European Union

The planned visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Belgrade announced for 7 June by the media is becoming complicated, particularly when it comes to how he will arrive, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Thursday. Asked by Pink...

The foreign ministry expects Denmark to join the European Security and Defence Cooperation on 1 July, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said on Thursday in a press release after about two-thirds of Danes backed such a move in Wednesday’s referendum....

 Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said she would resign if Justice Minister Morgan Johansson is defeated in the upcoming no-confidence vote put forward by the far-right Democrats of Sweden, Radio Ekot reported. Far-right Democrats of Sweden chairman Jimmie Åkesson tabled a vote of...

The right-wing Moderate Party wants families to stop receiving benefits from their fourth child to help integrate and reduce crime, party leader Ulf Kristersson told the newspaper Aftonbladet in an interview on Thursday, mainly targeting women with a migrant background. The...

The government is again considering whether to postpone the start date for implementing the carbon tax until October, due to high energy prices and growing criticism. The carbon tax is an eco-social prestige project of the current conservative-green government, where...

New Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is preparing an “emergency law” to tackle global warming and reduce France’s Russian fossil fuel dependence, she announced Thursday. A “radical transformation of our production methods” is needed to achieve the goal of a “carbon-neutral...

German lawmakers have agreed to launch an inquiry committee that will examine the withdrawal of German troops and the unsuccessful evacuation of local support staff from Afghanistan in June 2021. The governing coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and liberal...

Finland is boosting its COVID-19 vaccination campaign in preparation for the new COVID-19 BA.5 variant first detected in South Africa in January which has now hit the country. Finland discovered the first cases of the BA.5 variant in mid-May. To...

The General Intelligence and Security Service have allegedly been using hacking software from the Israeli supplier NSO Group, Dutch broadcaster Volkstkrant reported Thursday after interviewing anonymous sources. According to the sources who wished to remain anonymous, the intelligence service used the...

EU ambassadors on Thursday (2 June) gave their final approval to the sixth sanctions package on Russian seaborne oil and top bank Sberbank, after much wrangling with Hungary over the removal of Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill from the EU sanctions list.

Citizens' demand for rooftop solar photovoltaics is rapidly increasing, and governments should intervene through incentives and better permitting procedures, writes Seda Orhan.

The European Court of Justice this week slapped down an attempt by the boss of the Russian mercenary firm, the Wagner group, to be removed from an EU sanctions list.

Russia tightened its grip on a key target in a battle for control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region on Thursday (2 June) while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for more Western arms to help Ukraine reach an “inflection point” and prevail...

Researchers from EU-funded environmental organisations warn the portion of the €723.8bn recovery fund money to be spent on climate is being misused and hurts biodiversity and the environment — and the EU lacks monitoring tools to prevent it.

Researchers from EU-funded environmental organisations warn the portion of the €723.8bn recovery fund money to be spent on climate is being misused and hurts biodiversity and the environment — and the EU lacks monitoring tools to prevent it.

North Korea on Thursday (2 June) skipped the diplomatic niceties for a combative tone when it took the helm of the Conference on Disarmament. “My country is still at war with the United States,” declared Pyongyang’s ambassador Han Tae-Song. Around...

Ukrainian president Voldomyr Zelenskyy has secured another boost to his EU aspirations after his party was approved as a member of the European liberal party on Thursday (2 June).

The European Commission approved the €35.4 billion recovery plan for Poland, but the funds will only be disbursed if Warsaw upholds reforms to the judiciary, the Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday (2 June).

Written by Györgyi Mácsai (Members’ Research Service) and Igor Tkalec (GlobalStat, EUI).

This infographic examines some economic differences and similarities among countries of the Gulf region and the EU, like GDP growth, GDP per capita and female labour force participation rate. In terms of trade, the Gulf region stands already as an important source of oil and gas for the EU, these products contributing almost two-third of total imports of the latter from the Gulf region.

Read this ‘infographic’ on ‘The Gulf region: Economic indicators and trade with EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

It's difficult to explain to our people how EU made immediate use of all diplomatic tools in the case of Ukraine after five-days of conflict — but has avoided to do the same in Palestine during the past 74 years.