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Joseph Kabila has been re-elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the EU calling for data from each polling station to be released amid deep suspicions of electoral fraud within the opposition camp. Provisional results released by the ...

Post-electoral tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo spilled onto the streets of Brussels on Monday (5 December), with angry supporters of opposition presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi damaging vehicles and briefly occupying the EU capital’s ...

The head of the EU's electoral monitoring mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has blamed the widespread scenes of chaos that gripped the African state this week on poor organisation. "The lack of communication affected organization on election day ...

On seizing power from Zaire's long-standing dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, Laurent-Desire Kabila changed the country's name to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was not until 2006, however, after a tumultuous decade of conflict in which Kabila ...

Branching off the main Goma-Bukavu road on the shores of Lake Kivu, an earthy track climbs high into the mountains of Africa's Great Rift Valley, switchbacking incessantly through the lush green landscape before eventually reaching the mining village of ...

The need to reform the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) army and police force is clear. Crime rates are high and rebel groups continue to harass citizens in the east, but few Congolese believe the state's security apparatus can tackle these problems. ...

A sign in Kinshasa's international airport reads 'Tourism: the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)." It is ironic given the current state of play. For instead of a warm welcome, visitors arriving at the N'Djili aerodrome are more likely to be ...

Pastor Jean Tshibuabua stares bleakly into his coffee and considers the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is early morning but already the cacophony of battered minibuses plying Kinshasa’s clogged and potholed streets can be heard above ...

... what lies ahead after November's general elections? EUobserver's Andrew Willis reports from the ground.

Andrew Willis is an Irish journalist. He studied at the London School of Economics before moving to Argentina where he worked on the business desk of the Buenos Aires Herald. For the past three years he has reported for EUobserver.

EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski has clarified that he does believe in global warming, despite recent statements in which he appeared to question the validity of the phenomenon. The climbdown was posted on Lewandowski's homepage on Monday (27 June ...

Future EU spending is set to increase, focusing marginally less on agriculture and more on research, education and transport, according to European Commission proposals for the next seven-year budgetary period (2014-2020). The draft budget also includes ...

The EU and international partners have called on officials in Zimbabwe to speed up the implementation of a power-sharing agreement, also underlining their concerns following last week's bust-up in a Kimberley Process meeting on diamonds. Members of the ...

French finance minister Christine Lagarde has been appointed as the new chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at a time of unprecedented economic turmoil in the eurozone. The Washington-based institution's 24-member board maintained a tradition ...

Prices for consumer goods and services vary by a factor of three across EU member states, with Denmark taking the gold medal for expensive shopping experiences. Inhabitants of the non-euro-using country were charged an estimated 143 percent of the EU27 ...

Proposed rules to ensure that MEPs disclose how much they earn from second jobs make little distinction between high and low earners, and also place MEPs from newer member states at a disadvantage This is according to the latest text to be discussed by ...

European fishery "superpowers" such as Spain hold the key to Iceland's membership of the European Union, Iceland's foreign minister has said. Ossur Skarphedinsson made the comments in Brussels on Monday (27 June), where the formal opening of EU accession ...

The European Union has said it will continue with plans to charge airlines for pollution credits from the beginning of next year, amid reports that China has frozen a multi-billion euro Airbus order in retaliation. Both China and the US are deeply unhappy ...

Italian central banker Mario Draghi has won the backing of EU leaders to become the next president of the European Central Bank (ECB) from the 1 November. EU leaders made the decision at a European Summit in Brussels on Friday (24 June) at a time of ...

A group of MEPs have demanded action from European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, after the EU's budget commissioner expressed doubts earlier this month over the reality of global warming. In a set of oral questions tabled on Thursday (23 June), ...

MEPs have said they do not support a large-scale reduction in funding for rural development schemes, amid reports that the European Commission may aim to make savings in this area in next week's highly-anticipated multi-annual budget proposals. "We said ...

Just over 48 million people were employed within the EU27's food chain in 2008, equivalent to more than a fifth of total employment, the EU's statistic agency reported on Wednesday (22 June). The highest number of food retailers were found in Spain and ...

Washington has officially demanded that US airlines be left out of European plans to charge airlines for carbon permits. Opposition prior to a US-EU aviation meeting in Oslo on Wednesday (22 June) has largely come from the industry itself, but US officials ...

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is apparently unconcerned that the chief architect of the EU's forthcoming multi-annual budget has major doubts over the existence of global warming. Environmental groups are sounding alarm bells however, ...

The European Commission has adopted a 'wait and see' approach over whether to remove surplus carbon credits arising from gains in energy efficiency, from the EU's emissions trading scheme. A second controversial decision on the need to make a voluntary EU ...

Poland has scuppered an attempt to tighten European Union carbon emission targets, sparking widespread concern just days before Warsaw is set to take over the EU's six-month rotating presidency. EU environment ministers met in Luxembourg on Tuesday (21 ...

An integrated European foreign policy is still decades away, despite the rising challenges posed by China and other states, a senior figure in the EU's external action service (EEAS) has said. One reason for this is Europe's desire to retain its ...

The Greek government, hoping to soothe rising social unrest, announced on Monday that it will hold a referendum this autumn to reform the country's constitution. The vote will be "preceded, in September, by a broad dialogue," said a government spokesman.

The EU will send a top official to Russia to convince Moscow to lift a ban on EU vegetables over an E. coli outbreak, as promised at a recent summit. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has also sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry ...

The European commission's own lawyers have warned that a joint US-European agreement to store the personal data, including credit card details, of millions of transatlantic air passengers for 15 years is unlawful, reports the Guardian. The leaked note is ...