European Union

Finland wrapped up its EU presidency at the end of the year and the verdict is in. Unsurprisingly, some observers put more emphasis on the mild success, others on the failures in making progress. There was no lack of ambition,...

Days after the signing of the EastMed pipeline deal between Israel, Cyprus and Greece, and amid a new Middle East crisis, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis is visiting Washington for official meetings with the US administration. According to government sources, the...

After an airstrike on a military school in the Libyan capital Tripoli that killed at least 30 cadets on Saturday, the status of the expected EU diplomatic mission to Libya, strongly solicited by Italy, has been cast into uncertainty. The...

Irish and British governments will release a text this week aimed at establishing the basis for an agreement to restore the Northern Executive and Assembly, Ireland’s Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said. Speaking to the Irish Times, Coveney also said that...

Jess Phillips is the first Labour leadership candidate to say that the party could campaign to rejoin the EU at the next election, as she became the latest to confirm her candidacy to replace outgoing party leader Jeremy Corbyn at...

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is confident about the French economy despite the recent strikes. Growth should reach 1.3% in 2020, the same as 2019, he told the Journal du Dimanche, though shop owners are already worried about weak...

The conservative party (“ÖVP”) and the Green party have agreed to form a government led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) which will be inaugurated on 7 January, exactly 100 days after the election. But the government program has caused controversy...

Croats chose former Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Milanović as their new president in a run-off ballot on Sunday, denying conservative incumbent Kolinda Grabar Kitarović a second five-year mandate and setting the stage for a tense cohabitation with the ruling...

The recent reforms introducing more democracy in Kazakhstan are also an answer to a global problem – how to respond to the lack of public confidence in leadership around the world, writes Shavkat Sabirov.

It might not be the sexiest debate but how the EU will look in the next seven years will depend on the outcome of one of the toughest upcoming fights in 2020: the negotiation over the bloc’s next long-term budget. 

At a recent ceremony in the European Parliament in Brussels, the Association of European Capitals and Cities of Sport awarded the title of 'European City of Sport for 2020' to Pazardzhik. Valia Ahchieva takes a closer look at the Bulgarian city, whose sports base has fallen into disrepair and is earmarked for private developers.

Most Swiss oppose a referendum campaign launched by the far-right to end the free movement of citizens from the European Union, according to a poll published on Sunday (5 January).

Leftist former prime minister Zoran Milanovic, who has pledged to make Croatia a tolerant country turning the page on its wartime past, won Sunday’s presidential run-off vote, defeating the incumbent conservative leader. Milanovic took 52.7% of the vote while President...

Fearing the fallout from the killing of Iran's General Soleimani, Europeans on Sunday (5 January) called to de-escalate the crisis which threatens to collapse the landmark 2015 nuclear deal and puts NATO's training mission in Iraq in jeopardy.

On Sunday (5 January) Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez did not obtain the required majority of 176 of 350 votes in parliament for his coalition of social democrats and the far-left Podemos. Of the 350 MP's 166 voted in favour, 165 against and 18 abstained. In a second vote, expected on Tuesday (7 January), only a simple majority of the votes is needed.

Social democrat and former prime minister Zoran Milanovic has won 52.7% of the votes in the second round of Croatia's presidential elections. He defeated the center-right incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic with a larger margin than expected. On Facebook Milanovic wrote: "Thank you! Thanks to all volunteers, all of you who were my support over these six months. Thank you, people."

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey has started with the deployment of troops to Libya, after the parliament gave its approval, Deutsche Welle reports. "Our soldiers' duty there is coordination. They will develop the operation center there. Our soldiers are gradually going right now," he told CNN Turk broadcaster. The troops are sent to support the international backed government of Fayez al-Sarraj.

Iranian State TV announced that Iran will no longer commit itself to the limits of the nuclear deal (JCPOA), despite calls from France, Germany and the UK to stick to the 2015 deal. According to the deal Iran would be able to build nuclear energy but no nuclear weapons. Iran declared it would still cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations.

With the assassination of Iranian general and war hero Qassem Suleimani, Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei gets the opportunity to reunite the people in his country, after weeks of mass protests.

While Poland's government is escalating its rule of law crisis by introducing even more drastic measures against the country's judges, another problem is looming over the EU's commitment to upholding the rule of law: Malta.