The Spanish rescue boat Open Arms is liable to a fine of up €901,000 from Spanish authorities for committing a "very serious offence against maritime safety," according to the Spanish Law of Ports and Merchant Marine The captain of the boat could also lose ...

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen expressed "regret" and "surprise" after learning through a tweet overnight that US president Donald Trump had cancelled an official visit to Denmark in September. "It is a pity", she said on Wednesday, with ...

Giovanni Buttarelli, the European data protection supervisor, passed away on Tuesday (20 August). "Throughout his life Giovanni dedicated himself completely to his family, to the service of the judiciary, and the European Union and its values," his office ...

Belgium's European Commissioner hopeful Didier Reynders has proposed a bill in his country described as an assault on the free press by Reporters without Borders (RSF). "In its current form, this bill could criminalise investigative journalism and threaten ...

Italy's political crisis has reached a point of no return. On Tuesday (20 August), prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation in parliament, putting an end to the government formed by the Five Star Movement (MS5) and League parties some 15 ...

US president Trump has cancelled his state visit on 2 September to Denmark after the Danish prime minister said that Greenland was not for sale. Trump tweeted: "Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette ...

The United States has warned Greece not to give harbour to an Iranian oil tanker suspected of smuggling oil to Syria in defiance of EU sanctions, saying it would treat the act as support for terrorism. The ship was previously seized by the British navy and ...

Angela Merkel fulfilled an old dream to visit Iceland this week, amid plans to strengthen Germany's relations with Europe's most northern countries. The German chancellor flew into Reykjavik on Monday (19 August), as Nordic prime ministers met for their ...

On a chilly Tuesday morning in December 2018, trade unionist Liina Carr stepped out of her office in Brussels. Her destination was a meeting 3km away at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a consultative body that gives civil society groups ...

UK officials will stop attending most EU meetings as of 1 September, according to a government press release. It says UK officials and ministers "will only now attend EU meetings where the UK has a significant national interest" such as security. It says ...

Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte told the Italian senate he is resigning because there is no government. In his speech, he was particularly hard on his deputy prime minister and leader of coalition partner the League, Matteo Salvini. He said Salvini ...

The European Commission ought to take legal action against Italy for not allowing the disembarkation of Spanish rescue ship Open Arms and for "breaking the law", Spanish deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo has said. Calvo also insisted that the commission ...

"I promise to not do this", US president Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday (20 August). His tweet was posted together with a fake photo showing a Golden Trump tower placed in the middle of a Greenland village. It was the second time in less than a week that ...

EU Council president Donald Tusk has dismissed the letter by UK prime minister Boris Johnson asking for "alternative arrangements" for the post-Brexit Irish border. "The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and ...

The Italian parliament will hold a confidence vote on the government of prime minister Giuseppe Conte today after deputy prime minister and far-right League party leader Matteo Salvini pulled his support. Conte might also resign before the vote and give ...

Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, has promised to "immediately" open a platform to establish a dialogue with citizens of all backgrounds "based on mutual understanding," after a weekend of non-violent protesst. Although more demonstrations are expected for ...

After an urgent surgery, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will miss the G7 meeting in France, where he was going to speak with UK prime minister Boris Johnson. An EU spokesperson said that the surgery "went well", but that his doctors ...

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has sent an open letter to EU Council president Donald Tusk in order to reopen the discussion on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The letter was published ahead of talks with German chancellor ...

Poland's deputy minister of justice personally organised a hate campaign against selected judges, a newspaper investigation has found. The attacks were part of a wider campaign against judges who opposed government reforms. But it remains to be seen ...

For the first time after two months of large-scale demonstrations in Hong Kong, the European Union and Canada have urged Chinese authorities to engage in a debate with all stakeholders in order to recover the stability and prosperity of the province. " ...

Elena Sánchez Nicolás has joined EUobserver's team of journalists in Brussels. She is from Spain and has studied journalism and new media in Spanish and Belgian universities. She previously worked on European affairs at VoteWatch Europe, a think-tank, and ...

Kurdish authorities in Syria have handed over to Germany four children whose parents were fighters of the so-called Islamic State (Isis), DPA reports. The children belonged to the ISIS families that were captured by Western-backed Kurdish forces after the ...

The German government is working on a plan to contain a possible deep recession, according to Bloomberg. The plan contains fiscal stimuli to bolster the domestic economy and consumer spending in order to avoid a sharp increase in unemployment. On Monday, ...

Since he became interior minister, Matteo Salvini has repeatedly vowed to close Italian harbours to migrants, including refugees, and NGOs, making it the central objective of his migration policy. The latest attempt has been the issuance by the government ...

According to a German advisory note, the EU should send a European naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, writes the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. The German government would launch the idea at one of the informal European meetings in ...

Vera Jourova, EU's commissioner for justice, announced that she is undertaking a new attempt to create an EU blacklist of countries that are open to fraud and money laundering in October, before the end of the current European Commission's mandate, ...

Jean-Claude Juncker, the outgoing European Commission president, has had to cut short his holidays in Austria for medical reasons, according to an EU press statement. He was taken back to Luxembourg for a surgical removal of his gallbladder, it said. ...

The British government has tried to play down leaked warnings on the dangers to British people of a no-deal Brexit. They were "exaggerated", one minister said. They were also "scaremongering" by anti-Brexit rebels, another minister claimed. The reactions ...

US president Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday plans to buy Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark. "Strategically, for the United States, it would be nice," he said at a press conference in New Jersey. Trump said he will "certainly talk about it" with ...

MPs from Greenland and Denmark Friday turned down ideas aired by US president Donald Trump of buying Greenland, part of Denmark with self-government over domestic affairs. "No thanks. I do not think it will be beneficial for Greenland's development," Aaja ...