European Union

Tensions over vaccines in Slovakia continue to grow as anti-vaxxers have started to protest in front of the houses of pro-vaccine doctors daily Denník N has reported. The protesters did not manage to directly attack the doctors, Pavel Jarčuška, Vladimír Krčméry and...

"We stand together and will continue to stand together to defend our eastern flank allies at Nato against Russian aggression," US president Joe Biden told press while meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington on Thursday, in their first bilateral summit. "Good friends can disagree," Biden added, when asked about US opposition to a Russian-German gas pipeline. The US and Germany would also defend human rights in China, he said.

Ninety of a total of 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal (32.4%) are at high or very high risk of COVID-19 infections and will be subjected to more restrictive curfew measures between 11 pm and 5 am, the government said on...

Two German firms did not break EU law when they banned Muslim women from wearing headscarves, the EU court has said, in a ruling which alarmed rights groups.

The European Commission has said it might withhold money from Poland's Covid recovery plan due to concerns on the lack of rule of law. "We are analysing the [Polish] decision also in that light," an EU spokesman said Thursday, referring to Poland's decision to ignore an EU court ruling, which said it must suspend a politicised judicial disciplinary chamber. The commission also "wouldn't hesitate" to launch legal action, it added.

The European Medicines Agency has warned some fraudsters were using its logo to spread disinformation about vaccines. "Unfortunately, people can be very creative in misappropriating logos, styles of documents, websites," the agency's Fergus Sweeney said Thursday. The EMA advised people to get information from official sites only. It also advised them to seek vaccination "as soon possible" due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus in Europe.

Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries died on Thursday, after being shot in Amsterdam last week. The 64-year old was apparently an criminal hit list due to his work covering drug dealers. Police have detained two suspects. The killing follows a string of journalist murders in recent years, including Georgia's Aleksandre Lashkarava, Greece's Giorgos Karaivaz, Ireland's Lyra McKee, Slovakia's Jan Kuciak, Sweden's Kim Wall, and Malta's Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The EU Ombudsman said on Thursday the European Defense Agency should have forbidden its former chief executive, Jorge Domecq, from becoming a strategic advisor at the company Airbus Defence. The ombudsman found that the conditions attached to approving his new position were "insufficient" against the risks of lobbying. This inquiry is part of a wider investigation on how ethical obligations apply when EU staff move to the private sector.

Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has set the date of 26 July as the new target for indoor hospitality to open in Ireland. Varadkar anticipated the legislation to be cleared through the parliament and signed into law by this date,...

The European Commission has launched legal action against Hungary and Poland to defend LGBTIQ+ rights, in the latest battle over values with the two nationalist governments in central Europe, The Guardian writes. The announcement that Hungary and Poland's governments could end up in the EU's highest court is part of an ongoing fight for the rule of law and freedom from discrimination in the two countries.

Germany will be unable to boost deliveries of Russian gas to Europe via its Opal pipeline, after the EU's top court sided with Poland on Thursday in saying this would violate the principle of "energy solidarity". Opal links Russia's Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Germany to the Czech Republic. Russia is also building a Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will distribute gas in Europe via an onshore pipeline called Eugal.

The Austrian committee investigating corruption in the former ÖVP-FPÖ coalition government concluded its last session on Thursday, with opposition parties criticising Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz’s conservative ÖVP party for misconduct. Green faction leader Nina Tomaselli accused the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition of...

 At least 42 people have died in Western Germany and dozens remained missing on Thursday after unprecedented flooding also hit Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Swollen rivers caused by record rainfall across western Europe swept through towns and villages, leaving...

Proposed EU legislation aimed at cutting flight emissions by ramping up the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) has excluded the use of first-generation biofuels, arguing they bring "limited environmental benefits".

The European Commission wants to impose an import levy on certain goods produced in third countries with lower environmental standards, from 2026 -from 2023 to 2025, importers will only have to report emissions embedded in their goods.

A group of MEPs delivered their final report into the EU's border agency Frontex. After a four-month probe, they found it had failed to take its responsibility to protect fundamental rights at Europe's external borders.

Why should any Israeli politician view this lack of commitment to the EU's human rights principles as anything other than a licence to continue sending bulldozers to remove Palestinians from land the EU deems part of a future viable Palestine?

Italy has reached a deal with the European Commission over the launch of carrier Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA), which will replace the loss-making, state-owned Alitalia, the Treasury said in a statement.

France expressed "reservations" about the social consequences of extending the carbon market to the building and transport sectors, a proposal put forward by the European Commission on Wednesday (14 July). EURACTIV France reports.

Companies in the European Union can ban employees from wearing a headscarf under certain conditions, if they need to do so to project an image of neutrality to customers, the EU's top court said on Thursday (15 July).