European Union

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the first EU leader to be on Reporters Without Borders‘ (RSF) list of “enemies of press freedom”. The list published on Monday includes 37 heads of state and government who according to the RSF...

In a surprising return to Polish politics, former European Council president and ex-prime minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, was elected the head of Poland’s largest opposition party Civic Platform (PO) on Saturday, following the resignation of the party’s vice-president, Borys...

With only 16% of those aged 12-18 having at least received the first COVID-19 dose, the president of the federation of medical orders, Filippo Anelli, said that “with the Delta variant, the recommendation is to get vaccinated soon, before the...

Donald Tusk, who took over as acting head of Polish opposition party Civic Platform on Saturday (3 July), is an unflappable fighter with political roots in Poland's anti-communist movement and experience putting out fires both at home and in Brussels.

The Greek government has decided to impose new restrictions to the unvaccinated and ruled out any likelihood of having a new general lockdown because of the rise of COVID-19 cases. “I cannot make vaccination mandatory. But everyone is now taking...

The UK is showing “no generosity at all” to the EU in a deepening row over the Northern Ireland protocol, said Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney in response to an op-ed by Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost and London’s Northern...

Austria’s governing ÖVP and Green parties are at odds over the call to tighten migration laws after a 13-year-old girl was murdered, allegedly by two Afghan asylum seekers. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’ ÖVP had called for more resolute action against migrants convicted of crimes,...

France’s far-right party Rassemblement National has re-elected Marine Le Pen as its head for a second time at a congress in Perpignan on Sunday. Meanwhile, Le Pen ally, 25-year-old MEP Jordan Bardella, was nominated as the party’s first vice-president. Bardella...

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned parties “that they may have to sit down together again“ after votes are cast in the country’s upcoming elections. “I’m worried it might turn into a mud fight. At the present time, I believe...

Thousands of Europeans were keen to buy fake electronic certificates about their vaccination status and fake vaccines, according to Italian police, who broke up a cyber-crime marketplace over the weekend. Prices ranged from €110 to €130 for an "all inclusive" package of fake pass and fake vial of vaccine. "Anyone found with these fake certificates, including buyers, risks ... offences punishable by up to six years," Italian police said.

Four people were found dead on Sunday as a huge fire raged for a second day in Cyprus, razing tracts of forest and gutting dozens of homes in a blaze one official called the worst on record, Reuters reports. "Its one of the most destructive [fires] we have experienced, unfortunately, with victims," Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades told reporters from the area. The state would support all those affected, he said.

The EU is planning to tax high-polluting aviation fuels in a new package of climate-change measures due out on 14 July, Reuters writes. An aviation-fuel exemption "is not coherent with the present climate challenges and policies", the draft paper said. The minimum EU-wide tax for aircraft fuels used on trips inside Europe was to be phased in over 10 years, it added, without giving a figure for the final amount.

French health minister Olivier Veran warned Sunday that the 'Delta variant' of coronavirus was sweeping through his country. "For five days, [the infection rate] hasn't come down - it's rising again. Because of the Delta variant, which is very contagious. The British example shows that a fourth wave is possible from the end of July," he said. "We must move even faster [on vaccination]," he added.

Former Polish prime minister and EU Council president Donald Tusk has made a comeback into national politics, by taking his over his former political party, the centre-right Civic Platform opposition party. "The evil that PiS is performing is evident, shameless and permanent. It's happening every day, in almost every matter," he said in a speech in. Warsaw Saturday, referring to the ruling and nationalist-populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The EU will have to strike harder at Belarus' top company, Belaruskali, to influence the regime, its workers have said.

Slovenia will give special attention to the discussion on the Western Balkan integration into the EU during the six months that it will hold the presidency of the EU Council, its prime minister Janez Janša said.

Azerbaijan on Saturday (3 July) handed over to Yerevan 15 Armenian troops captured last year in the wake of an armed conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, officials said.

The European Parliament will debate in Strasbourg the breaches of EU law and of the rights of LGBTIQ people in Hungary, and adopt resolutions on the issues.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor has criticised Interior Minister Aleš Hojs for using the term "swine" in a comment interpreted as targeting a senior member of the EU Commission, urging the minister to apologise.

The migrant workers are exploited (by landlords and dairy-businessmen) like slaves. They work up to 14-hours per day, every single day non-stop without any leave, for barely €400 per month. If they get injured, their bosses hide these incidents.