Euobserver.com

Most EU countries have outsourced visa-application processing for Kosovars to private companies. The results are long queues, expensive fees, loss of clarity over where personal data ends up — and often not even a visa.

The next round of EU sanctions on Russia will focus on banning trade in dual-use technologies still being used in Russian weapons systems in Ukraine, diplomatic sources have said.

Moldova has revealed details of a planned Russian coup d'etat based on a similar model to a failed coup in Montenegro seven years ago.

German ideas of possibly offshoring asylum to countries outside Europe are unworkable, say civil society. The comments follow reports that the German government is exploring options of getting north African states to process asylum claims of those rescued at sea.

"The main risk to this forecast is based on the geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of the war," EU commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said, adding that "this gives to the economy, investors, companies a high degree of uncertainty".

The Conservatives scored a stunning upset in Berlin, coming top and increasing their vote by ten percent — but it may not be enough to dislodge the existing red/red/green coalition in the lefwing capital.

Europe is responding to US green subsidies by unleashing green subsidies of its own. But the focus on industry and great power rivalry has overshadowed what the EU Commission itself has repeatedly said is central to the green transformation: people.

High licence fees, a lower minimum age, and poor working conditions mean not enough people are willing to drive buses and coaches in Europe.

The far right in the European Parliament has said Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right group, is a poster boy for their cause of stemming migration.

In his address to EU leaders, Zelensky called for sanctions on the Russian IT sector, Russian nuclear energy, and against the drone and missile industry.

The German coalition government promised in 2021 to fully legalise cannabis, making it the first country in Europe, and the third in the world to do so. How is that going, and what are the likely knock-on effects for Europe?

The push for more fences and walls to stem migration at the borders is a political ploy by EU states to band-aid their own failings at home. It is also unfeasible. The EU's external border is 12,000km.

MEPs agreed on a compromise text for the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive #EPBD, but divisions within parties blocked a more ambitious text, with some fearing cost overruns and protests.

Artificial Intelligence in migration is increasingly used to make predictions, assessments, and evaluations based on racist assumptions it is programmed with. But with upcoming AI Act, the EU has a chance to draw red lines on the most harmful technologies.

EU leaders are set to discuss how to respond to the €343bn worth of US subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), amid worries of i impact on businesses.

Jaded Russian diplomats in dark suits are parroting old propaganda in EU capitals, according to a grim portrait of Russian diplomacy after one year of war.

A joint letter from Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia seeks to create more Turkey-like migrant swap deals. But a pending Greek case at the European Court of Justice may complicate those plans.

While every European diplomat knows that a return to the "status quo" means maintaining the daily oppression, humiliation and anguish that comes with living under apartheid, the EU continues to acquiesce to a situation that gets worse by the day.

A fourth MEP's undeclared Azerbaijan trip is adding to pressure for EU Parliament reform.

All member states complain about European compromises, each for their own reasons. Nevertheless, these decisions tend to be robust precisely because there is enough in them for everybody. And nobody wants to start negotiating all over again for another deal.