Thursday
12th Dec 2019
Donald Trump wanted to buy Greenland, while the Faroe Islands have come under pressure to ditch China's Huawei for its 5G network. Both incidents reflect growing geopolitical interest for the North Atlantic countries sharing foreign and security policy with Denmark.
MEPs on the foreign affairs committee ought to be like second-tier EU diplomats on the Western Balkans and Russia, according to its German chairman, but foreign policy splits could bedevil its work.
Former EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has taken a job with private military firm GardaWorld, posing ethical questions amid Brexit lobbying games.
Belgium is in the midst of a nationwide reassessment of its colonial past. Under pressure from a younger, more activist, generation and a growing African diaspora, the former colonial power has taken some steps over the past year.
Beyond the Israel-specific dimension of this decision, the EU court places ethics back at the heart of European consumer choices and reminds us that our daily, mundane purchases may have considerable and unforeseen geopolitical implications, particularly as regards occupied territories.
Turkey has more journalists behind bars than any other country in the world. The authorities seem to equate journalism with terrorism: everyone has the right to express themselves, but, in their eyes, legitimate journalism is a threat to security.
The EU has raised concern on the prospect of a battle for the Libyan capital, as foreign actors jostle for influence in the strategic location .
Human rights abusers worldwide will, in future, face EU asset freezes and travel bans under new-model sanctions agreed by foreign ministers in Brussels.
Right-wing Czech MEP Jan Zahradil is leading European Parliament negotiations on a trade deal with Vietnam. As rapporteur, he is supposed to be neutral but has neglected to declare his involvement in a group with ties to the Communist party.
Hundreds of explosions and bursts of small arms fire were reported on the contact line in east Ukraine, as France prepares to host the first peace summit on the war in three years.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Turkey's veto of a Nato defence plan is just normal pre-summit games, Lithuania has said, as Western leaders meet in the UK.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
Russia must pay Ukraine €2.4bn in a long-running gas dispute, a Swedish court has said, in a ruling that could lead to a repeat of the 2009 winter gas crisis in the EU.
The EU is hoping that a continent-wide free trade agreement in Africa will help lift millions out of poverty and help solve issues of security and migration. But its message of values and equal partnership do not resonate with everyone.
On Wednesday (27 November), European ambassadors will discuss plans to set up a European Peace Facility (EPF) to provide up to €10.5bn for EU military operations and security assistance.
An eyewitness account of the events in the South American country.
Flying EU and Nato VIPs on part-Chinese jets could be a security risk, some have warned, but that was just a "James Bond" fantasy, the jet company said.
The EU's ambassador to the African Union warns the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 cannot be met due to low aid contributions by EU member states - poor countries instead need to attract their own financial flows through trade.
We are aware that the normalisation of relations between Zimbabwe and the EU will take time. No-one can expect immediate miracles from what is only the beginning of the first ministerial level dialogue for 20 years, writes Zimbabwe's foreign minister.
As EU foreign affairs ministers meet in Brussels, we have seen unarmed protestors in Hong Kong shot at point blank range, others bloody and beaten, and then incarcerated over the border in mainland China in prison camps.
EU countries have given a mixed reaction to French proposals on enlargement reform, but ongoing talks did not mean the process had stalled, Finland said.
The US has said Israeli settlements in Palestine are not illegal, aggravating its split on international norms with Europe.
EU powers and Russia are making preparations for a peace deal on Ukraine, with Moscow to give back three boats to Kiev in the latest step.
Western Balkan countries should become EU members via a new, step-by-step process, France has said in a detailed proposal seen by EUobserver.
"If evil is not defeated, it tends to expand", Natalia Magnitskaya, the widow of a Russian anti-corruption activist, has said, as EU diplomats discuss human rights sanctions 10 years after his death.
A total of 48 MEPs from GUE/NGL, the Greens and the Socialists have demanded the EU to comply with the democracy clause of the EU-Chile agreement to ensure that Chile respects fundamental rights.
