European Union

One in six of Ukrainians — 7.7 million people — have been forced to flee their homes since Russia's aggression began, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a UN offshoot, reported Thursday. More than 60 percent of them are women and more than half reported difficulty in access to food. "A humanitarian ceasefire is crucial to allow for aid delivery and access to hard-to-reach communities," IOM director António Vitorino said.

France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen insists she wants to remain in the EU and "deeply" reform it despite accusations that her programme is just a veiled "Frexit". EURACTIV France reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (21 April) claimed the "liberation" of the flattened city of Mariupol after nearly two months of fighting, but signalled he would forgo a final bloody offensive against beleaguered Ukrainian defenders there.

Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday that "there are no taboos for us with regard to armoured vehicles and other weaponry that Ukraine needs" after allies criticised her country for Berlin's apparent reluctance to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. Baerbock said on a visit to Estonia that the priority was to ensure Ukraine quickly got older Soviet-designed kit that its military could use without extra training, Reuters reported.

Written by Ralf Drachenberg.

The role of the European political parties, often under-estimated in the past, has increased significantly over the years. Today, they are important coordinators within the EU political system, carrying out a variety of activities that can be classified conceptually as ‘vertical’, ‘horizontal’ and ‘diagonal’ coordination.

This EPRS study explores the growing ‘politicisation’ of the European Council and the increased coordination role which European political parties appear to play in the context of the European Council.

The parties’ main coordination activities are clearly their respective ‘pre-summits’, held just ahead of European Council meetings. These pre-summits serve multiple purposes for the parties – including coordinating positions for the imminent European Council discussions, long-term strategising, communication, socialising and networking – with the importance of each varying between the different parties.

A case study looking at the nomination of the EU’s new institutional leadership in 2019 illustrates the importance of the European political parties’ role in coordinating between EU leaders in the European Council.

Read this study on ‘European political parties and the European Council: A pattern of ever closer coordination?‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

While Russia's invasion of Ukraine rages on, a group of renowned economists have devised a plan to reconstruct Ukraine after peace returns. The amount of money and planning needed is daunting, but maybe the EU can learn something from this as well

Switching to quality gastronomy combined with greening measures in restaurants will be key factors in reviving the Czech hospitality industry in the post-pandemic era, as tourists have now become more demanding in several aspects, Czech restaurants owners have told EURACTIV.cz.

What some Africans now are bracing for is a carbon "shock", where EU tariffs would end up "suffocating some African economies," a senior advisor at the African Climate Foundation warns.

On Sunday, France will hold a runoff election for the presidency. The latest polls put incumbent Emmanuel Macron ahead of his opponent Marine Le Pen, who is assigned to the far-right political spectrum, with 55 percent. The kingmakers will be those who voted for leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round of the voting. Europe's press is deeply concerned for France's future.

The battle for eastern Ukraine is raging: the Russian military on Wednesday reported that it had attacked 1,053 Ukrainian military sites. Ukraine said that it had blocked Russian troops from entering Sloviansk. Evacuations have begun in Kramatorsk. Ukrainian President Zelensky warned the population about attacks on residential areas. Commentators are following the situation with grave concern.

EU Council President Charles Michel paid an unexpected visit to Kyiv on Wednesday. At a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he said the EU would "do everything" to ensure Ukraine "will win the war". Empty promises or a sea change?