Author: Press Room
The instrumentalisation of vetoes undermines the democratic principles of the European Union as it hijacks the interests of 26 in the name of one single holdout, High Representative Kaja Kallas told Euronews in an exclusive interview. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Kallas was reflecting on the end of Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in uninterrupted power, during which the Hungarian prime minister frequently frustrated his fellow leaders with his near-constant, overlapping vetoes. “We have to be clear that, actually, the EU treaties do not foresee the veto. The treaties are based on unanimity — that everybody agrees,” Kallas told Euronews in an interview recorded…
By Alessio Dell’Anna & video by Léo Arnoux Published on 24/04/2026 – 10:45 GMT+2 As the world waits for a new round of talks between Washington and Tehran, unlikely to take place imminently, oil prices spiked again on Thursday, hovering at more than $100 a barrel. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The standoff is choking off nearly all exports through the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime. In the year preceding the American-Israeli attack on Iran, prices at the pump had been drifting down across most of the EU, but the shock provoked by the blockade has…
The Irish government has asked Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to rethink plans to accelerate permitting procedures, stressing that faster approvals are vital to deliver housing and critical infrastructure. The request comes as the country faces a deepening housing crisis marked by soaring rents, widespread homelessness and chronic supply shortages. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Irish Housing Minister James Browne has recently called on housing developers facing financial strain on cost-rental developments to come forward and engage with his department, in a bid to keep projects viable. His remarks follow the recent collapse of a north Dublin cost-rental scheme, which was deemed financially unworkable.…
The European Union’s failure to sanction Israel over its military action in Gaza and Lebanon weakens the collective “credibility” and “legitimacy” to defend Ukraine against Russia’s full-scale invasion, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Something that is delegitimising us, not only in the eyes of the outside world but also in the eyes of our own societies, is this double standard, this double yardstick that Europe is using in Ukraine and the Middle East,” Sánchez said on Friday. His warning comes a few days after Spain’s renewed push to terminate the EU-Israel Association Agreement in response to…
Russian soldiers who took part in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine should be barred for life from the passport-free Schengen area, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal has told Euronews, as he seeks to turn the proposal into EU-wide policy. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Estonian government argues that the Kremlin’s expanded mobilisation — aimed at sustaining its assault on Ukraine and replenishing battlefield losses — raises the likelihood that, even after hostilities end, former combatants could pose a risk for the EU. “What will those people do? Most of them are criminals, but they have to be treated as heroes inside Russia,”…
Good morning from Brussels. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT EU leaders are meeting for a second day of an informal summit in Cyprus today, after making history on Thursday with the adoption of a €90 billion loan for Ukraine. Hungary’s election outcome last week helped clear the path for the move, lifting Budapest’s veto and giving Kyiv additional resources to continue resisting Russian forces. Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, long one of the EU’s main disruptors, did not travel to Cyprus, leaving heads of state and government also celebrating a new package of sanctions against Russia adopted earlier in the day. That…
Arctic sea ice, which has been monitored by satellites since 1978, has beenshrinking dramatically in recent decades. On 22 March, with winter already over, the period of greatest accumulation, the maximum extent for 2026 is thought to have been reached – 14.33 million square kilometres, according to the United States (US) National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). It is the lowest peak since records began, something now seen for the second consecutive year. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT With this region warming almost four times faster than the rest of the planet, new sea routes and business opportunities are opening up for…
With a €90 billion loan for Ukraine and a new round of sanctions against Russia now unblocked and finally approved, the focus at an informal summit in Cyprus is rapidly shifting to Hungary’s long-standing veto on Kyiv’s EU accession amid hopes of using political momentum in Budapest as a new government prepares to take office. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT But Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted on Thursday that what Ukraine needs is full membership and not any kind of partial participation. Speaking with the reporters on the presidential WhatsApp chat on his way to Cyprus, Zelenskyy rejected the idea of partial EU membership for…
Good morning from Brussels. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The leaders of the European Union are meeting today in Cyprus for an informal summit that will consider, among other things, how to strengthen European defence. The meeting kicks off with a dinner in a resort, and on the menu is Article 42.7 of the EU treaties, a mutual assistance clause that could one day stand in for NATO’s Article 5, meaning that all countries have to assist one when it comes under attack. Speaking to Europe Today, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: “I think we in Europe have to be…
Published on 23/04/2026 – 17:09 GMT+2•Updated 17:41 French liberal MEP Christophe Grudler told Euronews the Commission’s proposed European preference, once adopted, covering public procurement in strategic sectors such as clean tech, cars and energy-intensive industries (aluminium and steel) should be limited to a core group of non-EU countries. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The “Made in Europe” provisions of the so-called “Industrial Accelerator Act” have triggered a fierce political battle between supporters, led by Germany and Nordic countries, of a broad definition including “like-minded” partners, and those, led by France, pushing for a narrower approach. In its proposal unveiled on 4 March, the…