European Union

Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have set a Sunday (13 December) deadline for a ‘firm decision’ on whether an EU-UK trade deal can be obtained but the UK appears to be heading towards a ‘no deal’ Brexit after crisis talks on Wednesday.

As the winter smog season in Bulgaria arrives, experts are concerned over a "perfect storm" of health risks: the country's high air pollution and the coronavirus -- in a country with one of Europe's highest Covid-19 death rates.

Deposit return and extended producer responsibility schemes are everywhere in the EU but have very different rules. Does this present a barrier to meeting the EU’s recycling objectives?

Simmering institutional tensions between the EU and the African Union resulted in the last-minute cancellation of a ‘mini-summit’ between European Union and African leaders planned for Wednesday (9 December).

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said the EU is insisting on terms "no prime minister could accept" in trade talks, during questions in the House of Commons, the BBC reports. However, he also said "a good deal is still there to be done", ahead of post-Brexit deal negotiations with the European Commission president. He will have dinner with Ursula von der Leyen Wednesday evening.

The German government's coronavirus stimulus package from July benefits men more than women, according to a recent study by the University of Kassel. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The European Commission launched on Wednesday (9 December) its vision for how to clean up transport’s emissions act, as part of a four year action plan designed to help the bloc hit its 2050 climate-neutrality target.

While policies aiming to green the EU’s farming system should be welcomed as a step in the right direction, they must also show coherence and understanding of the global picture, experts have warned.

There are several established methodologies to measure tropical storms and hurricanes, but none for measuring EU summits. Most summits will not be remembered in EU history, Some bring memories thanks to anecdotes outside the summit room, like Jacques Chirac answering...

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson wants to give investigating authorities access to encrypted communications and is calling for better data exchange within the EU. EURACTIV Germany and AFP report.

Although reduction targets set in the EU's flagship food policy stole public opinion's attention at first, consumer behaviour and innovation are expected to have an equal, critical role to play in the path toward more sustainable food system.

There is still work to be done on the segment of the EU's Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy that deals with consumers, as they are required to play a major part in the transition toward more sustainable food systems, according to centre-right MEP Herbert Dorfmann.

Ahead of the conference on the future of Europe, the ECR Group in the European Parliament launches this week in Warsaw a ‘European Tour’ of live broadcasts to stimulate debate about alternatives to the federalists’ centralising agenda. The supranational institutions have become too dominant, argues Co-Chairman Legutko. A reset is required. #ResetEU

Poland and Hungary could block efforts to strengthen the EU’s 2030 climate goal over a separate dispute on democratic standards. EURACTIV’s media partner, Climate Home News, reports.

In an exclusive interview with EURACTIV France, Paul Watkinson, president of the UN Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice at COP24 and COP25, discussed why the 'rulebook' on implementing the Paris Climate Agreement still has not been ratified.

After four years of unravelling climate-friendly laws and regulations by the Trump administration, President-elect Joe Biden announced the US's return to the Paris Accord, accompanied by a battery of measures. EURACTIV France looks at what to expect from the return of the world's second largest CO2 emitter.

The European Commission proposed to expand the mandate of the European police agency Europol and reinforce external border controls as part of the bloc's broader counter-terrorism strategy, presented on Wednesday (9 December).

EU lawmakers have struck a deal on a new structural aid fund and are approaching a compromise on supporting regions transitioning from coal, with the final white smoke from co-legislators on total regional support from the EU's next seven-year budget expected on Wednesday. (9 December).

Temperatures remain on course towards more than three degrees warming by the end of the century, the UN said on Wednesday. Their emission gap report found that "few G20 members have put words into action in terms of low-carbon rescue and recovery measures". However, a truly 'green recovery' could shave 25 percent off global emissions by 2030. Earth's average temperature has already risen over one degree Celsius.

Vivendi’s pay-TV arm Canal+ won on Wednesday its court fight against a deal between EU competition regulators and Paramount Pictures in which the U.S. studio agreed to scrap movie-licensing deals with British pay-TV group Sky UK.