European Union

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky says Nato should speed up his country's path toward membership, arguing that there is no other way to prevent further conflict in the eastern Donbass region, Deutsche Welle reports. Zelensky said his government hoped to be invited this year to join a Nato Membership Action Plan (MAP). "Nato is the only way to end the war in Donbass," he said.

The European institutions were hit by a cyber attack last week, reports Bloomberg. A European Commission spokesperson told the media outlet that it was too early to tell the origins of the attack. "Thus far, no major information breach was detected," said the spokesperson.

European Council president Charles Michel got top diplomatic seating alongside Turkey's president, leaving European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen sitting on the couch during a meeting in Ankara on Tuesday. Seating arrangements in diplomatic arenas are generally symbolic, suggesting possible power plays.

Australia has said it will ask the EU to release more than 3.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine - testing Brussels claim it is not blocking shipments, as the country struggles to vaccinate its population, Reuters writes. The EU denied blocking vaccine shipments to Australia, saying it was not responsible for AstraZeneca's failure to uphold commitments to other countries.

Australia's prime minister on Wednesday (7 April) blamed restricted vaccine supply from Europe for his country's halting coronavirus inoculation efforts, as he faced down growing public frustration over the sluggish rollout.

Portugal's Secretary of State for European affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias, assured Lusa on Tuesday that there is a prospect of moving "from principles to action" at the planned Social Summit of the European Union to be held next month in Porto, which is to be a centrepiece of the country's six-month presidency of the Council of the EU.

Iran and world powers held what they described as "constructive" talks and agreed to form working groups to discuss the sanctions Washington might lift and the nuclear curbs Tehran might observe as they try to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

The European Commission is working on a new proposal on financing Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. "I am very much committed to ensuring the continuity of European funding in this area ," said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday. "EU funding should in the future increasingly provide better opportunities for refugees to earn their livelihoods," she added.

In a Viennese hotel, officials from Britain, France and Germany, will act as intermediaries between Iran and the US, shuttling between both delegations. Russia and China, the other parties to the 2015 nuclear pact, are also attending, Reuters reports. Tehran has repeatedly rebuffed "direct and indirect negotiations" while Washington said on Monday it expected the talks to be difficult. Neither side expected any early breakthrough.

Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, has nominated current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to form a government after the latest inconclusive election, but voiced doubt that any lawmaker could forge a parliamentary majority, The Guardian writes. The 23 March election, Israel's fourth in under two years, did not produce a clear path for any candidate to form a coalition capable of commanding a majority in the 120-member parliament.

On Tuesday Belgium launched a new website, QVAX, where people who are not yet vaccinated or have no appointment to be vaccinated, could register in case 'spare' appointments come up. Brussels will start it's own system mid-April.

The European Parliament has launched an internal probe into the conduct of Czech MEP Jan Zahradil over his dealings with China and a so-called 'friendship group'.

In Germany, there is commotion about a new book in which two journalists describe meetings held during the corona crisis between federal chancellor Angela Merkel, and the 16 prime ministers of its federal constituent states.

Italy's various mafias are allegedly exploiting the chaos caused by the Covid-19 emergency to infiltrate even deeper into sectors where they are already present, such as healthcare, mortuary services, and waste disposal (both medical and non-medical).

As a German national, I see German history as a constant warning to defend the rule of law - and to be vigilant to detect even the slightest beginnings of its erosion.

As an African farmer and exporter, I know all too well the potential of agricultural trade for the development of my country Kenya and my continent. As the European Union and the African Union prepare to agree on their new...

The prime ministers of Italy and Greece on Tuesday (6 April) joined a growing number of foreign leaders visiting Libya as it seeks to emerge from a decade of post-revolution chaos under a UN-sponsored peace process. Italy’s Mario Draghi, whose...

The European Union's top two officials on Tuesday (6 April) expressed deep worries about human rights in Turkey while voicing hope for stronger ties in their first meeting in a year with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Facebook has told the Irish Data Protection Commission that a breach involving the personal information of 533 million users worldwide took place prior to the entry into force of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, and the company...

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on NATO on Tuesday to lay out a path for Ukraine to join the Western military alliance, after days in which Russia has massed troops near the conflict-hit Donbas region. Zelenskiy’s comments drew an immediate rebuke...