European Union

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi has linked a spike in Irish property prices to "the search for yield by international investors", Irish Times reported, based on answers to Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy in the European Parliament. Irish house prices rose 12.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared to first qarter of 2017. On average EU property prices grew 4.7 percent, according to Eurostat. .

The Czech parliament on Thursday gave its backing to a new minority government headed by billionaire prime minister Andrej Babis, becoming the first Czech government since the 1989 to rely on votes from the communist party. The vote ended a nearly nine-month struggle to secure a parliamentary majority behind the new government, which is composed of Babis' ANO party and the Social Democrats.

NATO leaders will seek to dampen a febrile atmosphere as their summit wraps up Thursday with talks on Afghanistan and Ukraine, after US President Donald Trump stung allies with a shock demand to double defence spending.

While climate change takes a toll on agriculture and land use contributes to warming the planet, soils still find little attention from policymakers in their climate strategies.

As expected, Macedonia received an official invitation to join the NATO alliance yesterday (11 July), a month after it reached an agreement with Athens on its new name.

Beer drinkers like clear, consistent, honest communication. That’s why Europe’s brewers have voluntary committed to providing consumers with the list of ingredients and nutrition information in full accordance with EU law, a decision welcomed by policymakers and NGOs alike.

A milestone in EU-Azerbaijan relations was reached in Brussels yesterday (11 July), with the end of negotiations of the EU-Azerbaijan Partnership Priorities in the presence of President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

As Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic start phasing out coal, campaigners argue that all actors – including small entrepreneurs, communities and civil society – must be part of the process.

The European Commission has rejected the European Court of Auditors’ recommendation to strengthen surveillance of EU member states with high levels of public debt.

An article in the Daily Telegraph wrongly claimed that European citizens who currently reside in the UK will not be subject to international criminal checks after Brexit. EURACTIV.com looks into the story as part of the “Fact or Fake” series, in partnership with France 24.

“Europe’s security, and that of Spain, depend on security in the Sahel," said the EU Special Representative for the Sahel, Ángel Losada. EURACTIV’s partner Euroefe reports.

Europe’s energy companies have made real progress on cyber security in many ways. But actions speak louder than words, and cyber security needs to be a core component of any utility’s strategy, argues Michael John.

The Council agreed its position on the draft EU budget for 2019.

Written by Maria Margarita Mentzelopoulou and Costica Dumbrava,

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Access to citizenship status is an important prerequisite for enjoying rights and privileges, such as migration and political rights, as well as for developing a sense of identity and belonging. Since the establishment of Union citizenship, all persons who are nationals or citizens of an EU Member State enjoy the status of EU citizenship, which confers on them a number of additional rights and privileges. However, Member States retain full control over who can be recognised as a citizen.

Although the legal rules on the acquisition and loss of citizenship in the EU Member States remain fairly divergent, one can identify a number of key trends and issues. The need to integrate long-term immigrants has pushed EU countries to amend their citizenship laws. This often resulted in making citizenship both more liberal (lowering residence requirements and tolerating dual citizenship) and more restrictive (introducing integration clauses and citizenship tests). The surge in terrorist activities in the EU, which involve citizens, prompted several Member States to revise or reactivate citizenship provisions allowing for citizenship to be revoked.

Concerns about immigrants’ integration, allegiance and belonging, as well as about the cultural and economic consequences of regional integration and globalisation are at the heart of recent debates about citizenship in Europe. As the Maltese case of investor citizenship shows, the issue of access to citizenship is no longer a matter that concerns Member States alone. The bundling of national and EU citizenship means that Member States have a certain responsibility towards each other when taking decisions over who to accept (or reject) as citizens.

Read this briefing on ‘Acquisition and loss of citizenship in EU Member States: Key trends and issues‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Click to view slideshow.

US President Donald Trump has raised the stakes for his European allies’ defence spending from 2% to 4% of GDP, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev told a small group of Bulgarian journalists at the NATO summit on Wednesday (11 July). 

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The EU seeks to develop a particularly close relationship to Egypt, its geographical neighbour, and to support its domestic and political reforms. The relationship emphasises close cooperation on democratic reform, economic modernization, social reform, and migration issues.

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The EU’s much vaunted private investment vehicle in Africa has moved a step closer to becoming reality after €800 million was unlocked to leverage multi-billion euro investments on the continent.

Twenty-three years ago to the day, modern Europe lived through one of its most shameful moments.

EU's anti-fraud office concluded its probe last month into Karel Pinxten, a former member of the Luxembourg-based European Court of Auditors.

The European Commission adopted a set of measures on Wednesday (11 July) to closely monitor Greece's fiscal policy after it concludes an eight-year-long bailout programme on 20 August, closing one of the darkest chapter's in the single currency's short history.