European Union

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney on Monday accused the UK of dismissing EU solutions to the post-Brexit Northern Ireland customs rules before they were presented, the BBC reported. "Each time the EU comes forward with … new proposals to try to solve problems, they are dismissed before they're released," he said, adding that that was happening also this week when Brussels is to announce a reform of the Northern-Ireland protocol.

Alexander Schallenberg, 52, has been sworn in as the new chancellor of Austria, replacing Sebastian Kurz, who resigned over the weekend. The 35-year old Kurz and nine others are being investigated for breach of trust, corruption, and bribery. But Kurz will remain head of his ÖVP party and become its leading MP, with Schallenberg accused of being Kurz's "puppet" by Austrian opposition parties on Monday.

The European Union will look into an option for member states to jointly buy natural gas as the bloc considers ways to protect itself against surging energy prices, according to a draft document.

Last month at a summit in Budapest, Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán told Czech PM Andrej Babiš referring to the election: "Please, win! We need you!"

The International Monetary Fund has voiced full confidence in its chief, Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian former EU commissioner, following a row on China.

Two dozen countries have joined the US-and EU-led initiative to reduce global methane emissions, as momentum builds ahead of the UN climate change conference in Glasgow. Delivering on this pledge could reduce global warming by 0.2 degrees by 2050.

In 2020, the German presidency of the EU rejected the idea of accepting corporate sponsors. On this point, France seems unwilling to follow Germany.

The unique aspects of human plasma need to be framed more precisely in the EU Blood Directive. The revision of the European Union Blood, Tissues and Cells Legislation brings an opportunity to strengthen this legal framework to encourage new approaches...

As political support grows to place methane emissions reduction at the top of the global agenda, 24 additional countries agreed on Monday (11 October) to sign the EU-US-led Global Methane Pledge ahead of the UN climate summit in Glasgow.

The Slovenian Presidency has advanced an enforcement structure that would give stronger intervention powers to the European Commission in the context of the proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) package. The European Commission presented the package in December 2020. It contains...

The recent surge of electricity and gas prices to record heights across Europe has a huge potential for EU-bashing in member states, something the EU institutions should try to avert — if they can.

The president of the French competition authority, Isabelle de Silva, who has slapped a record-high fine on Google during her tenure, has revealed that she will not be reappointed and will no longer work on some "difficult projects", including the merger of TV channels TF1 and M6.

Election of the Presidents of the Chambers of three Judges of the Court of Justice

The response to the COVID pandemic is opening up a yawning economic divide between the world's wealthy and poor countries, particularly African nations, who lack the budgetary firepower to finance stimulus measures, writes Edwin Ikhuoria.

Commission President von der Leyen calling digital “make or break” for Europe’s recovery and sovereignty in her recent State of the Union provides new political impetus to the 2030 digital objectives and targets for digital transformation.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's Ano party has narrowly lost the Czech parliamentary elections with 27.2 per cent of the vote. The winner was the centre-right Spolu alliance with 27.7 per cent, which now wants to form a governing coalition with the centre-left alliance that came in third, consisting of the Pirate Party and the Mayors and Independents (STAN). However, the mandate to form a new government must be given by President Miloš Zeman, who favours Babiš - and is currently in hospital.