European Union

A Russian national with a Maltese passport is reportedly part of a €10m international laundering racket in south-west Finland.

Five years and €10bn after its EU bailout, Cyprus is still a weak link in Europe's banking system - amid renewed fears on Russia money-laundering.

EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova has blamed the British tabloid media for spoiling the political climate around Brexit talks. "Media can build the culture of dialogue or sow divisions, spread disinformation and encourage exclusion. The Brexit debate is the best example of that," she said at a forum in Vienna on Monday. "Just last week, the EU leaders were called 'Dirty Rats' on another front page".

The UK has said EU airlines could continue to fly there even if there was no deal on Brexit and that it would unilaterally accept EU aviation rules in order to prevent a rupture if need be. It published the technical paper as the European Central Bank urged Dutch lender ING to return important staff from London back to Europe.

Greek police have detained the editor-in-chief and publisher of the newspaper Fileleftheros, after an article las week which alleged Panos Kammenos, the country's far-right defence minister had mishandled EU funds designed to help migrants in camps on Greek islands. Some of the EU money had been funnelled to Kammenos' business partners, the article alleged. The arrest came after Kammenos complained to police about it, AP reports.

Austria's far-right interior minister Herbert Kickl has instructed police chiefs that their officers should name the foreign nationality and asylum status of suspects and offenders in press interviews, according to leaked emails obtained by the Kurier and Standard newspapers. He also said police ought to send "pro-active" messages to media about related sex offences and complained that government critical media "ignore facts" on the problem.

Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Zoran Zaev focused on the economic benefits of a “yes” vote in the upcoming referendum on the Macedonia name change, saying that the trade with Greece is going to double.

Distributed energy solutions such as solar PV, batteries, and smart controls are getting cheaper by the day and will soon outperform traditional energy sources such as coal, gas, and nuclear power, says Hervé Touati. In any case, Blockchain-type solutions will be needed for the mass deployment of electric vehicles, he warns.

The system for approving pesticides has to show greater transparency, a special committee of the European Parliament has concluded. An article by EURACTIV France’s media partner, the Journal de l’environnement.

Member states and not the European Commission will direct the precise support and funding for innovation and digitisation of farming in the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan told EURACTIV Romania in an interview.  

The Eurozone should prepare for US and China protectionist measures if they materialise, president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi said on Monday (24 September) at the European Parliament.

The Party of the European Left vows to be “the only alternative” to the conservatives and “the real alternative” to the far-right, according to a draft manifesto seen by EURACTIV.com; However, the fragmentation in the leftist family creates barriers.

Earlier in September, the European Commission registered a new European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) called END THE CAGE AGE, which aims to put an end to the most appalling symbol of industrial animal farming – the cage, writes Olga Kikou.

The French government is thinking about taxing foreign heavy goods vehicles but François de Rugy, the new minister of ecological transition, denies the return of a “green tax”.  EURACTIV France's media partner Ouest-France reports.

The gap between rich and poor in Europe has increased compared to thirty years ago, affecting young cohorts in particular. Yet the social protection systems currently in place across European countries were designed during the past century and are no longer fit for the present, argues Cyril Muller.

The remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal agreed on Monday (24 September) to keep working to maintain trade with Tehran despite scepticism this is possible as U.S. sanctions to choke off Iranian oil sales resume in November.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May and her ministers have agreed to focus Britain's post-Brexit migration system on high-skilled migrants and will not offer preference to European Union workers, newspapers said.

Letter of condolences from Presidents Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the passing of President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam

The European Union and the United States are still in exploratory talks about how they can pursue a limited trade agreement, with no real negotiations yet started, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Monday (24 September).

The European Parliament has just voted to back the copyright directive, as part of the ‘Digital Single Market’ priorities. Now, fighting fake news before the EU elections is not enough: we should prepare a vertical strategy for the media sector 2019-2024, writes Cristophe Leclercq.