Investigation
Blood from stone: What did British PR firm do for Malta?
British PR firm Chelgate worked for the Maltese government on the case of murdered journalist Caruana Galizia, three well-placed sources have told EUobserver.
News in Brief
- Greece denies access to fair asylum process, report says
- Report: Self-regulation of social media 'not working'
- Turkey: Greek expulsion of Libyan envoy 'outrageous'
- Merkel coalition may survive, says new SPD co-leader
- Von der Leyen Ethiopia visit a 'political statement'
- Over 5,500 scientists ask EU to protect freshwater life
- Iran defies EU and UN on ballistic missiles
- Committee of the Regions: bigger budget for Green Deal
Agenda
UK election plus EU summit in focus This WEEK
EU leaders will try to agree on the 2050 emission-free target - but they will deeply disagree on EU spending over the next seven years. Meanwhile the UK will elect its new political leadership.
Letter
'Every second Muscat refuses to resign is too long'
An open letter to EU leaders from Maltese MEP David Casa on the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case and prime minister Joseph Muscat.
Feature
Russia makes big promises to Arctic peoples on expansion
The Arctic future conference kicked off with optimistic presentations by ministers and officials of the Russian government — but also a burst of scepticism from representatives of those actually living in Russia's Arctic and Far East regions.
Migrants paying to get detained in Libyan centres
A trend has emerged over the past few months where desperate people are paying to get locked up in Libyan detention centres to escape the conflict and with the hope they stand a better chance of getting resettled to Europe.
Opinion
Will Michel lead on lobbying transparency at Council?
Few people know that the code of conduct for the European Council president is substantially weaker than the code of conduct for commissioners.
Magazine
Searching for solidarity in EU asylum policy
The European Parliament's civil liberties committee offers a snapshot of the European "state of mind", says its chair Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar. Its biggest challenge will be getting member states to unblock the EU asylum package.
EU Commission defends Eurobarometer methodology
The EU executive responds that its public opinion survey is not a statistic, but a snapshot, after concerns were raised over the method that could result in pro-EU bias.
Timmermans warns on cost of inaction on climate
The Green Deal commissioner, Frans Timmermans, said the costs of inaction in climate policy are "tremendously high". However, it is still unclear if member states will unanimously agree on the EU's 2050 climate-neutrality goal at next week's summit.
Magazine
Development to fuel change
The European Parliament's development committee says its overarching priority will be to deliver on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Achieving that will require an action plan and targeted investments, says its chair Swedish centre-right MEP Tomas Tobé.
Opinion
Does EU have role in stopping backsliding in Georgia?
The EU's eastern neighbourhood is in flux. The collapse of the pro-reform government in Moldova and the stagnation of anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine was recently followed yet by another political crisis in Georgia.
Swedish candidate adds heat to EU ombudsman vote
"I have not been a lobbyist" the Swedish woman who wants to oversee good conduct by EU institutions, Cecilia Wikström, has said.
Von der Leyen warns on EU budget cuts
The new EU Commission president will tell EU leaders next week that they need to put money behind their pledges for border protection, defence policy and fighting climate change.
Macron spars with US and Turkey over Nato
French president Emmanuel Macron clashed with US president Donald Trump and Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan over Nato, as the future of the alliance begins to fray following Ankara's invasion into north-east Syria in October.
EU agency: 'Europe will not meet 2030 climate goals'
The European Environmental Agency's latest report predicts that Europe will not achieve its 2030 climate and energy targets "without urgent action during the next 10 years". As a result, the social systems of production and consumption must be transformed.
Magazine
A bigger Erasmus budget to favour inclusion
One of the top priorities of the European parliament's committee on culture and education (CULT), chaired by centre-right German MEP Sabine Verheyen, is to triple the Erasmus+ budget to make it more inclusive and accessible.
Column
Keep an eye on the Swiss!
So many things are happening in Europe that many of us will have missed the small political earthquake that took place in Switzerland recently.
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Latest News
- Russia makes big promises to Arctic peoples on expansion
- UK election plus EU summit in focus This WEEK
- Migrants paying to get detained in Libyan centres
- Searching for solidarity in EU asylum policy
- Will Michel lead on lobbying transparency at Council?
- Blood from stone: What did British PR firm do for Malta?
- EU Commission defends Eurobarometer methodology
- Timmermans warns on cost of inaction on climate
Turkey veto clouds Nato party in London
Turkey's veto of a Nato defence plan is just normal pre-summit games, Lithuania has said, as Western leaders meet in the UK.
Magazine
EU buys guns
Gearing up for EU spending on arms procurement will be a top priority for the subcommittee on security and defence, according to its French chairwoman - but ethical questions remain.
Opinion
Nato at 70: not 'brain dead', but needs shot in arm
There is a significant risk that Nato will be weaker and more divided after the London meeting than it was before. What was supposed to be a low-key celebration of the 70th anniversary takes place against multiple crises.
Investigation
Pesticide producers push back to halt EU ban
A majority of EU member states are believed to be in favour of not renewing approval for the pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, when they meet in Brussels later this week.
Three EU chiefs present 'green revolution' at Madrid COP25
The presidents of the European Commission, Parliament and Council on Monday all attended the UN climate conference (COP25) in Madrid to ensure that Europe speaks with 'one voice' about the challenges of climate change.
Cover-up fears in Malta despite PM's resignation
Maltese PM's slow-motion resignation still posed risks of a cover-up on the murder of a journalist, his critics have warned.
Opinion
Nato and EU: cooperate, not compete, on space security
Ahead of its summit in London this week, Nato foreign ministers confirmed the intention to make space an "operational domain" – alongside air, land, sea, and cyber. The move will bring space within the scope of the alliance's collective-defence commitment.
Magazine
AI's ethical dilemma for EU
Last year, the European Commission presented a strategy paper on how the EU should take the lead shaping the ethics of Artificial Intelligence. It is a challenge the JURI committee has tasked itself to complete over the next five years.
Stakeholder
Ending HIV/AIDS: A tale of two Europes
World AIDS Day (Sunday 1 December) is both a time to celebrate the advancements across western Europe and a time for decisive action to address disparities in HIV care in eastern Europe and central Asia.
EU's new Green Deal slammed as 'half-baked' before launch
Greenpeace have accused the incoming European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen of preparing draft new climate and environmental laws whose measures are "too weak, half-baked or missing altogether".
Agenda
New commission and Malta in focus This Week
Ursula von der Leyen and her new team of commissioners will have their first meeting on Wednesday. In the meantime, Malta descends into political turmoil over the death of an investigative journalist.
Malta murder crisis escalates to EU-wide proportions
MEPs are to send a "fact-finding mission" to Malta amid calls for EU sanctions if its prime minister, Joseph Muscat, refuses to step down over the killing of a journalist.
Finnish EU presidency brief broadly offshores migration
A Finnish EU presidency paper on migration, designed to feed into the new European Commission, lays out a vision to prevent irregular migration, forced displacement, and boost cooperation on return and readmission.
Magazine
An 'open door' for EU citizens
Ordinary EU citizens should get a say in Brussels lawmaking and hold officials to account via the European Parliament's petitions committee in the next five years, according to its chairman, Spanish centre-right MEP Dolors Montserrat.
Opinion
Gaza, where silence kills more than bombs
EU has to decide whether it wants to go down in history as a force for peace by aligning itself with victims or to be remembered on the side of an apartheid government that slaughtered a defenceless people with impunity.
Doubts over using EU 'peace fund' to supply arms to Africa
EU ambassadors met behind closed doors in Brussels to discuss the possibility of providing arms and ammunition to foreign armies in conflict areas like Mali. Not all were impressed by French-German support for a new EU 'peace fund'.
Stakeholders' Highlights
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- Soft drinks industry co-signs Circular Plastics Alliance Declaration
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- New programme studies infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance
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- EU-Uzbekistan Human Rights Dialogue: EU to raise key fundamental rights issues
