European Union

Hundreds of explosions and bursts of small arms fire were reported on the contact line in east Ukraine, as France prepares to host the first peace summit on the war in three years.

Urgent UN talks on tackling the climate emergency are still not addressing the true scale of the crisis, one of the world’s leading climate scientists has warned, as high-ranking ministers from governments around the world began to arrive in Madrid for the final days of negotiations. EURACTIV's media partner, The Guardian, reports.

Over 250 civil society organisations and trade unions say that the Energy Charter Treaty is incompatible with the Paris Climate Agreement and the new Green Deal - becoming an obstacle to the clean-energy transition.

Lega leader Matteo Salvini's recent scolding of the iconic hazelnut spread 'Nutella' has exposed flaws in the 'Italian first' formula that has led the Italian to past electoral successes.

Luxembourg's foreign minister Jean Asselborn is trying to convince his EU counterparts to recognise Palestine, Axios reports. In a letter to his colleagues and to EU high representative Josep Borrell he writes: "it is time to start a debate within the European Union on the opportunity of a recognition of the state of Palestine by all its member states," adding "in no way would it be directed against Israel."

The European Central Bank's new president Christine Lagarde has announced that the Frankfurt-based institute will soon undertake a strategic review, its first since 2003.

For the time being, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) will continue being part of Germany's grand coalition with conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU).

Brussels' minister for the promotion of multilingualism, Sven Gatz, presents a plan at the Brussels regional parliament on Monday to ensure everyone graduating from school at 18 in Brussels speaks French, Dutch and English. "The Brussels government has made of multilingualism a priority to make better function the cosmopolitan city, to stimulate social cohesion between its citizens and prepare them better for the labour market, Gatz said.

French president Emmanuel Macron and prime minister Edouard Philippe decided to go ahead with their pension reforms plans despite four-day long protests and strikes that brought national transport to a standstill. The government wants to unite 42 different pension plans into one plan and give financial incentives to work longer without changing the retirement age of 62. The three railway unions called for another general strike and protests on Tuesday.

Sanna Marin, Finland's current transport minister, has become the country's next prime minister. Selected by the Social Democrats, she will be the youngest prime minister in Finland's history, and the third female prime minister. At 34 years she is possibly the youngest prime minister in the world. The previous Finnish prime minister lost the confidence from his coalition partners following his handling of a postal strike.

Two Danish ministers - for environment, and for food and fisheries - call on the EU to reconsider the unintended consequences of zoning rules and income support in the Common Agricultural Policy.

The French liberal MEP Pascal Canfin, who is chairing the European Parliament's committee on environment, public health, and food safety, is adamant to deliver the Green Deal quickly - because "we cannot afford to waste time".

Right-wing Czech MEP Jan Zahradil is leading European Parliament negotiations on a trade deal with Vietnam. As rapporteur, he is supposed to be neutral but has neglected to declare his involvement in a group with ties to the Communist party.

Roughly 1,000 Belarusians joined an unauthorised demonstration on Saturday (7 December) against the prospect of a closer union with Russia.

Britain votes on Thursday (12 December) in a crucial general election that will determine whether the country leaves the European Union next month or sets out a path to potentially reverse Brexit.

France is ready to go to the World Trade Organization to challenge US President Donald Trump's threat to put tariffs on champagne and other French goods in a row over a French tax on internet companies, its finance minister said on Sunday (8 December).

Health data belonging to millions of UK National Health Service (NHS) patients has been sold under license to US companies and global pharmaceutical firms, in a move that is likely to inflame tensions between the UK government and privacy campaigners in the run up to the December 12 election.

Arms sales rose by nearly five percent worldwide in 2018 in a market dominated by the United States, according to a new report published Monday (9 December) by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The COP is meant to pave the way for countries to raise their climate ambition before the end of crucial year 2020. Climate negotiators know that they are under tight scrutiny from stakeholders, first and foremost cities, businesses, and Fridays for Future.

Because there is still a small number of nations blocking progress in implementing the Paris Agreement, and cities already feel their impact of climate change, they are ready to take the lead in fighting global warming, Milan's mayor and C40 network Vice-Chairman Giuseppe Sala told EURACTIV in an interview.