Imagine watching TV in the comfort of your home, when the screen suddenly goes blank and images appear of Russian tanks on parade - it's already happening.

The Green-Left alliance surprised everyone, including the pollsters, to become the largest bloc in the French parliament while Marine Le Pen's hard-right National Rally came only third, behind president Emmanuel Macron's centrist coalition. For many, this is a huge relief. Yet, neither the French, the Europeans nor Macron himself must forget that the French far-right is actually bigger than ever.

European officials highlight potential economic retaliation — particularly from China and Saudi Arabia — as the main reason to refrain from confiscating Russia’s frozen assets. Whether in the form of direct retaliation against large EU member states such as France and Germany, or by withdrawing state assets from European banks, they fear that retaliatory steps could undermine the euro as a reserve currency and threaten Europe’s economic stability. 

In a new paper, two economists argue that the EU needs a system of price controls and buffer stocks to prevent future inflation and shouldn't just leave it to the ECB to fight price rises through interest rates after the fact.

Climate-change deniers and anti-vaxxers are converging online in far-right conspiracy groups, according to an investigation by the nonprofit investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports and EUobserver, taking in everything from 15-minute cities to net zero.

With the need for one million foreign workers annually, the EU introduced Talent Partnerships to bring in non-EU citizens to fill gaps in the labour market. Pilot projects only led to a small number of recruitments so far, with partner countries required to cooperate on border protection and returns.