Euobserver.com

The ability to use different foreign policy discourses is the EU's biggest asset. It keeps a systemic rival like China on its toes, while signalling to the US that Europe has its own interests.

EU finance ministers meet in Stockholm to negotiate new spending rules, with frugal Germany expected to clash with France and Italy. Meanwhile the proposal has been criticised by economists for not leaving enough room for climate investment.

With 60 percent of African countries spending more on debt repayment than on national healthcare, the EU should use Global Gateway financing to address structural issues rather than conversations about finance.

Nobody in Belgium wants Russian "blood diamonds" any more, but the next round of EU sanctions still won't ban them.

Workers are ageing and there is a lack of young people to replace them — is the sector attractive enough right now? The Commission is already reviewing the regulation (and the obstacles).

The EU Commission has proposed an overhaul of its pharma-industry rules, aiming to cut medicine prices and even out access to new drugs across Europe.

The EU Commission's proposed new debt rules give capitals more power over their own spending, but still envisage tough fines for profligates.

Tests on using the EU budget to support defence research have delivered scarce results, says the EU's financial watchdog.

Our muslim youth organisation FEMYSO has been mercilessly defamed over years. We never knew who the perpetrator was, until a New Yorker investigation revealed the absurdly unlikely story behind the campaign.

A recent World Bank report shows that, with appropriate social policies, the green transition could minimise the transitions' effects on wage differentials between university graduates and the rest and reduce regional inequalities across Europe.

Serbia is trying to block Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, putting in doubt an EU-brokered deal amid heightened tension in the region.

Prominent Iranian rights defenders are demanding the EU list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

The narrative now is all about how clueless African, Asian and Latin American leaders can still be brought back to the right path — and out of China's embrace — with the right amount of tough pressure and sweet persuasion.

Curiously, it is not easy to ascertain exactly why Sweden could not enter the alliance on the same day as Finland, given the submission of parallel bids, writes former Swedish ambassador to Ankara, Michael Sahlin, and Kjell Engelbrekt.

EU diplomats and civilians are fleeing Sudan amid concern Russian mercenaries will exploit the Western vacuum.

The Christian Democrat, Social Democrat, liberal and green groups, plus the smaller Left group, warned that the latest legislative developments in Hungary will further deteriorate the rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy.

China is distancing itself from comments made by its ambassador in Paris that appeared to question the independence of ex-USSR states — which would include the Baltic EU member states.

Neither the future prospects nor the current situation of young people in Greece, Italy, and Spain are promising at the moment. But the three governments are implementing measures to reduce some of their worst employment problems.

Our 2023 Media Freedom Report shows that withering media pluralism is one of the greatest threats facing Europe's media landscape.

"It is increasingly clear that the 'hybrid' tribunal will be the solution," a senior EU official said, after foreign ministers of the key Western powers supported a tribunal option which is not Ukraine's preferred option.