Author: Press Room

Good morning. I’m Mared Gwyn and it’s Friday – here’s another packed newsletter to start your day. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Munich Security Conference kicks off this morning, one year after US Vice President JD Vance stunned 2025 delegates with a blistering speech criticising Europe’s institutions. For many, that speech marked the start of the unraveling of the US-Europe alliance – with ideological tensions continuing to surface, and the recent crisis over Greenland forcing Europe to recalibrate its strategic reliance on Washington. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead this year’s US delegation to the conference, where Ukraine is expected to…

European leaders floated a two-speed union as the fastest way to break a political impasse over economic reforms needed to reboot the European economy, as French President Emmanuel Macron set a summer deadline for a broad deal. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “What we decided today is that between now and June, we will have to finalise the agenda,” Macron said upon departing the castle. “If in June we don’t have concrete prospects and concrete progress, we will continue with enhanced cooperation.” While the EU is built on consensus at 27, frustrations about the pace of reforms prompted calls to work in smaller…

As the Winter Olympics are underway in Milan, fake videos, AI-generated content and disinformation are flooding social media about the Games. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, found examples of this video of JD Vance looking concerned as loud boos are heard in the background being shared on X and Telegram. One version of the clip reached more than 4 million views on X. However, the video is not authentic. Clip misrepresents Olympic Ceremony The viral video appears to show Vance standing in the crowd and frowning as loud boos are heard. But comparisons with verified images of the…

Published on 12/02/2026 – 18:00 GMT+1 Hungary’s opposition leader Péter Magyar has admitted he was lured into a “honey trap” by his former girlfriend, and has rejected allegations of drug use. Magyar says Viktor Orbán’s government orchestrated the operation using secret service methods. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Magyar’s Tisza Party is the main challenger to Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz in Hungary’s April elections, and is currently leading in the polls. The election campaign has lately intensified with personal attacks on activists and candidates, as well as the use of deepfake videos. On Tuesday, photos of a room with a bed began circulating online,…

US and European defence ministers seemed to be in agreement on Thursday that, to survive, NATO needs to become more European. But their rationales for this shift, however, are probably not fully aligned. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “What is needed is a ”NATO 3.0′,” US Under Secretary of War Eldridge Colby told the NATO defence ministers gathering in Brussels. “This NATO 3.0 requires much greater efforts by our allies to step up and assume primary responsibility for the conventional defence of Europe.” “It follows that Europe should field the preponderance of the forces required to deter and, if necessary, defeat conventional aggression…

Published on 12/02/2026 – 14:53 GMT+1 The European Court of Justice should annul the European Commission’s 2023 decision to disburse €10.2 billion to Hungary, according to an opinion released this week. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta concluded that Hungary did not fulfil all required milestones to qualify for the funds. While such opinions are not legally binding, court rulings typically align with them. Most EU funds for Hungary were initially frozen due to concerns over systemic corruption and rule of law violations. But a year later, the Commission proposed unfreezing the €10.2 billion after concluding that Hungary had delivered…

Cancer cases are on the rise across the EU amid an ageing population, lifestyle risk factors and improved testing practices. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In 2024, there were 2.7 million new cancer cases across the bloc’s 27 member states, according to a new OECD report. Since 2000, the number of new cancer cases has surged by about 30% for both men and women, with estimates predicting half a million new cases by 2040. Cancer incidence among young women is increasing particularly fast: it is estimated that 2.4 women and 2.8 men were diagnosed with cancer every minute in 2024. Half of the…

Published on 12/02/2026 – 12:33 GMT+1 Hungary’s opposition leader Péter Magyar has accused Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party of preparing a blackmail campaign against him involving a secretly recorded sex tape, escalating tensions ahead of April’s parliamentary elections. Magyar, whose Tisza party leads Fidesz in opinion polls, said he suspects the governing party plans to release intimate recordings made with surveillance equipment. “I suspect they are planning to release a recording, recorded with secret service equipment and possibly faked, in which my then-girlfriend and I are seen having intimate intercourse,” Magyar wrote on social media. He said journalists…

Good morning, I’m Mared Gwyn. It’s Thursday, and EU leaders are about to descend on a remote castle in the Belgian countryside for talks on how to restore European competitiveness and revive a stagnant economy. Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi – the Italian duo who diagnosed the EU’s outdated economic doctrine in two separate reports in 2024 – will also join the talks, two years after Draghi warned the continent could face “slow agony” if it didn’t act fast. The informal “retreat” is not expected to result in any concrete decisions. But the momentum suggests that the talks could be…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is producing empty phrases, Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said, arguing Europe must choose between federalisation or dissolution. “We have two choices – we are at a fork in the road. We can move in the direction of federation or we can disband the euro,” Varoufakis told Euronews’ Europe Today programme on Thursday. The economist said EU leaders were choosing neither option and “falling in the vacuum in between”. Varoufakis blamed Europe’s problems on a monetary union lacking fiscal and investment structures, claiming the continent has been starved of investment for two…