Author: Press Room
Good morning, Brussels. Angela Skujins writing this mid-week bulletin, where a transatlantic turf war is brewing in Ankara that shows no signs of abating. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT But before we get there, a quick update on a major news story gripping Paris: far-right firebrand Marine Le Pen last night vowed to run in France’s 2027 presidential election despite a fraud conviction. Euronews’ deputy EU news editor Maïa de la Baume breaks down the announcement in this must-read analysis, writing that after an appeals court held up a previous ruling on Tuesday, the presidential hopeful will fight it. “I want to pursue…
By Alessio Dell’Anna & video by Baptiste Goudier Published on 07/07/2026 – 9:32 GMT+2•Updated 9:40 Germans will no longer be allowed to call in sick without sending a medical certificate, from day one of their illness. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT That’s part of the new plans announced by Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week, aimed at reviving the economy. Currently, workers can stay home for up to three days without providing a note, which they can also get without seeing a doctor. Also, an employee on sick leave receives their full salary for up to six weeks. Merz had repeatedly complained that the rate of sick…
Lithuania’s new Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius presented his government’s policy agenda to the Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday, setting out a programme focused on defence, civil resilience and recalibration of foreign policy towards China while maintaining a hard line on Russia, as the country seeks to respond to a deteriorating security environment on NATO’s eastern flank. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Bordering both Russia and Belarus, the Baltic country of less than three million has faced a growing number of hybrid threats in recent years, including drone incursions, airspace violations, cyber-attacks and cross-border smuggling. This has forced the country to move full steam ahead…
Ukrainian men of military age between 23-60 who arrive in the EU could lose their automatic temporary protection status under a European Commission proposal backed by Germany’s Interior Minister, Alexander Dobrindt. The proposal would allow the measure to be introduced across the bloc if requested by the Ukrainian government. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In an interview with the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, said Berlin and Kyiv are discussing ways to encourage Ukrainian men living in Germany to return home. Asked about plans to deport conscription-age Ukrainians whom Kyiv considers to have left the country illegally, Makeiev…
Published on 07/07/2026 – 13:00 GMT+2•Updated 15:10 US President Donald Trump has landed in the Turkish capital Ankara to attend a two-day NATO summit. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Trump said he was “very disappointed” by the response of NATO allies in Europe to his war with Iran after arriving for the alliance’s summit. “I was very disappointed with NATO,” Trump told journalists as he met Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “We didn’t need any help at all, and in a way, I was testing people, I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there, because I’ve long said that we…
Published on 07/07/2026 – 13:13 GMT+2•Updated 15:35 The European Parliament has entered the row over US President Donald Trump’s pressure on FIFA to reverse the red-card suspension of striker Folarin Balogun, who played in the World Cup round-of-16 match that the United States lost 4-1 to Belgium. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT A group of MEPs launched an initiative on Tuesday calling for an investigation into the role of FIFA President Gianni Infantino to determine whether pressure from the US administration influenced the decision. The letter, seen by Euronews, is addressed to the 27 football associations of the European Union, urging them to…
Portugal has intensified pressure on France and the European Union to accelerate long-delayed electricity interconnections, with a top minister arguing that the Iberian Peninsula remains an “energy island” despite leading Europe in renewable energy deployment. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “From the point of view of electricity and energy in general, we are an island,” Portuguese Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho told reporters on 6 July. “And that’s more difficult to manage. We need more flexibility, more storage and much greater grid resilience than if we were fully integrated.” Carvalho’s remarks came on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting in Paris to…
Published on 07/07/2026 – 13:19 GMT+2•Updated 13:30 The European Parliament approved on Tuesday the revised EU rules on air passengers, who will continue to benefit from free cabin luggage and will be entitled to financial compensation if flights are delayed by at least three hours. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Almost the entire hemicycle voted in favour of the agreement reached with EU countries after more than a decade of negotiations. The bill was approved with 646 MEPs in favour, 12 against and three abstentions. European air travellers are currently entitled to compensation of between €250 and €600 if a flight is cancelled…
Published on 07/07/2026 – 15:11 GMT+2 NATO must become more European to reduce its long-standing reliance on the US security umbrella, Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte said on Tuesday as leaders of the 77-year-old alliance gathered in Ankara, Turkey, for their annual summit. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We both know how important close cooperation between the European Union and NATO is,” the European Commission president said alongside the NATO secretary general at an industrial forum ahead of the summit. “But to make this possible, what we need is interoperability.” Rutte echoed von der Leyen’s remarks, highlighting the “clear division of…
By Enrico Letta, EU Rapporteur on the future of the Single Market, President of the Jacques Delors Institute, Head of the IE Competitiveness Hub in Brussels, Former Prime Minister of Italy Published on 07/07/2026 – 16:05 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. Europe faces a paradox. We produce some of the best science in the world, yet we rarely build the companies that turn this science into global success. We educate brilliant researchers and entrepreneurs, only to see too many of them take…