What Vladimir Putin cannot achieve on the battlefield and in Russian factories due to incompetence and corruption, he is trying to achieve instead by offering American companies and politicians fat contracts and huge profits, writes Caroline de Gruyter.

The Venezuelan people themselves must decide their country's future through free and fair elections — democracy cannot be delivered on the tip of a bayonet, writes MEP Hilde Vautmans of Renew Europe.

The EU is aiming to impose a 20th round of Russia sanctions on the fourth anniversary of the full invasion of Ukraine, on 24 February — despite the US-led ceasefire talks.

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.