Euractiv.com

In this week’s edition: A new Israel-Palestine war, post-Granada hangover, Kenya dispatch and Urpillainen interview.

NAIROBI, KENYA - Europeans must keep investing in development aid and infrastructure projects as competition from China, Russia and the United States mounts, International Partnerships Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen told Euractiv in an interview.

MOMBASA, KENYA - The East African harbour is a gateway for the continent toward the rest of the world. Its strategic location attracts many investors. The European Union is one of them, next to Beijing.

More than 200 Israelis died in a surprise large-scale attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday (7 October), the army said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to reduce the group's Gaza hideouts to "rubble".

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday (7 October) in a surprise assault that combined gunmen crossing the border with a heavy barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Moldova's pro-European President, Maia Sandu, said Russia's Wagner paramilitary force was the main force behind an attempt to foment a coup against her, she told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday (6 October).

The European Commission this week appeared to indefinitely shelve a promised revision of its REACH regulation on chemical safety, refusing to give Parliament a clear indication of when the proposal will be tabled, if at all.

The German government is planning to stop funding Mediterranean sea rescue charities after being slammed by Italy over the issue, the popular Bild daily reported on Friday (6 October).

More than 900 migrants have reached Spain's Canary Islands in several boats over the past 24 hours after crossing from west Africa, the country's maritime rescue service said on Friday(6 October).

Poland and Hungary blocked a symbolic EU statement about migration on Friday (6 October) but other leaders at a summit in Spain said they were continuing overhauling the bloc's rules for handling irregular arrivals anyway.

European Union leaders declared support on Friday (6 October) for adding new members to the bloc but set no target date and warned candidates such as Ukraine that there would be no shortcuts.

The proposal to revamp the EU regulatory framework for pharmaceuticals leaves it up to individual countries to decide whether drugs' package leaflets come in a paper or electronic format, or both - prompting concerns over digitisation and accessibility.

Forget prophecies of empty coffers and huge cuts for founding members: Ukraine’s EU accession is the best thing that could ever happen to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

In its newly agreed position on the wastewater management directive, the European Parliament agreed to shift some of the responsibility for treating water pollution from the polluter to national authorities, to safeguard access to medicines. 

The EU’s controversial ‘cash for migrant control’ deal with Tunisia is looking increasingly fragile amid growing frustration in Brussels with President Kais Saied's erratic behaviour in recent weeks. 

The French Socialist Party (PS) ratified on Thursday evening (5 October) by a large majority the decision to have an independent list for the upcoming European elections, dashing the last hopes of the radical left for a joint list.

EU leaders must now give the green light for Ukrainian EU membership and prepare for a new round of enlargement, says European Council boss Charles Michel. 

Amid heightened regional and global tensions, further deepening the integration of the Western Balkan economies with the European Union offers the only way towards shared prosperity and economic convergence, writes Matteo Rivellini.

Iran's jailed women's rights advocate Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (6 October) in a rebuke to Tehran's theocratic leaders and boost for anti-government protesters.

From 20 – 22 September in the European Parliament, the first ECR Group Youth Summit took place. The summit brought together more than 130 young individuals from 12 EU Member States, who engaged in thought-provoking discussions, exchanged ideas and examined...