Future EU
The Brief, powered by BP – Incapacity to rule
The replacement hearings for the three rejected European Commissioner-designates were meant to be the beginning of the end of the Brussels job-division saga. However, further delays to the inauguration of Ursula von der Leyen's team may be looming, in what could be taken as a symptom of wider European indecisiveness.
Manfred Weber’s fall from grace: What now for the failed Spitzenkandidat?
Manfred Weber, the former German Spitzenkandidat for the European People's Party (EPP), has been on the defensive ever since his bid for the EU Commission presidency failed after the European elections in May. EURACTIV's partner Der Tagesspiegel reports.
20 Visions for Europe: ‘Demain’
EURACTIV is marking 20 years with 20 Visions for Europe. Filippo Valsecchi is a singer who performs under the name Filo Vals.
‘Dissident’ MEPs admit pressure to approve von der Leyen’s Commission
A failure to pass the von der Leyen commission in Parliament would create a crisis of unprecedented proportions for the European Union. EURACTIV has learned from different sources that a lot of discrete efforts are being deployed to avoid such a scenario.
Commissioners assemble: Class of 2019-2024
European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has unveiled who will do what job in her administration, insisting hers will be a “geopolitical Commission”. Stay tuned here for all the details. UPDATE: Two candidates secured the green light on 14...
Thierry Breton convinces MEPs, avoids same fate as Goulard
Thierry Breton, France's new Commissioner pick for the internal market and defence portfolio, convinced more than two-thirds of the MEPs who were auditioning him today (14 November).
20 Visions for Europe: ‘Media across borders before future EU elections’
Christophe Leclercq founded the EURACTIV Media Network and the think-and-do tank Fondation EURACTIV. His fiction piece illustrates media sector consolidation, changing journalist jobs, values, platform regulation, and the fate of the EU itself.
Commissioner hearings LIVE: Oliver Varhelyi
The European Parliament is grilling the proposed members of Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission in a second series of hearings on Thursday (14 November), after the regular hearings between 30 September and 8 October. Hungarian Oliver Varhelyi is the first...
Main EU political groups expected to back France’s new Commissioner pick
The European Parliament will be hearing France's second EU Commissioner candidate, the former CEO of Atos, Thierry Breton. But this time, France has secured the support of the main political groups. EURACTIV France reports.
Is the Spitzenkandidat system really dead? Not if we act now
Is the Spitzenkandidat system dead? Reforms can revive it and give the process new legitimacy, argues Cristian Ghinea
20 Visions for Europe: ‘A letter to my children’
As part of EURACTIV's 20 Visions for Europe project, Prof. Luciano Morganti shares a letter addressed to his children about his hopes for their future life as EU citizens.
20 Visions for Europe: ‘Start thinking about the interests of children’
Two members of the Eurochild Children’s Council, which includes children aged 11-16 years from 12 European countries, share their visions for Europe.
Catalan independence protesters block major Spain-France highway
Hundreds of Catalan pro-independence protesters blocked a border point on the AP-7 highway that connects Catalonia with France on Monday (11 November), stopping traffic in both directions the day after a parliamentary election in Spain.
UK set to backtrack and pick an EU Commissioner
The British government admitted on Monday (11 November) that it would “meet its legal obligations” and name a candidate to serve in Ursula von der Leyen’s incoming European Commission in Brussels.
Von der Leyen promises new migration package in first half of 2020
European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed European policy issues and Germany's Council Presidency in 2020 during a meeting in Berlin. Von der Leyen promised to end the deadlock in asylum negotiations soon with a new proposal. EURACTIV Germany reports.
20 Visions for Europe: ‘We need to defend our European way’
20 Visions for Europe gathers unique visions from public officials, intellectuals, artists, diplomats, civic actors and business representatives. The project is part of EURACTIV’s celebration of 20 years of free, independent reporting with European values at its core. The partner of...
Bring back the spirit of ’89 to forge a new rEUnaissance
30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall it is time to bring back the spirit of '89 to forge a new rEUnaissance, argues Luca Jahier.
The Brief, powered by ESA – Please Remain seated
After just two days of campaigning, we have the first ‘Remain’ alliance in the UK’s ‘Brexit election’. Between them, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru will give voters a single 'Remain' choice in 60 constituencies across England and Wales.
20 Visions for Europe: ‘My future Europe is again confident’
Together, as Europe, we do have good prospects of shifting gears, of catching up and even prevailing in several areas , writes Mihnea Motoc, Deputy Head of the European Political Strategy Center.
The Brief, powered by ESA – Are Orban’s days numbered in Tusk’s EPP?
In the EPP house, much like in Tolstoy's Oblonsky house, everything is in confusion these days, though we can only glimpse tiny bits of the trouble brewing in Europe's oldest and biggest political family.
Valean new Romanian EU Commissioner pick, sources say
The next Romanian European Commissioner will be MEP Adina Valean, several sources confirmed to EURACTIV.com on Wednesday (6 November).
Retreating Eurosceptics now settle for ‘reforms from within’
Just a couple of minutes after Nigel Farage triumphantly proclaimed victory in the 2016 Brexit referendum, Brussels started worrying that such a trend would spread throughout the Old Continent like wildfire.
20 Visions for Europe: ‘The coming 20 years of Europe: New challenges or opportunities?’
Creating a single space from Lisbon to Vladivostok is 'not an utopia, but a viable initiative', writes Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov.