Friday
8th Dec 2023
Disruption at the Polish-Ukrainian border by disaffected Polish truckers is escalating, potentially affecting delivery of military aid to Ukraine. A Polish request to reintroduce permits for Ukrainian drivers has been described as "a shot to the head" during war.
In chess, if you touch a piece with the intent to move it, you are obliged to move that piece. That also applies to the West's defence of Ukraine.
It is high time for Slovak PM Robert Fico to realise that any display of compliance or even understanding towards Moscow constitutes a threat to what Fico calls the "national-state interest of Slovakia", writes the former prime minister of Slovakia.
Georgia has long sought a rapprochement with Europe, since its war with Russia in 2008. But behind the scenes, powerful actors are sabotaging the plans — spurred by increasing vigilantism.
Russia lost its seat on the board of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for the first time in the organisation's history — while Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania were elected to the executive council.
In Flanders, Russia's access to the Belgian far-right is facilitated by Kris Roman. What is far less known are his more than decade-long connections with Russian intelligence.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has threatened to wreck the upcoming EU summit by blocking Ukraine accession talks — but a veto-fiasco might be exactly what some leaders want.
Europe's top diplomat won't meet Russia's foreign minister in Skopje, even though the Russian is getting special permits to bypass EU sanctions to reach there.
Hungary's new sovereignty law has been criticised by the opposition as 'another dark milestone' for the country's democratic values and the rule of law — and it could bring yet another clash between Budapest and Brussels.
As Nato's 75 spy chiefs meet in Brussels, the alliance's smallest member, Luxembourg, stands accused of years-long security failures.
What remains baffling, to Ukrainians fighting for their country and environmental NGOs fighting to save the planet, is that terminals in Belgium and France continue to serve as transshipment points for Russian LNG cargoes destined for India and China.
The EU won't be blackmailed by a possible Hungarian veto over additional funds for Ukraine, said the European Commission.
The EU is preparing to open accession talks with Ukraine in December in a morale-booster after 623 days of full-scale Russian aggression.
The EU is faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, geopolitical considerations are prompting it to hasten Ukraine's integration. On the other hand, many in the EU and Ukraine believe in merit-based progression — conditional on Kyiv's reforms.
If the current trends remain unchanged, the campaign in Gaza will be on track to becoming one of the deadliest urban conflicts in recent history.
The war abruptly halted the 2021/22 season, but that didn't stop president Volodomyr Zelenskyy's vision from 2020 of revitalising football in overlooked Ukrainian cities.
While seizing Russian assets for Ukraine's reconstruction seems a logical option, it presents legal challenges and potential risks to the monetary system. Alternative approaches, such as seizing the proceeds generated by frozen assets, are being considered by Western allies.
Spain and Belgium increased imports of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Russia by 50 percent from January to September 2023, compared to last year, while France saw Russian LNG imports rise by 40 percent, according to a new study.
The EU has confirmed it is going to strike Russia's diamond industry in upcoming sanctions, spelling trouble for mining giant Alrosa and dozens of other companies.
Estonian prime minister Kallas shamed the two overtly pro-Russian leaders in the EU summit on Thursday — Hungary's Orbán and Slovakia's Fico.
EU leaders aim to agree on a "humanitarian pause" in the Israel-Hamas war to allow safe deliveries of aid to Gaza — while keeping Ukraine a priority.
Estonia is pursuing the same Chinese ship as Finland in its enquiries into the latest mystery to strike Nato's underwater pipes and cables.
Despite a raft of sanctions now in place against Moscow, the critical and strategic raw materials trade remains exempt and EU purchases persist. Investigate Europe analysis finds European companies continue to pour billions into mining firms linked to the Kremlin.
"If we linked one [the Ukraine war] with the other [the Gaza war] then the next sanctions to befall Russia would be drastically more powerful," an EU diplomat said.
Russia will try — and is already trying — to benefit from the Israeli-Hamas conflict, which has an unfortunate potential to develop into a regional conflict.
Norway is leading a Western restart in science cooperation with Russia in the Arctic — despite a wider EU cordon sanitaire against Vladimir Putin's Mosow, in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.
So far, the European response to those fleeing the war in Ukraine and seeking housing has relied heavily on civil society solidarity and the use of private accommodation — but a long-term strategy is lacking.
Leaders from some 50 European countries will attend the third European Political Community (EPC) summit in Granada, followed by an informal meeting of EU leaders on Friday. What's on the agenda?
The world has changed, not least in northern Europe, which is rapidly becoming one of the new frontlines between Nato and Russia. It is sometimes said that even the largest avalanche is caused by something small. Watch Northern Europe.
EU foreign ministers held an unprecedented meeting in Kyiv on Monday to debunk stories the West was tired of helping Ukraine, but Hungary's Péter Szijjártó was conspicuous by his absence.
The dominance of the 'realist' camp in the Brussels' bureaucracy explains the EU's past and current behaviour towards Ukraine — in which reform shortcomings and failures are rarely openly called out.
While Belarus has not sent its own troops to fight Russia's war in Ukraine, the Minsk dictatorship has been heavily involved. As a result, Belarus must be punished for its involvement — what can the world do to sanction Belarus?
Russia's use of diamonds in corruption schemes in Europe and Africa gives upcoming G7 ban a strategic value beyond any moral or financial one, Ukraine says.
