European Union

The Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council has confirmed that it will take no action and that it is in no hurry to comply with the request made by the EU’s Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi to send four new candidacies for the...

A Turkish court on Wednesday (14 April) released journalist and novelist Ahmet Altan after more than four years in prison on charges of involvement in a failed 2016 coup attempt that he had always denied.

After US President Joe Biden proposed a face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin so the estranged leaders could tackle a raft of disputes, both Prague and Vienna offered to host a summit between the two nuclear powers. Czech Deputy...

EU carbon market emissions experienced a record fall last year, but when it comes to heavy industry, the effect is likely to be short-lived, writes Agnese Ruggiero. Agnese Ruggiero is a Policy Officer at Carbon Market Watch, an NGO working...

The first dose vaccination rate at state nursing homes has reached 80%, Slovak government officials announced during Tuesday’s press conference on easing up nationwide coronavirus restrictions. However, critics say that figure only takes into account those who requested the jab. If...

Foreign troops under NATO command will withdraw from Afghanistan in coordination with a US pull-out by 11 September, NATO allies agreed on Wednesday (14 April), pledging to mirror American plans to start removing troops on 1 May after two decades...

Hungary is wasting a historic opportunity in failing to use its recovery plan’s energy component to support the energy-efficient renovation of buildings, NGOs have said. Instead, critics say the plan envisions support for wasteful heating solutions, EURACTIV’s media partner Telex...

 The uncertainty surrounding the Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine will not affect its distribution in Poland for the time being as the 120,000 doses that arrived in Poland on Wednesday will soon be distributed to vaccination centres. Concerns about the...

The European Commission could find it difficult to transfer the first tranche of the recovery funds to all member states according to its calendar, as most plans are expected to be approved at the same time and there will be limited capacity to borrow from the markets.

“The statements of the Italian prime minister are of total indecency and rudeness”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. His comments came in response to Draghi’s remark in a press conference last Friday when the Italian PM called...

Up to 10,000 people mostly from Ukraine, Russia and Thailand will arrive to work in the Finnish fields and greenhouses this summer despite fears of COVID-19 running high among locals. However, organisers have assured everything is being done to ensure...

Senior officials in the UK civil service have been ordered to declare by the end of this week whether they have rule-breaking second jobs in the wake of a lobbying scandal involving former prime minister David Cameron. Civil service chief...

Vaccinating Europe is not a problem to be solved in six months, but is an ongoing process that will likely last until 2023, EU sources have told EURACTIV. Though the pandemic will not remain in its current acute phase, the...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Joe Biden called on Russia to pull back troops from the Ukrainian border to de-escalate the situation in the region, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday (14 April).

The EU’s strategic autonomy is being ever more tied to the notion of Europe’s (exclusive) access to key technologies, and as a result, academia suddenly finds itself drawn into a conflictual space, writes Thomas Jorgensen.

The Greek government has decided to prioritise self-tests in order to re-open its economy, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. A number of workers will be obliged to conduct this test as a condition to work. There is...

Several thousands of deaths were avoided due to the reduced emissions of air pollution particles during the first COVID-19 lockdown, the French health agency said on Wednesday (14 April). EURACTIV France reports.

The debt of all Spanish public administrations with their private suppliers amounted in 2020 to €83 billion, a record and 39.4% more than in 2016, the Bank of Spain has revealed, EURACTIV's partner EuroEFE reports.

Toshihiro Nikai, the long-serving secretary general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic party, said that cancelling this year's Olympic Games could be an option if coronavirus infections continued to rise, Deutsche Welle writes. The comments come less than 24 hours after International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice president John Coates told reporters that cancellation is "certainly not" on the table.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has snubbed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's invitation to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence in Kiev. Her office cited a "heavy agenda" in a letter seen by Politico, but the celebration falls in August, when EU institutions are closed for the summer break. Her letter was also signed by her cabinet chief, Björn Seibert, instead of herself, in a protocol faux pas.