European Union

As Olaf Scholz was confirmed as Germany's new Chancellor on Wednesday (8 December), his second in command Robert Habeck faces a massive challenge: kickstarting a rapid expansion of renewables that touches on the limits of the possible.

One of the challenges for the French EU presidency is to convince its European counterparts that Paris's demand for harmonised standards covering agricultural imports is inseparable from the EU's flagship Green Deal, and the core concept of European sovereignty.

US soldiers in Ukraine were "not on the table", US president Joe Biden has said after recently speaking with Russian president Vladimir Putin by phone, while promising spectacular economic sanctions if Russia again attacked Ukraine. "If in fact he [Putin] invades Ukraine, there will be severe [...] economic consequences like none he's ever seen or ever have been seen," Biden told press outside the White House on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

British prime minister Boris Johnson apologised and his aide Allegra Stratton resigned on Wednesday after a video emerged of senior advisors joking about a Christmas party at Downing Street last year, when social events were banned under Covid-19 restrictions. Johnson said he did not know of the party and apologised for the "offence it has caused". Later on Wednesday, he announced tighter Covid-19 measures amid a surge of Omicron cases.

Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has awarded Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama with a “Global Innovator” award for his decision to accept Afghan refugees. The award was bestowed upon Rama on Tuesday (7 December) at a ceremony in New York City....

Depression levels have soared in Poland's LGBTI community after years of nationalist-conservative rule by Jarosław Kaczyński's PiS party, according to a study by the University of Warsaw's Centre for Research on Prejudice. Some 44 percent of LGBTI people reported serious symptoms of depression in 2019-2020, compared to 28 percent in 2017, it said. Parents had also become less tolerant of children who came out in the same period, it noted.

Slovenia hosted consultations between the trio of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia in light of their joint 18-month presidency of the Council of the EU on Tuesday (7 December), with the importance of economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic being emphasised....

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, has pressured Kosovo to establish a Serb-only association of municipalities as was formerly agreed between Kosovo and Serbia in 2013. During a press conference on Tuesday, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the agreement serves Serbia...

At the national assembly session that starts on Monday (13 December), deputies will first consider the opposition’s initiative of no confidence in the government, the Collegium of the President of Skupština (Assembly) decided. Milo Đukanović, Montenegrin president and leader of...

EU leaders and eastern neighbours aim to raise alarm on "destabilisation" and "use of migrants for political purposes" at a summit next week.

The Russian Embassy did not take part in a two-day session of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Peace Implementation Council Steering Board (PIC SB) because it does not recognise German diplomat Christian Schmidt as the international High Representative in BiH, given that his appointment...

A new report has found that following years of investments, crop-based bioethanol should now be considered a “cost-effective” measure to reduce road transport CO2 emissions by 2030.

The EU will propose a set of criteria on Thursday (9 December) to determine whether a gig worker in Europe using platforms like Uber, Bolt or Deliveroo should be considered an employee.

During Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s visit to Kyiv, Croatia became the sixth country to sign the Declaration on the European Perspective of Ukraine. As Croatian national agency Hina reported, this act demonstrates Zagreb’s support to a country under constant pressure...

The government has extended the ongoing state of alert by a month but relaxed restrictions despite concerns over a forthcoming fifth wave. The government adopted the measures as proposed by the emergency committee, focusing on the winter holiday season. ”It is better...

The Bundestag elected Olaf Scholz as the new German chancellor on Wednesday, in succession to Angela Merkel who held the office for 16 years, Deutsche Welle reports. Members of the parliament voted by 395 from a total of 707 votes cast for Scholz to become Germany's new head of government. Merkel wished Scholz the best of luck, saying it is "the best job there is."

A group of 47 civil society organisations on Wednesday raised concerns over a fresh delay to the publication of the Sustainable Corporate Governance initiative – a proposal that would introduce mandatory due diligence for companies regarding sustainability and human rights. NGOs called on the European Commission to show leadership, arguing that is "unacceptable" that an initiative, announced in 2020, is delayed three times. Its publication is expected in early 2022.

BioNTech and Pfizer said on Wednesday a three-shot course of their Covid-19 vaccine was effective against the new Omicron variant in a laboratory test, France24 writes. Both companies said that two vaccine-doses resulted in significantly lower neutralising antibodies but a third dose of their vaccine increased the neutralising antibodies by a factor of 25, adding they could deliver an Omicron-based vaccine in March 2022 if needed.

The European Chemical Agency revealed on Wednesday that 80 percent of nearly 6,000 products sold online and then inspected were non-compliant with the EU chemicals laws (aka REACH). The products included both professional and consumer products, like children toys, clothes and jewellery. As a result, national authorities launched over 5,000 enforcement procedures, asking companies to remove the products from their websites or adjust their online advertisement to better inform consumers.

The Saudi man arrested on Tuesday at a Paris airport over suspected links to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was released after officials concluded it was a case of mistaken identity, France24 reports. The man had the same name as a suspect reportedly involved in the murder. The Saudi Embassy in Paris had earlier said the arrested person "has nothing to do with the case in question."