European Union

Spain urged the European Commission on Monday (20 September) to devise guidance to help member states react consistently to power price spikes without testing the rules of the bloc, and suggested moves to limit carbon market speculators and build up gas reserves.

Poland vowed to keep its disputed Turów coal mine running despite being hit with a €500,000 daily penalty for defying an earlier court ruling to halt operations on Monday (20 September).

Written by Ivana Katsarova.

This year, the seventh edition of the European Week of Sport (23-30 September) will kick off again in unusual circumstances. The official opening will take place on 23 September at Lake Bled (Slovenia) and will be centred around three core themes – joy, resilience and inter-generations – thus bringing the Week to life through inspirational and real-life stories. The lockdown measures put in place to curb the coronavirus pandemic have made the initiative more necessary than ever. Indeed, while pre-pandemic levels of physical activity were generally low, lockdown has had the unintended consequence of reducing this activity even further.

Read this ‘at a glance’ on ‘Remaining active in spite of the pandemic‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Opponents accused Russian authorities of mass fraud on Monday (20 September) after the ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, won a bigger than expected parliamentary majority despite unease over living standards.

The European Commission is monitoring the evolution of electricity prices “very closely,” said the EU’s energy commissioner Kadri Simson, pointing to long-term fixes like investments in energy savings and renewables as the main answer at European level.

Germany has already launched numerous initiatives to combat Alzheimer's disease but needs to catch up in early detection, which could become essential for future medical treatment, researchers and medical experts told EURACTIV.de.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Czechia prefering to strike a deal with Poland regarding the Turow mine dispute, France proposing a fund to help freelance journalists impacted by COVID-19, and so much more.

The fight against high-level corruption has led to the imprisonment of two former police chiefs, a special prosecutor, the acting head of the intelligence service, and prominent oligarchs, among others. On Monday, Special Prosecutor Dušan Kováčik was sentenced to 14...

Hungary's government will refund $2 billion of income tax to families in early 2022 and also plans a big hike in the minimum wage, right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday, setting the stage for next year's election.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called on the EU late on Monday to confirm whether the Brussels Agreement on the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina still stood. He said the seizing of status-neutral “KS” license plates off vehicles in...

With the number of coronavirus cases rising over the past weeks, Romanian hospitals are running out of beds in intensive care units (ICUs) for COVID-19 patients. In Bulgaria, 952 COVID-19 patients were in ICU on Monday, the Strategic Communications Group...

Washington is putting more pressure on Bulgaria, urging it to drop its veto on North Macedonia’s EU integration and quickly approve Skopje’s EU membership negotiating framework. “It is wrong for Bulgaria to use a bilateral dispute to stop North Macedonia’s...

Police charged two reporters of the Denník N media outlet for disclosing what they said was classified information in the notorious murder case of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fianceé Martina Kušnírová. Investigative journalist Monika Tódová and Denník N deputy...

The capital’s mayor and joint PM candidate of green Párbeszéd and socialist MSZP, Gergely Karácsony, said on Monday that the cyber attack that halted the primaries on Saturday for two days came from China, Telex reported. Karácsony said the opposition was prepared for “Fidesz...

The Greek National Agency for Public Health will be announcing every Wednesday separately the epidemiological data of children aged 4-17, the government spokesman announced on Monday. “The government is monitoring the course of the pandemic in the educational community as...

The Florence Labour Court found driveline component manufacturer Gkn Driveline, owned by British fund Melrose, to be “in clear violation of trade union rights” for having fired 422 employees via email in early July. The firing led to a series...

To achieve deep and permanent cuts in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, cars must become the exception in cities, not the rule. Bold political action will be needed at local, regional, national and European levels, argues Lorelei Limousin.

The red and green minority government of social democrats and greens has announced a budget bill for 2022, which provides another shot in the arm for the economy already seeing a strong recovery. The estimated growth for Sweden’s economy this...

Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin has landed in New York, as the country currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of September. Martin is set to chair a high-level discussion on climate and security in...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Monday that “history will judge” if international leaders fail to act now to tackle the climate crisis. Speaking at the UN general assembly in New York, the UK prime minister urged other developed countries...