Cyprus is in the first month of its EU presidency. The island took the role having spent more than a decade dismantling its reputation as a permissive financial hub, not least for wealthy Russians, and repositioning itself within the Western political, economic and security framework.

Lithuania has warned that balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from Belarus could soon be repurposed to transport weapons, as Vilnius considers deploying anti-personnel mines along their shared border. Some of the balloons hover at 10km altitudes with speeds up to 200km.

The UN World Food Programme’s operations in Somalia will be forced to close in April unless it can raise $90m [€75m] from international donors in the coming months — despite receiving €6.5m from the EU just last week.

Across Europe, mayors and local councillors are facing a disturbing rise in harassment, threats, disinformation, and even physical violence. These aren’t isolated incidents — they are a growing pattern. And they’re not 'just politics'. They are deliberate attempts to silence, intimidate, and push people out of public life, warns the Council of European Municipalities and Regions.

A French banker inside Euroclear, who flew to Russia 155 times for "private" reasons, allegedly tried to connect the company's CEO, Valérie Urbain, with Russian spies and threatened her when she declined, according to an investigation by EUobserver, Humo, De Morgen, and Dossier Center.

Today, we kick off an anniversary campaign to convince new supporting members to join EUobserver's mission of providing the information citizens need to safeguard EU democracy.