European Union

The number of first-time asylum seekers in EU countries was 580,800 in 2018, 11 percent less than the year before, according to figures published by Eurostat on Thursday. Most applicants were Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi citizens. In 2017 a total of 654,600 applied for asylum, which was around half of the record-high number of 1,256,600 first-time asylum applicants registered at the hight of the refugee crisis in 2015.

Cutting energy use in buildings, ramping up renewable electricity and developing large-scale storage with hydrogen are clear options in bringing energy emissions down to zero by 2050, according to a new study published on Thursday (14 March).

School children and students in more than 100 countries are walking out of classes Friday demanding that the world's leaders take action to stop climate change. On Thursday Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old environmental activist, who started Fridays for Future protests outside Sweden's parliament, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her climate activism. There are over 300 candidates for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize to be announced in October.

The next round of talks under the so-called Astana Process will take place next month, and there is a growing international interest for this forum, First Deputy of the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.

EU council president Donald Tusk circulated publicly on Thursday the idea of offering the UK a long delay of Brexit after the UK parliament decided to postpone Brexit until 30 June. "I will appeal to the EU27 [summit] to be open to a long extension if the UK finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus around it," he said in a tweet.

A large majority in the British parliament, 412 votes to 202, on Thursday backed a motion calling for a three-month delay of Brexit from 29 March to 30 June, but without specifying what it will achieve by the delay - which requires unanimous approval from the other 27 EU members. The UK lawmakers also voted with an overwhelming majority, 334 to 85, against holding a second referendum on EU membership.

Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of increasing the EU’s 2030 emission cuts target to 55% and a net-zero mid-century target on Thursday (14 March), bringing an end to weeks of infighting.

It’s Brexit forever, a billboard endeavour, and Tajani’s less than clever. This week we’re supported by All Policies for a Healthy Europe.

Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker was the one who picked a fight with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and he should stop meddling in party politics, former PM and leader of the centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) told EURACTIV Croatia.

The European Union executive said on Thursday (14 March) Britain will have to justify any request to postpone Brexit beyond the end of this month and that EU leaders would put a priority on avoiding disrupting EU institutions in considering it.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has apologised to European conservative parties for calling them "useful idiots" over an anti-EU billboard campaign that could see his party ejected from the European Parliament's dominant centre-right EPP bloc.

Despite 10 years in the job, Klaus Welle is the most powerful man in Brussels few have heard of. The Parliament secretary-general has granted EUobserver access to just one paper written by him - and refused 21 other requests.

The UK will formally request a delay to its exit from the EU after the House of Commons overwhelmingly endorsed an extension on Thursday (14 March) in a vote whose result means Theresa May’s government has formally abandoned plans for the UK to leave the bloc on 29 March.

The EU and its member states collectively pledged some €6.75bn for humanitarian aid in Syria for "2019, 2020, and beyond." The money will be used for Syrians inside Syria and surrounding countries affected by the war, like Jordan and Lebanon. None of the money will be used for reconstruction. EU foreign policy chief Mogherini also announced €1.5bn for Syrian refugees in Turkey as part of its 2015 deal.

Most members of the European People's Party opposed an amendment which called on the EU to raise its emissions reductions target for 2030. A spokesman called it "unrealistic".

As the European People's Party braces itself to decide next week whether to expel its Hungarian member, prime minister Viktor Orban says sorry for calling his critics "useful idiots".

Key speakers at a Brussels-held conference dedicated to Syria made first timid references on Thursday (14 March) to the need to prepare for the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, as the eight-year-long war appeared to be coming to an end.

In February we wrote ‘Tajani’s blunder’, when the president of the European Parliament got involved in a controversy with Slovenia and Croatia, seen by many as an attempt at World War II revisionism. But Tajani did it again, with unexpected praise for Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini, this time in a radio interview.

The European Parliament failed to pass a resolution on Thursday (14 March) supporting the start of negotiations with the US on removing tariffs for industrial goods, worsening the prospects of de-escalating trade tensions between Brussels and Washington.

A majority of 306 MEPs supported an amendment Thursday which said that the EU should have a more ambitious climate goal for 2030. Instead of a cut of "at least 40%", as agreed by EU leaders in October 2014, the EU should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55%, compared to 1990. The final text of a resolution on climate change, including the new target, was approved 369 to 116.