Category: Politico News

The European Commission on Thursday pledged to enforce judicial independence standards in Hungary through the EU’s pandemic recovery funds, bowing to building pressure from inside its own ranks. The move came after a group of EU commissioners — echoing numerous MEPs and diplomats — pushed the Berlaymont to go harder on Hungary over rule-of-law issues, […]

The warning shots are getting closer and louder. In a heated parliamentary session on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz received stark signals from his coalition partners that they expect him to ramp up weapons supplies to Ukraine at what is becoming an increasingly critical inflection point of the war. While his government coalition bought him […]

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Stitcher Acast Coming to you from New York City, this bumper edition of EU Confidential brings you the highlights of the U.N. General Assembly and gets reaction from European leaders on Russia’s recent threat of military escalation. POLITICO’s Suzanne Lynch sits down with our […]

The Bank of England Thursday raised its benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points to 2.25 percent, disappointing investors who had largely bet on an even more aggressive hike. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee was split on the decision. According to the statement “five members voted to raise Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points, three members preferred […]

The U.K. government formally lifted a ban on fracking for shale gas in England on Thursday, citing Russia’s war on Ukraine and the “weaponization of energy” as justification for exploring “all avenues” to achieve energy security. A moratorium on shale-gas production has been in place in England since 2019, amid concerns about minor earthquakes set […]

The European Union’s in-house privacy watchdog has sued lawmakers over legislation that would effectively wipe out its previous enforcement against Europol, the bloc’s law enforcement agency. In January, the European Data Protection Supervisor ordered Europol to erase data concerning individuals who have no established link to a crime, after finding that the law enforcement agency […]

Russian police arrested hundreds of people Wednesday night for protesting against President Vladimir Putin’s troop mobilization decree. A domestic human rights group, OVD-Info, said that more than 1,300 people had been detained, according to information it had collected from 38 Russian cities across the country. Videos posted to social media showed people chanting “No to […]

Kyiv and Moscow have conducted a major prisoner swap, with 215 Ukrainian and foreign fighters released in exchange for more than 50 Russian prisoners, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced overnight on Wednesday. Zelenskyy lauded “215 pieces of good news,” and said, “We are bringing our people home.” The prisoner swap included nearly 200 soldiers who defended […]

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is considering relocating the U.K. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Truss told her Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid “about her review of the current location” of the building, a Downing Street spokeswoman said. Truss had already proposed the move as a campaign promise to the Conservative Friends of Israel, during her […]

DUBLIN — Catholics have overtaken Protestants for the first time in Northern Ireland, a demographic milestone likely to intensify political demands for an early referendum on uniting Ireland. Long-awaited data from Northern Ireland’s 2021 census published Thursday also confirms a Brexit-fueled surge in citizens opting for Irish rather than British citizenship, particularly among younger residents. […]