Author: Press Room
Published on 19/10/2026 – 17:19 GMT+2•Updated 17:20 The three political groups underpinning the European Parliament’s centrist majority are set to re-elect their leaders on Tuesday, with little prospect of surprises despite growing tensions within their alliance. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the liberal Renew Europe group will hold internal leadership elections in Strasbourg on 20 October, with the outcomes all but a foregone conclusion. The EPP is expected to re-elect German Manfred Weber, who has led the group since 2014 and faces no challengers. “He has an iron grip on the group.…
Published on 19/10/2026 – 15:09 GMT+2 Preparations are under way to hold a European Council summit in Rome in March 2027 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, amid speculation over an early election in Italy. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT It would be the first time an anniversary celebration has been combined with a formal European Council summit held outside Brussels. EU leaders’ summits are normally held in Brussels. In exceptional circumstances, European Council President António Costa can propose another venue, provided all member states agree unanimously. “President Costa has put forward the idea to organise a formal European…
Published on 19/10/2026 – 12:14 GMT+2 A mother left her two children alone on the Bieszczady Mountains hiking trail in southern Poland on Saturday because they were “whining” and she wanted to reach the summit alone. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We are near the point where the blue and yellow trails split above Muczne. We are hiking with a group from the PTTK branch in Rzeszow. Suddenly we hear a piercing sob and a child’s scream. We stop, and two boys – a crying eight-year-old and his fourteen-year-old brother – are standing, bewildered, by the side of the trail,” the Rzeszow branch…
Published on 19/10/2026 – 12:16 GMT+2•Updated 12:24 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Budapest on Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The ceremony, hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, marks a significant thaw in relations between Brussels and Budapest after years of acrimony under his predecessor, Viktor Orbán. It will be von der Leyen’s first visit to Hungary since 2024, when she attended a European Political Community summit in Budapest. Under Orbán, Hungary repeatedly blocked EU initiatives to…
Young people who took part in the weekend’s looting in France have posted videos on TikTok and X boasting about the goods they took and about beating the riot police. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Thank you Paris, thank you Paname,” a young man says in one video on TikTok, using a slang name for the capital. “You’re killers, guys, we tore it all up.” His eyes are red, apparently from tear gas, and he goes on to list his haul. “I grabbed some new Under Armour,” he says, referring to the American sportswear brand. He then turns to the CRS riot police.…
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has reportedly proposed a three-way summit with US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month to negotiate an end to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to US media. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The proposal was reportedly made during a telephone conversation between Putin and Trump on 9 October, which also produced a controversial agreement involving Russian diesel exports to US and international markets. Citing people familiar with the discussions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the Kremlin suggested holding the meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen…
Kyiv has become a “true frontline city” as Russia intensifies its aerial campaign against Ukraine, the European Union’s ambassador to the country Katarína Mathernová told Euronews, warning that relentless attacks are increasingly disrupting everyday life in the capital ahead of winter. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Speaking exclusively to Euronews’ Europe Today programme, Mathernová, who has lived in Ukraine since September 2023, said the situation had deteriorated sharply since late August, when Russia began launching frequent daytime attacks alongside its overnight bombardments. “What happened since the end of August of this year is that Kyiv became a true frontline city,” she said. Air-raid…
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher has warned of worsening conditions in conflict zones, describing places such as Sudan and Gaza as an “atrocities lab”, where new weapons are being developed and tested amid devastating human suffering.
Published on 18/10/2026 – 12:02 GMT+2 Cost-of-living protests descended into violence across parts of France on Saturday as demonstrators clashed with police officers and set buildings and vehicles alight. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT More than half a million people are thought to have joined the demonstrations, including 110,000 in the French capital, Paris. Violence also broke out in cities such as Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Rennes, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Nice, Toulouse, and Limoges, where the town hall was almost completely destroyed in a fierce blaze. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Sunday that more than 500 police officers, gendarmes, and firefighters were injured…
Welcome back to Off the Record after another hectic week. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT I like to joke with our Deputy Head of EU News, Maia de la Baume, that things cannot get crazier with each passing week. Every time, I’m proved wrong. It’s bad news for my immune system, which has finally succumbed to a cold. This week, I spent some time in Warsaw before the European Council summit in Brussels, which wrapped up as I sat down to file this newsletter next to my Kleenex. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Brussels for the summit on Friday, looking to shore…