US President Barack Obama is due in Berlin on Tuesday evening (18 June) for a two-day visit after his trip to Northern Ireland for the G8 summit. He frequently comes to European capitals, such as Dublin or London. But ...

On Tuesday (18 June), the German chancellor and the US president will embrace each other. Eyes will be shining as both sides praise the German-American friendship. After all, this visit from Washington is an election ...

The EU and the US have launched negotiations on the most lucrative bilateral trade deal in history. Announcing the start of talks on the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) at the G8 summit ...

Talks on a landmark US-EU trade deal have been given the green light after EU trade ministers agreed on the bloc's negotiating mandate on Friday night (14 June). The agreement, which was reached after more than 12 hours ...

US attorney general Eric Holder aimed to reassure his EU counterparts at a ministerial meeting in Dublin that the secret Prism snooping operation on EU citizens by the American intelligence agency operates within the ...

The most important issue on the agenda of EU trade ministers meeting on Friday (14 June) is the approval of a mandate that will allow the European Commission to open negotiations with the United States on a ‘ ...

The EU and the US will soon be launching negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and lnvestment Partnership (TTIP), one of the most ambitious bilateral initiatives in the world to create jobs and growth through trade and ...

The European Commission says it "stood firm" in the face of pressure from the US when drafting its overhaul of the bloc's data protection regime. Mina Andreeva, spokesperson for EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding, ...

Germany has dropped its opposition to starting talks on an EU-US free trade agreement, leaving France alone to fight for exemptions for European artists. "Today, Germany has withdrawn its concerns and will approve a ...

The German government is demanding explanations from the US after it emerged that its secret spying programme Prism collected more information from Germany than any other EU country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is ...

Left-wing MEPs in the European Parliament and some national MPs are calling for answers on whether European intelligence services colluded with the US to snoop on EU citizens. The centre-left group in the EU assembly, ...

A junior EU official on Tuesday (11 June) broke Brussels' silence on US data snooping, urging Washington not to abuse its "special relationship" with Europe. Tonio Borg - the Malteste commissioner in charge of health ...

The US National Security Agency (NSA) snoops on all EU member states and on Germany the most, new data reveals. A colour-coded map of secret surveillance activities by the NSA ranks countries according to how much they ...

Classified documents obtained by the Washington Post and The Guardian reveal that the National Security Agency, a US intelligence-gathering body, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are secretly tapping into the ...

The EU will draft rules for shale gas production by the end of 2013, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday (28 May). Speaking during a debate with MEPs, Barroso said the framework would allow ...

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, ...

Special treatment of culture "makes sense," European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has said in relation to upcoming EU-US trade talks. Speaking at the European Business Summit in Brussels on Thursday (16 May ...

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 ...

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 ...

What do you give a man who has everything, including the White House? A bamboo bicycle? Bird-shaped cufflinks? Some coffee in a fancy box? US President Barack Obama got all the above and lots more in 2009 according to a ...

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 ...

US academic and former statesman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, has said Western democracies should create a trans-Atlantic trade bloc to counterbalance Chinese power. The 85-year-old, who was a US national security advisor at ...

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 ...

US treasury secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday (9 April) hinted that Germany should boost its internal demand to help Europe get out of the crisis. But German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Berlin has no need for ...

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 recent decision to start negotiations on a EU-US Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement or Partnership is seen as a tremendous development in transnational cooperation. For one thing, it forms potentially the largest ...

The European Commission has agreed its negotiating mandate for an EU-US trade deal, paving the way for talks to begin before the summer break. Speaking on Tuesday (12 March), trade commissioner Karel de Gucht, who will ...

On his first trip to Berlin as US foreign secretary John Kerry on Tuesday (26 February) praised Germany's leadership in Europe and made a strong case for an EU-US free trade agreement. "I remember biking here down the ...

So, US secretary of state John Kerry's first trip in his new job will be next week - to Europe and the Middle East. One of the key issues on his agenda, even for the European leg of his tour, will be Syria.  Though the ...

The EU and US have called on Iran to free opposition leaders ahead of elections in June. Iranian security services put Mehdi Karroubi, Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, under house arrest on 14 February ...

EU and US negotiators want to have a transatlantic trade and investment deal in place by 2015, but French politicians are wary of the pact. Hours after US President Barack Obama unveiled plans for talks aimed at a ...

US President Barack Obama has given the green light for comprehensive trade talks between the EU and the US, paving the way for what could become the largest single free trade zone in the world. Delivering his annual ...

EU leaders have thrown their weight behind talks aimed at securing a comprehensive trade agreement with the US. In a communique adopted following the EU budget summit on Friday (February 8), the European Council ...

EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht is to meet Canadian leader Stephen Harper as the EU executive steps up its bid to secure the latest in a series of lucrative free trade agreements. De Gucht, who will meet Harper on ...

An obscure section in a US law is said to entitle authorities to access, without a warrant, data stored by any EU citizen on clouds run by American companies. Although highly controversial for its indirect effects on ...

The Obama administration has warned Britain against sidelining itself in the EU as Prime Minister Cameron comes under increasing pressure to hold a membership referendum. "We have a growing relationship with the EU as ...

The EU's new cybercrime centre is to be officially launched at the end of the week, but privacy specialists say the Union is failing to protect personal data. The Danish chief of the new body, Troels Oerting, told ...

Rather than a deal, the US fiscal cliff talks reflect still another delay. However, the time will run out in the next 4-8 weeks. The net effect will reverberate across Europe and the world economy. On Tuesday (1 January ...

US lawmakers remain divided over the so-called 'fiscal cliff' which would usher in spending cuts and tax rises worth $560 billion unless a cross-party deal can be brokered to cut the US budget deficit. Failure to reach ...

The era of American and European economic dominance has less than two decades left to run, according to a report by US intelligence services. The study - Global Trends 2030, out on Monday (10 December) - predicts the ...

The relationship between the US and Europe has historically been about diplomacy. But in these economically-straitened times, the focus on foreign policy has shifted. Indeed, negotiations on a bilateral trade accord are ...

Whether it is food, sport or politics, Americans don't do small scale. Indeed, American political parties were the first to establish rapid rebuttal units, responsible for instantly checking and refuting accusations ...

Barack Obama has been re-elected as President of the United States after claiming a close but decisive victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. With Florida the only close state yet to be formally declared, Obama ...

The US Presidential election hangs on a knife-edge as America goes to the polls on Tuesday (6 November) but pundits are giving Obama a slight edge in most of the swing states that will decide the election. Polling ...

There is something satisfying about an election process that sees people vote and find out who their new leaders are on the same day. Most European elections are not so clear cut - the proportional or preferential ...

Speak with most American officials about the EU and they will talk about the bloc as a partner and strong ally of the US. Criticism of the 27-country bloc is reserved for the ongoing eurozone debt crisis and the spill- ...

The US Treasury has lobbied the European Central Bank (ECB) more than any other EU body on the eruo crisis, a new study shows. The analysis - in a blog by Brussels-based think tank Breugel - looked at official contacts ...

On Tuesday (6 November) America goes to the polls, with President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney still in a statistical dead-heat. Millions of Europeans will stay up until the early hours of ...

EU data protection reforms could "cripple" international law enforcement said the head of international law of the US department of justice at a European Parliament hearing on Wednesday (10 October). The deputy ...