European Union

The Slovenian Democratic Party SDS (EPP) led by Prime Minister Janez Janša is leading the polls with 18,7% (-0,3%), according to new data published by Slovenian daily Delo. However, the List of Marjan Šarec LMŠ (RE) saw quite an increase...

Following Polish President Andrzej Duda’s visit to Kiev where he met with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmitry Razumkov, Zelensky said that “together, we have given a new impulse to relations...

Spain’s National Day was marked Monday by tributes paid to health workers and security forces who contributed to the fight against COVID-19, EFE reported. This year, the celebration was limited to an official ceremony in the premises of the Royal...

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell described yesterday (12 October) as “regrettable” Turkey’s decision to send back its research vessel Oruç Reis to Greece’s continental shelf, saying EU leaders will again discuss the issue at a summit this week.

While a new, comprehensive lockdown is still not an option for Italy, enforcing delimited lockdowns at local level if infections continue to rise could well be considered, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said. The government is also reviewing a new proposal...

In the first round of Lithuania’s parliamentary elections, the Conservatives – currently in opposition – came first, followed by the ruling Farmers and Greens Union. Meanwhile, a newly-founded Freedom Party, which based its electoral campaign on LGBT rights, education policy...

Sweden’s Social Democrat and Green minority government escaped near collapse after a compromise agreement on the thorny and locally debated issue of migration was reached. In the original scheme proposed by the Social Democrats, together with the conservative Moderate Party...

34% of about 3,000 Finnish companies feel that Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s green and red government has been dealing with the crisis badly or even very badly and has not managed to control the pandemic, according to the Central Chamber...

The state of Lower Saxony will, in the near future, launch a study examining incidents of extremism in the state’s police forces, regional interior minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) announced on Monday (12 October).  “Obviously, there are always hotbeds of anti-democratic...

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić yesterday (12 October) said it is not always easy to protect his country’s friendship with China given the way other powers look at its economic rise. But he promised that Serbia would continue to build “a...

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde warned governments on Monday (12 October) against pulling pandemic support schemes too quickly as eurozone economies struggle to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

The European Commission’s action plan to implement the EU Social Pillar will aim to bolster the protection of social rights following the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, a  Commission official has said.

The European Commission will publish a strategy on Wednesday (14 October) on zero pollution in the chemicals industry, but any white paper will have to walk the same, precarious tightrope as its predecessors.

Belarus police will now be permitted to use combat weapons in the streets if needed, the Interior Ministry said, as security forces again clashed with protesters who want President Alexander Lukashenko to quit after a contested 9 August election.

Billions of people across the world will be vaccinated in a very short period of time once a COVID-19 vaccine is available, inevitably resulting in some side-effects that may or may not be linked to the vaccine. For this reason, countries should adopt no-fault compensation systems, a senior pharma official told EURACTIV in an interview.

The European Commission (EC) will present by the end of the year an action plan to protect independent journalism, Commission Vice President Věra Jourová announced on Monday (12 October) during the conference "Media Freedom in Bulgaria", organised by EURACTIV Bulgaria.

The Austrian ski resort of Ischgl became the European epicentre of coronavirus infections in March. The local government there has denied any responsibility, but a new independent commission report begs to differ. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Turkish petro-exploration ship, the Oruç Reis, sailed back into a Greek-claimed maritime zone on Monday, prompting outrage by Athens. The Reis will come close to outlying Greek islands on a 10-day mission in what "constitutes a major escalation and direct threat to peace and security in the region", the Greek foreign ministry said. Turkey was "provocatively indifferent" to Europe's appeals for de-escalation, Greece added, amid talk of future EU sanctions.

Norway has granted asylum to a Polish man on grounds of political persecution in the first such case since the fall of communism 30 years ago. It said Rafał Gaweł, who used to run an anti-racism NGO and who was charged with fraud and forgery, would not have gotten a fair trial because Poland's right-wing government had seized control of the judiciary, echoing EU concerns on Polish rule-of-law.

President Alexander Lukashenko is going back on an EU blacklist, as Belarusian police gets permission to use live ammunition against protesters.