European Union

Chanting "freedom", hundreds of people rallied on Sunday in Madrid, while in Brussels, some 200 people gathered to protest against the mandatory use of facemasks, AFP reported. Madrid protesters held up placards featuring slogans saying: "The virus does not exist", "Masks kill", and "We are not afraid". Some Brussels placards said: "Corona circus" and "It's my body, it's my choice". Both demonstrations drew conspiracy theorists and anti-vaccination activists as well.

Belarusians chanting "Step down!" filled the centre of the capital Minsk on Sunday (16 August) in the biggest protest so far against what they said was the fraudulent re-election a week ago of longtime president Alexander Lukashenko.

US Democrats stepped up pressure on Sunday (16 August) against a cost-cutting campaign by President Donald Trump’s appointed Postal Service chief that they fear will hold up mail-in ballots in November’s election.

Europe's transport sector, already hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak, faces a crucial and possibly defining end to 2020. EU and global targets will start to bite, while new technologies will face a challenging acid test.

To help bring you up to speed after the summer holidays, EURACTIV's policy experts have put together a series of streamlined overviews of the most important issues in all policy areas, from agriculture and transport to energy and digital.

With the EU's new food policy launched this spring, policymakers will now turn their attention back to the long-delayed reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the staple of the bloc's farming industry and the biggest item in its budget.

The Polish government might sue the European Commission at the EU courts in Luxembourg over its recent decision to withhold small grants from six Polish towns which had said they were "LGBTI ideology-free" zones. "Depending on the clarifications received [from Brussels], the government reserves the right to take further steps, including an appeal to the European Court of Justice," the office of Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.

Italy is to shut discos and clubs and make it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors in some areas during the night-time in the first reimposition of restrictions as cases of coronavirus pick up across the country.

The European Union urged Turkey on Sunday (16 August) to "immediately" stop exploring for gas in a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean, as tensions rise with other countries in the region.

Last weekend, LGBTI activists in Poland were brutally beaten up by the police, but no one in the EU institutions had the guts to speak out about it.

From Bulgaria, to Serbia, Hungary, and up north to Poland and Belarus, the loosely defined area of eastern Europe is far from having a peaceful summer.

There is something perplexing these days. Wherever one goes, nationalist governments are attacking the LGBT+ community.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday (15 August) all but dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call for a summit of world leaders to discuss Iran, saying he probably would not participate.

Vladimir Putin has offered to help ensure Belarus's security, according to its president Alexander Lukashenko, as pressure builds on the strongman leader and opposition protesters prepare for a show of force Sunday (16 August).

The EU issued a declaration welcoming the announcement on the normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Belarus officials who ordered violence and faked elections are to face EU visas bans and asset freezes, foreign ministers agreed on Friday.

Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko faced mounting opposition on Friday (14 August) to his disputed re-election as factory workers joined popular protests and the European Union moved to impose new sanctions on his regime.

Russia on Friday (14 August) announced the safe return of 32 of its citizens after Belarus detained them saying they were mercenaries sent to destabilise the country ahead of Sunday's presidential election.

EU foreign affairs ministers agreed on Friday (14 August) to draw up a list of targets in Belarus for a new round of sanctions in response to strongman Alexander Lukashenko's post-election crackdown.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel next week at his Mediterranean holiday retreat to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, the post-election protests in Belarus and growing tensions with Turkey, the presidency said Friday (14 August).