European Union

The leaders of France and Ireland asked European Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday (28 May) to back their request for over half a billion euros in energy project funding, which would be earmarked to 'Brexit-proof' Ireland's power needs.

Women should take up two of the EU's top jobs in future, EU Council president Donald Tusk has said, in what would help end decades of inequality.

German CDU leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has come under fire from YouTube stars after calling for more discussion about regulation of political opinions in the digital sphere around election time. She spoke after a European election video by YouTuber Rezo urged voters to shun the ruling parties over their failure to act on climate change. YouTubers have now launched a petition calling for an end to attacks on free speech.

Serbia ordered on Tuesday its troops near the border with Kosovo to be on high alert after Serb-populated areas were raided by Kosovo police, in an operation which Kosovo said was targeted against organised crime and smuggling. Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic told his troops to stay ready to protect Serbia's ethnic diaspora if necessary. Majority-Albanian Kosovo broke away from Serbia following a Nato bombing campaign in 1999.

The UK parliament speaker, John Bercow, plans to stay in his post despite accusations among pro-Brexit MPss he has unfairly helped pro-EU MPs in his parliamentary decisions and wants to thwart a no-deal Brexit. Speaking to the Guardian, he said it was not "sensible to vacate the chair" while there are major issues before parliament. Bercow was first elected 10 years ago and re-elected unopposed in 2015 and 2017.

Sweden's young climate activist Greta Thunberg together with UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen opened the R20 Austrian World Summit in Vienna on Tuesday. The annual event was established in 2011 by Hollywood star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's environmental organisation R20 Regions of Climate Action, who also spoke at the event, pushing for "less talk, more action".

Three Roma have been elected members to the European Parliament, according to news server Romea.cz, two less than in the previous parliament. Romeo Franz of Germany and Livia Jaroka of Hungary were re-elected to their seats, while Peter Pollak managed to secure a seat in Slovakia. All three ran as candidates for majority parties. An estimated six million Roma people live across the EU, forming its biggest ethnic minority.

Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis's DiEM25 party marginally failed to secure a seat in the European Parliament, getting 2.99 percent of the vote in Greece - short of the three percent threshold. Varoufakis announced he would be holding a press conference in Athens on Wednesday. A Greek government spokesman, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, said on Tuesday that snap Greek parliamentary elections will be called for 7 July.

The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. /// ROME Salvini to convince Orban. Italian daily La Stampa reported that Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini will...

The UK's opposition Labour party expelled on Tuesday its former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, who served as press secretary to Labour prime minister Tony Blair, after he admitted voting for the Liberal Democrats in last week's EU elections. He said he had voted tactically for the pro-EU party. A Labour party spokeswoman told the Guardian that "support for another political party or candidate is incompatible with party membership".

At the press conference following the meeting of EU leaders, President Tusk presented the outcome of the discussions on the nomination process for the heads of four EU institutions.

The Council adopted today conclusions on the future of the European space policy.

Serbia ordered its troops on full alert on Tuesday (28 May) and Russia accused Kosovo of provocation after a Kosovan police anti-crime operation in a region populated mainly by Serbs led to clashes.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “climate cabinet” meets Wednesday (29 May) to discuss combatting global warming as her government struggles to convince voters it is willing and able to address the crisis. Strong gains by the Greens at the expense of...

Two out of three Swiss companies want Switzerland to sign a draft treaty negotiated with the European Union, a poll for business lobby Economiesuisse found, highlighting the country's political divide over its biggest foreign policy decision.

Environmental activists are raising the pressure on Poland and other EU member states to clarify their coal phase-out plans, saying countries receiving EU energy transition funds cannot “have their cake and eat it”.

German parties may have found the recipe to contain far-right populism, writes Leonard Schuette.

The Latvian parliament will on Wednesday (29 May) choose the Baltic state's next president, with long-time European Court of Justice judge and former Soviet dissident Egils Levits the frontrunner.

Europe could become the first region worldwide to incentivise the fight anti-microbial resistance (AMR), Nathalie Moll, director general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), told EURACTIV in an interview.

Italy risks a rude awakening in the race for top European Union jobs as it faces growing isolation after eurosceptic nationalists in its ruling coalition won big in last week's European Parliament elections.