Category: Politico News

It’s official: Ukraine is big in Brussels. On Monday, four new Ukraine-themed scenes were unveiled at Mini-Europe — a tourist attraction in Brussels featuring miniature versions of European landmarks — with Ukrainian diplomat Natalia Anoshyna and new Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib there to mark the occasion. EU candidate countries do not normally get to […]

The chief of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos confirmed Tuesday that it will leave the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on developing its own orbital outpost. “Of course, we will fulfill all our obligations to our partners but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Yuri Borisov said during a […]

The International Monetary Fund updated Tuesday its global growth outlook to 3.2 percent this year and 2.9 percent the next, a further downgrade to an already downbeat April outlook of 3.6 percent for both this year and next. It also revised inflation upward to 6.6 percent in advanced economies and 9.5 percent in emerging markets […]

EU energy ministers today agreed on a bloc-wide winter alert system to trigger mandatory cuts in natural gas consumption at the extraordinary energy council in Brussels. “This was not a mission impossible,” said the Czech Council presidency. “Ministers have reached a political agreement on gas demand reduction ahead of the upcoming winter.” Only Hungary informed […]

The European Commission on Tuesday declined to wade into the controversy brewing over Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s controversial remarks denouncing “mixed race” nations. Citing a policy that the Commission never comments on such political speeches, spokesman Eric Mamer sidestepped any direct response to a speech Orbán made on Saturday in Romania, where the far-right […]

Claude Moniquet is co-CEO of the Strategic Intelligence and Security Center. He’s a former agent of the Directorate-General for External Security and a former journalist.   Unleashed on February 24, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was promptly followed by a massive commitment from Europe. The pledge came in the form of arms supplies, a constant flow […]

Simone Tagliapietra is a senior fellow at Bruegel. Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued the clearest possible warning: “Russia is blackmailing us . . . using gas as a weapon.” Her alert came as the Commission proposed a “Save gas for a safe winter” package, instructing members countries to swiftly and […]

Just as Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, was about to land in Africa on Sunday, he published an op-ed blaming the West for the looming global food crisis that put millions on the Continent on the brink of starvation. Scores of local media outlets swiftly picked it up. Thousands of people shared it on Facebook. […]

LONDON — Was this the night Liz Truss sealed the deal? Monday evening’s crucial head-to-head TV clash between Truss and Rishi Sunak — the final two contenders in the race to replace Boris Johnson — ended in an effective score draw, leaving Truss in pole position to become Tory leader and U.K. prime minister. The […]

When they meet in Brussels on Tuesday, EU energy ministers will be under intense pressure to agree on a common gas-saving plan ahead of winter to buttress the bloc in case the Kremlin turns off the taps. But the initial sense of urgency in the Commission’s proposal for mandatory rationing of natural gas has waned, […]