Author: Press Room
Published on 29/05/2026 – 15:22 GMT+2•Updated 18:12 Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar sealed an agreement on Friday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to unblock nearly all recovery and cohesion funds earmarked for Hungary, allowing the government to access the full €16.4bn that had been frozen under the previous administration. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Praising Magyar for forming a government “in record time” and advancing what she described as “long-overdue reforms” within just a few weeks, von der Leyen said €10bn would be released from the bloc’s post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility. “I think the hard work has really paid…
Giorgia Meloni’s government is changing course on military spending and has decided to send a clear message to Brussels. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Italy had reserved 14.9 billion euros under the EU’s “SAFE” defence loan scheme, but Rome now intends to use between just four and five billion – just enough to cover projects for which contracts have already been signed. Security Action for Europe (SAFE) is an EU loan instrument designed to provide financial support to member states to speed up defence readiness and close capability gaps. The government’s new plan was set out by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign…
Updated: 29/05/2026 – 18:03 GMT+2 In an exclusive interview, Romania Foreign minister Oana Țoiu said it’s “Russia’s full responsibility” that civilians in Romania were harmed after a Russian drone hit a residential building in the country. Țoiu also said they had “final confirmation” that the drone “was carrying explosives”. … More
Published on 29/05/2026 – 18:08 GMT+2 Four European Union countries are urging the European Commission to rethink part of its planned carbon market reforms, warning that some industries could face serious competitive pressure under stricter emissions rules due to take effect between 2026 and 2030, according to a document seen by Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT At stake is the bloc’s carbon market, the Emissions Trading System (ETS), which requires heavy industry companies to pay for the carbon pollution associated with their emissions. The Commission will soon revise its major climate policy tool, which has suffered repeated attacks from several EU countries…
By Euronews Published on 29/05/2026 – 18:26 GMT+2 France is to launch an inquiry into the treatment of its nationals on board the Gaza flotilla. This decision, announced on Friday by the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, follows reports that activists were subjected humiliation, rape and acts of torture while in detention. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Based on a report I requested from our Consul General in Turkey, which detailed sexual violence, exposure to cold, beatings, and repeated humiliations of French nationals – all acts that could constitute criminal offenses”, said Barrot. “I decided yesterday (Thursday) to refer the matter to the Public…
Tensions between China and the EU have intensified in recent months, prompting the European Commission to convene most of its commissioners for a strategic rethink during an “orientation debate” on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “China is a critical partner, and engagement and dialogue will continue,” the commission said in a readout following the debate. “At the same time the current state of the trade and investment relationship is not sustainable.” Calling the relationship “not sustainable” may understate the depth of the rupture. Relations have steadily deteriorated since European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen branded Beijing a “systemic rival” in a…
Shahed-type drones have been Russia’s weapon of choice since the very beginning of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Launched in the hundreds, they are used by Moscow to strike military and residential targets, energy facilities and civilian infrastructure and also to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defences in mass attacks. Because of their distinctive, loud buzzing noise similar to that of lawn mowers, they are frequently called “mopeds” in Ukraine. Shahed-136 or Geran-2? The Geran-2 long-range one-way attack drone — often referred to as a kamikaze drone — is essentially a domestically manufactured Russian version of the…
Russia launched a large-scale attack on the region of Odesa early Friday, local authorities reported. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Ukrainian air defence forces were able to intercept almost all of the drones, but roughly 4,000 people were left without power in the south of region due to damage to power lines, regional head Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram. “Power engineers are already working to restore power,” Kiper wrote. No injuries were reported. Russian drones also struck three commercial ships flying the flags of Vanuatu, the Comoros and Panama in the Black Sea which were moving along the Ukrainian maritime corridor, Kiper said.…
By Méabh Mc Mahon & Alice Carnevali Published on 29/05/2026 – 10:00 GMT+2•Updated 10:57 Residents cooled off in the Canal de Saint-Martin in Paris and EU officials sunbathed in the park as Western Europe baked in the sun this week. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT But in Eastern Europe, May has seen a wave of drones intruding into Baltic airspace, raising questions about Europe’s security and the hybrid threat posed by Russia. To discuss these topics, Euronews’ weekly podcast Brussels, My Love? sat down with Ionela Maria Ciolan, security expert at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, Angela Skujins, Euronews defence correspondent and Jeremy Wilks,…
Poland’s Undersecretary of State for Trade, Michał Baranowski, told Euronews that the Russian drone incursion into Romania early on Friday morning — following a series of similar incidents across the Baltic region — demonstrates that the European Union is no longer living in peacetime. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “These are not mistakes. These are provocations,” he told Euronews’ Europe Today programme. “It’s extremely serious. It is difficult to overstate the scale of this escalation.” The drone was part of an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine and crashed into an apartment building in south-eastern Romania, injuring two people, Romanian authorities said on Friday.…