European Union

MEPs are to send a "fact-finding mission" to Malta amid calls for EU sanctions if its prime minister, Joseph Muscat, refuses to step down over the killing of a journalist.

Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, and Ireland - some of the EU's main offshore banking and tax haven-type countries - voted Thursday against new EU rules to force multinationals such as Amazon or Apple to reveal how much profit they make and how little tax they pay in Europe, The Guardian reports. Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, and Sweden also voted against, while the UK, another offshore centre, abstained.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday (28 November) said his remarks that NATO was experiencing "brain death" had been a useful wake-up call to alliance members, and he would not apologise for saying it.

A Finnish EU presidency paper on migration, designed to feed into the new European Commission, lays out a vision to prevent irregular migration, forced displacement, and boost cooperation on return and readmission.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday (28 November) night as a intensifying probe into the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia threatened to further destabilise the government.

Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann on Thursday (28 November) batted back calls for the European Central Bank to take a bigger role in protecting the environment, saying it was up to goverments and not the ECB to fight climate change.

In this Special Edition of the Capitals, EURACTIV's network is reporting on the main priorities of EU member states in the new European Commission.

Ordinary EU citizens should get a say in Brussels lawmaking and hold officials to account via the European Parliament's petitions committee in the next five years, according to its chairman, Spanish centre-right MEP Dolors Montserrat.

EU has to decide whether it wants to go down in history as a force for peace by aligning itself with victims or to be remembered on the side of an apartheid government that slaughtered a defenceless people with impunity.

Ahdaf Soueif, who recently resigned from the British Museum, talks about the persistence of racist thinking, EU-funded authoritarianism in Egypt, and the Cold War roots of terror.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will enjoy a budget of €14.4 billion over the next five years, after the agency’s 22 member states agreed on Thursday (28 November) to increase funding for space exploration.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/1720 of 14 October 2019 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Nicaragua.

Following the consent of the European Parliament, the European Council appoints the new Commission until October 2024.

The Council today reached agreement on a draft directive on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/1789 of 24 October 2019 amending Decision 2010/573/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against the leadership of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.

Germany's regulatory approach to medical cannabis is good practice and should be replicated across Europe, according to newly-born European Medicinal Cannabis Association (EUMCA).

Many parents are supporting the children who are school striking for the climate, but are they really listening? ask Frida Berry Eklund and Yoca-Arditi Rocha.

Slovakia will not ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, the country's parliament decided, adding that any decision at EU level needs to be made unanimously. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) faces increasing demand thanks to historical underfunding and recruitment deficits, according to a European Commission report published on Thursday (28 November). 

The COP25 climate summit in Madrid needs to lay the groundwork for 2020 when countries and blocs will be measured against their commitment to the Paris Agreement. At EU level, this should translate into an ambitious European Green Deal, writes Eliot Whittington.