European Union

A few days ahead of the EU Social Summit in Porto, Austrian Labour Minister Martin Köcher of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) rejected the idea of an EU-wide minimum wage, claiming the EU lacks competence in the area of labour...

Germany pledges to become carbon-neutral by 2045. Germany has announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2045, in a landmark shift in climate policy driven by a recent constitutional court ruling demanding better defined emissions targets after 2030. German Finance...

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has made an offer to the Danish authorities for Poland to buy back doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson after the product was pulled from the Danish vaccination programme due to...

Mayors and city leaders can play a double role in the green transition – as ambassadors for the European green deal locally, and as representatives of people’s concerns and interests to other levels of government, writes Dario Nardella

Eleven EU countries have signed a declaration calling on the European Union to stop funding fossil fuels under its trans-European energy infrastructure regulation (TEN-E), which is currently under revision.

Any Chinese military base in the Atlantic Ocean is unnecessary and any such hypothesis would be viewed with "strong concern", Portugal's minister of defence, João Gomes Cravinho, has said, adding that it was "not a good idea" to transform this region into a scenario of "geopolitical conflict".

Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have proved more than 95 percent effective against infection, hospitalisation, and death from Covid-19 in Israel, research found, The Guardian writes. One shot of the vaccine was partially effective, offering 58 percent protection against infection, 76 percent against hospitalisation, and 77 percent against death. The authors of the study in the Lancet medical journal say this shows the importance of having the second shot.

French politician and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier described British prime minister Boris Johnson as a political "bulldozer" who shoves aside his enemies to get things done in a new book out Wednesday. He said Brexiteer Nigel Farage was "in private ... as cordial and gentle as he can be a violent demagogue in public". But he said Brexit negotiator Lord Frost was "cold" and had an "arrogant tone".

The contribution of Spain's recovery, transformation and resilience plan to the green transition is among the best in the EU, according to a report international climate experts highlighting the lack of European ambition to decarbonise the economy, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

The European Union is expected to soon raise its renewable energy target for 2030, and France, which has already largely missed its 2020 goal, could have difficulties in meeting the new objective. EURACTIV France reports.

The EU and its leading powers voiced strident criticism of China at a G7 meeting in London on Wednesday, even as Hungary, once again, tried to gag the bloc in Brussels.

Last month, European lawmakers proclaimed the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programmes as the largest ever amount of EU funding dedicated to promoting the bloc's values such as democracy and fundamental rights.

The word "gender" was removed from a draft of the Porto Declaration being prepared for Saturday's informal summit of EU leaders on social issues, a source told EUobserver. The declaration will be finalised by EU ambassadors Thursday. But in the latest draft on leaders' commitments, the formulation "to promote gender equality and fairness for every individual" was changed to "equality and fairness for all individuals" on Hungary and Poland's insistence.

Italy will allow tourists to enter quarantine-free as early as this month, prime minister Mario Draghi announced, according to The Guardian. Visitors who have had an EU-approved Covid-19 vaccine, recovered from the disease, or tested negative 48 hours prior to travelling, will be allowed entry without restrictions. "From mid-May tourists can have the Italian pass … so the time has come to book your holidays to Italy," added Draghi.

Germany proposed on Wednesday increasing its emissions-reduction target from 55 percent, to 65 percent, below 1990 levels by 2030, AFP reported. The proposal also foresees a 88-percent emission-cut by 2040, paving the way to reach climate neutrality by 2045, five years earlier than the previous target of 2050. In April, a court said previous targets "irreversibly pushed a very high burden of emissions reduction into the period after 2030".

French fishers are threatening to blockade ports in the Channel Islands, in an escalation of a post-Brexit row in which the French maritime minister has backed calls to cut off Jersey's electricity supply, The Guardian reports. France has accused the UK of breaching the terms of the Brexit deal new licensing system, which kicked in on 30 April, by restricting French fishing boats in Jersey's waters.

Jihadi rebels kidnapped French journalist Olivier Dubois in early April while he was working in Mali's northern city of Gao, Reporters Without Borders chief Christophe Deloire has announced. A video released Wednesday shows Dubois saying he was kidnapped by the al-Qaida-linked group JNIM, AP reported. Dubois usually works for LePoint Afrique. The French foreign ministry confirmed his disappearance, saying they are in touch with his family and Malian authorities.

An independent oversight board for Facebook decided to uphold a ban on former US president Donald Trump. But it was also critical of the severity of the ban, noting that it needs to "justify a proportionate response". "We are telling Facebook to go back and be more transparent about how it assesses these things. Treat all users the same and don't give arbitrary penalties," said co-chair Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Madrid conservative leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso has become a political phenomenon mainly because of her success in keeping Madrid open during the worst moments of the pandemic. However, critics accuse her of neglecting health services - while only protecting businesses.

Madrid conservative leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso has become a political phenomenon mainly because of her success in keeping Madrid open during the worst moments of the pandemic. However, critics accuse her of neglecting health services - while only protecting businesses.