European Union

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis vetoed on Thursday (10 September) a Polish proposal to invite Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to Friday’s summit of central European heads of state, saying such a step would be “hasty”.

Two European lawmakers, Victor Negrescu and Eva Maydell, set out their plans for how a European Education Alliance can help advance education across the bloc.

European Commission gets very minor reshuffle, Brexit deal law-breaking causes major kerfuffle and Strasbourg v Brussels in fresh Parliament scuffle.

Europe's creative industry has criticised the European Commission's consultation on new EU copyright rules for departing from the original directive agreed last year and being unworkable.

Just 32 percent of Germans told the R+V Insurance Group in a poll out Thursday they were afraid of getting a serious illness amid the coronavirus pandemic. But 53 percent of Germans put US president Donald Trump at the top of their fears, saying his politics were creating a "more dangerous world". Meanwhile, 49 percent said they were wary of paying for EU debt related to the pandemic's economic fallout.

French authorities confirmed 9,843 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, surpassing, by 900, its previous daily record, since the pandemic struck Europe earlier this year. The number of patients in French intensive care units was also on the rise, the BBC reported. More than 30,800 French people have died so far - then seventh highest figure in the world, with French authorities warning of "tough" new lockdown-type measures due out Friday.

Cyprus is holding hostage EU sanctions on Belarus in return for a new Turkey blacklist, as Greek and Turkish ministers traded harsh words in the EU parliament.

A Kremlin spokesperson has said there are no grounds for an investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. But Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said earlier after a call with Russia's president Vladimir Putin that Putin "assured me Russia intends to clear up what has happened, and told me that he would set up a committee of inquiry and was ready to collaborate with the German authorities."

New fraudster schemes in Europe include EU funds for environmental or sustainability projects and using the procurement and tendering process to get access to EU funds for illegal purposes.

The European Commission has concluded that code of practice to fight disinformation fails to guarantee enough transparency and accountability from tech platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter - saying it is time to go beyond this self-regulatory mechanism.

The consequence of the attacks of 9/11 was not a more united, but a more divided West. Today, divisive and populist leaders are gaining ground. But this year the tide can be turned.

The European Commission will attempt to spin its way out of bearing any responsibility for the disaster that is Moria. Piecemeal efforts to help those in Moria will not resolve a policy Brussels created.

A recent report noted apparel and footwear as the leading exports from the Uighur region - with a combined value of $6.3bn [€5.3bn] representing over 35 percent of total exports.

Sixteen members of German chancellor Angela Merkel's bloc in parliament have demanded the relocation of 5,000 refugees in a letter to interior minister Horst Seehofer, DPA reported. "Germany, if possible together with other EU countries, but if necessary alone, take in 5,000 refugees from mainland Greece," they said. The German government is under pressure to act after the fire at the Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The government of the Netherlands has announced they are willing to take 100 people from the Moria camp in Lesbos. Fifty of them should be children, with the other 50 vulnerable people. Germany and France also agreed to take 400 children. The Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos burned down on Tuesday night. Around 12,000 people were living in the camp.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission on Thursday kicked off the first meeting of the high-level facilitation council, leading global collaborative efforts to speed up the development and deployment of vaccines, tests and treatments against Covid-19, as well as to improve worldwide health systems. WHO said that the facility is facing a financing gap of nearly €30bn since the United States decided not to join this initiative.

European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič said in London on Thursday the EU gives the UK government three weeks to drop its internal market bill that would breach international law, the Guardian reports. He warned that the UK should "withdraw these measures from the draft bill in the shortest time possible and in any case by the end of the month", adding the EU is ready to take legal measures.

This is an extraordinary year, clearly, because of COVID-19: the pandemic is wreaking havoc on economies and our businesses are struggling to weather the fallout. Zhou Lihong is the Chairwoman of the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU. Our...

The EU issued a stern ultimatum to the UK on Thursday (10 September) to withdraw its bill overriding the Irish Protocol or talks on an EU-UK trade deal will collapse.

The Council decided to renew the restrictive measures on persons and entities undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine for 6 more months, until 15 March 2021.