European Union

EU cohesion funding for environmental measures has not been spent as planned and EU member states are reluctant to apply the “no environmental harm” principle. EURACTIV Slovakia reports. “If you think the economy is more important than environment, try holding...

Just before the COP25, which will take place in Madrid from 2-13 December, France's leading financial institutions discussed the issue of climate justice and corporate social responsibility at the Climate Finance Day, which took place in Paris on 29 November. EURACTIV France reports.

In October 2018, EURACTIV revealed how the European Commission was planning to propose an ambitious new climate plan for 2050. Now the EU is on the cusp of agreeing to implement it. Here is how the pieces line up ahead of crunch talks later in December.

Social Democrat (SPD) party members have elected a new leadership. In a surprise outcome Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans prevailed against Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz. The two newcomers, who will lead the party together, want to put the struggling SPD on a leftist course and have announced plans to renegotiate the coalition agreement with the CDU/CSU. Europe's press is sceptical.

After a man stabbed two people to death and injured two others in an attack in London on Friday, terrorism has become the number one topic in the election campaign. The suspect had already been convicted of terrorist crimes in 2012 and spent six years in prison before being released on probation in 2018. Now the Labour Party and Tories are piling blame on each other. Europe's media find other reasons for the terror.

The prime minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, has announced that he will resign in January. Prior to the announcement Muscat's chief of staff and two ministers had already either resigned or suspended themselves from duty. Muscat's government has come under growing pressure over its alleged involvement in the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Muscat's step was overdue, Europe's press writes.

Libya and Turkey have signed an agreement on maritime borders. According to Ankara the deal protects Turkish rights in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, including access to resources such as natural gas. Greece says the deal violates international maritime law because among other things it ignores the island of Crete's jurisdiction. The Greek and Greek Cypriot press are also incensed.

A labour dispute over the inadequate payment of postal workers has culminated in a political crisis in Finland. The bone of contention is whether the government knew about the plans of the state postal service to reduce the salaries of more than 700 package sorters. After the postal workers went on strike for several weeks the responsible minister resigned. Should the PM go too?