The EU has said it is ready to look at ways of strengthening co-operation with Ukraine after the re-run of presidential elections, but has ruled out revising a pre-election deal. Heads of government on Friday (17 ...

The EU has offered its support for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, amid allegations of misuse of UN funds. EU leaders followed their invitation for Mr Annan to meet today in Brussels – widely ...

European leaders have unanimously agreed to start membership talks with Turkey on 3 October 2005. After a final few hours of discussion, EU leaders meeting for a summit in Brussels decided to set a date for opening ...

Turkey is not in Europe. Regardless of its ‘Europeanness’, geographically at least, a great deal of the country is most certainly not in Europe. Of course, for the EU Turkey’s situ may well be less important than ...

For the fist time in almost ten years a delegation from the Saudi Arabian Parliament has visited the European Parliament. A delegation of four members of the Majlis (the Saudi Parliament) as well as three officials met ...

The Ukrainian government has urged Brussels to reassess a recent deal in order to give Ukraine a clearer prospect of EU membership. In a Foreign Ministry statement on Wednesday (15 December) Kiev urged the EU to look ...

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Monday (13 December) presented proposals to make Galician, Basque and Catalan-Valencian official EU languages. At a regular meeting of Foreign Ministers in Brussels on ...

US President George W. Bush is set to visit Europe on 22 February, his first foreign trip of the new presidency, which begins in January. Mr Bush’s visit is likely to be taken as a symbolic gesture aimed at underscoring ...

The European Commission has approved agreements with seven of its neighbours, in a bid to spread stability on the EU’s borders. The Commission met on Thursday and approved wide-ranging deals with Israel, Ukraine, ...

Chinese leaders were told on Wednesday (8 December) that the EU is prepared to lift a 15-year old arms embargo, but is not yet ready to do so, hinting a deal could come early next year. The message was delivered during ...

Chinese leaders will be told today (8 December) that Brussels is ready to lift a 15-year old arms embargo against the country, although no date for lifting the ban is likely. There is broad agreement among EU members ...

Former EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy has emerged as the EU's sole candidate to become the next head of the World Trade Organisation. Speaking in Brussels on Monday, a spokesperson for the current trade Commissioner ...

In a visit to Bosnia, Serbia’s President, Boris Tadic has asked for forgiveness for war crimes committed in the name of Serbia. During a three-day visit, which includes a visit to the capital Sarajevo, Mr Tadic, who was ...

The EU has welcomed a decision to re-run Ukraine’s Presidential elections, as calls are made to dispatch a massive electoral observation mission. The EU’s political parties and leaders have warmly welcomed the Ukrainian ...

Pressure is mounting on the EU to end a 15-year old arms embargo against China, with Beijing warning relations may be damaged if no action is taken. Ahead of an EU-China summit next week Chinese diplomats have warned ...

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos has said the EU should offer Israel a privileged partnership, offering all the benefits of EU membership, without participation in the institutions. Mr Moratinos – ...

The man responsible for bringing Serbia closer to the European Union has said gestures from the international war crimes tribunal could prompt key suspects, currently on the run, to appear in the Hague. Miroljub Labus, ...

The EU on Thursday will take over from NATO in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), its most ambitious military mission to date. Code-named Althea, the mission will see 7,000 troops deployed under EU command, in a bid to ...

International election observers appear to have partially backed opposition claims that Romania’s vote on Sunday (28 November) was not completely transparent. Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation ...

The EU has questioned whether a candidate who looks set to become Kosovo's Prime Minister is the right person for the job. The likely appointment of Ramush Haradinaj, a former KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) commander as ...

Talks over Ukraine’s controversial presidential election look set to continue this week, but the crisis continues to deepen with some eastern regions now promising to hold a referendum on autonomy. A series of all-party ...

EU High Representative Javier Solana is to travel to Ukraine on Friday in a bid to find a way out of the current crisis. In a statement, Mr Solana’s office said that the high representative would visit Kiev to meet with ...

Talks over Ukraine’s controversial presidential election look set to continue this week, but the crisis continues to deepen with some eastern regions now promising to hold a referendum on autonomy. A series of all-party ...

EU leaders will meet with Vladimir Putin in the Hague on Thursday (25 November) against the backdrop of continuing instability in Ukraine. Dutch officials said on Wednesday that the issue of Ukraine's contested ...

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged the EU to put pressure on Zimbabwe and its neighbours ahead of presidential elections. Mr Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, will visit ...

The EU has announced it will send an observer mission to monitor the Palestinian presidential elections. Benita Ferrero-Waldner announced the mission during her first EU Council as External Relations Commissioner. ...

The EU says it is ready to give China a positive signal on lifting its 15-year old arms embargo, despite opposition from human rights campaigners and the US. Dutch Foreign Minister and current head of the Council, ...

EU-Ukraine relations are in turmoil following Sunday’s presidential elections, which international observers said did not meet democratic standards. Meeting on Monday in Brussels, EU foreign ministers expressed their " ...

EU Defence Ministers have agreed to create 13 ‘battle groups’ by 2007 to be deployed to the World’s hotspots. Meeting in Brussels on Monday (21 November), Ministers agreed to a series of groups which can be used in ...

Following the second round of voting in Ukraine’s presidential elections, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has called for peaceful protests after what he says was a rigged vote. Although the results are not yet known ...

Defence Ministers on Monday are expected to commit up to 16,500 troops to make up a series of EU 'battle groups' which can be deployed to the World's hot spots. EU council diplomats said that they expected ministers to ...

EU Foreign Ministers will next week offer Belarus the prospect of a "gradual development of bilateral relations" if concrete moves are taken toward democratisation. Foreign Ministers, who meet in Brussels on Monday (22 ...

The EU has agreed to revise the way it deals with Cuba's dissidents in order to develop political dialogue with Fidel Castro's government. Representatives from the EU-25 on Tuesday (16 November) agreed to look into ways ...

A hard-line Islamist group, linked to the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, planned to assassinate European Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso during last summer's European football championship, it ...

Iran has agreed to suspend its efforts to enrich uranium following talks with the E3 of France, Germany and the UK. In a letter received by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sunday, Iranian authorities committed ...

News of Friday's arrival of Vladimir Putin to Ukraine ahead of the second round of presidential elections has been coolly received in Brussels. With pro-western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko marginally ahead in ...

The EU is pressing Washington to make decisive steps towards resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict following the death of Yasser Arafat. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair headed up the drive on Thursday (11 November) ...

Leaders from across the European Union expressed their condolences on Thursday following the death of long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Mr Arafat, 75, who died in Paris in the early hours of Thursday morning, ...

The Belgian Supreme Court has ruled that the far-right Vlaams Blok party is "racist". The court ruled on Tuesday that the Blok, a Flemish nationalist party, should not be given TV airtime or state funding. It is said to ...

During a visit to Spain, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his Spanish counterpart José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero have agreed a raft of measures to boost relations between the two countries. The leaders agreed to ...

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has told the EUobserver he hopes the issue of Iraq’s debt will be dealt with later this month. The minister said the issue of Iraq’s debt "will be dealt with in November". Mr ...

French President Jacques Chirac will not join other EU leaders in a meeting with Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on Friday. According to media reports, Mr Chirac will leave the EU summit before a lunch which Mr ...

Diplomats say they expect Tehran to respond Friday (5 November) to a fresh EU proposal to suspend Iran’s uranium enrichment programme. Bernard Bot, the current head of the European Council and Dutch Foreign Minister ...

Speaking hours after his re-election US president George W. Bush has pledged to work with EU partners during his second term in office. Speaking in Washington on Thursday (4 November), Mr Bush gave the first indications ...

In spite of deep divisions, the European Parliament is set to hold a vote on Turkey’s bid to become a member of the EU. Speaking to journalists during a meeting of EU heads of government, Parliament President Josep ...

European leaders have offered their congratulations to George W. Bush on his re-election as US President, but many have warned of the need for changes in his second term. After Democratic challenger John Kerry conceded ...

Following the first round of Ukraine’s presidential elections on Sunday, the EU has urged improvements when the country goes back to the polls in three weeks time. European observers pointed to flaws in the electoral ...

EU high representative Javier Solana on Tuesday (1 November) unveiled a series of concrete measures to push forward the establishment of a Palestinian state. During a meeting of Foreign Ministers in Brussels, Mr Solana ...

Ukraine's foreign minister has said the Commission's decision to delay a key bilateral agreement points to a lack of a long term strategy in Brussels. In the two page letter, obtained by the EUobserver, Kostyantyn ...