Category: EuroActiv

It’s the scandal that won’t go away — and produces more intrigue than answers. The EU’s public prosecutor’s office on Friday said it was investigating the EU’s purchase of coronavirus vaccines during the pandemic’s peak. Yet the cagey announcement offered almost no details — nothing on who it was investigating, what potential crimes it was […]

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has fired Arne Schönbohm, head of the country’s cybersecurity agency (BSI), following a controversy over his alleged contacts with Russia. Schönbohm is to exit the Interior Ministry with immediate effect, a ministry spokesperson told local media in Berlin today. In addition, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against Schönbohm. Previously, Spiegel […]

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is considering postponing a meeting of the French and German governments planned for next week because of concerns over a lack of progress in areas of supposed cooperation such as energy and defense, according to several French government officials. Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as their […]

President Joe Biden is expected to sign a national security memorandum Tuesday that aims to ensure the U.S. is ready to detect and respond to the next large-scale viral or biological threat. The memo will direct officials across 20 agencies, including in the intelligence community, to prioritize biodefense and pandemic preparedness, according to a senior […]

LONDON — The U.K. has summoned a senior Chinese diplomat for urgent talks after a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester was dragged into the Chinese Consulate grounds in Manchester and violently attacked. China’s charge d’affaires to London, Yang Xiaoguang, will be grilled by senior U.K. officials at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Tuesday afternoon after […]

LONDON — Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine’s electricity network before the winter but is struggling with a shortage of high-precision, long-range missiles, Western officials said Tuesday. Ukraine says Russia has destroyed almost a third of its power stations through missile attacks launched in the last week, causing power cuts across the country including parts […]

The EU wants countries to better coordinate their gas purchases and be subject to new rules on sharing gas supplies in an emergency. “We’ve been working very hard in the last month against the fallout of the energy markets, and we have made progress,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference […]

The Estonian parliament declared Russia a terrorist state on Tuesday, making it the third national legislature to do so. Eighty-eight out of 101 MPs in the Riigikogu voted in favor of the statement, which expressed support for the investigations launched by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court of crimes committed on […]

French cement company Lafarge pleaded guilty in a U.S. court Tuesday to making payments to Islamic State and another terror group in order to keep a plant operating in Syria. It agreed to pay $778 million as part of the plea agreement. The court heard that between 2013 and 2014, Lafarge paid Islamic State and […]

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is facing calls from EU countries for a new round of sanctions against Russia, which has stepped up its nearly eight-month-old war on Ukraine by launching air strikes on cities and critical infrastructure and throwing new troops into battle. Measures should include limiting imports of liquefied petroleum gas […]