European Union

China has punished Lithuania for letting Taiwan open a quasi-embassy in Vilnius by withdrawing its ambassador. "The Chinese government had to lower diplomatic relations between the two countries … in order to safeguard its sovereignty and the basic norms of international relations," the Chinese foreign ministry said Sunday. Lithuania had "created a bad precedent in the international arena" and "must bear the consequences," it added.

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili agreed on Friday to end a 50-day hunger strike once authorities transferred him to a military hospital, his lawyers said, France24 reports. The transfer, proposed by Georgia's justice ministry earlier in the day, appeared to mark a breakthrough in a long stand-off that had prompted the United States and others to raise concerns for his health.

A group of 39 Palestinians flying from Egypt to Colombia and Ecuador used a stopover in the Spanish town of Barcelona to demand asylum, Spanish authorities said Friday. "They are in a special room and all their necessities are being taken care of," a Spanish spokeswoman said. The incident comes after 21 passengers from Morocco ran away after landing in the Spanish island of Mallorca earlier this month.

The Kremlin accused the West of artificially whipping up tensions around Ukraine with repeated statements suggesting Russia was poised to launch an attack on its neighbour and told Washington and its allies to stop a military build-up nearby.

Promoters of the controversial Super League football tournament have sent a letter to EU lawmakers ahead of this week's vote in the European Parliament on a sports-related report, attacking what they said was the monopoly of Europe’s "self-established" football governing body UEFA. 

The European Union has multiple reasons for embracing the Helsinki Spirit initiative as it would complement the ongoing internal EU-level reflection processes on the bloc's future and strengthen its ability to implement its multilateralism strategy, write Niklas Nováky and Henri Vanhanen.

A boat carrying the bodies of 10 migrants who were believed to have suffocated in overcrowded conditions arrived in Sicily on Friday. Some 186 people were also rescued in three separate operations last week, including 61 minors. "We hope they will get all the assistance they need," charity group Médecins Sans Frontières said, while noting that this year has been deadlier than ever on the central Mediterranean migrant route.

The UK has proscribed any support for Palestinian militant group Hamas under its Terrorist Act, meaning that pro-Hamas protesters or fund raisers could face 10-year jail sentences. "Hamas is fundamentally and rabidly antisemitic ... an enduring evil which I will never tolerate," UK home secretary Pritti Patel said Friday. The US and EU had already blacklisted the group, but the UK had only designated its military wing in the past.

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev, are to meet in Brussels in the margins of an 'Eastern Partnership' summit on 15 December to help defuse border tension, after clashes claimed at least 10 lives on Friday. "Leaders have agreed to ... discuss the regional situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus," the EU Council said.

The Belarus migrant crisis could be the prelude to broader aggression by Russia, Poland has warned, but EU solidarity does not mean a free pass on rule of law.

Violent anti-lockdown protests erupted in Belgium on Sunday and continued for a third night in the Netherlands, amid wider unrest in Europe.

Czechia’s likely next Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský (Pirates, Greens/EFA affiliated) wants to change the course of the country’s foreign policy and prioritise human rights over economic interests. EURACTIV.cz has learnt that Lipavský has become a thorn in the side of...

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić has reacted strongly after her Kosovo counterpart Albin Kurti hinted at a possible future referendum on unifying with neighbouring Albania. Brnabić reacted to Kurti’s statement by calling it “another stone in undermining the foundations of regional stability...

Media in North Macedonia reported that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev would resign as soon as the majority in parliament, the Sobranje, is consolidated and strengthened. After a meeting with Alternative party leader Afrim Gashi, Prime Minister and SDSM leader Zoran Zaev...

China downgraded its diplomatic ties with Lithuania on Sunday (21 November), expressing strong dissatisfaction with the Baltic State after Taiwan opened a de facto embassy there, escalating a row that has sucked in Washington.

“If HDZ is not ready to compromise, then it will not get anything,” said Bakir Izetbegović, president of the biggest Bosniak party SDA, about the changes to the constitution and electoral law. Izetbegović also pointed to the alleged efforts of...

EU senior officials say Belarus needs to do much more than move migrants and asylum seekers into a shelter. They want UN aid agencies to have unhindered access to people stranded in Belarus. Poland is still refusing any humanitarian aid.

EU lawmakers have agreed not to ban tracking-based advertising, after a lobby campaign. But experts have warned MEPs these techniques pose a risk for users' privacy rights and the EU's digital sovereignty.

The fishmeal industry in recent years has been growing fast in West Africa, in Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia. But that creates problems, with a proliferation of fishmeal factories leading to a "serious overfishing situation."

The debate over a successor for David Sassoli, the centre-left Italian president of the European Parliament will heat up, and Belarusian democratic opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya will address the plenary.