European Union

Six weeks before Romania takes over the presidency of the European Union on 1 January, the minister in charge of preparations, Victor Negrescu, has resigned, according to Romanian media. The European Parliament is due to adopt a resolution this week criticising several laws passed in recent months by Social Democrat-led government in Romania, which critics say threaten the independence of judges and the fight against corruption.

Finland's GPS signal was intentionally disrupted during Nato's 'Trident Juncture' war exercise ending on Wednesday, Finnish prime minster Juha Sipila said on Sunday, adding that "it's possible that Russia was behind it". Sipila said jamming of GPS aviation signals was technically easy and had increased the risk of civilian air traffic accidents. Forces from 31 countries participated in the Nato exercise, the largest in decades, and close to Russian borders.

Co-leader of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, is under pressure to step down after German media revealed she accepted €130,000 in campaign donations from a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Germany only allows political party funding from German citizens abroad and the Bundestag must be informed of donations of more than €50,000 from a single donor. "If the donation was illegal, Weidel must resign," SPDs Johannes Kahrs told Handelsblatt.

Germany's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, on Sunday offered to step down as Christian Social Union (CSU) party leader, suggesting a special party convention in early 2019 to elect a new leader. It comes as the Bavarian party's new cabinet is sworn in on Monday to govern in coalition with the Free Voters, after a historically poor result in October elections. Seehofer's future as interior minister is unclear.

The European Union issued on Saturday a statement condemning elections on Sunday (11 November) in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine as "illegal and illegitimate" and said that the bloc would "not recognise them". Russia provides military, political, and financial support for the separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine.

German Greens at a party conference in Leipzig over the weekend picked Ska Keller and Sven Giegold as their top candidates in May's European Parliament elections. The party's election manifesto was adopted and includes a CO2 emission tax on power and industrial plants across Europe, a tax on plastics, a single European corporation tax and a digital tax for tech giants such as Facebook and Google.

The leaders of Germany and France called for a unified approach to fostering world peace at a forum in Paris on Sunday (11 November) that was attended by dozens of heads of state and government with one notable exception: US President Donald Trump.

French President Emmanuel Macron led tributes to the millions of soldiers killed in World War One on Sunday (11 November), using an emotional ceremony in Paris attended by scores of world leaders to warn against nationalism a century on from the conflict.

There is a strong correlation between whether MEPs rejected tougher emissions limits, and how many jobs in their home country are in the automotive sector.

EU social democrats, leftist politicians and ecologists urge the need for a common strategy to halt the rise of far-right populism in Europe, before and after the 2019 EU elections. EURACTIV.com reports from Bilbao.

Russia is trying to foment a clash between Hungary and Ukraine over the territory of Zakarpattia in a potential crisis overlooked by EU leaders.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on Sunday (11 November) accused Kosovo of "undermining regional cooperation and stability" by raising taxes on Serbian goods.

Oil majors are “lagging” when it comes to preparing for the low-carbon energy transition, according to a new report from financial watchdog CDP, which nonetheless praised BP, Eni, Equinor, Total, Repsol and Shell for taking the industry’s lead.

European Union chief Donald Tusk on Saturday (10 November) accused US President Donald Trump of being averse to a "strong and united" Europe and also warned against the emergence of a "brownshirt" nationalist front in EU elections next year.

The digitisation of the agricultural sector will be at the heart of Greece’s growth following the exit from austerity-driven bailouts, Greek minister Nikos Pappas told EURACTIV.com in a recent interview.

President Emmanuel Macron’s party hopes to build a coalition of pro-EU lawmakers in the European Parliament election next spring that goes beyond the current centrist grouping and takes on surging nationalists, a French official said on Friday (9 November).

Leaders of Poland's right-wing government marked the nation's centenary with a military parade Sunday (11 November), which took place at the same time and along the same route as an annual independence day march organised by marginal far-right groups.

Romania's Minister for foreign affairs Victor Negrescu has resigned just weeks before the country takes on the EU's six-month rotating presidency in January, media reported Saturday (10 November).

As negotiations on the EU’s new electricity market enter their crucial trialogue phase, the bloc faces a litmus test for the credibility of its climate ambition. With only two trialogues left, the fate of coal subsidies is still not sealed while COP24 is approaching, writes Joanna Flisowska.

Artificially low energy prices in France are one of the reasons why former state monopoly EDF loses money, says Thomas Pellerin-Carlin. Moreover, regulated prices are useless to protect vulnerable consumers from energy poverty and “almost never leads to low energy bills,” he argues.