Euractiv.com

What if Europe was the best place in the world for digital innovation? When it comes to Europe’s position on the global digital market, some might say we are better at regulating and planning than delivering, but we are catching up and this positive development has already been going on for about a decade. Europe is cool again!

The EU executive will urgently contact the Italian authorities to better understand the exact circumstances regarding the lack of instant and accurate caller location of a French hiker found dead in Italy earlier this month, an EU source told EURACTIV.com.

The EU will react with new tariffs against US products if Donald Trump decides to impose duties on French wine, European Council President Donald Tusk said hours before the opening of what is likely to be a heated G7 summit on Saturday (24 August).

Africa is still heavily reliant on coal. To protect the climate, leading industrialised countries should help Africa to invest in clean growth and leapfrop to renewables, says former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The leaders of the G7 nations will not sign a final comuniqué when they gather in Biarritz (France) this weekend, and will instead discuss how to rethink capitalism and multilateralism amid the persistent inequalities and the risk of a new recession. 

The G7 summit in Biarritz this weekend has put the entire French Basque coast under lockdown and unprecedented security measures. Locals are losing business and tourists are no longer able to enjoy a relaxing summer vacation. EURACTIV France reports.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte have announced they would collaborate to strengthen climate protection at EU level, following a meeting in the Hague on Thursday (22 July). Could this be Merkel’s comeback as the ‘climate Chancellor’? EURACTIV’s partner Der Tagesspiegel reports.

After fourteen days stranded at sea, the 356 people rescued by charity boat Ocean Viking will be allowed Malta, following an agreement on Friday (23 August) between La Valetta and six EU member states.

August is typically the month when Westminster goes silent and lawmakers go on holiday, leaving reporters to fall back on stories about the holiday plans of the royal family. This summer, with the Brexit date approaching fast, has been much more hectic.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has threatened to vote against a trade deal between the EU and South American trade bloc Mercosur unless Brazil, where wildfires continue to devastate the Amazon rainforest, takes its environmental obligations more seriously.

The latest Czech government crisis is over: President Miloš Zeman will appoint Lubomír Zaorálek as the new minister of culture on Tuesday (27 August), ending a dispute over the post that almost caused a collapse of the government. However, the crisis has exposed the deteriorating state of democracy in the country.

Amid growing international criticism over the wildfires raging through the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday (22 August) admitted farmers could be illegally setting the rainforest ablaze but told foreign powers not to interfere.

Syrian army advances in northwest Syria are putting Turkish troops in the firing line and threaten Ankara's hopes of preventing a new wave of refugees on its southern border.

The incoming President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is preparing a ‘Green Deal’ team that may be led by Vice-President Frans Timmermans. Whether the climate and energy briefs will be split or kept together remains to be seen, however. 

Ukraine's president backed leading European powers on Thursday (22 August) in opposing the readmission of Russia to the Group of Seven advanced economies, saying Moscow still occupied Crimea and was frustrating peace in eastern Ukraine.

Some 20 French mayors have banned glyphosate from their municipalities, defying the government, which is now taking legal action to impose national legislation which allows the controversial weedkiller's continued use for now.

President Sergio Mattarella gave political parties until Tuesday to come up with proposals for a new government coalition, saying he will call fresh elections if they fail to find a solution to the current government crisis.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday (22 August) hit out at EU measures to punish Ankara for drilling activities in the eastern Mediterranean and vowed to press ahead with gas search in the region.

The planet is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Some of the world's largest actors in international trade continue to open up their markets, while others are protecting their economies to the detriment of others, and even themselves, writes Christan Ewert.

French President Emmanuel Macron put the ball squarely in Boris Johnson’s court on Thursday (22 August), urging the UK Prime Minister to present detailed proposals to re-write the Irish backstop and avoid the UK crashing out of the bloc without a deal after 31 October.