European Union

MEPs have urged the EU to blacklist Kremlin "proxy" mercenaries from the Wagner Group, while listing its crimes in multiple conflict zones.

Serb leader Milorad Dodik has caved in to pressure and given up his plan to jeopardise the survival of BiH’s armed forces, BiH High Representative Christian Schmidt said. In an interview for The Guardian, Schmidt also warned that the crisis had not...

The price of Russian gas will remain at $270 per 1,000 cubic metres for Belgrade in the next six months, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said in Sochi on Thursday after meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. After a face-to-face...

“Croatia is ready for Schengen, it has confirmed a strong organisation and the ability to protect its borders, the Union’s external borders, in relation to the fight against smuggling, and it has confirmed its ability to control its borders,” French...

Swedish Social Democratic party leader Magdalena Andersson will get a second shot at becoming the country's first woman prime minister next Monday, after her first attempt lasted just seven hours, AFP writes. Andersson is expected to form a minority government made up solely of her Social Democrats, less than a year ahead of September general election. Her first attempt failed after her expected coalition failed to support her in parliament.

The combined federal and regional governments of Belgium will on Friday decide on new measures to reduce the current spread of Covid cases, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said in parliament. From 16 to 21 November there were 16,100 new daily cases, then 22 November saw 23,600 new infections. Government sources say that a new lockdown is not on the agenda.

The parliament gave its confidence vote to the new government supported by a wide coalition of the conservatives from PNL and UDMR and the socialists of PSD. The Cabinet of Nicolae Ciuca held its first meeting on Thursday evening. The...

The German ‘traffic light‘ coalition plans on banning biometric facial recognition and restricting the usage of mass surveillance tools, which marks a departure from the stance of the former government.

The UK has barred flights from South Africa and five other countries in the region, citing the threat of a highly infectious and vaccine-resistant Covid variant called B.1.1.529. "You have to be reasonably paranoid," Ewan Birney, a UK health advisor, told The Guardian. Separately, EU health agencies EMA and ECDC Thursday urged more people to get vaccinated, saying: "Vaccines are essential if we want to get out of this pandemic".

France pledged to step up surveillance of its northern shores, but migrants huddling in makeshift camps said neither that nor a tragic drowning the day before would stop them from trying to cross the Channel to Britain.

Turkish police fired tear gas at clashes in Istanbul during a rally for women's rights Thursday, which called for the government to resign because it abandoned a treaty, the Istanbul Convention, on violence against women. Campaigners told the BBC 345 women died so far this year in Turkey due to domestic violence. Marches were also held in Barcelona, Paris, London, and Mexico City, with police firing smoke bombs in Mexico.

Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the pro-Russian far-right party ‘Vazrazhdane’ (Revival), started his first term as an MP by threatening to deport all those who oppose the Belene nuclear power plant to the town’s communist-era forced labour camp. The Belene NPP is an...

Polish president Andrzej Duda has called for more Nato jets to patrol the alliance's eastern border and more troops to be sent to the region in light of Russia's aggressive behaviour. "We should ask ourselves a question whether this is not the right time for the Nato to again show the adequate response by at least temporarily strengthening its ... presence," Duda said while visiting the Nato HQ on Thursday.

The ex-head of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's St Petersburg office said she has left Russia, becoming the latest opposition figure to depart the country amid a wide-reaching crackdown on dissent, The Moscow Times writes. Irina Fatyanova said she relocated to an unspecified country last week, after the jailing of another member of Navalny's political network on extremism charges. Both are subject to criminal charges of creating an "extremist" organisation.

Interpol, the French-based international police agency, has chosen an Emirati general tainted by torture accusations in France and Turkey, Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, to be its president for the next four years. Thursday's choice would "undermine the mission and reputation of Interpol," three MEPs have warned. The Emirates, which is also accused of abusing Interpol arrest notices to go after political opponents, had contributed generously to Interpol funding, The Guardian said.

Paid political ads will have to show how much was spent on the ad, the sources of funds, the name of the sponsor. "Without providing this information, political advertisement will be illegal," commission vice-president Věra Jourová said.

The European Central Bank operates independently - with good reason - but in cases like climate policy more coordination with democratic authorities are needed, two influential economists have argued.

The European Commission wants to extend the EU Covid certificate beyond next summer, along with new conditions on booster and third shots.

A surprise new cabinet bringing together the former political foes of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Social Democrat Party (PSD) has been sworn in by the Romanian president.

Much supply-chain abuse remains hidden from plain sight – not only to consumers but to the companies themselves, who have built increasingly longer, more complicated, and more opaque supply chains, which have become harder to monitor, control and account for.