Euractiv.com

The European Commission said on Wednesday (17 July) that Kosovo has met the remaining benchmarks to win visa liberalisation with the EU that other Western Balkan countries already enjoy.

The energy performance contract model can turn energy efficiency renovation of buildings into a truly popular policy objective among politicians in Central and Eastern Europe because it can be done without any use of public money and has no impact on public debt, says Ivan Lesay.

Paris wants to help Serbia solve its most delicate issues en route to the EU, French President Emmanuel Macron has told his Serbian counterpart. But Macron also said that both Serbia and the EU have to be reformed before any further EU enlargement. EURACTIV.rs reports.

The EU’s eagerness to further unconditional engagements with Iran seems to have only made Europe more vulnerable to state sponsored terrorism, writes Alejo Vidal-Quadras.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has announced plans to re-launch news services in Bulgaria and Romania in a bid to strengthen the media landscape in both countries. In both cases, it marks a return for RFE/RL: the company previously served...

Environmental NGOs have questioned the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) scientific capacity to grant EU member states emergency authorisations for neonicotinoids, whose usage was recently banned.

Carbon capture and utilisation (CCUS) offers “one of the greatest industrial opportunities” for Britain as the world pivots to a low-carbon economy, said Claire Perry, the UK's Energy and Clean Growth Minister.

The European Union said it struck a deal on Wednesday (18 July) with Macedonia to deploy border guards to the non-EU Balkan state to help cope with any migrant surges. Serbia and Bosnia are expected to follow.

The OSCE mission monitoring the conflict in eastern Ukraine said yesterday (18 July) claims that Russia's security agency had received inside information about its activities came as a major blow.

The European Commission has repeated its insistence on breaking up the Ukrainian national gas and oil monopoly Naftogaz, separating transmission from production and supply, which the country had agreed to as a condition for receiving massive Western financing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies, who are pressing her to toughen up immigration policy, should remember their Christian roots and show a sense of responsibility towards the poor and weak, the head of the Catholic Church in Germany said.

Greece will process 1,500 asylum applications from Germany as part of a deal signed between the two countries, Greece's migration minister said yesterday (18 July).

Russia's Defence Ministry said yesterday (18 July) that Russian and Syrian authorities had set up a refugee centre in Syria to help refugees return home from abroad.

Boris Johnson, who quit as Britain's former foreign minister last week, accused Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday of planning a phoney Brexit that would betray voters by failing to take the country completely out of the European Union.

The UK government has taken the somewhat unprecedented step of translating the executive summary of its Brexit White Paper into 22 European languages.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) would risk its model business if it invested in Iran, given the US sanctions after its withdrawal of the nuclear deal, president of the EIB Werner Hoyer told the press on Wednesday (18 July).

The European Commission slapped Google on Wednesday (18 July) with a record fine of €4.34 billion for abusing its dominant position and said it would continue to investigate as a “top priority” Google's other businesses for possible additional breaches of market rules. The company said it would appeal.

Donald Trump wants Europe to spend more on defence. He’s right. But forget about tanks, missiles and guns: we need to pump cash into an energy arms race. There’s no doubt we’d win it.

The EU will respond to any provocation coming from the US on trade or any other matter, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned on Wednesday (18 July) ahead of his trip to Washington to meet Donald Trump next week.

The International Monetary Fund continues to project global growth at 3.9%  in 2018, but a rise in trade tensions “are an important downside risk”. EURACTIV’s partner La Tribune reports.