Author: Press Room
Officials and diplomats in Brussels are growing increasingly pessimistic about the chances of enforcing a full ban on maritime services for Russian tankers, as both internal and external factors weigh against the ambitious proposal. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “It’s not happening,” a diplomat bluntly said. The ban was approved in late April as part of the 20th package of sanctions to cripple Moscow’s war economy. It is designed to prohibit all maritime-related services, including banking, shipping, flagging and insurance, for tankers carrying Russian oil. Crucially, the far-reaching measure was left on hold sine die. The official reason for the pause was a…
By Dr. Alexander Wolf, Leiter des Hauptstadtbüros der Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung Published on 04/06/2026 – 9:15 GMT+2 The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews. Germany has lost the election to the UN Security Council. This is not a foreign policy drama, but a symptom. It is not the seat itself that weighs heavily, but what the defeat reveals about Germany’s position in the world. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Annalena Baerbock, of all people, had to announce the result. As President of the UN General Assembly, the former foreign minister…
Published on 04/06/2026 – 9:00 GMT+2 Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovia, North Macedonia Kosovo are at various stages of trying to join the bloc. Geographically, the region is completely surrounded by the EU. For nearly two decades, a period of relative calm kept enlargement on the backburner, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shattered that peace, turning expansion into a critical security priority. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT However, it is also about money. The EU is already the region’s primary trading partner and investor and only last year, the total trade reached over €87 billion. It is a massive, two-way exchange of…
A grey plume of smoke was seen rising over St. Petersburg early on Wednesday, as officials gathered for Russia’s annual economic forum, which Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Ukrainian drones struck energy and military sites in the Russian port city, Russian and Ukrainian authorities reported. The Ukrainian military struck the Petersburg Oil Terminal overnight, roughly 1,100 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Purely military targets at the Kronstadt base were also hit,” Zelenskyy added. “Another target was an enterprise in the Tambov region involved in the production of Russian weapons”. The city’s…
Published on 03/06/2026 – 10:29 GMT+2 A British Treasury minister has called the United Kingdom’s return to the EU “an inevitability”. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Lord Spencer Livermore, the financial secretary to the treasury, said on Monday that reversing Brexit was “absolutely” in the UK’s “national economic interest” while also touting the government’s “reset” efforts with Brussels. “Should we in due course reenter the European Union, well of course, my personal view is that that is an inevitability,” he told peers in the House of Lords. “Of course the UK will at one point reenter the European Union”. “In the meantime, we…
Published on 03/06/2026 – 22:05 GMT+2 France and the UK have agreed to extend their “one-in, one-out” migrant returns agreement until 1 October, a French minister said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The scheme, known as Operation Hillmore, came into force in September last year as part of efforts by London and Paris to tackle illegal migration across the English Channel. Under the arrangement, Britain can return some migrants to France who arrive illegally by small boats and are deemed not to have a right to remain in the UK. In exchange, Britain accepts an equivalent number of asylum seekers from…
Published on 03/06/2026 – 23:25 GMT+2 In this edition of The Ring, two lawmakers from two Nordic countries that are usually seen as in Moscow’s crosshairs discuss the latest from the war in Ukraine. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Rasa Juknevičienė from the European People’s Party (EPP) from Lithuania and Merja Kyllönen from The Left Group from Finland join us on the set of the European Parliament in Brussels. As the war in Ukraine grinds into its fifth summer, a peaceful solution remains as elusive as ever. The same can be said about a clear European strategy. Nowhere is this more evident than…
Protests continued in Albania on Wednesday against a massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, with demonstrators taking to the streets of Tirana for a third day to voice their opposition to the project. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The government says the development on the Adriatic coast would be transformational for the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market and pushes for European Union membership. But the venture, spanning an abandoned island and a nearby stretch of seafront on Albania’s southern coast, has drawn opposition from environmental campaigners and…
The government has already responded to Wednesday’s general stoppage, playing down its overall impact. Even so, the late afternoon was marked by scuffles outside the Assembly of the Republic, where one of several demonstrations against the labour law was taking place on this day of general strike. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT According to the newspaper Observador, five people were detained by the Public Security Police (PSP) following clashes between the two sides. Several rubbish bins were also set on fire, and the authorities ordered protesters to leave the area, an order that was not complied with. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said, following…
The European Commission announced on Wednesday a sweeping €92 million maritime initiative aimed at positioning the European Union as the global superpower in ocean patrolling and intelligence, citing “malicious actors” increasingly exploiting grey-zone tactics. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The ocean covers 70% of the planet’s surface, but only 5% of it has been explored. The Commission’s goal for the ocean observation plan announced by Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costa Kadis and Research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva is to capture 35% of the global ocean observing market and technology infrastructure by 2035, backed by €92 million in EU funds. “This is about using…