German industry fumes over new EU corporate rules
The German industry blasted the agreement on the EU’s new due diligence law and warned that the new corporate rules would undermine Europe’s competitiveness and stifle its economy. On Thursday,…
December 2023
The Brief – Accommodation over awkwardness
The history of EU integration is littered with examples of leaders using creative thinking to work around the bloc’s awkward members when unanimity is urgently needed to move ahead. On…
European Defence Agency chief backs EU Defence Commissioner idea
The head of the European Defence Agency, Jiří Šedivý, backed the idea of a future European Commission that would include an EU Defence Commissioner, in an interview with Euractiv Czechia.…
Pro-Russian parties block Bulgarian parliament over Soviet monument demolition
Pro-Russian parties Vazrazhdane and BSP blocked the work of the Bulgarian parliament on Thursday in protest at the dismantling of the Soviet Army Monument in Sofia. The leader of the…
French Greens eye left-wing alliance for 2027 elections but reject it for EU vote
French Green Party leader Marine Tondelier said on Thursday that many left-wing voters favour presenting a joint left-wing candidate for the 2027 presidential elections even though left-wing parties are now…
Austria’s centre-left aims at the country’s CO2 price
Austria’s centre-left SPÖ wants to suspend the country’s carbon price to soften the blow of persistently high inflation, echoing a previous demand from the far-right. Austria started pricing CO2 in…
Denmark arrests three people for allegedly planning terrorist attacks
Denmark’s National Security and Intelligence Service detained three people suspected of planning terrorist attacks, Flemming Drejer, the body’s head of operations, announced at a press conference on Thursday. The operation,…
Macron’s hypocrisy at COP28
French president Emmanuel Macron at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (Photo: European Commission) A few days after French president Emmanuel Macron…
One in three Swedish politicians targeted by violence, threats
One in three Swedish elected officials say they experienced one form of threat, violence or damage from ordinary citizens and more frequent perpetrators dubbed “systemic threat actors” in the previous…
Spain’s Sanchez denies setting up meeting with Puidgemont to ‘normalise relations’
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has denied plans to meet Carles Puidgemont, leader of the Catalan pro-independence party JxCat, to ‘normalise’ relations, despite the latter’s party saying on Thursday that…