Category: EuroActiv

The EU has a new powerbroker who may rarely get public attention but will have a say in nearly all major subjects: Thérèse Blanchet. EU leaders on Friday agreed to appoint Blanchet as the next secretary-general of the Council of the EU. Blanchet, who is French-Swiss, currently leads the Council’s legal service. As first reported […]

LONDON — A comprehensive deal to fix the Northern Ireland protocol will not be secured ahead of an October 28 deadline despite fast-improving relations between the U.K. and EU sides, senior officials have confirmed. Following high-level talks in London on Friday, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney praised a “real effort to reach out” by U.K. […]

U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday that would limit the ability of American national security agencies to access people’s personal information as part of a transatlantic data-sharing agreement with the European Union. The decree follows lengthy negotiations between the United States and the EU after the bloc’s highest court ruled in 2020 […]

ROME — Italy’s prime minister-in-waiting Giorgia Meloni reacted with fury after French European Affairs Minister Laurence Boone said that after Italy’s new government takes power, France will monitor the rule of law in Italy. In an interview with Italian newspaper la Repubblica, Boone said: “We want to work with Rome but we will monitor respect for […]

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize has gone to jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organization Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties. However, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, was at pains to point out that the award was not meant as a […]

PRAGUE — There was an unusual sight for EU leaders as they arrived at the ornate Prague Castle on Friday: Protesters waving EU flags positively. “No veto, strong EU,” they chanted as each leader pulled up.  The compact but vocal gathering was cordoned off behind a ring of fencing clearing the way for the BMWs chauffeuring […]

Ukraine went into damage control mode after remarks by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were interpreted as him calling for the West to take “preventive strikes” against Russia, prompting a fierce response from Moscow. Zelenskyy spoke Thursday via video link to the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, saying through an interpreter that to deter the use of nuclear weapons […]

PRAGUE — Germany has proposed a plan to bring down gas prices by forming a buyers’ alliance with energy-hungry countries in Asia to convince big exporters to lower costs. Chancellor Olaf Scholz pitched the idea to EU leaders on the sidelines of an informal summit in Prague taking place on Thursday and Friday, three officials […]

Dr Berkeley Phillips, medical director, Pfizer UK For the past two years, Europe has seen significant increases in COVID-19 infections during the winter months. Despite high levels of vaccination and protection from serious disease or death, the surge in infections during winter 2021/2022 overwhelmed some hospitals and placed unprecedented strain on the U.K. NHS [i], […]

President Joe Biden, warning about the escalating threat of nuclear attacks by Russia, compared the precarious moment to a dark time in history at a Democratic fundraiser on Thursday night. Biden, speaking at the New York home of investor James Murdoch, said the United States had not “faced the prospect of Armageddon” since President John […]