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The EU made the difficult decision on Wednesday (25 September) evening, to de-couple North Macedonia from Albania on their EU path and to start accession negotiations with Tirana, leaving Skopje behind.
If the EU gives in to calls from carmakers to delay its 2025 CO2 emissions limits, because of the poor state of the automotive industry, it will risk setting a precedent that could undermine the heart of its climate policy.
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier succeeded in forming a government after long negotiations, but its days are already numbered as all French political parties are preparing for new elections.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the US, bringing to his interlocutors what he calls a “truly just” peace plan. But let’s face it: peace is not around the corner.
The Netherlands and Hungary are unlikely to get an opt-out from the EU’s migration policy, rarely has it ever happened, when Denmark got theirs, they got lucky – and France got the Strasbourg seat.
A la guerre comme à la guerre. The new European Commission, as announced by its chief Ursula von der Leyen, shines with its strong ‘military wing’.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has neatly shared out top jobs among the political camps in the next EU executive, in an effort to give the European Parliament as few reasons as possible to meddle in her plan.
Stéphane Séjourné was nominated as the French European Commission Executive Vice President (EVP) for prosperity and industrial policy on Tuesday (17 September) following a rather hectic 24 hours.
Two elderly politicians, some call them dinosaurs, have occupied the EU's political scene over the last week – France’s Michel Barnier (73) and Italy’s Mario Draghi (77).
The timeline for establishing the next European Commission looks increasingly tight: the question is not whether it will be late - it will be - but how much pressure lawmakers will be under to greenlight new commissioners.
Pursuing her goal for gender balance on the EU high table, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been able to make smaller member states change their mind, as three of them withdrew their male candidate, however, gender balance is unlikely to be achieved.
The Old Continent was not expected to be at the heart of the first US presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump last night (11 September), so it was no surprise that it only cropped up in the context of the Ukraine war and defence spending.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will face the ire of his opponents in the European Parliament – and the adulation of his friends – if, as expected, he takes up a forthcoming invitation to address the EU legislature in Strasbourg next week.
During the public presentation of his long-awaited report on the future of Europe’s competitiveness earlier on Monday (9 September), Mario Draghi said that the “essence” of the report could be summed up in just two words, “urgency and concreteness”.
Michel Barnier never forgave Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for attending Emmanuel Macron’s 'Renaissance European Campus' in Bordeaux last year, arguing she had given the French leader undue political credit and support.
The EU’s biggest islands, according to geography, are Ireland, with 84 thousand square kilometres, Sicily (25,000 sq. km), and Sardinia (24,000 sq. km). But it can be argued that the EU’s biggest islands are three other, much bigger territories.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has a delicate political balance to strike in her picks for the most important jobs in the EU's executive, in addition to the one-on-one back-room talks with the national leaders who nominate commissioners, she also needs to consider the overall party-political makeup of both national governments and the European Parliament.
In France, the situation is starting to get embarrassing and potentially quite dangerous, almost two months after the second round of snap legislative elections, on 7 July.
When Ukraine launched its incursion into Russian territory in the Kursk Oblast on 6 August, many Western analysts said this was some sort of fireworks – it makes a hell of an impression, but it doesn’t last long. One expert we quoted called it “a footnote”.
While the absence of any viable coalition government in France, a situation lasting 50 days and counting, may be new for the French, it is not unusual in other EU countries. That said, the longer this continues, the more it stains Emmanuel Macron’s reputation on the EU stage.
The far-right, Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), is expected to bring home an electoral victory in the Austrian parliamentary elections in late September, paving the way for an unprecedented takeover of government policy. Austria used to call itself an “island of …
Initially, Mario Draghi’s report on the future of Europe's competitiveness was expected to go out before the EU elections in June, but it was postponed until after summer, in September.
After seven rollercoaster months, European politicians mostly resemble beat-up-birds these days. And they might not have much time to enjoy their ice-cold poolside drinks this summer.