With French presidential elections due in April, the EU's March spring summit may have been the last for Nicolas Sarkozy. He ended his press conference in Brussels by poking fun at British Prime Minister David Cameron ...

A legal expert who helped write several EU treaties - Jean-Claude Piris - has warned that the new 'fiscal compact' will not be enough to stop the financial crisis. "This little piece of paper being discussed now is a ...

Europeans’ relationship with food is getting increasingly complicated. Other regions in the world are competing for the same produce, extreme weather is affecting harvests and driving up food prices. Experts question ...

Economic commissioner Olli Rehn has voiced optimism that a new-model EU bailout fund will be quickly put in place. "The technical preparations will be completed by the beginning of September at the latest. Parliamentary ...

German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle and his UK counterpart William Hague have in a joint article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung urged Serbia and Kosovo to solve differences through diplomacy and to find a ...

A second night of youth riots have hit London, spreading from Tottenham on Saturday night to Brixton, Enfield, Walthamstow and Islington where more than 100 people were arrested on Sunday. The riots were spurred by the ...

Poland's former deputy prime minister Andrzej Lepper has died, 57, after apparently committing suicide. Lepper founded the Self-Defence party to protect the rural poor and wan national and international fame for his ...

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme on Sunday announced that the parliament will convene early September instead of mid-October go approve new euro-zone rescue measures. "The credibility of the eurozone is at stake so ...

In an article for The Daily Telegraph, the UK Chancellor George Osborne said on Monday that the future of the euro is in jeopardy, with potentially "disastrous" consequences for Britain. He said member states must ...

The Milan offices of Moody's and Standard & Poor's were raided on Wednesday as part of investigations into their role in the recent financial turmoil. The chief prosecutor of Trani told Reuters his office were checking ...

Following a report on the plane crash in Smolensk that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski and 95 others last year, the 36th Special Regiment of Aviation Transport, transporting politicians and dignitaries, will be ...

Less than a month after replacing Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde on Thursday was ordered by a French court to be investigated about her role in a private arbitration awarding €285m to ...

The Canadian government is misleading EU lawmakers by underplaying the carbon-heavy nature of oilsands, a report from Friends of the Earth Europe says. The report reveals an "unprecedented" lobbying effort involving 110 ...

At least 20 people have been injured - including seven police officers - in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, the BBC reports. The unrest has been going on since Tuesday when police moved in to clear the Indignados camp ...

Instead of taking summer vacations, Greek lawmakers are at work and on Thursday passed a number of key laws ranging from gambling to tourism ahead of EU and IMF inspectors due on 22 August to monitor progress. Greece is ...

EU competition authorities on Thursday announced an investigation into a merger between Deutsche Boerse of Germany and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Euronext. The takeover has sparked controversy in the US because it ...

EU foreign chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday announced the appointment of 25 new heads of EU delegations around the world. The appointments form part of a major recruitment exercise covering posts at all levels in the ...

Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos on Wednesday told a parliamentary committee that all procedures for a new debt rescue deal, including a bond swap with private creditors, should be completed by early October. ...

The Cypriot centrist Democratic Party, junior coalition partners with the Communist Akel since 2008 on Wednesday decided to leave the government. The move comes at a very difficult time, with pressure mounting to find ...

Estonia has rejected Russian critism of an annual gatherning of WWII veterans in Sinimaed and a military competition, Erna Raid saying they are"customary, civic-initiative" events. The Russian foreign ministry has urged ...

Google faces total nine anti-trust complaints after new complaints from small companies have been passed on the the European Commission, according to two insiders, cited by Reuters. The investigation of Google has been ...

A report from the European Wind Energy Association released on Tuesday predicts wind power output to triple by 2020. Germany and Spain account for over half of all EU wind power, while Britain, France, Italy are quite ...

Germany said on Tuesday it will send 550 more troops to Kosovo after clashes at the border with Serbia. Nato confirmed 150 Austrian troops will also be sent to the area, but denied they are sent in response to recent ...

After 13 rounds of talks since 2007 on a free trade pact between India and the European Union, negotiations have reached an "advanced and delicate stage," Indian junior commerce minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told ...

The Italian parliament's constitutional affairs commission on Tuesday approved a draft law banning women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public. A French ban on burqas in public went into force in 11 April ...

The Swiss franc reached on Tuesday an all-time high against the euro as surging bond yields in Italy and Spain pushed the demand for safer assets outside the euro-zone. This has widespread effects. In Austria, Poland ...

Unemployment in the EU was 9,4% in June 2011, the same as in May, Eurostat figures published on Monday show. Total 22.473 million men and woman were jobless in the bloc. Compared with May 2011, the number of persons ...

Plans by the EU Commission to impose punitive import duties of up to 69.7 percent on bicycles and ceramic tiles from China was Monday backed by diplomats of the 27 EU states, Reuters reports. The duties are meant to ...

A Daily Express e-petition to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union has been signed by 40,000 people since it launched on Saturday. The UK government has pledged to consider any public campaign ...

Research from the New Economic Foundation think-tank reveals that 7.5 bln cod have been thrown away since 1963 in the North Sea, Eastern Channel and Skagerrak, 1.4 for every cod landed by EU fishing fleets, worth €3.1 ...

Hundreds of asylum-seekers demanding refugee status clashed on Monday with riot police near an immigrant centre in the southern Italian city of Bari. The protest was the latest in a series of riots at refugee centres in ...

Italian coast guards have found 25 dead bodies on a refugee boat with 268 people on board that arrived on the southern island of Lampedusa on Monday, ANSA news agency reported. The victims apparently suffocated below ...

An IMF assessment of Britain’s economy has cast doubt on the country's deficit reduction plan. Ajai Chopra, the IMF mission chief to the UK warned that the chancellor's "mandate is met with a very slim margin" - raising ...

Funerals of victims of the Norwegian 22 July massacre were held on Monday, including that of Gizem Dogan, a 17-year-old girl of Turkish origin. Turkey's FM Ahmet Davutoglu attended her funeral ceremony, held on the ...

The European Commission has opened a state-aid investigation into UK government's plans to privatise its postal monopoly, the Royal Mail. The government is hoping to sell the publicly owned company by March next year, ...

Switzerland and Germany are to sign a deal on 10 August obliging Swiss banks to tax income earned by assets belonging to German customers, Spiegel reports. Swiss banks have been in spotlight of foreign tax authorities ...

German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has called on the EU to freeze subsidies for states that break the rules on budget deficits. In an interview published by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he also suggested ...

Careful transport policy is seen as key to helping the EU on its way to economic recovery. But it needs to take into account two big factors - empty public coffers and environmental concerns. EUobserver turns the ...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the international community to make swift progress in climate negotiations. At an international climate conference in Berlin on Sunday she said "more efforts, targeted measures ...

The EU Commission is to give €10m in urgent food aid to help 650,000 North Koreans on the brink of starvation. The EU negotiated "unprecedented access" to ensure that the food goes straight to those most in need. ...

The Danish parliament Friday cleared tougher border controls despite protests from neighbouring Germany. Insisting the new rules are in line with Schengen obligations, more customs officers will guard the frontiers, ...

Turkey has recognised Libya’s rebel Transitional National Council as the true representative of the country and pledged aid for the rebels. Libya will be discussed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Nato Secretary ...

EU Commission President Jose Barroso wants to replace Britain's 1984-EU budget rebate with an up-front lump sum of of €25.2 billion from 2014-2020. In an article in The Sunday Times he wrote "almost nobody" understands ...

Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic plans to boycott the UN war crimes court on Monday because he does not have his team of lawyers yet, his attorney Milos Saljic in Belgrad told press agency Reuters. Mladic ...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced concern about democratic freedoms in Hungary. Speaking at a news conference, she said she had discussed with the Hungarian prime minister a wide range of issues including ...

The German parliament on Thursday passed a series of laws phasing-out the use of nuclear energy and promoting renewable energies instead. The world's fourth-largest industrial nation is scheduled to be nuclear-free by ...

Croatia on Thursday formally ended six years of negotiations to become the 28th member state in the EU on 1 July 2013. "Today is a historic day for Croatia," Deputy Prime Minister Gordan Jandrokovic said. The accession ...

The True Finns, who campaigned against eurozone bailouts, is the biggest party in Finland with 23% support, public broadcaster YLE reports. The National Coalition scores 21.2 percent and the Social Democrats 18.1 ...

The case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is close to collapse with investigators doubting the credibility of the accuser, the New York Times reports. Strauss-Kahn stepped down as head of the IMF after being arrested in ...