Category: EuroActiv

VIENNA — A central figure in the scandal that forced Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to resign last year has agreed to testify against his former boss, marking a dramatic turn in a sweeping probe that has exposed systemic corruption in the Alpine nation’s political system. In testimony to federal prosecutors, Thomas Schmid, a former senior […]

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron’s government triggered an emergency political mechanism Wednesday to push through France’s 2023 budget, overruling the parliament’s lower chamber in a contentious standoff in what is the clearest sign yet of the president’s weakened position in his second term. The government cut short debates and activated article 49.3 in the National Assembly […]

LONDON — British lawmakers are demanding a tougher U.K. government response to aggression against a Hong Kong protester who was beaten up outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester on Sunday. Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith described the government’s reaction so far as “wholly inadequate” and criticized ministers for failing to summon Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang immediately […]

Energy, energy, energy. Yes, there will be other topics discussed at the EU leaders’ gathering on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, but one subject set to dominate is the gathering: how to curb Europe’s rising energy prices. Heading in, EU leaders still appear quite divided. The European Commission earlier this week issued a raft of […]

LONDON — Suella Braverman, darling of the Tory right who became Liz Truss’ home secretary after a run for the party leadership, is out of the U.K. government after admitting a “mistake” in the handling of official documents — and she’s already taken a barely concealed swipe at her old boss. In a further sign […]

The people of Ukraine, represented by their president, elected leaders and civil society, have been awarded the 2022 European Parliament Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. In a laudatory speech Wednesday afternoon, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said: “This award is for those Ukrainians fighting on the ground. For those who have been forced to […]

EU ambassadors Wednesday agreed on new sanctions against Iran over their arm sales to Russia, according to four EU diplomats, confirming earlier reports from POLITICO. The new sanctions follow reports that Russia has used Iranian drones to strike civilian targets in Ukraine and may soon receive precision-guided Iranian missiles. On Monday, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell […]

A joint meeting of the German and French cabinets will be postponed from next week until January, a German official said Wednesday, citing “logistical issues” as well as a lack of progress on key areas of cooperation. POLITICO first reported on Tuesday that the high-level summit, which was supposed to bring together — for the […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday imposed martial law in the four regions of Ukraine illegally annexed by the Kremlin’s forces, against the backdrop of mass deportations of Ukrainians to Russia and as Moscow lays the ground for further losses of territory. Kremlin-backed authorities in the Ukrainian city of Kherson are planning to “relocate” about […]

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is seeking to draw a line under controversial remarks he made last week — instead, his half-baked apology has raised more questions than answers.  In a blog post published Tuesday night, the EU’s top diplomat insisted that his comments about Europe being a “garden” and the rest of the […]