A secret IT environment 420 times larger than its official records, a history of ignoring data protection mandates, and a pending budget hike to €444 million: Europe’s primary police agency is facing accusations that it operates with the same lack of accountability it claims to combat in organized crime.
Five years after the launch of the Global Gateway, EU member states are demanding the European Commission shed light on how billions of euros are being allocated. While ministers officially endorse the strategy as a positive alternative to Chinese investment, they warn that the current lack of project transparency is untenable.
“We are giving away our data, our revenue, and our attention to foreign companies that give us, in return, content, but also disinformation.” With this promise of digital sovereignty, the new platform W Social launched its beta version this week, backed by 80 European investors and 55,000 initial users.
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten has publicly challenged Spain’s financial commitment to Ukraine, creating friction ahead of a Brussels summit where European leaders simultaneously celebrated a breakthrough in Kyiv’s path to EU membership and navigated delicate rumors regarding potential back-channel communication with the Kremlin.
The newly installed Tisza government has launched a legislative assault on the state media apparatus, filing a bill to dissolve the existing structure and replace it with an independent oversight board. This overhaul aims to dismantle the primary communication vehicle used by former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to consolidate power.
Germany’s historical sensitivities are increasingly colliding with the European Union’s approach to the Middle East, as Berlin resists calls for trade bans on Israeli settlements. EU draft conclusions have seen repeated deletions of language regarding the West Bank, underscoring a deep internal rift over how to address the ongoing conflict.
A Colombian private military contractor describes being smuggled through a back entrance at an Abu Dhabi airport, bound for the front lines in Darfur. While evidence mounts that the UAE is arming the Rapid Support Forces, European officials continue to offer only vague condemnations of unnamed external actors.
A massive Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow has crippled the city’s primary oil refinery, forcing the Kremlin to confront the most significant aerial assault on the capital since the invasion began. The operation, which bypassed extensive air defense networks, has left the city’s fuel infrastructure in flames and residents in a state of shock.
Chants of “send them back” erupted from the far-right benches in Strasbourg on Wednesday as the European Parliament secured a decisive majority for a new deportation bill. The vote marks a significant shift in migration policy, finalizing an informal agreement between the parliament and member states to accelerate removals of rejected asylum seekers.
The European Commission’s appointment of Siemens chair Jim Hagemann Snabe as a special advisor on industrial AI has triggered an outcry. While Brussels claims the move supports tech sovereignty, critics argue that placing a corporate executive with deep financial ties to Big Tech at the heart of policy-making compromises the EU’s integrity.
After three days of high-stakes discussions in Evian-les-Bains, global leaders are pivoting toward a two-day European Council summit in Brussels. With the G7 agenda stripped of climate disputes and final communiqués, the focus has shifted to tangible cooperation on trade, critical minerals, and the ongoing security crises in Ukraine and Iran.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya argues that Alexander Lukashenko remains a willing accomplice to Russian aggression, despite his public claims of neutrality. While the dictator maneuvers to avoid direct military involvement to prevent domestic backlash, his regime continues to profit by turning the country into a logistical hub for Moscow.
Since March, Poland has significantly restricted social benefits for Ukrainian refugees, ending universal free collective accommodation and tying family allowances to employment. The policy shift marks a departure from the open-door approach adopted at the start of the conflict, forcing many to choose between continued studies and immediate financial survival.
Following its integration with Slovak publisher Dennik N, EUobserver is overhauling its editorial strategy to prioritize long-form investigations and regional reporting. The platform is moving away from rapid-fire news cycles to focus on the geopolitical impact of EU policy, with a renewed emphasis on voices from the bloc’s eastern flank.
At this week’s summit in Brussels, EU leaders will gather to discuss trade imbalances and industrial overcapacity, yet the primary subject will remain unmentioned in official documents. This diplomatic silence reflects a deepening internal rift, as the bloc struggles to reconcile 27 national agendas with a unified economic strategy.
A leaked attendee list for the elite Dialog retreat, hosted by billionaire Peter Thiel, falsely placed EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas among the society’s members. European Commission officials confirmed Kallas has no connection to the organization and no plans to attend the private gathering scheduled for August near Dublin.
Conflict in Ukraine has entered a new technological phase as Russia deploys electronic warfare systems to disrupt Starlink communications. While Moscow struggles with domestic fuel shortages and persistent logistical vulnerabilities, its forces continue to press into Lyman and Kostyantynivka, forcing a grueling defensive struggle for Ukrainian units.
When European Council leaders gather for dinner this Thursday, the agenda will officially cite global macroeconomic imbalances. In reality, the conversation focuses on the €360 billion trade deficit with Beijing, as officials seek a unified mandate to protect an industrial base they fear is being systematically dismantled.
Nearly 1,300 people have perished in the Mediterranean this year, yet the European Commission is doubling down on its strategy to curb migration. Ahead of Thursday’s summit, Ursula von der Leyen has signaled plans to further reinforce border management and search-and-rescue capacities across North Africa to stem irregular arrivals.
Conflict in the Middle East is rapidly outpacing the European Union’s diplomatic toolkit. While Israel reshapes its borders through deep incursions into southern Lebanon and targets a new regional adversary in Nato member Turkey, Brussels remains locked in a cycle of minor sanctions and debates over the import of settlement goods.
After years of high-stakes negotiation, the EU Pact on Asylum and Migration has officially entered into force, yet the mechanisms governing its daily application remain largely shielded from public view. While Brussels celebrates a unified framework, the transition to local implementation is currently defined by opacity and administrative silence.
Donald Trump’s recent threat of a 100 percent tariff on French wine serves as a reminder of the volatile trade landscape. Despite a history of broken promises and asymmetric agreements, the European Union continues to lower its own trade barriers, raising questions about the sustainability of this strategy.
Dutch MEP Malik Azmani publicly backed a controversial deportation bill on Tuesday, despite being sidelined by right-wing factions during the drafting process. His endorsement signals a pivotal shift for Renew Europe, which has struggled to maintain a unified stance against increasingly aggressive border policies ahead of Wednesday’s final parliamentary vote.
While EU leaders convene in Brussels this Thursday, a quiet by-election in the northern constituency of Makerfield threatens to rewrite British political history. Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is not merely seeking a seat in Westminster; he is positioning himself to challenge Keir Starmer for the premiership before summer’s end.
With the European Parliament and member states deeply divided over funding priorities, EU leaders face a contentious path toward finalizing a seven-year budget. As the Cypriot presidency tables its initial draft, the gap between ambitious spending demands and national fiscal constraints threatens to derail the bloc’s long-term financial roadmap.
A 440 to 151 vote in Strasbourg on Tuesday ended months of tense trade negotiations, as MEPs approved a tariff-slashing agreement with the Trump administration. While the deal avoids a looming trade war, European lawmakers openly condemned the terms as unbalanced and skewed in favor of Washington.
Conflict lead: A sweeping investigation into Turkey’s Schengen visa market has been scrubbed from the internet by local courts, with global platforms like X acting as willing executioners. The move shields a system where lucrative visa access is allegedly traded for political favors, leaving ordinary citizens to pay the price.
“After the start of the full-scale invasion, the question of who would control the Lavra arose immediately,” says Lubomyr Slonets, a theologian and analyst at the Institute for European Security Studies. The Russian targeting of this site is not merely military, but a calculated strike against the roots of Ukrainian statehood.
Ukrainian long-range drones struck a major oil refinery 15 kilometers from the Kremlin on Tuesday, marking a bold daylight assault on Russia’s capital. The operation, which Kyiv officials described as retaliation for a Russian strike on a historic cathedral in Kyiv, exposed gaps in Moscow’s supposedly robust air defense network.
With national elections looming across major EU states in 2027, Brussels faces an uncomfortable geopolitical reckoning: how to address foreign interference when the primary disruptor is no longer just Moscow or Beijing, but an increasingly interventionist Washington actively courting the continent’s far-right political factions.
