Esther Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), has spent a lifetime standing up for the rights of workers across Europe. Quietly forceful and deeply committed, she sees unions not only as a mechanism for negotiation, but as pillars of democracy itself.

Nicușor Dan, the pro-European mayor of Bucharest, has been elected president of Romania following a dramatic and closely-watched electoral campaign.

A Ukrainian nurse and martial arts expert, who has treated both the fallen of her own country — and that of its enemy.

Legal scholars have dubbed it a "sleeping beauty" — a potent yet practically unused EU Parliament instrument akin to the EU's own Article 7, designed to safeguard the rule of law and the integrity of its institutions.

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.

Russian spies are still active in the EU capital and have a "higher risk appetite" than before the Ukraine war — despite Belgium's efforts to push back against their plots.