European Union

Scotland would decommission its nuclear weapons bases if it gained independence via a new referendum, the Scottish National Party's defence spokesman Stewart McDonald said Thursday, The Times reports. "An independent Scotland will not be home to nuclear weapons," he said, adding there was "a clear cross-party majority" against it. British plans had included creating a new overseas territory, or 'nuclear Gibraltar', to house the weapons, if Scotland split away.

An international treaty used by polluting energy companies to claim compensation from governments who thwart their investments was ruled incompatible with EU law by the Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday (2 September).

Famine in Ethiopia could kill millions because aid was not being allowed into the Tigray conflict zone in its civil war, the UN has warned. "The lives of millions of civilians ... depend on our capacity to reach them with food, nutrition supplies, medicine," UN official Grant Leaity said. Some 5.2m people needed 100 trucks of aid a day to avoid "the world's worst famine situation in decades", he said.

The EU wants a force of some 5,000 troops that won't need the unanimous support of all 27 member states. The ideas were discussed at a defence ministerial and will feed into a bigger strategic plan in November.

The European Union on Thursday (2 September) backed calls for a legally binding international agreement to reduce plastic pollution, during a UN-hosted conference in Geneva.

The head of Ukraine's gas transit operator, Sergiy Makogon, warned on Thursday that the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will make Europe completely dependent on Russia. "People just have a short memory - 2009 is the year when Russia's Gazprom made Europe freeze," he told Reuters. Gazprom fully owns Nord Stream 2, which could divert transit gas flows going through Ukraine to Europe once completed.

Google said it is appealing a €500m fine handed to it by the French competition watchdog, over Google's use of news content in its search results. Google says the fine is disproportionate compared to the efforts made by the company to comply with EU copyright rules. The watchdog said Google failed to negotiate "in good faith" with media companies to use extracts of articles, photos and videos in search results.

Polish president Andrzej Duda has ordered a state of emergency in parts of two regions bordering Belarus, his spokesman said, Deutsche Welle writes. The move is unprecedented in Poland's post-communist history. It comes amid heightened tensions between Belarus and its neighbours over a sharp increase in migration. According to the order, gatherings of people will be banned on a 3km-wide strip along the border.

Ireland data privacy watchdog on Thursday fined Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp €225m for infringements of EU data protection rules, The Guardian reported. Following a three-year investigation, data protection authorities conclude that the company had violated EU data rules about transparency. WhatsApp said the penalties were "entirely disproportionate" and it would appeal. The breach affected an "extremely high" amount of individuals, according to the Dublin-based watchdog.

The European Medicines Agency said that there is no urgent need to administer booster shots to the general population, pointing out that the priority now should be to vaccinate the one-third of Europeans who are not fully vaccinated.

EU economic commissioner Paolo Gentiloni specified that Poland's challenge to the primacy of EU law over domestic law is partly holding up the approval of the recovery plan.

According to a new study, many actions can be taken to avert the extinction of thousands of trees. Top among them is funding for preservation and tree planting programs of the tree species most at risk.

This summer some 450 undocumented workers and migrants in Brussels refused food during two months. They were protesting Belgian immigration rules that human rights officials and campaigners say arbitrarily obstruct them from legal and stable residency.

Romanian authorities are hoping meal vouchers worth 100 RON (€20) and the opportunity to enter a lottery with cash prizes for those vaccinated against Covid-19 will convince more people to get the jab

Christian Democrats in Germany are resorting to a tried-and-tested method to win back voters from the centre-left: warn that the alternative to them is a government with former communists.

The 2015-2016 refugee crisis must not repeat itself in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, foreign ministers of Mediterranean countries stressed at Bled Strategic Forum on Thursday (2 September), calling for more cooperation in the region.

Poland and Latvia expressed concern on Thursday (2 September) over Russia's looming military drills held jointly on Belarus' western border where the European Union accuses Minsk of pushing migrants over to put pressure on the bloc.

Several Spanish regions took stock Thursday (2 September) of the damage caused by torrential rain that swept over most of the country over the last 24 hours. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

To help the people in Afghanistan, particularly the most vulnerable and those who have worked for the EU, this “requires engagement with the Taliban,” EU’s chief diplomat Joseph Borrell told reporters, albeit according to him this would not equal recognition....

Composer Mikis Theodorakis, whose music crossed international boundaries in his captivating score for the film "“Zorba the Greek", died on Thursday (2 September), plunging Greece into three days of mourning.