European Union

Soaring COVID-19 infection rates and tough new restrictions to curb the increase have dealt a fresh blow to Spain’s pandemic-weary tourism and hospitality sectors, especially in sun-kissed resorts along the Mediterranean, the Balearics and the Canary Islands. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

The European Commission has referred Italy to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for failing to comply with the ‘Prüm decisions’, the rules established by the EU Council of interior ministers in 2008 to strengthen judicial cooperation between member...

Greek citizens who travelled to Russia or elsewhere to get the Russian or the Chinese jab are currently facing a deadlock in Greece, as the country has not recognised their vaccinations. When Europe was facing difficulties in the deliveries of...

Euro football final ends in affray, Fit for 55, will Ursula get her way? And the Commission’s cheery greeting is a total cliche.

The European Commission’s goals in introducing electro mobility must be set in a way that will not harm Czech industry, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday, calling the Commission’s proposal “extremely ambitious,” admitting, however, that he has not yet...

The European Commission's approach to using forest wood for energy could prove a faux pas ahead of the COP26 UN climate summit in November, a dangerous move which contradicts the findings of the EU executive's own research department, writes Peg Putt.  

The European Court of Justice on Thursday ruled that Poland’s controversial disciplinary procedure for judges violates European law. According to the CJEU, the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, founded in 2017, lacks guarantees of “independence and impartiality” and could...

Floods in Germany have killed 58 people, but the toll is likely to grow, as 1,300 others remain missing or cut off, in what German chancellor Angela Merkel called a "catastrophe" while on a visit to the US on Thursday. "My heart goes out to all of those who ... lost their loved ones,' she said. Flooding has also wreaked havoc in parts of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

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...