Category: Politico News

Belgium received 218 terrorist and extremist threats last year, according to the annual assessment of the country’s coordinating body for threat analysis (OCAM), published Thursday. According to the report, in 2021 the overall threat level remained on average at medium throughout the year. Just over 50 percent of threats were rated as low-level, and one-third […]

A group of Western allies including many EU countries and the U.K. pledged more funding to help boost Ukraine’s defense capabilities Thursday, reaching €1.5 billion, as Kyiv prepares for a “marathon” war with Russia.  Representatives from 26 countries, led by Denmark and the United Kingdom, met in Copenhagen to discuss how to sustain longer-term defense […]

ROME — Italy’s right-wing parties are poised to abandon anti-EU politics, according to a leaked blueprint for power designed to reassure international markets and allies. A draft of the right-wingers’ joint program for government, agreed by representatives of the parties on Wednesday and seen by POLITICO, stated that Italy is “a fully fledged part of […]

In a major blow to China’s diplomatic efforts in Europe, Estonia and Latvia on Thursday quit China’s exclusive club for engaging with Central and Eastern European countries, amid deepening concerns over Beijing’s ties with their arch-enemy Moscow. China’s declaration of a “no-limits” friendship with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is anathema to Baltic nations, which fear […]

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that he was not involved in any way in the tax fraud scandal known as “Cum-Ex” that dates to his time as mayor of Hamburg. “An incredible number of people have been heard, an incredible number of files have been studied and if you follow the press coverage […]

The Estonian government on Thursday announced that it will ban Russians with Estonian-issued Schengen visas from entering the country. “We see that the number of Russian citizens passing through Estonia or coming to Estonia from Russia has increased massively,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told a press conference, standing in for Prime Minister Kaja Kallas […]

This article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Sign up here. The car-choked streets of central Brussels are about to get a little less clogged. On August 16, a new mobility plan goes into effect in the city’s so-called Pentagon with the goal of slashing transport emissions, […]

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Wednesday that the blasts which rocked a Russian air base in annexed Crimea destroyed nine Russian aircraft. “In just one day, the occupiers lost ten combat aircraft: nine in Crimea and one more in the direction of Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy said in his traditional nightly address. “The occupiers also suffer […]

Soaring fuel prices mean Ryanair will no longer offer dirt-cheap flights, Ryanair’s Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said Thursday. “There’s no doubt that at the lower end of the marketplace, our really cheap promotional fares — the €1 fares, the €0.99 fares, even the €9.99 fares — I think you will not see those fares for […]

LONDON — British business groups are today warning the U.K.’s trade chief to pump the brakes on trade talks with India or risk leaving important sectors behind. “It is the content of the deal which matters for U.K. businesses, not speed of negotiation,” 11 different trade bodies — including representatives of tech, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and […]