News

EU member states remain split over a possible relaxation of the bloc’s fiscal rules meant to facilitate investment in the bloc, despite calls from the European Central Bank and some governments to increase public spending and mitigate the risk of recession.

According to new forecasts, the target laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement of 1.5 degrees Celsius could be out of reach, while temperature increases might even reach 6 or 7°C by 2100. EURACTIV France reports.

The next global trend in the technology industry will involve digital miniaturisation and nanotechnologies, the head of the European Institute of Technology (EIT), Willem Jonker, has said.

Spain will hold snap elections on 10 November, after acting PM Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday (17 September) failed to get either the support of the leftist Unidas Podemos party or the abstention of the conservative Partido Popular and liberal-centrist Ciudadanos, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

As the new European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen prepares to take office, one of its key priorities will be to deliver on a new market design for gas that will have EU decarbonisation objectives at its core. And natural gas of fossil origin will play a significant part, officials say.

Not content with breaking the two parties that have dominated UK politics for almost a century, the Brexit behemoth has set its sights on the country’s famously unwritten constitution.

The price of oil has seemed relatively immune to heightened tensions in the Gulf, but this weekend’s attack on Saudi oil facilities means markets will now be more skittish.

Apple launched a legal challenge against Brussels in an EU top court on Tuesday (17 September), saying the European Union's 2016 order for the company to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland "defies reality and common sense".

In 2017, the most industrialised countries contributed a little above $70 billion to nations vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This number is far below the annual $100 billion pledged in 2009 for the following decade. EURACTIV's partner le Journal de l'environnement reports.

The European Union is stepping up the pressure on Kyiv to take a firmer stance on tobacco smuggling and criminalise it in line with the country’s commitments under the terms of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, EURACTIV has learnt.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s weekly Transport Brief – your one port of call for all the news moving the world and much more! Sign up here for free.

The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. ***Correction: In yesterday's edition of The Capitals, we wrote …

The Brexit drama switches venues from Brussels to the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday (17 September) for hearings on Boris Johnson's explosive decision to suspend parliament for over a month. The British prime minister's first talks Monday with European Commission chief …

Apple embarks on an epic court battle with the EU on Tuesday (17 September), fighting the commission's landmark order that the iPhone-maker reimburse Ireland €13 billion ($14 billion) in back taxes.

The European Commission has dangled the prospect of limiting its public subsidies to the US administration in an attempt to avoid further tariffs from Washington that could come as early as next month in the context of the Airbus-Boeing dispute.

Polish Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska will relinquish the reins of EU industrial policy to France's Sylvie Goulard on 31 October. Ahead of the changeover, she looked back on her time in office and discussed the challenges facing her successor, including her beefed-up portfolio.

In line with EU aims to deepen relations with the Eastern Partnership countries, EU and Georgian officials on Monday (16 September) launched a European School in Tbilisi, the first educational institution of this kind launched beyond the bloc’s boundaries.

Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini should easily defeat a no-confidence vote on Tuesday (17 September), but his government is being increasingly damaged by revelations about the reach of the main suspect in the 2018 murder of a journalist into state offices.

EU affairs ministers grilled Hungary on Monday (16 September) over Prime Minister Viktor Orban's tightening of restrictions around free media, judges, academics, minorities and rights groups, which the bloc worries weakens democracy in the ex-communist country.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday (16 September) it looked like Iran was behind attacks on oil plants in Saudi Arabia but stressed he did not want to go to war, as the attacks sent oil prices soaring and raised fears of a new Middle East conflict.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has convened a major new climate summit on September 23 because the world's main polluters remain well behind their goals as laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Visiting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was left humiliated after his Luxembourgish host effectively empty-chaired him on Monday, before criticising Johnson’s handling of the Brexit negotiations and accusing the Leave campaign, which Johnson had fronted, of lying during the 2016 referendum campaign.

This week’s European Parliament plenary session will be the first after Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her team of Commissioners last Tuesday. It will also mark the opening of the hunting season as MEPs prepare to grill the proposed new Commissioners.

In an unexpected move, Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has decided to move state aid competences in farming and fisheries from two directorates-general, Agriculture and Maritime affairs and fisheries, to DG Competition.