European Union

German former tennis champion Boris Becker has said his diplomatic status - he is, since April, the Central African Republic's cultural attache to the EU - ought to give him immunity from creditors' claims in bankruptcy proceedings. "I'm immensely proud of my [diplomatic] appointment ... sport is incredibly important in Africa," he said. Arbuthnot Latham, a British private bank, said he failed to repay loans and wants to seize assets.

Poland's ruling party has a peculiar stance when it comes to nature conservation, a clear example of this is the felling of the Białowieża Forest. The recent killings of protected seals along the country's shore have been completely ignored by the party, which believes that ecology is a notion created by the left. EURACTIV's partner Gazeta Wyborcza reports.

EU negotiators have reached a deal on a new renewable energy directive. 'One of the most sensitive issues during the negotiations was biofuels from food and feed crops,' said MEP Bas Eickhout.

Local authorities in Bavaria, southern Germany, could start turning back migrants on Monday in a rebellion that threatens Merkel's authority.

The European Commission has cancelled the first call for applications for funding of public wifi hotspots, after the EU portal where municipalities had to apply experienced "a technical issue", the commission said on Thursday. "During the investigation, the commission identified a flaw in the software supplied by contractors," it said. Municipalities can apply again in autumn, and the commission said there will be no "significant delay to the programme."

This is a real moment of truth for Europe's centre-right and its adherence to EU's values of democratic pluralism and the rule of law.

The new regional government is to reopen its representations aboard. In Brussels, its new foreign minister Ernest Maragall insisted that it wanted to show "responsibility".

Italy's new agriculture minister Gian Marco Centinaio threatened on Thursday to not ratify the European free trade deal with Canada (CETA) - the EU's first major free trade deal since 2011. Speaking to La Stampa, the far-right League minister said the trade deal did not ensure sufficient protection of Italy's special foods. All 28 EU member states must approve the agreement for it to take full effect.

EU parliament and council negotiators reached Thursday a provisional deal on new EU-wide rules granting asylum-seekers the right to work six months after registration of their application, instead of currently nine months. Access to language courses should be given from day one and access to health care secured. Children should enter school no later than two months after arrival. The deal forms part of a new European asylum system.

Certain antibiotics will be set aside for the treatment of infections in humans in order to preserve their effectiveness, according to new EU regulations to stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) "through imports of products of animal origin". The proposal was approved by EU ambassadors on Wednesday and will now be passed to the European Parliament for a vote.

Russia welcomed the world to the soccer World Cup on Thursday as fans streamed in, the hosts savored a 5-0 victory on the pitch and President Vladimir Putin’s government derided Western efforts to isolate him.

Jean-Claude Juncker has been called many things during his premiership of Luxembourg and presidency of the European Commission, but probably never what he says US President Donald Trump called him at the weekend: "a brutal killer".

The creation of the EU guidelines on the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief (2013) marked a turning point in the Union’s attitude toward this crucial fundamental right.

Italy's far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini has suggested that hundreds of migrants aboard a rescue convoy heading for Spain were on a "cruise", as an NGO condemned their plight as a symbol of the failure of the EU.

European People's Party MEP Elmar Brok has a “great understanding” of Greece’s New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who faces internal party problems and opposes the freshly agreed deal between Athens and Skopje on the name dispute. However,  Brok told EURACTIV he hopes for a positive result in the end.

EU countries yesterday (14 June) approved a raft of tariffs targeting US goods including whiskey and motorcycles in retaliation against painful duties imposed by President Donald Trump on European metals. Europe’s move fuels a growing transatlantic trade war just days...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced a tense showdown yesterday (14 June) within her divided conservative camp over the flashpoint issue of immigration that could threaten her political future.

The opening of EU trade negotiations with both Australia and New Zealand presents an opportunity for the parties to strengthen their commitments to protect wildlife, natural habitats and the welfare of animals. The EU should look to TPP-11’s environmental provisions for inspiration, argue Joanna Swabe and Nicola Beynon.

G7 Summit shows international strain, if you’re going to Strasbourg, maybe don’t take the train and Euroean Plenary talks migration again. It wasn’t quite the last supper, but the G7 Summit certainly had a finality about it. I knew the...

With her reform proposals for a European Monetary Fund and an investment budget for the eurozone, Chancellor Angela Merkel only tentatively moves closer to French President Emmanuel Macron. But the proposals do not go far enough, German MP Franziska Brantner told EURACTIV Germany in an interview.