Governments are expected to agree on an EU mandate to open negotiations on an ambitious bilateral trade deal with the United States at the next meeting of EU trade ministers. The decision, which is expected on 14 June, ...

The UK should delay plans to push through further austerity measures worth £10 billion (€12 billion), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Wednesday. Speaking on Wednesday (22 May) following the completion of ...

EU energy policy must shift towards diversifying supply, with natural shale gas likely to be part of the mix, EU leaders said at a summit in Brussels on Wednesday (22 May). UK Prime Minister David Cameron offered robust ...

EU leaders have been put on the defensive after development charity Oxfam accused them of turning a blind eye to €9.5 trillion hidden in European tax havens. Oxfam, which lambasted what it described as EU "hypocrisy" ...

EU leaders will make another bid to agree rules on tax evasion after UK Prime Minister David Cameron called on 10 British tax havens to "get their house in order" on secret bank accounts. In a letter released Monday (20 ...

Europeans expect a more difficult and uncertain future than their parents, involving working longer for less, according to an opinion poll released Friday (17 May). Europeans now expect the next generation to have less ...

The shale gas revolution has taken its time to arrive in Europe. But after years of watching the US plunge head-first into natural gas exploration and of reaping the rewards, Europe's politicians are now deciding ...

The European Greens will hold US-style primary elections to select their candidates for the EU's top jobs at the next European elections. At a press conference in Brussels on Thursday (16 May), the co-chairs of the ...

Austria and Luxembourg have blocked an EU deal to increase tax transparency. Their finance ministers dug in their heels at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (14 May) despite pressure from major EU states. Speaking to ...

The British Conservative Party has tabled legislation that would guarantee an EU in/out referendum before the end of 2017. The bill, released on Tuesday (14 May), is expected to be sponsored as a private member's bill ...

A June deal on the seven year EU budget framework is "definitely reachable", said EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski on Monday (13 May). Speaking after the first round of negotiations with MEPs and ministers, ...

US treasury secretary Jack Lew will repeat calls for Germany to stimulate demand in order to drag the eurozone out of recession, according to US government sources. Speaking with reporters in Washington on Wednesday (8 ...

France has moved centre stage in the crisis, after EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said that the country would fall into recession in 2013 and needs two more years to bring down its budget deficit. Presenting ...

David Cameron will come under increasing pressure to bring forward plans for an 'in/out' referendum on EU membership, after the UK Independence party made its strongest ever showing in local government elections. With ...

European Commission boss Jose Manuel Barroso called on EU leaders to come up with a package against youth unemployment at the June summit, promising that the EU executive would do its bit to "revive hope, especially for ...

British tax havens in the Caribbean have agreed to provide information on offshore bank accounts (2 May), in a step which increases the prospect of an EU-wide agreement on information exchange on overseas accounts used ...

The rest of the UK should support a 'fast-tracked' application for an independent Scotland to join the EU, according to a report published Wednesday (1 May) by MPs. But the report, drafted by MPs on the House of Commons ...

Cypriot MPs will vote on Tuesday (30 April) on whether to give the green light to the country's controversial €10 billion bailout. The rescue package includes €10 billion from the EU and the International Monetary Fund ...

Danes and Swedes are the highest taxed people in Europe, according to research published on Monday (29 April). Denmark and Sweden claim tax revenues accounting for 47.7 percent of economic output and 44.5 percent ...

Victory by eurosceptic parties in Iceland's elections has put a question mark over its EU accession process. With counting well under way on Sunday (28 April), the centre-right Independence party and the centrist ...

EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn faced a sustained verbal shellacking on Thursday (25 April), with MEPs on both the left and the right finding fault with his policy-making. Rehn, who was speaking at a hearing ...

The EU's three-year-old ban on seal fur will remain intact after the bloc's highest court threw out a legal challenge by the Canadian Inuit and the country's fur trade. Unveiling its judgment on Thursday (25 April), the ...

MEPs are divided over whether the European culture sector should be excluded from talks on an EU-US trade agreement, following a vote on Thursday (25 April). Deputies on the Parliament's International Trade committee ...

The EU is hoping to reach agreement on automatic exchange of data on overseas bank accounts, according to a letter sent to national capitals on Wednesday (24 April). A letter from Irish finance minister Michael Noonan ...

The EU should move ahead with rules to wind up failing banks and set up a bank-funded resolution fund, European Central Bank (ECB) vice-president Vitor Constancio has said. In a hearing with MEPs in the Parliament's ...

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday (22 April) indicated that the EU's budget-slashing response to the economic crisis has run its course. Speaking in Brussels at a meeting of European think tanks, ...

Prospects of an EU tax on financial transactions have been put into question by confusion on how it would work and a legal challenge by the UK. A six-page-long memo drafted by civil servants in the EU Council last week ...

The French government has dismissed as "naive" suggestions that a transatlantic trade deal with the US could substantially benefit the EU economy and take it out of crisis. Speaking on Thursday (18 April) following a ...

Among other things, recent European politics has suffered from a shortage of prophets. Although it would be a stretch to describe Michael Higgins as a prophet, the Irish president is possibly Europe's only intellectual ...

Talks on resolving future Kosovo-Serbia relations and their EU accession prospects are set to go the wire after an extraordinary meeting in Brussels broke up without agreement on Wednesday (17 April). The dialogue ...

EU leaders were in the firing line in Strasbourg on Wednesday (17 April), as MEPs accused them of "grave mistakes" over the Cypriot bailout. Hannes Swoboda, the Austrian leader of the Socialist and Democrat group, ...

EU companies will be required to publish information ranging from anti-corruption and bribery measures to their boardroom policies and employment practices, under new legislation unveiled by the European Commission on ...

Bank bonuses in the EU will be capped from 2015, as part of banking sector reforms backed by MEPs on Tuesday (16 April). Deputies in Strasbourg backed a regulation capping the majority of bonuses at the same level as ...

The EU would have to halt multi-billion-euro payments to the bloc's poorest regions without an extra €11 billion for the EU budget, MEPs were told Monday (15 April). Speaking at a hearing of the European Parliament's ...

Switzerland should reject EU plans for mandatory information exchange on bank accounts, the country's President has said. His statements comes amid new momentum in the EU to establish a system of automatic exchange of ...

Final agreement has been reached on a €10 billion bailout for Cyprus at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Dublin on Friday (12 April). Under the terms of the deal, the €10 billion package will be composed of €9 ...

EU austerity programmes are putting the bloc's social model under strain by isolating trade unions and employers, a report by the European Commission indicated Thursday (11 April). Launching the 300-page report on ' ...

France and Slovenia moved a step closer to the eye of the eurozone storm after being censured by the European Commission for having "macro-economic balances." The commission's reports, published on Wednesday (10 April), ...

MEPs and ministers have agreed groundbreaking rules requiring oil and mineral companies to report payments made to third world governments. The new rules agreed on Tuesday (9 April) will require extractive firms to ...

EU officials will meet Tuesday evening (9 April) for what are expected to be the final talks on radical new rules cracking down on corruption between extractive companies and third world governments. Under the deal ...

From her days in opposition to her sudden and dramatic demise, Europe was at the heart of Margaret Thatcher's 11 years as British Prime Minister. As with her domestic legacy, Thatcher's attitude towards Europe is more ...

Tributes from EU leaders have poured in for Margaret Thatcher, the UK's longest serving Prime Minister in the 20th century, who died on Monday (8 April) aged 87. Known for her uncompromising approach at home and abroad, ...

Trade and tax are likely to take centre stage when US treasury secretary Jacob Lew visits EU leaders this week. Lew will meet with European Council and Commission heads Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso in ...

The EU's economic crisis took the blame after figures published Wednesday (3 April) revealed that aid to the world's poorest countries fell for the second year in a row. The statistics released by the Organisation for ...

Carbon emissions in the EU fell by 1.4 percent in 2012, raising hope the bloc will hit its targets on global warming gasses. The European Commission released the figures on Tuesday (2 April), with data from 89 percent ...

Cypriot finance minister Michalis Sarris has quit after concluding the country's €10 billion bailout package with the EU and IMF. Sarris, who was swiftly replaced on Tuesday (2 April) by Labour minister Haris Georgiadis ...

Cyprus has four years to implement austerity plans and to balance its budget, according to a leaked copy of bailout terms proposed by international lenders. The 24-page Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) published in ...

Cyprus' banks opened without panic on Thursday (March 28) after a 10 day lockout as the government struggled to agree a €10 billion rescue package. With no reports of disruption and with small, orderly queues reported ...

An extra €11.2 billion is needed to cover unpaid bills from the EU budget, the European Commission said on Wednesday (March 27). Budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said he tabled the amending budget in a bid to plug ...