Sweden has received no applications for unemployment benefits from citizens of the ten new EU member states, despite talk of an influx of "welfare tourists" earlier this year. According to figures from the IAF ...

Half of Swedes would like a referendum on the EU Constitution, according to a poll by TEMO, while 44 percent say the Swedish parliament should decide. According to Dagens Nyheter, 71 percent in Swedish No to EU party ...

Swedish prime minister Göran Persson said yesterday that it was "absurd" that Swedish contributions to the EU go to economically healthy regions such as Ireland. "In my opinion it is absurd that we send money to the EU ...

A majority of Norwegians are against the European Union membership, according to a new poll by MMI, reports Nationen. Some 44 percent of those questioned were against joining the EU, while 40 percent would support it. ...

The Finnish food industry is disappointed that instead of becoming the location for the European Food Authority, Finland will host the new Chemical Authority, writes Helsingin Sanomat. The two year old battle between ...

A new EU critical party or list is on its way in Sweden. It will appeal to Conservative, Liberal and Social Democratic voters in next year's European elections, according to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. The new party ...

Only 31 percent of Austrians would vote for EU membership now, according to a new poll published in Austrian daily Kurier. However, only 26 percent would vote "no", while 43 percent said that they were undecided. 58 ...

EU finance ministers yesterday (25 November) failed to reach an agreement on exemptions from the VAT rate band of 15-25 percent. This means that current exemptions, such as the British zero VAT rates on children's shoes ...

The Swedish Green party has started a petition to hold a referendum on the European Constitution, in a bid to put pressure on the government which has said Swedes will not vote on the matter. "I am certain that we shall ...

Although the ten new EU countries are making progress on environmental issues, they are still far from complying to EU standards according to the European Commission. "I really do hope that they will make it before the ...

Norway has indicated that it would like to be involved in the planning to set up the new EU arms agency. "This [the agency] will an important organ with a great number of important tasks, and it is vital for Norway to ...

According to EU rules, passengers on ferries to Sweden from Finland passing the autonomous Åland Islands are allowed to import two rations of alcoholic drinks into Sweden: an EU ration and a tax-free ration, writes ...

EU crisis management operations should be approved by all member states, according to the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers. In a joint article in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, they reject the Constitution's ...

Three powerful organisations in the Swedish labour market have criticised a Swedish government proposal to introduce a set of stricter rules for immigrant workers from the new EU member countries. Sweden needs more ...

A majority in Sweden's parliament, the Riksdagen, is tomorrow set to oppose Prime Minister Göran Persson's support of a permanent EU president as foreseen under the draft EU Constitution, according to a parliament ...

The number of reported instances of misuse of EU money in Sweden increased last year according to a report seen by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. But although the number of reported cases was up 34% from 2001-2002 , ...

The Danish government is heading for trouble in the coming referendum on the EU Constitution Swedish and Finnish diplomats have warned. Denmark’s Nordic neighbours are accusing the country of half-heartedly supporting ...

Professor Eystein Skjerve from The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science has warned that importing meat from East European countries will lead to an increased risk of food poisoning. According to professor Skjerve, ...

The Swedish Prime Minister is coming under increasing domestic pressure over the EU Constitution. During the Swedish Parliament’s question time on Tuesday (21 October), MPs repeatedly asked Göran Persson if Sweden would ...

The European Commission has apparently overlooked the Baltic countries in a brand new Action Plan against illegal logging, approved by the Council on 13 October. And it is just in the Baltics where this is a big problem ...

An estimated 500 million Swedish krona (€55 million) was spent on this Summer's Yes to EMU campaign by Svenskt Näringsliv (The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise). This was four times as much as the Swedish state ...

21 European child ombudsmen are meeting in Stockholm to protest against the tendency in several European countries to lower the age of criminal responsibility. A number of European countries including France, Denmark ...

The enlargement of the European Economic Area is being blocked by a dispute between Liechtenstein, the Czech Republic and Slovakia which is more than 60 years old. Tuesday’s negotiations on expanding the EEA Agreement - ...

Finland has lost its battle to make national farm subsidies permanent. Finland's minister of agriculture is worried that this could spell the end of family farms. Finland's EU accession treaty - which came into force in ...

After Swedes voted to reject the euro last month, the government is coming under pressure from the left and green movements to put Sweden’s position outside the Euro zone on a stronger legal basis. The Swedish Greens ...

In his traditional "state of the realm" speech on Tuesday Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen signalled a hard referendum campaign on the coming Constitution soon after its accept in the Intergovernmental ...

Norway's idea for a partial joining of the EU has been met with scepticism in some quarters. Joschka Fischer, German foreign minister, reacted by merely raising his eyebrows when asked to comment on Norwegian Prime ...

An attempt to redesign EU regional aid policy was scuppered on Wednesday night by plans that will see about 75 percent of aid continue to be paid to countries with the poorest regions, according to the Financial Times. ...

On Monday a group of shipping companies, the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement (TACA) obtained an annulment of a 273m euro fine because of errors in the procedure committed by the European Commission. The ruling ...

Two rooms within EU institutions - one in the Council and one in the European Parliament - will be named after Sweden's murdered foreign minister, Anna Lindh. So far, only former German Chancellor Willy Brandt has been ...

After the Swedish ‘no’ to the euro on 14 September , the rate of the Crown continues to rise, ahead of predictions by the Swedish government. On Wednesday one euro would buy 8.91 kronor and one dollar 7.78 kronor. The ...

With the ink barely dry on the draft constitution the Danish coalition government are already squabbling over what a no in next year's referendum will mean. A no to the EU Constitution in a Danish referendum will mean ...

A majority of Finns want a referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty, according to a poll made by the European Parliament's Information Office in Helsinki and MTV3. 55 percent of the 1000 Finns, asked by Finnish Gallup ...

Sweden is awaiting Prime Minister Göran Persson's government reconstruction after Anna Lindh's death and the euro referendum. On Monday, European Commissioner Margot Wallström (environment), who has been seen as ...

On Sunday, Finland's Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen for the first time did not reject the idea that Finland might have a referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty. On Finnish radio's question time Mr Vanhanen said he ...

More than 50 percent of Latvia's voters are set to vote yes to EU membership in the September 20 referendum, while one fourth say that they will vote no, according to Danish paper Politiken. The latest poll by InMind ...

On Wednesday, Finland's president Tarja Halonen delivered a speech on Finland's experiece as an EU member at the University of Tartu. President Halonen's visit is seen as an important sign of support for the yes side ...

The Netherlands is to have a referendum on the EU Constitution. Although the referendum is only consultative, a reluctant Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, has promised to respect the outcome. This will be the ...

On Tuesday (9 September), Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen obtained a promise from his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi. Italy is ready to support that four Danish opt-outs on EU co-operation can be ...

Romano Prodi, the European Commission's president, has hits back at what he sees as a long-running smear campaign against him in the Italian media. "The campaign, conducted by print and broadcast media, is so virulent ...

At a press conference on Monday (8 September) in St Petersburg Finland's prime minister, Matti Vanhanen declined any interest in Finland gaining Carelia back. According to Hufvudstadsbladet, the Prime Minister added: " ...

On Monday (8 September), The Netherlands repeated its harsh criticism of the large budget deficits of Germany and France. In a TV interview, German finance minister Hans Eichel admitted that it will be very difficult to ...

Turkey's expectations on EU membership ought not to be disappointed, according to the German chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The German Conservative opposition is however less enthusiastic and indicates that the issue may ...

A turbulent political debate in Greenland resulted, on Monday, in an acceptance of the fisheries agreement with the EU which was negotiated in Athens this June. This means that the Greenland coalition government will be ...

Yesterday (28 August) the general assembly of the World Trade organisation decided to postpone ruling on an agreement that would enable poor countries to buy AIDS, malaria and other vital medicines cheaply. The decision ...

On Tuesday, (26 August) Germany and the European Commission reached a compromise on road tolls for trucks travelling on German motorways. The two sides had been in disagreement over a German plan to subsidise domestic ...

The German transport minister Manfred Stolpe will try to persuade the EU transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio to approve the controversial road tolls system that Berlin is planning to start, when meeting her in ...

Finland's Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen has said his country must judge the draft EU Constitution Treaty as a whole a not get bogged down with particular issues. Writing in Hufvudstadsbladet, Mr Vanhanen said this view ...

Dockers in the European Union are agreed that they do not like the planned directive on the liberalisation of ports but cannot agree on how to act against it. The directive will mean liberalisation of work in ports and ...