European Union

Vladimir Putin should be prosecuted by an international tribunal for the atrocities committed in Ukraine, said President Miloš Zeman in an attempt to downplay his former support for the Russian president, saying that “circumstances had changed”. Putin should be put...

The idea of sending new heavy weapons to Ukraine, including tanks and missiles, has not yet been ruled out, Defence Minister Margarita Robles told Telecinco on Monday. “Within our capabilities and in coordination with other countries, Spain, because it believes in peace...

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is reportedly preparing to table a draft law to help rejected asylum seekers remain in the country while making it easier to deport criminals. The social-democratic minister’s proposal provides for an “opportunity-based residence permit,” according to Der...

In his address to the UN Security Council, President Charles Michel reiterated the EU's condemnation of Russia's war in Ukraine focusing on sexual violence and trafficking as well as Russia's role in the global food security crisis.

How did the ultranationalist Brothers of Italy party and its blonde founder, Giorgia Meloni, come to be players in Italian top politics in just 10 years?

German taxpayers would pay €5bn a year extra for gas after Germany sanctioned Russian subsidiary Gazprom Germania, according to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper citing industry sources. Germany put the Russian firm under trustee management due to the Ukraine war. The move prompted Russia to cut supplies, forcing Germany to buy extra volumes of gas on the more expensive spot market instead.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who is under EU sanctions, cancelled a trip to Serbia Monday after neighbouring countries Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro said their airspace would be closed to his jet in line with the EU measures, Reuters reports. "Our diplomacy has yet to master teleportation,"a Russian foreign ministry source told Russian news agency Interfax.

French president Emmanuel Macron has faced a backlash for telling French newspapers Saturday "we must not humiliate Russia" in Ukraine. "Calls to avoid humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France," Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said. Macron said he'd spoken for more than 100 hours by phone with Russian president Vladimir Putin in total. French efforts to mediate had been "a spectacular failure" former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said.

The latest round of EU sanctions has blacklisted Alina Kabaeva, said to be a girlfriend of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Kabaeva is a "former gymnast", who is on the board of a firm "that owns large stakes in almost all major Russian federal media", the EU sanctions said. She is "closely associated" with Putin, they added. Friday's sanctions included a partial oil embargo and bans on banks and TV channels.

Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, and Spain expect 150,000 migrants this year amid food-shortage worries caused by the Ukraine war, the Cypriot foreign minister said after the five countries' ministers met in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Reuters reports. "If wheat remains blocked in the Black Sea ports, we must expect a greater [migrant] flow," Italian interior minister Luciana Lamorgese said Friday. Some 123,000 people arrived in the five frontline states last year.

The UK is sending long-range missiles to Ukraine while Spain is sending tanks and anti-aircraft systems despite Russian threats. The British missiles will "enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery," UK defence minister Ben Wallace said. Ukrainian soldiers will be trained in the UK, Spain, and Latvia, Spanish newspaper El Pais said. Western help for Ukraine is a proxy war, Russia says.

A group of 50 CEOs has written an open letter urging MEPs to delay plans for a carbon border tax on industry ahead of votes on the EU Parliament's position on several green laws next week, Reuters reports. Energy-intensive industry lobbies EUROFER, Cefic, and Cembureau and farming pressure group Copa-Cogeca also wrote to MEPs seeking delays. Auto groups lobbied against zero-emission cars and airports warned against imposing new CO2-related costs.

The US is letting Italian firm Eni and Spanish company Repsol ship oil from Venezuela to Europe to offset an upcoming embargo on Russian supplies, Reuters reports. US sources said the sanctions workarounds would be limited in volume and restricted to EU countries amid fears of giving a boost to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who is on a US blacklist. The EU oil embargo comes into full force next year.

The Bureau has decided today to accept the request of European Parliament Secretary-General, Mr Klaus Welle, to hand over his function, after nearly 14 years in office, on 1 January 2023.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

The Bureau has decided today to accept the request of European Parliament Secretary-General, Mr Klaus Welle, to hand over his function, after nearly 14 years in office, on 1 January 2023.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

President Metsola expressed her condolences to those injured and to the relatives of those who died in a train accident in Bavaria on 3 June, at the opening of the session.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

President Metsola expressed her condolences to those injured and to the relatives of those who died in a train accident in Bavaria on 3 June, at the opening of the session.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned into a World War III of sorts, one that will result in major changes, including new borders in Europe, after which we are not sure that France and Germany will remain the largest and most influential countries in our union.

Russia should not close the US embassy despite the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine because the world's two biggest nuclear powers must continue to talk, the US ambassador to Moscow was quoted as saying on Monday (6 June).

In brief

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP