European Union

Romanian Commissioner Corina Creţu wants her country to take full advantage of the EU funding that is on offer and for Moldova to meet the bloc’s accession criteria in order to unlock even more financing.

Russian firm Gazprom is a reformed character, the European Commission has said, improving the climate for more pipelines to Europe.

The European Data Protection Board is a new EU body tasked with enforcing the EU's privacy laws with powers to impose massive fines. Its head Andrea Jelinek told reporters complaints against companies are expected to be immediate.

While the Greek government has committed to fulfill the last creditors' requirements in the coming month, Europeans and the International Monetary Fund are still far from an agreement on measures to reduce the country's debt in the future.

Virulent nationalism in Greece has been stirred up in the context of austerity and renewed negotiations with Macedonia. Recent attempts by the government to address the inequalities suffered by LGBT persons have also been met with a reactionary backlash.

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EU Foreign Affairs ministers meet on 28 May 2018 in Brussels to focus on the situation in Iran, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the future agreement with the African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. Foreign ministers also discuss the situation in Gaza, following the recent developments.

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The 81-year-old Paolo Savona appeared on Thursday as the leading candidate to become Italy's new finance and economy minister, despite describing Italy's entry in the eurozone a "historic error". Leader of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, said he had "no doubts" that Savona, a former banker and industry minister was the right man for the job. Savona believes Italy is being 'colonised' by Germany.

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EU Ministers of European Affairs, Industry, Research and related areas meet on 28-29 May 2018 in Brussels to carry out a competitiveness check-up on the impact of the internal market on industry. They hold discussions on mutual recognition of goods and on online platforms-to-business relations. On Tuesday, they debate space policy, the extension of the EURATOM research programme as well as research and innovation in the context of the next EU's multiannual budget. They are due to adopt conclusions on knowledge circulation and the European Open Science Cloud. The Council also takes note of a report on high performance computing.

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Two Russian internet provocateurs, Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, managed to trick UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson into believing he was on the phone with Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan in a talk that lasted over 18 minutes. The duo posted the audio recording of the call online. "This shouldn't have happened," said a spokeswoman for British prime minister Theresa May, announcing an investigation to determine the circumstances.

Spain's ruling PP party has suffered a major blow after the High Court in Madrid on Thursday convicted Luis Barcenas, the party's former treasurer and once a close ally of the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, to jail for 33 years. In total, 29 officials and businessmen were convicted in one of the country's biggest corruption scandals centred on bribing party officials in return for contracts to carry out public works.

Irish voters go the polls on Friday to decide whether to remove the a constitutional ban on abortion, and pave the way for laws legalising abortion up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy. More than 3.2 million people are eligible to vote. Two polls published this week showed small increases in the yes vote, with one putting it at 56 percent and another at 52 percent, but with turnout unpredictable.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked international relations and rude poetry with a hoax caller who pretended to be the Armenian prime minister in a new gaffe by one of Britain’s most prominent politicians.

By the time the tournament kicks off on 14 June, all twelve stadiums will all have undergone a standards certification process for sustainable buildings.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday (24 May) that his country appreciated efforts by Europe to save the Iran nuclear deal despite the withdrawal of the United States and warned of “lamentable consequences” if it was not preserved.

Ireland votes today (25 May) in an abortion referendum that could be a milestone on a path of change in a country that, only a few decades ago, was one of Europe’s most socially conservative.

This week all eyes turn to the Royal Wedding, it’s the Facebook hearing we were all dreading, and the arrival of GDPR has got businesses shredding!

The European Commission presented on Thursday (24 May) a set of proposals aimed at boosting private investment in low-carbon technologies like renewable energies while increasing transparency in sustainable finance to avoid green-washing.

The 2015 Dieselgate scandal might have been a blessing in disguise, propelling car emissions smack bang into the public spotlight. The EU is now making fresh attempts to bring the transport sector to heel, although there are still plenty of miles to cover.

The European Union's new data protection laws came into effect on Friday (25 May), with Brussels saying the changes will protect consumers from being like "people naked in an aquarium".

To some extent the vote next May will be a test of the resilience of the forces of disruption, the main achievement of whom so far being Brexit, writes Geoffrey Harris.