifood podcast, EURACTIV's agrifood team spoke to a range of policymakers and stakeholders to hear their remarks on the presentation of the highly anticipated Farm to Fork strategy, the new EU's landmark food policy

The European Parliament's environment committee discussed for the first time on Thursday (28 May) a proposal by Swedish MEP Jytte Guteland to set an EU-wide CO2 reduction target of 65% by 2030. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The European Union's foreign policy chief on Thursday (28 May) condemned Washington's move to end sanction waivers for countries remaining in the Iran nuclear accord, warning it would make it harder to keep Tehran in check.

One year since elections has left us all scarred, a trip during lockdown hits Cummings rep hard, and Ursula von der Leyen channels Jean-Luc Picard.

Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, told EURACTIV.com in an interview that Europe could have been better prepared to face the COVID-19 if China and the World Health Organisation had offered “better and more reliable information earlier”.

Bars, cafes, restaurants, and parks in France are to reopen on 2 June, marking the latest stage in lockdown-easing measures of one of Europe's strictest regimes, French prime minister Edouard Philippe said Thursday. "Freedom will become the rule, bans the exception," he said. Customers will only be allowed to eat in outside areas and staff will wear masks and gloves. Social gatherings of more than 10 people remain prohibited.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will not launch its new generation of space rocket, the Ariane 6, in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Travel restrictions and lockdown measures have put paid to the agency’s original schedule.

The US National Security Agency on Thursday (28 May) warned government partners and private companies about a Russian hacking operation that uses a special intrusion technique to target operating systems often used by industrial firms to manage computer infrastructure.

The EU's ambitious new budget proposal to drive recovery following the coronavirus pandemic is a good start. But long-term investment will also be needed in health, social protection, and human development, writes Emily Wigens.

When the Spanish government put the country on lockdown in March to contain the spread of the coronavirus, tourism in the Canary Islands quickly dropped to zero. But the Atlantic archipelago hopes to rebound soon.

EU-China relations will be one of Germany's EU presidency priorities in foreign policy matters, with an overall objective of "strengthening Europe as an anchor of stability in the world," said Chancellor Angela Merkel. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The EU needed higher financial guarantees from states over the next seven years in order to hedge against the cost of a potential no-deal Brexit in 2021, Johannes Hahn, the EU' budget commissioner said Thursday. "Our proposal is to increase the [budget] ceiling ... if they [the UK] don't pay what they promised to pay [due to hard Brexit] , it is sound financial management on our side," he said.

The EU is willing to move in negotiations on future EU-UK relations, but Britain must make a bigger effort in talks, EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan said Thursday, adding that negotiations had not made much progress. "Perhaps the UK has come to the conclusion that there's not going to be a deal. I hope not, because we want a deal," he said ahead of new talks due next week.

World leaders on Thursday (29 May) called for resilience and cooperation after the pandemic recedes, during a UN videoconference in which the United States, China and Russia did not participate.

Germany is seeking to use new targeted EU sanctions against cyber-attackers to impose visa bans and asset freezes on the head of Russian military intelligence and one of his alleged operatives in Germany over Russian hacking of the Bundestag in 2015, the German foreign ministry has said. The Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, was "strongly suspected of being responsible for the hacking attack," a German spokesman said Thursday.

The European Commission has proposed a €9.4bn stand-alone programme dedicated to health known as EU4Health. The proposal is touted as a first step towards a possible Treaty change when it comes to health.

It took Belgium years to decide if a top colonel was spying for Russia - potentially exposing Nato to "grave damage".

The European Commission's recovery package increases five-fold the Just Transition Fund, which aims to support the transition of fossil fuel-dependent regions. But commission vice-president Frans Timmermans warned the allocation of funds could be anchored to Green Deal commitments.

Internal document shows diplomats questioned whether the secretariat of the Council of the EU was legally allowed to write guidelines on the financing of the six-month rotating EU presidency activities.