Author: Press Room

Published on 07/07/2026 – 5:22 GMT+2 French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Syria on Monday for the first visit by a Western European head of state since Syria’s new authorities took power. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Macron would visit with a business delegation to discuss regional security as well as business and investment opportunities. The French president was greeted at Damascus airport by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. “I have come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people. For a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbors,” Macron said in…

Good morning. Angela Skujins here on Monday newsletter duties, with the pitfalls and processes of enlarging the European Union is stealing the focus in the Belgian capital. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT My whipsmart colleague Luca Bertuzza has an exclusive out this morning looking at how the European Commission is tweaking proposals to reform the cumbersome method. This is because, according to his reporting, the gamut of proposals put forth by the capitals has sidelined the EU executive. As it currently stands, the 27 capitals need to provide unanimous support for the opening and closing of any of the 35 policy chapters. This…

Published on 06/07/2026 – 14:22 GMT+2 Norway’s royal palace shared the first images of the country’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit on Monday since she underwent a lung transplant in June. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The palace posted an image to social media of the crown princess sitting on a couch next to her husband Crown Prince Haakon watching Norway defeat Brazil, taking the country to its first-ever World Cup quarter-final. “Yesterday turned into a historic evening!” the Royal House of Norway said in a post to Instagram. A second photo showed the couple looking out of a window at the jubilant crowds that…

The European Union’s new Critical Chemicals Alliance (CCA), which has been presented as a strategic response to concerns about Europe’s industrial resilience and competitiveness, has become a front for industries pushing for deregulation and relaxed pollution rules, according to a watchdog report published on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Launched in January 2026 with the European Commission’s endorsement, the CCA includes chemical giants like BASF, TotalEnergies, and Avantium. It was officially meant to identify chemical substances and production sites deemed “critical” to the European economy, potentially unlocking billions in future public support and state aid. But new research published by the Corporate…

Published on 06/07/2026 – 16:37 GMT+2 The European Commission has demanded fairness and transparency in light of FIFA’s controversial decision to reverse the red-card suspension for US striker Folarin Balogun following a personal intervention by US President Donald Trump. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and asked him to undo Balogun’s suspension, and later thanked Infantino for “reversing a great injustice”. As a result, Balogun has been allowed to play in the US’s upcoming knockout match against Belgium. “We respect the autonomy of sports,” a Commission spokesperson said on Monday in reply to a Euronews question. “We respect…

Serbia’s decision to repeal controversial judiciary reforms has reignited debate inside the European Union over how to balance strategic engagement with democratic standards, exposing divisions over whether Belgrade has done enough to revive its accession bid. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The European Commission on Monday presented member states with an information note outlining why it believes Serbia’s recent reforms justify opening Cluster 3 of its accession negotiations, which Belgrade has sought to unlock after years of stalemate. The note, dated 3 July and seen by Euronews, says the Commission believes Serbia has remedied the “backsliding” identified earlier this year and taken steps…

Published on 06/07/2026 – 18:19 GMT+2 Hungary’s opposition Fidesz party has called for a demonstration on Thursday after Prime Minister Péter Magyar submitted a constitutional amendment to remove the country’s president, Tamás Sulyok. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Magyar, who won a landslide victory in April’s election, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, has repeatedly called for the removal of the official appointed by his predecessor, whom he calls “Orbán’s puppet”. Magyar’s amendment, filed on Saturday, states that “the mandate of the incumbent President of the Republic shall terminate on the day following the entry into force of the amendment to the…

The European Commission is renewing its push to open Serbia’s accession clusters, arguing that Belgrade has made sufficient progress on a range of reforms to justify advancing its EU membership bid. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Ahead of a discussion among EU ambassadors on Wednesday, the Commission has presented member states with an information note outlining why it believes Cluster 3 should be opened after Serbia reversed controversial judicial reforms and made what Brussels describes as progress on media freedom, electoral reforms and alignment with the bloc’s foreign and security policy. The opening of Cluster 3 has been blocked since the Commission first…

Published on 06/07/2026 – 16:27 GMT+2•Updated 16:27 Ukrainian forces carried out a drone strike on an oil refinery in the Russian city of Omsk on Monday, hitting the country’s most important fuel production site more than 2,500km from the Russia-Ukraine border. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Omsk Oil Refinery is Russia’s largest, with a design capacity of around 22 million tonnes of crude oil per year. It produces gasoline, diesel, aviation kerosene and other petroleum products, including fuel used by the Russian military. The facility had previously been considered beyond the reach of Kyiv’s deep‑strike campaign, but according to Ukraine’s Special Operations…

Published on 06/07/2026 – 15:24 GMT+2 Britain unveiled sanctions against seven Russian scientists and two research labs on Monday said to have helped develop chemical weapons used in two attacks. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The sanctions target those involved in developing the Novichok nerve agent used in a 2018 attack on a former Russian spy hiding in England and a chemical believed to have fatally poisoned Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny in Siberia in 2024. “These new measures directly hit two leading scientific research centres and key individuals involved in the development and production of toxic chemicals,” the UK foreign ministry said…