European Union

The number of cities exposed to extreme temperatures is expected to nearly triple over the next few decades. One solution is to radically change the way we use cars in cities by replacing parking space with "parklets", writes Ross Douglas.

A ‘no deal’ Brexit would cost the UK four times more than the EU-27 and result in a “chaotic and severe” hit to its economy, experts from the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank concluded in a paper published on Monday (3 September).

"Italy isn't fragile. It isn't the sick man of Europe," Italian finance minister Giovanni Tria said on Sunday in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper in a bid to reassure financial markets, which are increasingly concerned the anti-establishment government in Rome could breach EU spending limits under public pressure to deliver on its anti-austerity election promises. On Friday, Fitch Ratings changed its outlook on Italy from stable to negative.

The Spanish justice ministry has contracted a Belgian law firm, paying it up to €540,000, to defend Spanish supreme court judge Pablo Llarena in a civil lawsuit filed in Belgium by former Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont. The ousted politician says Llarena acted impartial and violated rights to a fair trial under the presumption of innocence. Llarena will have to appear in a Belgian court on 4 September, reports El Pais.

An online Delta poll published on Sunday showed that 47 percent of Scots would vote for independence at another referendum on Scotland's future if UK leaves the EU, against 43 percent if it remained a member. Another poll by Our Future Our Choice published on Monday found that 52 percent of people in Northern Ireland would vote for a united Ireland if the United Kingdom quits the EU.

The number of officials who have left the UK's Brexit department is equivalent to more than half of its total staff, leaving a very young team with an average age of 32 to do the job, reports The Independent. The Dexeu department was set up as a time-limited operation, with staff loaned from other government departments. "Only a small minority have actually left the civil service," said a Dexeu spokesman.

EU anti-dumping measures on solar panels from China expire at midnight on Monday after the European Commission rejected industry requests for an expiry review investigation. "This is a watershed moment for the European solar industry. By removing the trade duties, the European Commission has today lifted the single biggest barrier to solar growth in Europe," said Christian Westermeier, president of SolarPower Europe, representing importers and installers.

The European Union's ban on the import and production of several types of halogen light bulbs went into effect on 1 September. Stores will be allowed to sell their remaining stock of halogen bulbs. Meanwhile, LED bulbs will be recommended as a greener alternative, lasting five to 10 times longer and using less energy. LED bulbs are also recyclable.

The European Union and the United Kingdom share the same values, but so far there has been little discussion about how they will cooperate to defend democracy after Brexit.

Fewer people are trying to cross the Mediterranean, but more of them are dying as EU and NGO rescue missions dwindle and the Libyan coastguard takes over.

Resumption of Kosovo-Serbia talks, with a controversial deal in the air, marks the return to work of EU institutions after the summer break this week.

The European Union on Sunday (2 September) accused the Guatemalan government of President Jimmy Morales of taking a "step backward" by shutting down a UN mission investigating corruption in the central American country.

The refrigeration sector is getting global recognition, but in the EU, there is no unified Europe-wide authority dedicated to cooling and refrigeration, capable of speaking to the EU’s society and policymakers as a single voice, writes Kostadin Fikiin.

The funeral in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk of a pro-Russian rebel leader killed in an explosion last week drew vast crowds of mourners on Sunday (2 September), Reuters footage from the breakaway region showed. Alexander Zakharchenko was fatally injured in an...

Sweden's Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has probably never stood so alone: roasted by the right for leaving the door wide open to asylum-seekers and lambasted by the left for later slamming it shut.

In hotels owned by businessman Vetko Arabadjiev in Sofia and in Bulgaria’s second largest city Plovdiv, police uncovered on Friday over 10 million leva (€5 million) in cash. A prosecutor was quoted as saying that he has never seen anything of the kind in his whole career.

The European Commission is preparing to fast-track approval of 140 recycling processes for use in food and drinks packaging, despite warnings that second-hand plastics risk containing toxic chemicals that are dangerous for human health.

Britain's exit from the EU could tempt Scots to vote to sever ties with the United Kingdom in a second independence referendum, an opinion poll showed on Sunday (2 September).

The risk of toxic substances contaminating food already exists with virgin plastic, so it will only be higher with recycled packaging coming from old plastics that may contain banned chemicals, says Floriana Cimmarusti.

Italy's new anti-establishment government sent contradictory signals to financial markets on Sunday (2 September) amid increasing concern Rome could breach EU spending limits as it comes under pressure to fulfil its anti-austerity electoral promises.