European Union

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ centre-right New Democracy is leading current polls with enough predicted votes to win a majority of seats ahead of a snap election that was called after no party won a majority to form a government in...

Member states need to take the lead in addressing healthcare labour shortages, and the EU needs to establish monitoring and funding schemes as part of a common European response, global health policy researcher at WEMOS Corinne Hinlopen told EURACTIV. While...

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) will trigger early elections if the prime minister switch that was agreed to within the ruling coalition in December and which was supposed to have already taken place is not respected, said Social-Democrat MEP Victor...

Achieving the green transition requires rapid and large-scale investment from cities, national governments and the private sector acting in unison, writes Mark Watts.

The European People’s Party (EPP) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) groups are gradually converging to prevent the emergence of a left-wing majority in the European Parliament after the 2024 elections, said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS, ECR)....

Lega’s entry into the European People’s Party (EPP) is not on the agenda amid differences on key issues, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini told The T before adding that he will continue to work for an agreement of the centre-right...

Austria’s Social Democratic SPÖ party elected migration hardliner Hans Peter Dosksozil to lead the party at a special party convention in Linz on Saturday, kickstarting an internal process to decide the party’s direction ahead of the 2024 legislative elections. On...

Finland and the US have signed a Joint Statement on Cooperation in Advanced Wireless Communications in Helsinki, which was seen as the ”free world’s” response to Chinese technology. Following the signing at the Helsinki Town Hall, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka...

Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on Kosovo* and latest developments.

Joint press statement of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Mr Sadyr Zhaparov and the President of the European Council Mr Charles Michel.

European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, said on Friday (2 June) he was opposed to any "break" in the green transition, in a thinly-veiled critique of Emmanuel Macron's call for a "European regulatory break" on environmental constraints.

Tensions remained high in Senegal Saturday (3 June) after clashes brought the death toll to 15 since a court convicted opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

President Tayyip Erdoğan signalled on Saturday (3 June) his newly-elected government would return to more orthodox economic policies when he named Mehmet Şimşek to his cabinet to tackle Turkey's cost-of-living crisis and other strains.

At least 288 people have died in India's worst rail crash in over two decades, officials said on 3 June, after a train went off the tracks and hit another one in an accident a preliminary report blamed on signal failure.

Remarks by President Charles Michel after the Central Asia Leaders’ Meeting.

President Michel attended the second regional high-level meeting held in Kyrgyzstan, together with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will meet US President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday (5 June), amid speculation that the White House will use the visit to vet her as the first female NATO secretary-general.

Three more Europeans have been released by Iran in return for Iranian diplomat Asadollah Assadi as part of a prisoner swap in which Iran released Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele last week, a spokesperson for the Belgian government said.

After a rocky start to a week of negotiations, around 170 countries agreed to develop a first draft by November of what could become the first global treaty to curb plastic pollution by the end of next year.

Written by Marc Jütten. and Leon Peijnenburg.

The 49th G7 Summit, bringing together the leaders of the United States (US), Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU), took place on 19‑21 May 2023 under the Japanese Presidency in Hiroshima, a city with worldwide symbolic importance for war, nuclear devastation and peace. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine dominated the leaders’ summit once again, with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, attending in person. The other main issue was the need to increase economic resilience and build a unified G7 approach towards China.

This year’s summit took place at a time where the multilateral rules-based global order is being challenged, in particular by Russia and China, and strategic relations around the world are being redefined. Key states from the Global South are becoming increasingly important for the West, in order to isolate Russia and address global challenges. For this reason, in addition to Zelenskyy, the Japanese Presidency invited a series of leaders, including those of the G20 troika – Indonesia, India and Brazil (India assumed the G20 Presidency on 1 December 2022 from Indonesia, and will hand it over to Brazil in December this year).

The G7 leaders made strong commitments to global partners, in particular those in the Global South, in their various communiqués and statements. Some side meetings drew media attention, notably that between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The resulting leaders’ communiqué focused on support for Ukraine, disarmament and non-proliferation, economic security, clean tech economy, food security and the convergence of policy towards China. Many commentators drew an important parallel between the reiterated strong support for Ukraine and an underlying message that the international community would provide equal support were Taiwan to be in peril. In this regard, it is also interesting to note the timing of President Biden’s announcement at the G7 that the US would support a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Read the complete briefing on ‘2023 G7 Summit: Preparing for a new global order?‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament