European Union

Austria will take the European Commission to court if it moves ahead with its plans to include nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy rules on sustainable finance, Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler said over the weekend. The draft regulation on...

The closure of three of six remaining German nuclear power plants last week is causing headaches in the Czech Republic, with Germany’s nuclear phase-out being dubbed a ‘radical step’ by Prague, particularly in the context of current energy price hikes....

A record number of women are due to make up the next Dutch government after the incoming coalition published its list of ministers and secretaries of state on Sunday (2 January). An unprecedented 14 of the 29 ministers and secretaries...

In his message on the 20th anniversary of the euro, European Council President emphasized how the common currency has proven to be resilient — a symbol of European unity and stability.

The European Union, has drawn up plans to label some natural gas and nuclear energy power plants as "transitional" or "green" investments provided they meet specific criteria such as displacing more polluting coal plants.

Since the euro started circulating 20 years ago, it has become one of the most tangible achievements of European integration, a key enable of the Single Market and a shared part of our common identity. In a joint op-ed, the President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, euro area finance ministers and Commissioners Dombrovskis, Gentiloni and McGuinness outline the euro’s track-record and identify priorities for its future.

France takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Saturday (1 January), affording President Emmanuel Macron the chance to pose as the EU's de facto leader in the run-up to national elections in April.

The Omicron coronavirus variant dampened New Year festivities around much of the world, with Paris cancelling its fireworks show, London relegating its to television, and New York City scaling down its famous ball drop celebration in Times Square.

French champagne producers will ring in 2022 with at least one hiccup — starting Saturday, they must comply with a new Russian law prohibiting them from calling their bubbly by its Russian name, an affront that has infuriated the industry....

A rescue ship carrying 440 migrants has been allowed to disembark in Sicily, its operator said Friday, capping a year that saw more than 67,000 arrive on Italy’s shores. “The Italian authorities have assigned the port of Pozzallo, Sicily as...

Russia test-fired around 10 new Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missiles from a frigate and two more from a submarine, Interfax news agency said on Friday.

France and Germany bear a "special responsibility" to make the European Union a stronger world power as Paris assumes the bloc's rotating presidency, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told AFP on Friday.

Coronavirus deaths in eastern Europe exceeded 1 million on Thursday, according to Reuters data. The death toll in eastern Europe reached 1,045,454 on Thursday, compared to 1,873,253 across Europe. The region includes Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. In contrast to Western Europe, where daily cases continue to break records, a relatively small number of Omicron cases have been detected in eastern Europe.

Wearing masks even outdoors will be mandatory in Paris starting on Friday, French authorities have announced, as the country struggles to come to grips with an Omicron surge. France is leading Europe in new infections, with a record 208,000 new cases confirmed over the previous 24 hours on Wednesday. That figure was preceded by a previous daily record of 180,000 new cases on Tuesday.

France, on Thursday, said it would show "tolerance" for Britons hoping to transit the country to reach homes elsewhere in the European Union, after a surprise clampdown caused dismay for thousands of travellers, France24 writes. Under tougher Covid rules that began to be applied this week, Britons with an EU residency outside France were no longer allowed to drive through France.

The EU is ready to impose new sanctions, including an arms embargo, against the military regime in Myanmar, the bloc's foreign policy chief said on Thursday, Reuters writes. 
"In view of the escalating violence in Myanmar, increased international preventive action is required, including an arms embargo", Josep Borrell wrote in a statement, adding that the EU stood "ready to impose further sanctions against the military regime."


Europe is currently facing the worst bird-flu outbreak ever, according to data from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), Germany's leading animal-disease centre. In Europe, 675 outbreaks in wild birds and 534 in poultry have been reported between the beginning of October and 29 December. Additional cases have also been detected in mammals, such as foxes in the Netherlands and Finland, grey seals in Sweden, and otters in Finland.

Sebastian Kurz will be a global strategist for Thiel Capital, whose founder, the tech billionaire Peter Thiel, is a long-time acquaintance of the former chancellor, the Austrian daily Heute reported on Thursday. Thiel was an early backer of Donald Trump's political ambitions in the US, heads Palantir Technologies, which specialises in big-data analytics, and has been embroiled in controversies. Kurz resigned in October after being accused of corruption.

Eurocentrism in our education and thinking is actually a product of a German-Christian ideology of the 18th century. Instead of admitting guilt we should change the way we study and teach history.

The pandemic has boosted the appeal of Italy's offbeat idyllic villages among global digital nomads. It is giving some of these villages some kind of Renaissance.