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European Union environment ministers agreed on Thursday (17 December) to enshrine in law a higher climate change target for 2030, setting themselves up for a battle early next year with lawmakers who want to go even further.

As the European Union seeks to transition to a ‘circular economy’, the policy focus in 2021 will turn to products: how they are designed, and why so many seem to be made to throw away.

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine was set for imminent approval in the US, as Covid death tolls climbed around the world, with Europe becoming the first region to pass 500,000 fatalities and Brazil notching more than 1,000 deaths in 24 hours.

The European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday (17 December) that it had been illegal for car companies to install devices to defeat emissions tests and mislead motorists about diesel pollution levels.

The EU prestige suffered immensely as a consequence of its absence from any attempt to manage the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, write Borut Grgic and Bernhard Knoll-Tudor.

A look back on the highlights of 2020 - and the tweets that came out of it.

The United States on Thursday (17 December) reiterated a proposal already rejected by Moscow for extending their last strategic arms limitation treaty, appearing to close the door to talks in the final weeks of the Trump administration.

The Spanish parliament (Congreso de los Diputados) approved on Thursday with a large majority a controversial bill to regulate euthanasia in the country, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

The European Court of Justice ruled Thursday (17 December) that authorities can order that animals be stunned before slaughter in a move decried by Israel and religious groups as attacking their traditions.

The green transition needs to happen at a local level, with citizens engaged in climate activism and policy, the European Commission said at the launch of the Climate Pact on Wednesday (16 December).

Norway should not try to renegotiate the terms of its membership of the European single market as some opposition parties argue, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Wednesday (16 December), citing Britain’s difficulties in negotiating its departure from the bloc....

Alphabet’s Google won EU antitrust approval on Thursday (17 December) for its $2.1 billion bid for Fitbit after agreeing restrictions on how it will use customers’ health related data.

UK students are set to lose access to the EU’s foreign exchange scheme, Erasmus+, in what will arguably be the biggest Brexit-perpetrated crime. Forget the economics of it, this is wrecking a whole generation’s prospects.

One of the consequences of the development processes in the EU is the growing disparity in cities and urban areas. In Poland, EU projects utilising financial instruments aim to narrow disparities but experts fear that there is still little appetite to use repayable assistance when grants are available.

European Parliament lawmakers have set a Sunday (20 December) deadline for a post-Brexit trade deal to be completed in order for them to debate and vote on it before the UK's transition period ends on 31 December.

The pandemic is making a reboot of the Arab uprisings more likely. Europe should be prepared, argues Nikki Ikani.

The European Union has just unveiled draft legislation that intends to tame so-called “gatekeeper” firms (commonly referred to as Big Tech). If passed into law, this Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) would fundamentally alter the way these platforms conduct business in Europe.

European aerospace giant Airbus revealed more details about its hydrogen aircraft project on Thursday (17 December), which could include a propeller-driven plane "unlike anything seen on today’s runways".

The German Bundestag passed an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) on Thursday (17 December), without support from the opposition. The leftist Die Linke and Greens have called for higher green electricity production targets while the liberal FDP wants to allow "negative emission technologies." EURACTIV Germany reports.

The EU Green Deal seeks to “transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from...