Analysis
Everything you need to know about the EU gas price cap plan
Energy ministers are meeting on Friday to discuss ways to reduce energy prices and shield citizens and industry from soaring bills. Here are the most important issues.
Feature
Why northeast Italy traded in League for Brothers of Italy
EUobserver spoke with several business figures and all confirmed they voted for Georgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy because it promised stability, less bureaucracy and tax cuts. Matteo Salvini's anti-EU rhetoric scared them, while they trust Meloni has "more common sense".
Investigation
The European shipping giants plying Putin's fossil-fuels trade
A vast network of European ships helps keep Putin's oil economy afloat. European vessels have shipped millions of tonnes of oil, gas and coal from Russian ports in the six months since the invasion, Investigate Europe and Reporters United reveal.
News in Brief
- EU takes Malta to court over golden passports
- EU to ban Russian products worth €7bn a year more
- Denmark: CIA did not warn of Nord Stream attack
- Drone sightings in the North Sea 'occurred over months'
- Gazprom threatens to cut gas deliveries to Europe via Ukraine
- New compromise over EU energy emergency measures
- 15 states push for EU-wide gas price cap
- EU: Nord Stream explosions 'result of a deliberate act'
Deregulation of new GMO crops: science or business?
Academics and biotech research organisations with corporate interests have been leading the lobby campaign to deregulate new genomic techniques in the EU — using 'climate-friendly' and 'science-based' narratives, according to a report.
Opinion
How US tech giants play EU states off against each other
Some have tried to justify Big Tech's meagre tax payments in EU states with heavier tax burdens by emphasising the fact that these companies create jobs and invest in next-generation technologies. However, their market dominance comes at a steep cost.
Netherlands tops EU social safety net for the poor
The Netherlands is the only EU state where the minimum income is above the poverty line. A minimum income is not a wage but rather a social safety net to ensure people do not end up destitute.
Russian ideologue and caviar on latest EU blacklist
The EU is aiming to blacklist Russian celebrity philosopher Alexander Dugin and strike at Russia's oil, steel, and forestry industries in its latest sanctions, new proposals say.
New EU rules to make companies liable for their AI failures
As more-and-more AI-operated tools surround us — think of package-delivery drones, self-driving lorries, cleaning robots — the EU executive set out a bill to alleviate the burden of proof for consumers.
Meloni's navy-blockade plan to stop Libya migrants 'unlikely'
Italy's new prime minster-in-waiting, Giorgia Meloni, wants to set up a naval blockade to prevent migrants and asylum seekers fleeing Libya. The idea is unlikely to see the light of day.
Underwater explosions were detected near Nord Stream leaks
Measuring stations connected to the Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN) detected powerful underwater explosions close to the leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. Poland has already declared it "sabotage".
EU countries stall new pesticide rules, blame Ukraine war
EU countries are stalling on plans to halve pesticide use amid concerns it could hinder agricultural production in Europe and harm global food security.
Opinion
The UN's Uyghur report must push EU into China sanctions
The UN report's findings should be met by the EU with a more principled and human rights-centred approach to China — urging the UN Office on Genocide Prevention to conduct an assessment of atrocities.
Russian diamonds ban 'would cost 10,000 jobs', Antwerp claims
EU majority building for near-total ban on Russian diamonds, as Belgium says it won't veto sanctions, which could cost 10,000 jobs in Antwerp.
Column
EU should admonish less, and listen more, to the Global South
Whether on Russia, or gas, or climate change, or food security, the EU's constant finger-wagging and moralising is becoming unbearably repetitive and self-defeating. Most countries in the Global South view it as eurocentric and neo-colonial.
Foul play suspicions in Nord Stream leaks
Sweden's maritime authority detected two leaks on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Tuesday, shortly after Danish authorities discovered a leak in Nord Stream 2.
Opinion
'Collective guilt' — the dilemma of penalising Russia's opposition
Moscow's military mobilisation and the subsequent fear and unrest in Russia, means the question of Vladimir Putin's political future and possible regime change in Russia has reappeared.
EU mulls more police powers for west Africa missions
The concept paper includes getting EU missions to seal cooperation deals between EU member state intelligence and security services with the host governments.
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Latest News
- Everything you need to know about the EU gas price cap plan
- Why northeast Italy traded in League for Brothers of Italy
- How US tech giants play EU states off against each other
- Deregulation of new GMO crops: science or business?
- The European shipping giants plying Putin's fossil-fuels trade
- Russian ideologue and caviar on latest EU blacklist
- Netherlands tops EU social safety net for the poor
- New EU rules to make companies liable for their AI failures
EU fight on illegal fishing must move from paper to online
Europe should have in place an electronic EU-wide database on catch certificates to better track illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing from third countries, auditors said.
EU adding Bahamas to tax-haven blacklist
The EU is adding Anguilla, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos Islands to its blacklist of tax-havens, in what some have called a "fig-leaf" exercise.
Czech presidency proposes fossil-fuel tax compromise
The Czech presidency proposed a compromise that would reduce a plan to claw back fossil fuel companies' excess profits.
Opinion
Ukraine's cyber resistance is impressive - but hard to replicate
The problem is many of the reasons Kyiv has so successfully fended off Russia's onslaught in cyberspace cannot simply be replicated anywhere else — not least due to international law.
'Grazie Italia': Far-right wins power in Rome
A far-right bloc, led by former fascist Georgia Meloni, barrelled to victory in Italian elections on Sunday with up to 45 percent of the vote.
Opinion
How the EU is failing to help the hippo
The European Union and its 27 member states will play a decisive role in deciding the fate of the hippo.
Germany sued over air pollution levels
German citizens are suing their government over its failure to bring air pollution levels down.
Agenda
Meloni mood and energy in focus This WEEK
Italians cast their ballot yesterday on Sunday and chose a rightwing majority parliament, which is expected to have a turbulent relationship with Brussels.
Ireland joins EU hawks on Russia, as outrage spreads
Ireland has joined Poland and the Baltic states in lobbying for more hawkish Russia sanctions, in a sign of widening moral outrage in Europe.
Editorial
Editor's weekly digest: Plea for support edition
All the articles you should not have missed this week.
Analysis
Investors in renewables face uncertainty due to EU profits cap
While a cap on revenues from renewables is aimed at redirecting excess profits from low-cost electricity generation back to consumers, analysts and industry groups argue such measures come with risks — and at a bad time.
Opinion
How to apply the Nuremberg model for Russian war crimes
A Special Tribunal on Russian war crimes in Ukraine must be convened, because no permanent or existing international judicial institution is endowed with jurisdiction over Russian high-ranking officials, writes the head of the Ukraine delegation to the Council of Europe.
'No big fish left' for further EU sanctions on Russians
EU diplomats are having to be ever-more creative in finding Russians to blacklist, after already designating 1,206 names.
France latest EU member to step up government spending in 2023
France has increased projected public expenditure for 2023 with another €7.5bn compared to the last draft in August.
Opinion
Big Tech now edges out Big Energy in EU lobbying
While in 2015 the top-declaring companies spent roughly €90m between them on lobbying the EU, this figure increased to almost €120 million in 2022.
Finnish border guards will allow fleeing Russians to enter
Finland says there has not yet been a dramatic increase in Russian nationals trying to enter Finland from Russia, noting just over 4,800 Russian nationals crossed the land border on the day of Vladimir Putin's announcement of the draft.
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