Across Europe, rising rents, soaring property prices, and increasing urban demand are eroding citizens' purchasing power, making it harder to meet other essential needs. However, 27 percent of households in urban areas are living in under-occupied homes across Europe. Could making better use of existing housing be part of the solution?

Russian spies are still active in the EU capital and have a "higher risk appetite" than before the Ukraine war — despite Belgium's efforts to push back against their plots.

European defence companies shares — most notably Rheinmetall (Germany) and Leonardo (Italy) — have skyrocketed. And, unlike other green or digital investments (where most funding will come from the private sector), defence will be predominantly financed by the public sector. Financial markets are well aware of this, which explains the sharp rise in sovereign bond yields this week.

Legal scholars have dubbed it a "sleeping beauty" — a potent yet practically unused EU Parliament instrument akin to the EU's own Article 7, designed to safeguard the rule of law and the integrity of its institutions.

The US and Russia have agreed to start negotiations “immediately" to end the war in Ukraine. But experts keep warning about the moral and strategic consequences of a bad deal — especially for Europe. Meanwhile, it is clear that Ukrainians have no trust in any peace deal with Moscow without strong security guarantees.

Over 200,000 people gathered in the rural town of Niš, in southern Serbia, on Saturday to keep pressing for transparency and accountability over the collapse of a railway station roof in Novi Sad last year, which killed 15 people.