Diplomacy & Crisis News

Instead of pursuing a diplomatic solution to manage shared waters, India is following a dam-for-dam policy.

The Pentagon’s new $200 billion private equity fund would harm the critical industries it aims to support.

Addressing the 15th SPA, Kim enshrined permanent enmity with Seoul and declared his regime “ready for any choice” from the United States.

Concrete is being poured at a site in Jizzakh region which will host Uzbekistan’s first nuclear power plant.

Beijing has proved unable to end or even shape the conflict – especially in Pakistan.

Integrating AI into the North Korean military comes with risks, from technological vulnerabilities to the potential for an inadvertent nuclear war.

Written by Clare Ferguson with Áine Feeney

Members gather for their second plenary session in March 2026, to progress decisions on a number of important files. Representatives of the European Council and European Commission are expected to make statements on the conclusion of the leaders’ meeting of 19 March 2026, at which the European Union’s competitiveness and the situation in the Middle East, as well as continued support for Ukraine was discussed. The Council and Commission are also due to make statements on energy security, independence and supply in the current fraught geopolitical context, with a view to ensuring market stability and affordable energy for industry and citizens.

Against a background of trade tariff instability, and to pave the way for  negotiations with the Council on implementing the 2025 framework agreement between the EU and the United States (the ‘Turnberry deal’), Parliament is on Thursday set to consider its first-reading position on Committee on International Trade (INTA) reports on the two regulations proposed. The report on the main proposal covers EU industrial tariff liberalisation/agricultural tariff rate quotas, proposing a ‘sunset’ date of 31 March 2028, defensive measures in case of additional demands, and a safeguard clause. The second report, which deals specifically with trade in lobster, proposes a ‘sunset’ date of 31 December 2028, and includes defensive measures in case of US imposition of additional tariffs, breaches of human rights or threats to EU security interests. Both reports propose to evaluate the situation six months following implementation of the EU-US framework agreement.

Harking back to an earlier, financial, crisis, Members remain determined to protect taxpayers from the consequences of failed banking institutions. A debate is therefore scheduled for Wednesday afternoon on deposit protection and early intervention measures, with a vote scheduled on agreed texts on a package of proposals that seek to further harmonise the current EU bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework. The agreements would facilitate access to industry support for failing banks, with resort to national deposit guarantee schemes set as a last resort. They also clarify the criteria for choosing whether to liquidate or rescue a bank and retain the current two-tier system for deposit protection.

The development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) is changing many aspects of daily life, and at considerable speed. The EU’s flagship Artificial Intelligence Act introduced measures to encourage development whilst also protecting citizens. However, setting up the governance structure to apply the act takes time. To ensure safe AI development can continue in the interim, Members are due to vote on Thursday to set Parliament’s position for negotiations on proposed measures to simplify application of the AI Act. A report from Parliament’s Committees on Internal Market and Consumer Protection and on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs agrees with the Council proposal that fixed deadlines should be set for delaying the rules governing high-risk AI systems. The report also introduces a targeted ban on AI generation of non-consensual sexual and intimate content.

Following lengthy negotiations, Members are expected to consider a provisional agreement on the proposed directive to combat corruption on Wednesday. Aimed at developing a more robust legal and policy framework, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs’ report on the proposal called for an extended definition of a ‘public official’ subject to criminal proceedings in the case of ‘abuse of function’, and to introduce new categories of offence. It also sought enhanced rights for the public to participate in corruption-related proceedings and called for  EU countries to adopt anti-corruption strategies. Parliament’s recommendations shaped the compromise text in this latter respect, but with limited extensions to definitions.

In the EU, citizens largely enjoy access to clean water. The EU’s urban wastewater legislation was updated in 2024, to bring it into line with the EU’s climate neutrality targets. The new Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) introduced stricter requirements for urban wastewater treatment, water re-use and sanitation. An oral question to the Commission is tabled for Thursday morning on the implementation of this file. The question is likely to raise debate on how to uphold the ‘polluter pays’ principle without risking production of vital medicines, as the pharmaceutical industry is a major user of water resources. During negotiations on the file, Parliament insisted on measures to avoid unintended consequences for vital products like medicines and to promote the re-use of wastewater and plant modernisation.

The EU’s global gateway strategy seeks to promote clean and secure energy connections by working with international partners worldwide. On Thursday morning, Members are due to consider a report from the Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and on Development (DEVE), assessing the first four years of the strategy’s implementation. While noting the funding has been successfully spent on promoting sustainable and inclusive growth in non-EU countries, the report nevertheless proposes improvements. These include moving to a more demand-driven strategy, based on partners’ needs and greater private sector involvement. The committees recommend revising the governance structure for greater democratic legitimacy, and advocate simpler and more predictable financing, as well as avoiding global gateway projects exacerbating debt in third countries.

Against the backdrop of several national bans on conversion practices in EU countries, on Wednesday, Parliament is set to discuss a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), with over one million signatures in support, calling for an EU-wide ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTIQ+ individuals. Conversion practices (also known as conversion ‘therapies’) are widely condemned as constituting torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, resulting in severe physical and psychological harm. The European Parliament firmly opposes conversion practices and has long denounced all forms of LGBTIQ+ discrimination.

European Parliament Plenary Session March II 2026 – agenda

• Implementing the EU tariff commitments under the 2025 EU-US Framework Agreement
• Deposit protection and early intervention measures
• Parliament’s emerging position on the Digital Omnibus on AI
• Directive on combating corruption
• Implementation of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive
• Global Gateway – Past impacts, future orientation
• European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Ban on conversion practices in the European Union’

Sanctions, logistical disruptions, and new conflicts — from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf — have turned the fertilizer market into a key arena of geoeconomic competition.

The three horrific murders of Uzbek women in Turkiye shed harsh light on the risks female migrant workers face, usually at the hands of those closest to them. 

The ruling coalition still faces serious hurdles.

The arrangement reflects both the two nations' robust bilateral ties and their largely complementary energy needs.

A desperate regime might go after soft targets.

Can state-based administrations forge a federalism that will keep the country together?

The agreement was one of several energy-related deals that were signed on the first day of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to Moscow.

Les autorités chypriotes devraient intensifier leurs campagnes de promotion au cours des prochains mois afin de limiter les pertes financières

The post « Pas une zone de guerre » : le tourisme chypriote passe à l’offensive appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Depuis le début de la guerre en Ukraine, la Russie n'est plus largement considérée comme un « Eldorado » économique

The post Migrants d’Asie centrale : l’Europe séduit alors que la Russie perd de son attrait appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Written by Anja Radjenovic.

The safe third country (STC) concept is well established in international asylum policies. According to the concept, certain migrants should not be granted protection in the country where they have applied for it. Instead, they may be returned, or transferred, to a country where they could have found, or can find, international protection. Amid ongoing EU-level discussions on safe third country rules, in 2018 the United Nations Refugee Agency developed legal considerations on safe third countries.

Within the framework of the body of EU law on asylum, the STC concept is based on the assumption that certain third (i.e. non-EU) countries can be designated as safe for applicants seeking international protection, under specific conditions. The concept builds on cooperation with third countries in a bid to reduce irregular arrivals and increase return rates. It seeks to speed up the processing of the claims of asylum applicants arriving from safe third countries, to prevent overburdening national asylum systems.

The recently adopted Asylum Procedure Regulation provides for broader applicability of safe country clauses. This concerns, in particular, four aspects: (i) the safety assessment when applying the STC concept; (ii) the interpretation of the ‘connection requirement’, i.e. the connection between an asylum seeker and a third country when readmitting an applicant to a designated STC; (iii) the option to designate a third country as safe with territorial limitations or to exclude certain vulnerable groups from such a designation; and (iv) the creation of a common EU list of STCs in addition to national lists. The regulation was amended in February 2026, modifying rules on applications from STCs.

The success of any STC scheme relies on third countries’ cooperation, something that can be challenging to obtain. To counter criticisms of burden shifting and to boost the viability of STC schemes, the EU must demonstrate solidarity through burden sharing. Furthermore, many potentially safe third countries lack asylum laws and administrative frameworks. Consequently, they would likely require substantial support from external partners.

This is an update of a 2024 EPRS briefing.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Safe third country concept in the EU pact on migration and asylum‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

La Terre absorbe la chaleur à un rythme jamais atteint depuis le début des relevés

The post La Terre en surchauffe : jamais autant de chaleur absorbée, alerte l’OMM appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Le Premier ministre polonais a affirmé que les soupçons l'avaient depuis longtemps poussé à garder le silence lors des discussions au Conseil européen

The post Tusk n’est pas surpris par les fuites hongroises présumées vers Moscou appeared first on Euractiv FR.

La course pour intégrer l'un des programmes européens visant à développer un avion de combat de sixième génération bat son plein

The post L’Inde pourrait rejoindre le FCAS en difficulté ou un projet rival pour le futur avion de chasse européen appeared first on Euractiv FR.