European Union

The EU Commission “Fit for 55” places Europe as the global leader on climate ambition. The EC package has charted a path to reach further decarbonisation in 2030, with a special focus on decarbonising transport and buildings.

The Council added four new Syrian minister to the EU sanction list.

Council adopts conclusions on EU forest strategy for 2030.

The Council adopted a decision and a regulation broadening the listing criteria to be used to decide on restrictive measures in view of the situation at the EU border with Belarus, so as to be able to target natural or legal persons, entities or bodies organising or contributing to activities by the Lukashenko regime that facilitate illegal crossing of the EU's external borders.

The Council approved conclusions welcoming the upcoming sixth review conference of the convention on prohibitions or restrictions on the use of certain conventional weapons which may be deemed to be excessively injurious or have indiscriminate effects.

The Council approved conclusions welcoming the upcoming tenth review conference of the parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The New European Bauhaus launched by the European Commission last year will see scientists, designers, architects, engineers, and students exchange ideas this week on green projects that will help put Europe on a path to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, writes Florika Fink-Hooijer.

Not all recycling is equal. As the European Commission prepares to revise the EU's packaging waste directive, policymakers want to remove degradation and waste from the process.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping stressed their responsibility to the world to avoid conflict as the heads of the two top global economies gathered for hours of talks on Monday (15 November).

As the debate on whether to include nuclear power and gas in the EU's sustainable finance taxonomy continues, progressive lawmakers in Germany and the European Parliament have released a joint statement to weigh in on the debate.

Employers in Latvia are allowed to dismiss employees who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19 from Monday (15 November), under new rules aimed at taming the pandemic in the EU member state.

France told Russia on NATO would be prepared to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine, near where Moscow has been staging a troop buildup, while Western leaders sought to tackle a migrants crisis on the eastern borders of the EU.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about the situation at the Poland-Belarus border sparking a political storm in Finland, Hungary's Central Bank chief speaking out against the economic policy of the ruling Fidesz party, and so much more.

Russian travellers are flocking to Croatia to get jabs of EU-approved vaccines, according to Reuters. "Just this month we've had about 1,000 Russians who received vaccines. So far we have had altogether 4,908 foreign citizens here, most of whom are Russians," the head of Zagreb's biggest vaccination centre said. "Demand is not just big, it's avalanche-like and growing exponentially," an employee of Russian travel agency Russian Express also said.

A French court began hearing an appeal by former prime minister François Fillon against a conviction in a corruption scandal that torpedoed his presidential ambitions and sealed the rise of Emmanuel Macron, France24 writes. Fillon, a conservative candidate in the presidential elections in 2017, was charged with corruption after revelations that his wife Penelope was paid over €800,000 over 15 years for a suspected fake job as a parliamentary assistant.

Hungary's Constitutional Court has begun hearing a case challenging an EU court ruling saying Hungary broke EU law by forcing refugees back to Serbia. The case was brought by Hungarian justice minister Judit Varga, who said "this [EU ruling] would affect Hungary's sovereignty set out in the Constitution", Reuters reports. The case comes after Poland's nationalist-conservative government recently attacked the primacy of EU law in its own Constitutional Court verdict.

After a week of speculation, Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani confirmed that Kosovo and Serbia were invited to the upcoming Summit for Democracy. On Monday (15 November), Osmani confirmed she would represent the country along with more than 100 others, following...

Croatia will help Kosovo with visa liberalisation, said Prime minister Andrej Plenković who met with his counterpart Albin Kurti in Pristina on Monday. Following a meeting between the two, Plenković said they would help Kosovo on the path to European...

Derek Chollet, the Counsellor of the US Department of State, visited Sarajevo on Monday (15 November). Ahead of his arrival, it was announced that Chollet would convey a strong US message that any attempt to undo 26 years of peace...

The EU has said Russia was complicit in Belarus' attack on Polish borders, while warning Russian president Vladimir Putin not to also strike Ukraine.