European Union

Despite Covid-19, the green light has been given for the political and cultural festival Festa do Avante! to take place in Seixal this year. The event is organised by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and usually attracts around 100,000 visitors. The decision has triggered a heated debate in the country: is it unfair or a meticulously organised step in the right direction?

Turkey's decision to send ships to disputed waters near Cyprus was a "serious escalation" which showed Turkey's "destabilising role" in the region, the Greek foreign ministry said Monday, after Turkish vessel Oruc Reis and two auxiliary ships set sail to look for oil and gas near Greece's island of Kastellorizo. The move violated a new Greek-Egyptian deal on maritime boundaries, but Turkey and Libya also have a new maritime deal.

Slovakia has expelled three Russian officials linked to the assassination, in broad daylight in Berlin last August, of a Russian exile by a Russian suspect. "There had been an abuse of visas issued at the Slovak general consulate in St Petersburg, and in this connection a serious crime was committed on the territory of another EU and Nato member state," the Slovak foreign ministry said.

Poland and Lithuania, Belarus' neighbours, have tried to lead the EU reaction to ongoing violence in Minsk, which so far claimed two lives.

A number of Italian MPs have pocketed Covid-19 relief funds that were meant to help the self-employed, reported Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday. The paper says at least five MPs spread out across the parties, including the far-right League party, the Five Star Movement, the Democratic party, and the Italia Viva, had taken the funds. The same MPs earn some €13,000 a month.

The European Union and the United States have started talks to revamp a data-sharing pact known as Privacy Shield. The agreement was recently invalidated by the European Court of Justice. It was supposed to protect the personal data of EU citizens when transferred to US-based firms, but has been proven a failure. The European Commission had, for years, defended the agreement, despite numerous warnings and US enforcement failures.

Germany, France, and Italy are pressing ahead with EU sanctions for Libya to prevent the flow of weapons to the warn-torn country. The German press agency DPA reports the three EU states have agreed on a blacklist of companies and individuals providing ships, aircraft, or other logistics for the transport of weapons to Libya. EU sources told DPA that some of the companies are from Kazakhstan, Jordan, and Turkey.

The Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is recommending EU states imposes new restrictions to stem the transmission of Covid-19.

Belarusian opposition politician Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has travelled to Lithuania from Belarus amid the protests and is safe, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said in a Twitter post on Tuesday (11 August). Tikhanovskaya emerged as Alexander Lukashenko’s main rival at Sunday’s...

Spain's government defended its response to the coronavirus pandemic on Monday (10 August) after official data showed the country had overtaken Britain to register the highest total number of cases in Western Europe.

Lebanese security officials warned the prime minister and president last month that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut’s port posed a security risk and could destroy the capital if it exploded, according to documents.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for dialogue on Monday (10 August) while still pushing ahead with a contentious Mediterranean gas development plan that has outraged Greece and alarmed NATO and the EU.

Facebook and Microsoft's grievances over how their gaming apps appear on Apple's App Store may feed into an EU investigation into the iPhone maker's business as EU antitrust regulators said such concerns are on their radar.

Europeans are uncomfortable talking about structural racism. But it is the lived reality of millions of people of colour on the continent, and needs to be addressed honestly, writes Amelie Glauber.

The US Secret Service abruptly escorted President Donald Trump out of the White House press room in the middle of a briefing on Monday (10 August) because of a shooting outside the White House.