European Union

Following the bloody crackdown on mass protests in Iran there are growing signs that a military response from the US could be imminent. US President Donald Trump has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying warships to be deployed to the region. Tehran has threatened to respond "immediately and powerfully" in the event of an attack. Commentators question the motives behind a military strike.

In the dispute over President Petr Pavel's refusal to appoint Filip Turek, honorary president of the co-governing party Motorists for Themselves, to a ministerial post, the party's leader, Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, has upped the stakes. He has threatened that if Pavel continues to refuse he will inform Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte that Pavel is disregarding the constitution and therefore unfit to represent the country at the 2026 Nato Summit in Ankara in July.

France may follow Australia's example and introduce a ban on social media for children and young teenagers after its National Assembly voted in favour of a bill to this effect. If approved by the Senate, the ban could apply to children under 15 from this September. President Emmanuel Macron has enthusiastically endorsed the draft law. While many commentators applaud the move, some present alternatives.

European Council President António Costa had a meeting with President of Viet Nam, Lương Cường, on 29 January 2026, in Hanoi, Viet Nam. At the press statement following the meeting, he highlighted that the agreement for a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was elevating the EU-Viet Nam relationship to a higher level.

The EU and Vietnam agreed on a Joint statement on upgrading relations between the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the European Union to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, in Hanoi (Viet Nam), on 29 January 2026.

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

Access to high quality data to train generative AI in the EU should go hand in hand with fair remuneration for the creative sector.
Committee on Legal Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Access to high quality data to train generative AI in the EU should go hand in hand with fair remuneration for the creative sector.
Committee on Legal Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Even before the tug-of-war with Washington over Greenland, Europe was pondering whether and how it could take its military security into its own hands. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has now dismissed such ideas with the words "keep on dreaming", stressing that Europe cannot defend itself without the US. Commentators take stock of the security situation on the continent.