European Union

North Macedonia and Bulgaria simultaneously declared a period of national mourning after 46 people died in a bus fire on Bulgaria’s Struma highway, about 50 kilometres south of the capital Sofia. The seven who managed to escape before the bus...

Total deaths across Europe from Covid-19 are likely to exceed two million by March next year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, adding that the pandemic had become the number one cause of death in the region, The Guardian writes. Reported deaths have risen to nearly 4,200 a day, double the number being recorded in September, while cumulative reported deaths in the region have already surpassed 1.5 million.

The Brussels region has committed itself to become a 'zero-waste' city-region under Europe's Zero Waste Cities programme. It is the first capital in northern Europe to do so. The region's strategy includes a commitment to reduce waste by 20-percent per capita by 2030. By the end of 2022, among other measures, bio-waste separate collections will be mandatory for households and businesses.

President Joe Biden has invited around 110 countries to a virtual summit on democracy in December, including most of Western allies but not Hungary and Turkey, according to a list posted on the State Department website on Tuesday (23 November)....

The EU has drafted a legal mandate to sanction travel companies, including on land, air, inland waterways, and sea, which engage in or facilitate migrant trafficking to Europe, according to legal documents seen by Bloomberg. The firms could face suspended licences, limits on EU operations, and a freeze on transiting through the EU. The move comes after Belarus flew in thousands of people and forced them to cross into Poland.

MEPs on Tuesday voted in favour of the new Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) for 2023-2027 - without the support of Green lawmakers, who slammed the reform for "failing farmers and the environment". The CAP accounts for around €387bn, nearly a third of the EU budget. However, only a small portion of payments are subject to strong conditions. "The agricultural 'reform' has not earned its name," said Green MEP Tilly Metz.

Russian president Vladimir Putin will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan this week, days after some of the worst fighting between the Caucasus foes since last year's war over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin said, AFP reports. Putin will hold talks with Armenia's prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday. The trio will meet on Putin's initiative, the Kremlin said.

EU lawmakers placed new obligations on 'Big Tech' companies to allow people to install the operating system and app store they want – forcing Apple and Google to open up their ecosystems to third-party app stores.

The number of commercial satellites in orbit is growing exponentially, as is space tourism - and with it, problems with debris. Does Europe want to join the race and invest in more satellites and future Moon or Mars missions?

"America is back" may have soothed souls in the past but today's world is a 'mix and match' one where nations don't want a binary choice between aligning with the US, or becoming part of Beijing's orbit.

Kazakhstan has never had an election deemed free-and-fair by credible international observers. Kazakh authorities show unwavering intolerance towards any group, movement, or party critical of the government, and have arbitrarily applied abusive 'extremism' accusations against political opponents.

Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki tried to defend the free fall of Poland’s currency as he announced a possible intervention to stabilise the situation. The central bank’s euro exchange rate is the highest in 12 years at 4.72. “We will do...

Hungary will not participate in the EU’s joint procurement scheme but will also forgo ordering Russian or Chinese vaccines in its next order. “It was a wise and responsible decision by the government not to participate in the second round...

On Tuesday, Catalan independence party, the Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC) said it will vote for the Spanish budget for 2022, paving the way for its approval before the end of the year,  EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported....

Portugal’s economy could converge with the EU this year or the next, Prime Minister António Costa said on Tuesday. “We converged with the European Union in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and everything points to us resuming the path of...

The minimum period to get a booster shot after taking two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine, or the Johnson & Johnson single-dose, will be five months instead of six, according to a letter published Tuesday by the...

Finland will bid for the chair of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2025, President Sauli Niinistö said on a visit to Germany. 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Summit in 1975. The Helsinki Final...

Ireland’s Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) announced on Tuesday that, while it would not issue an outright ban on data centres connecting to the country’s national grid, new measures would be put in place to curb their energy usage....

Austria has warned that the different measures taken by EU countries to tackle the pandemic could lead to fragmentation in how the COVID certificate is used. According to European Affairs Minister Karoline Edtstadler, the COVID certificate must be strengthened to...

Europe remains "in the firm grip" of COVID and the continent's death toll could top 2.2 million this winter if current trends continue, the World Health Organisation warned on Tuesday (23 November).