Belgium entered its second day of a coordinated, three-day strike on Tuesday, as unions protest against the government’s sweeping austerity plans.

Having made a series of major financial commitments ahead of last weekend's G20 summit in Johannesburg, there was little left for the EU-AU summit days later.

The pioneering Aarhus Convention protects three procedural rights — access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters — in pursuit environmental democracy. Last week the EU Commission tried to undermine and weaken it.

EU states are struggling with upcoming border rules that critics say could led to detention-like centres. Under the new regime authorities will have only seven days to screen a prospective asylum seeker.

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.