Category: EuroActiv

Europe’s American president: The paradox of Ursula von der Leyen European Commission chief’s top-down approach has endeared her to Washington but alienated colleagues in Brussels. By Suzanne Lynch and Ilya Gridneff Illustration by Lucas Peverill for POLITICO Ursula von der Leyen’s whirlwind tour of the United States started in New York at the United Nations […]

Dimitar Bechev is a lecturer at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and the author of “Rival Power: Russia in Southeast Europe.” Who won in the Bulgarian elections, the West or Russian President Vladimir Putin? Can Moscow take advantage of the chronic political instability in this Black […]

Calls are growing among European Parliament members to pause the regular commutes between the chamber’s two seats in Brussels and Strasbourg to conserve resources amid fears of a severe energy crunch this winter. As the Parliament’s latest plenary session in Strasbourg comes to a close Thursday, a contingent of lawmakers from different parties are arguing […]

Sometimes, symbolism matters. This time, however, it’s also opening Pandora’s box. French President Emmanuel Macron will get what he wants on Thursday when leaders of 44 countries gather in Prague for the first meeting of the European Political Community — a new forum created in response to the Russian invasion to offer a broader, more […]

The “fingerprints” of climate change are all over the drought that threatened crops and disrupted power supply in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, scientists say.  As record-breaking heat desiccated soils and dried up rivers across Europe, China and the United States, experts called it a glimpse of the new normal — a warning backed by scientists […]

A CORUÑA, Spain — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Berlin’s €200 billion gas price relief scheme must not lead to disturbances and unfair competition in the EU’s single market. Speaking Wednesday at the closing press conference of Spanish-German government consultations in northern Spain, Sánchez drew a direct comparison between […]

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss will urge European leaders to “stand firm” in the fight against Russian aggression when she addresses them Thursday. Truss, who is fighting a political firestorm back home after a botched budget and fractious party conference, will tell the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community in Prague that the continent […]

The president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, issued a statement Wednesday apologizing for social media posts from his son, an army general, who had threatened to invade neighboring Kenya. The son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, had also this week asked his more than 600,000 Twitter followers how many cows should be offered as a bride price for Giorgia […]

A new name has emerged as the leading candidate to take on the highly powerful role of secretary-general of the Council of the European Union: Thérèse Blanchet. According to five officials, Blanchet, who leads the Council’s legal service, has become a late contender to take over as secretary-general — one of the faceless powerbrokers that help […]

Ukraine is claiming its troops have made major breakthroughs in both Luhansk to the northeast and Kherson to the south, delivering a defiant military response to Russia’s illegal claims to have annexed those regions. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, announced on Wednesday that the “de-occupation of Luhansk region has begun.”  “Several settlements […]