Thursday
18th Jul 2019
Appalled over Coca-Cola sponsoring the recent Romanian EU presidency, MEPs have asked Finland, the new holders of the rotating post, to put an end to such practices. But Helsinki, whose presidency is sponsored by BMW, has no such plan.
To maximise the global impact of climate policy, Norwegian economists recommend a shift of focus - from national emissions reductions, to clean technology development and better use of international emissions-trading systems, notably EU market mechanisms.
In Finland, only 10 percent of 18-24-year-olds voted at the previous EU elections in 2014. General satisfaction with the status quo of the EU membership could explain why youngsters do not feel like they need to vote.
In a world full of conflict, often sparked by climate change, and arms races, Nordic countries look into pooling resources and offering better peace mediation.
While the formation of a new government ends Sweden's fourth-month paralysis, it doesn't resolve the challenge from radical-right populists in Sweden. A key question remains: will treating populists like pariahs undercut the appeal of their, often anti-rights, politics?
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has delivered a blow to Denmark's strict family-reunification laws. The ruling will likely cause headaches for its new left-leaning government given its stance on immigration, and opens up 8,000 pending cases.
Taking over the EU's presidency in July, Finland wants to get the remaining EU member states to agree on the 2050 climate neutrality target by the end of the year.
Gazprom's argument - that the application of the directive is discriminatory and retroactive - looks more like a desperate grasping at legal straws.
Strong appeals from Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and former EU commissioner Connie Hedegaard to take climate to heart when voting in Sunday's European elections.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo refused to compromise, so Arctic ministerial meeting ends with no formal agreement on climate change.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo meets Russia's Sergey Lavrov and other Arctic foreign ministers, amidst a row over climate change. Pompeo is also likely to warn against Chinese advances in the Arctic.
"We have made our choice: we choose democracy and rule of law," write the leaders of the National Coalition Party in Finland and the Moderate Party in Sweden.
Finland's centrist prime minister Juha Sipila's surprise resignation kicks off a busy political spring in the Nordic country, with national and EU elections as well as preparing to head the EU' rotating six-month presidency from 1 July.
The Swedish Left Party have abandoned euroscepticism to campaign on climate change - whilst the hard-right Sweden Democrats spy possibilities of a link up with Matteo Salvini of Italy and France's Marine Le Pen.
The EU should strive to be a world leader in digital services, Finland and 16 other member states have said, following French and German proposals on industrial "champions".
There can be no more excuses for business. They will be held for responsible for their failure to take action to prevent the risk of human and labour rights through their supply chains.
In 2017, 17.5 percent of the EU's energy consumption came from renewable sources, while the target is 20 percent by 2020. Brexit may actually help achieve that target - but only through a statistical sleight-of-hand.
Marine plastic pollution, much of it garbage from the Asia-Pacific region but also from Europe, is pushed into the Arctic seas by global ocean currents. Scientists are also increasingly detecting microscopic plastic particles brought to the Arctic by long-range winds.
US tech giant Apple will open its first data centre outside the US in 2019 in a tiny Danish village. Cheap electricity, plus stable societies, are the two main reasons for global high-tech companies to locate in the Nordic region.
Find out in a new Nordic podcast series.
Hard to comprehend why European automobile industry is pushing politicians into drastically speeding up transition away from the private car.
Danish prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the country's top bank, but it remains to be seen if any individuals will face justice over mass-scale money laundering.
A survey of 12 EU states ranks Finland as the place where people of African descent experience the most abuse, followed by Luxembourg and Ireland.
Europe's business alliance from the Middle Ages might work.
Chinese investment in sensitive industries, tensions with Russia and a recent Iranian-linked terror plot push security to the top of Nordic leaders' agenda in Oslo.
"We take a different path than the United States," UK prime minister May told Nordic Council ministers in Oslo - offering closer cooperation on the environment after Brexit.
Norway's conservative prime minister, Erna Solberg, has proposed tightening the country's abortion laws, in a political gambit that goes against Europe's liberal trend.
Eurozone failures mean Iceland should stay out of the EU, its prime minister told EUobserver. She would also quit Nato if she had her say.
Environmentalists seek to tell bigger story of Arctic climate change, after studies show that the polar bear - the main symbol of the problem - does not risk extinction as previously feared.
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.
An exclusive analysis of over 100 million meteorological data points shows that every major city in Europe is warmer in the 21st century than it was in the 20th. Northern regions, Andalusia and southern Romania are most affected.
Denmark, the EU's cleanest country on paper, just got confirmation its top bank perpetrated Europe's biggest-ever money-laundering scandal.
