Category: EU Reporter

World leaders have condemned a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s Odessa seaport, after a landmark deal to resume grain exports was reached.

The EU on Thursday added 10 Syrian men to its visa-ban and asset-freeze list, for recruiting mercenaries to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, Reuters reported. The announcement comes as the EU officially unveiled new sanctions against Moscow, hitting Russia’s largest lender Sberbank. “The Syrian regime provides support, including military support, for Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression […]

Greece said on Thursday it opposes an EU plan requiring member states to reduce gas use by 15 percent, Reuters reported. “Greece is prepared, it has the necessary infrastructure which can secure supplies even at the most adverse scenario of natural gas being cut off,” energy minister Kostas Skrekas said. Under its contingency plan, rotating […]

Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN are expected to sign a deal on Friday at 13.30 GMT to unblock Black Sea grain exports, the office of Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Thursday night, according to The Guardian. Russia has had a grip on over 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain stuck at ports […]

Italy is set to hold national elections on 25 September, after president Sergio Mattarella dissolved parliament on Thursday following Mario Draghi’s resignation as prime minister, Bloomberg reported. A group of conservative parties, led by the far-right Brothers of Italy, leads recent polls. “Th[is] period … does not allow for any pause in the [government] action which is needed […]

Germany will require gas storage facilities to be at 95-percent of their capacity by 1 November, raising its previous 90-precent target, the country’s economy and climate minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. The announcement comes amid fears over gas supplies disruptions leading to shortages this winter. Habeck said storages should be 75-percent full by September and […]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has increased its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 0.0 percent, for the first time in more than 11 years as it tries to control soaring eurozone inflation. The rate has been negative since 2014 to boost the region’s economy. However, inflation rose at a record 8.6 percent […]

Kyiv is talking to major international financial institutions about reducing debt payments, Reuters reported. Ukraine this week asked its international creditors, including Western powers and the largest investment firms, to freeze payments for two years so it could focus on the war with Russia, which Western funds and governments backed. Ukraine estimates the costs of […]

Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán is facing one of his biggest challenges of his more than a decade-long rule, as the economic pressures keep mounting, and EU funds remain suspended due to rule-of-law concerns.

The West must help Ukraine to defeat Russia in order to deter China from invading Taiwan, Britain’s intelligence chief has said.