European Union

Fishermen in northern France have threatened to disrupt British imports in a bid to increase pressure on London to grant them more licences for UK waters.

The new German chancellor and the foreign minister made statements over the weekend, which didn’t signal a shift of policy with respect to the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline compared to the positions of the Merkel administration.

The EU will increase its support for Belarusian civil society by €30 million, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday (12 December), after meeting exiled opposition head Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in Brussels.

Russia faces massive consequences and severe costs if President Vladimir Putin attacks Ukraine, the Group of Seven warned in a statement on Sunday (12 December).

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about an anti-vaxxer party possibly preventing a progressive coalition in Austria, Bulgaria's PM-designate saying his future government will have a zero-tolerance policy on corruption, and so much more.

Russia's foreign ministry has said Nato should "officially disavow" a 2008 promise that Georgia and Ukraine will one day become members and create a "legally binding agreement" it will not place weapons that threaten Russia on its borders, even in Nato states. "This path must be traversed quickly," Russia deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov said. EU foreign ministers meeting Monday will discuss Russia's threat of a new attack on Ukraine.

Greece's third-largest group in parliament on Sunday elected a European Parliament lawmaker as its new leader, Ekathimerini writes. Nikos Androulakis defeated former prime minister George Papandreou to lead the Movement for Change, a socialist coalition. Partial results shortly before 9 PM. showed the 42-year old Androulakis with 68.4 percent of the vote compared to 31.6 percent for the 69-year-old Papandreou. Papandreou called his rival to congratulate him.

New Caledonia, France's archipelago of about 185,000 voters, 2,000 kilometres east of Australia, voted no in a referendum on independence, with 96.49 percent of the votes against independence, and only 3.51% were in favour, France24 reports. French president Emmanuel Macron said Sunday "France is more beautiful" with the Pacific islands included, adding "a period of transition is beginning, free from the binary choice of 'Yes' or 'No'."

Serbs in the lower house of parliament in Bosnia's Republika Srpska voted on Saturday to pull out of the country's armed forces, judiciary, and tax system in what was, for now, a non-binding recommendation. "This is the moment of conquering the freedom for Republika Srpska," Serb leader Milorad Dodik told the parliament. "Bosnia is an experiment ... I don't believe it can survive," he also said.

Some 44,000 people protested against mandatory coronavirus vaccinations in Vienna on Saturday, carrying banners such as "I'm not a neo-Nazi or a hooligan" and "I'm fighting for freedom and against the vaccine", The Guardian reports. Austrians over the age of 14 must get vaccinated from February onward or face fines starting from €600 and rising too €3,600.

Serbian politicians have come under fire from Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani after denying the Recak massacre in 1999 where Serbian troops killed 45 Kosovo Albanians. Serbia’s Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksander Vulin called the massacre “a huge lie, a terrible...

Deputies from the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) led by President Milo Đukanović, the Liberal Party, the Social Democrats, the Bosniak Party and the Albanian List signed a proposal to hold a no-confidence vote in the...

North Macedonia has been formally added to NATO’s Air Policing system following a ceremony in Skopje on 9 December. The entry of North Macedonia to the system was launched with a ceremony involving the intercept of a Macedonian Learjet by Hellenic Air Force F-16s....

Hristijan Mickoski was re-elected as the leader of the biggest opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, with 489 votes in favour and three invalid ballots. At the same time, SDSM, the country’s biggest governing party from which former prime minister Zoran Zaev resigned, held...

“Quo Vadis, Aida?”, a 2020 movie from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), was voted best movie at the 34th European Film Awards in Berlin. The movie director, Jasmila Žbanić from BiH, won the award for best director, and Serbian actress Jasna...

“In a few months” Serbia will no longer be the easy target it once was, President Aleksandar Vučić said on Saturday, adding that “considerable” purchases of armaments for the Serbian Army have been made. After a meeting with military commanders in...

The election campaign in Slovenia is in full swing despite the next general election being at least four and a half months away. The latest polls show smaller parties left, and right could upend the balance of power, reflecting deep...

Illegal crossings in the Western Balkan region are now more numerous through Serbia, Romania, Hungary and Austria. Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia are not the first choices, said Zoran Ničeno, head of the Border Administration from the interior ministry. On...

Romania’s defence ministry has asked parliament to approve the purchase of 32 F-16 jets from Norway and additional products and services from the US government. Romania currently has 17 F-16 jets, which it bought from Portugal over the past five...

Albania’s main opposition party is in turmoil following a vote to expel Chairman Lulzim Basha, won by party founder, ex-prime minister and president, and persona-non-grata in the United States, Sali Berisha on Saturday (11 December). Following the decision to declare...