Author: Press Room

The European People’s Party (EPP) has urged Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra to significantly recalibrate the bloc’s carbon market, the Emissions Trading System (ETS), by allowing more free pollution allowances to heavy industry beyond 2030. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Issued in an internal document detailing the EPP’s position and seen by Euronews, the plea comes ahead of the European Commission’s proposal to revise the ETS rules, due on 15 July. The EPP contends that protecting Europe’s manufacturing base has become as important as driving emissions reductions. “The system has achieved these emission reductions in a market-based and economically efficient manner,” reads the…

Updated: 01/07/2026 – 15:06 GMT+2 Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, Thomas Byrne, said the country’s six-month EU presidency will be a “generational moment” with key priorities, including opening more negotiation clusters with Ukraine and strengthening the EU’s economy. … More

Published on 01/07/2026 – 14:24 GMT+2 Several people have died after a fire broke out at an apartment block in Antwerp on Wednesday, Belgian police said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT A report came in of a blaze on the eighth floor of a building in the city’s Linkeroever neighborhood at 9:53 am, Antwerp police said in a statement. Video footage circulating on social media appears to show the fire, with plumes of black smoke billowing from a balcony. Police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene along with a drone crew. “The building has a total of ten floors and is home…

Published on 01/07/2026 – 11:34 GMT+2•Updated 12:40 Spain’s massive plan to regularise undocumented migrants is “an issue” for all of Europe, according to senior MEP Manfred Weber. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In an exclusive interview with Euronews, the president of the European People’s Party (EPP) slammed Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s initiative, which has attracted more than 1 million applications from people already residing in Spain. Weber said that even though the Spanish law granting residence permits that are not valid in other member states, the move would effectively enable migrant people to move around Europe and thus affect other Schengen countries. “They…

Russia has suspended traffic through several railway border crossings with Finland, Estonia and Latvia starting from Wednesday, Moscow said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Kremlin’s order released on Tuesday did not provide a reason for the closures. The statement mentions only a “temporary suspension” of the movement of people, vehicles, goods and cargo through selected railway crossings along sections of the Russian state border. Russia’s Foreign Ministry was instructed to notify Finland, Estonia and Latvia of the decision. The largest number of closures will affect the Finnish border, including the Vyborg, Vartsilya, Lyuttya, Saint Petersburg-Finlandsky and Svetogorsk railway checkpoints. Rail traffic will…

Published on 01/07/2026 – 10:45 GMT+2•Updated 10:51 The European Union is heading into a “phase of conflict” with Beijing unless it reaches a deal by the autumn to curb its widening trade deficit, European People’s Party chairman Manfred Weber has told Euronews’ flagship morning programme, Europe Today. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The EU’s trade chief, Maroš Šefčovič, said on Monday that Brussels aims to reach an agreement with China by October to address trade imbalances, amid growing concern that Chinese industrial overcapacity is undercutting Europe’s already struggling industries. Brussels is calling for tangible results as it readies new defence tools. “We have…

Published on 01/07/2026 – 9:35 GMT+2 The European Union cannot “kill its industry due to climate change,” Manfred Weber, president of the European People’s Party, told Euronews’ flagship programme Europe Today, as a brutal heatwave sweeping across Europe claimed around 1,300 lives and reignited the debate over the bloc’s climate policies. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Weber chairs the European People’s Party, the largest political force in Europe, which has in recent years rolled back parts of the Green Deal — the package of policies designed to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the bloc by 2050 — in a bid to prioritise…

But first, just in: Mafred Weber, the chairman of the powerful centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), has just told Europe Today that unless the EU and China strike a deal to reduce trading imbalances by October, the bloc is “entering into a phase of conflict” with Beijing. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The EU’s trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said on Monday that the EU would seek a pact with China to address the ballooning trade deficit by October, as concerns mount over the impact of Chinese industrial overcapacity on Europe’s already struggling industries. Weber called for a “fundamentally changed” approach to China. “The…

The era of duty-free shopping from SHEIN, Temu and AliExpress is ending. From 1 July, the EU is scrapping the customs exemption that let parcels worth under €150 enter the bloc tax-free, and introducing a flat €3 duty per item instead. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The change targets a system the Commission says has been quietly distorting the market for years. More than two billion small parcels arrive in the EU annually, most valued below €150; Brussels estimates a large share carry incorrect valuations or unclear safety information. By shipping millions of individual orders straight from China, platforms avoided import duties altogether,…

Published on 30/06/2026 – 8:02 GMT+2 On today’s show: ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Euronews’ Laila Humairah reports from Qatar as US and Iranian delegations return to Doha for fresh talks aimed at turning their interim agreement into a lasting peace deal. Euronews’ Angela Skujins examines the outcome of high-stakes EU-China trade talks in Brussels after Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič set an October deadline to resolve key disputes with Beijing. Euronews’ Mared Gwyn speaks to European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño about the bank’s record €3 billion commercial loan to Airbus and what it means for Europe’s competitiveness. Euronews’ Jakub Janas explains why…