AFP Archives
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Brussels denies Varoufakis’ claims that troika controlled Greek tax agency
The European Commission on Tuesday (28 July) sharply denied claims by Greece's ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis that creditors overseeing Greece's bailout also controlled the country's tax agency.
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Greek parliament passes second set of bailout measures
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras contained a rebellion in his left-wing Syriza party to win parliamentary approval on Thursday (22 July) for a second package of reforms required to start talks on a financial rescue deal.
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Dutch flowers represent ‘sanitary threat’, Russia says
Dutch flowers represent a sanitary "threat" to Russia and could be banned in the country, its agricultural watchdog said yesterday (21 July), as Moscow's relations with The Hague have reached their nadir.
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MEPs clear reform of carbon market
The European Parliament approved a proposal to begin reform of the world's biggest carbon market in 2019, clearing the last major hurdle before the plan can become law.
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International pressure on Macedonian political elite brings no results
Macedonia's prime minister, under international pressure to resolve a political crisis in the troubled Balkan country, held talks yesterday (14 May) with opposition and ethnic Albanian party leaders.
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Luxembourg PM is first openly gay EU leader to marry
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is to wed his partner today (15 May), becoming the first European Union leader to enter into a same sex marriage, a symbol of growing social change across the continent.
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EU won’t adopt Australian model of turning back immigrant boats
The European Commission said yesterday (4 May) that it had no intention of adopting Australia's model of turning back boats with immigrants. The reaction was prompted by a statement made by Australia's right-wing premier, Tony Abbott, who said his country and the EU were in talks over the issue.
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MEPs call on member states to share asylum seeker burden
EU lawmakers Tuesday (28 April) demanded the bloc share the burden of accepting asylum seekers, as the pressure on southern European countries from migrants crossing the Mediterranean showed no sign of easing.
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‘Plan B’ mooted for Greece as Merkel, Tsipras agree to intensify dialogue
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a phone conversation on Sunday (26 April) to maintain contact during talks between Athens and its lenders to reach a debt deal, a Greek government official said.
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US paratroopers’ arrival in Ukraine raises heckles in Moscow
Hundreds of US paratroopers have arrived in Ukraine to train its forces fighting pro-Russian rebels in the east, the US army confirmed today (17 April), a move Moscow warned could "destabilise" the war-torn ex-Soviet country.
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Poland to build watchtowers at Kaliningrad enclave border
Poland will build six watchtowers to survey its 200-kilometre-long border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the police said yesterday (6 April).
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Cyprus ends money transfer restrictions
Cyprus on Monday (6 April) signalled a return to financial normality in scrapping capital controls two years after they were imposed to halt a banking meltdown, the finance ministry said.
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Turkey lifts ban on Twitter after it removes photos of slain prosecutor
Turkey on Monday (6 April) blocked access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over the publication of images of a Turkish prosecutor killed by leftist militants during a hostage standoff last week.
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West’s ties with Russia frozen after year of Ukraine conflict
Relations between the West and Russia remain at their lowest since the Cold War, on the first anniversary of the start of the Ukraine conflict. But all bridges have not yet been burned, analysts say.
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UK set for seven-way election debate
Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition leader Ed Miliband face their one and only live television debate of the election campaign on Thursday (2 April), along with five others, in a seven-way contest.
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Popular Lisbon mayor steps down to run in general election
Lisbon's Socialist mayor Antonio Costa, tipped to succeed centre-right Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, stepped down Thursday (1 April) to fight Portugal's parliamentary elections this autumn.
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UKIP absorbs Britain’s far-right
Sparsely attended far-right rallies in Britain highlight the decline of a movement in disarray, but experts say that some of its ideas have found new expression in the Eurosceptic UKIP ahead of elections in May.
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Catalonia nationalists plan 2017 secession from Spain
Catalan nationalist parties have signed a road map to secede from Spain in 2017 if independence movements win a September regional vote.
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EU broadens accession talks with Montenegro
The European Union announced that it was broadening its negotiations with Montenegro on EU membership on Monday (30 March), even though the 28-nation bloc has frozen expansion over the next five years.
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No deal on Greece as Easter looms
The EU executive warned on Monday (30 March) that Greece and its creditors had yet to hammer out a new list of reforms despite talks lasting all weekend aimed at staving off bankruptcy and a euro exit.
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For Britain’s poorest, food aid becomes a way of life
Clutching a bag of pasta, canned pears and beef, David Kirk leaves a food bank in one of Britain's poorest corners -- his sixth visit in a few weeks.
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Italy resists massive destruction of olive trees
EU member states are divided on how to stop the spread of a disease affecting olive trees in Italy that could result in around a million being cut down, officials said Friday (27 March).
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Juncker cancels Kyiv visit, EU-Ukraine summit to be held instead
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker cancelled his visit to Ukraine today (30 March) due to health reasons. Instead, an EU-Ukraine summit will take place on 27 April in Kyiv, with the participation of EU heads of state and government.
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Macedonian political crisis hampers EU membership bid
Bitter exchanges between Macedonia's government and the opposition, including wiretapping and claims of million-euro bribes, have pushed the Balkan state into a deep crisis that could further hamper its already stalled bid for EU membership.