Thursday
18th Oct 2018
EU leaders at the summit in Brussels want partnerships with north African states that go beyond migration. But internal EU reforms on asylum, especially sharing of migrants and refugees between member states, remain stuck.
Covering two-third of the world's economic output and governing more than half of the world's population, the Europe and Asian leaders' summit in Brussels on Friday tests potentials for outlining a post-Trump world order.
Poland's attack on the EU court has nothing to do with questioning its EU membership, the head of the country's ruling party has said.
In 2015, internet activist Lyudmila Savchuk went under cover to expose a troll factory in St Petersburg. As the EU summit endorses anti-disinformation action, she told EUobserver the Russian government is bankrolling many more.
Some EU leaders warned that Italy's plan to boost its budget spending despite the second largest debt in the eurozone, could hamper efforts to reform the single currency's framework.
EU leaders will sign off on text that accepts the conclusions of an important climate report at their summit in Brussels – but are not expected to take any new measures.
On Thursday and Friday, heads of state of 51 Asian and European countries will be in Brussels for a summit with the EU. As MEPs, we denounce the fact that many countries around the table are major human rights violators.
The sense of a migration "crisis" remains unabated, fuelled by populists and pseudo-strongmen manipulating the fear among voters for their own short-term political ends.
British prime minister Theresa May addressed the EU-27 leaders after the apparent breakdown of Brexit talks and told them the UK is open to considering a longer transition period. But even a November 'emergency' summit is not yet certain.
The EU is open to extending a proposed Brexit transition period for another year, as Theresa May arrives in Brussels to brief EU leaders on how she sees the way forward in highly-precarious Brexit negotiations.
Nordea bank, the Nordic region's largest lender, handled suspicious Russian money linked to the death of anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky, according to a new complaint.
The power of the parliament to 'appoint' the president of the EU Commission is new, highly-contested - and not universally understood. In fact, even some of the lead candidates to replace Jean-Claude Juncker are against it.
Hungary was added to the agenda of EU affairs ministers next to Poland, as the two countries face disciplinary procedures over rule of law concerns.
The commission heavily redacted documents released to EUobserver because they were reportedly 'out of scope'. Transparency campaigner Helen Darbishire says however the information was "clearly directly relevant to the request".
As negotiations halt ahead of the EU summit later this week, British prime minister Theresa May told her parliament the Irish border issue should not derail a Brexit deal.
As anti-globalisation and protectionist sentiments threaten to come back, it is more important than ever for ASEM members to come together, think in the long term, and take coordinated actions to resist unilateralism and uphold multilateralism.
The historic decision in Constantinople to grant Ukraine autocephaly (independence) from the Russian Orthodox church has geopolitical ramifications for Vladimir Putin - and for Europe.
If my region in the Sahara were excluded, it would strongly undermine our development, with a risk of opening the door to radicalisation and undermining the stability of the whole Mediterranean region, especially with respect to security and migration.
Voters in Germany's largest state hived off to the left and right of the ruling conservatives in Sunday's elections - posing questions for Merkel's authority.
A new treaty, to be negotiated this week at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, aims to put an end to the 'organised irresponsibility' of transnational corporations on human rights and labour abuses. Time for EU to take note.
The European Commission has promised greater flexibility for local authorities when it comes to delivering on-the-ground results - but it has also tied cohesion policy to the European Semester, a tool used to coordinate macroeconomic policies.
EU leaders hope to clinch a UK exit deal at this week's summit. Migrants, chemical weapons, and fish quotas also on this week's agenda.
EU member states and the European Commission are pressing ahead with plans to possibly use Morocco and Tunisia as countries to offload asylum seekers and migrants - part of larger bid to create a so-called "safe third country" list.
The EU should impose asset freezes and visa bans on people guilty of cyber attacks, a group of member states has urged.
Poland has vetoed an EU human rights statement on grounds it covered gay people but not Christians and Jews.
The United Kingdom and the EU need to figure out how much access the UK will have to the EU-funded satellite navigation system after Brexit. Now the UK will study whether to set up its own system.
Merkel's key coalition ally, the Bavarian Christian Social Union is expected to suffer a major loss at Sunday elections, as voters flee to either the far-right or the Greens.
EU member states are set for bitter negotiations over the next long-term budget for the bloc - where several issues pit eastern and western European countries against each other.
China joins a long list of countries - including Russia - accused of abusing Interpol's 'Red Notice' system to harras activists and dissidents.
Vladimir Putin's Ukraine "operation" has backfired by making its former vassal state more pro-Western than ever, a US diplomat has said.
Wendy Anderson, a former civil servant from the Obama administration, said a ban would not work. "The AI train has left the station. However we feel about it is actually irrelevant," she said.
Michel Barnier said the UK and the EU can close the withdrawal deal next week - if British prime minister Theresa May agrees to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union.
The harassment I saw of Western Sahara human rights defenders will not make it into the official report.
