Author: Press Room

The Spanish government was plunged into crisis on Wednesday after a leaked police report suggested Moroccan forces played a role in pushing migrants into Ceuta in an unprecedented border violation, putting Madrid on the defensive. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Multiple media outlets, citing a law enforcement document, alleged Moroccan authorities helped push migrants by sea, acted “passively” and concluded that the mass influx of around 80,000 migrants into the Spanish enclave was not accidental. The allegations have triggered a political frenzy, putting Spain’s Interior Ministry on the back foot. The Spanish Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, under fire for his handling of Spain’s…

Published on 02/09/2026 – 15:52 GMT+2•Updated 18:59 Ukraine has formally informed the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that Russia’s airspace is unsafe for civilian traffic, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Ukraine has officially notified ICAO that the Russian airspace is not safe for civilian aviation because of increased military activity. We urge everyone to avoid it,” Sybiha said on X. He said Russia had been “deliberately ignoring the existing threats” created by its all-out war against Ukraine, arguing that the risks had already resulted in several aviation incidents in recent years. “This is our responsible decision…

Published on 02/09/2026 – 16:52 GMT+2•Updated 17:04 Around 500 people gathered in front of the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday to protest against the Spanish government’s handling of the crisis in Ceuta, where several thousand of more than 70,000 migrants who arrived in the exclave on 30 July remain. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT MEPs and staffers from the centre-right European People’s Party and far-right Patriots for Europe gathered in the area in front of Parliament, waving the flags of Ceuta and Spain, and accusing Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of failing to defend Spain’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Two separate demonstrations…

Belgium has forcefully pushed back against a new attempt to tap into the Russian Central Bank’s immobilised assets to provide additional support to Ukraine. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The European Union holds €210 billion in these assets, the bulk of which is kept at Euroclear, a depository in central Brussels. The hot-button topic was discussed at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, with Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland leading the push following their joint letter sent last week. The Baltic countries also voiced support. But according to Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, the debate “generated little enthusiasm or…

Published on 02/09/2026 – 17:41 GMT+2 EU member states agreed to press ahead with an EU-wide visa ban for former and current members of the Russian army, alongside tougher visa restrictions for Russian tourists, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “There was broad support to move with an EU visa entry ban for Russian ex-combatants and tougher visa restrictions for Russian tourists,” Kallas said at a press conference following an informal meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers in Wicklow, Ireland. In the 21st sanctions package adopted in July, the European Commission had originally proposed barring EU…

Brussels is assessing a new payment request from Kyiv worth several billion euros to bolster Ukraine’s air defences, as Russia intensifies its aerial attacks and Ukraine seeks more US-made Patriot interceptors. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We have received a new payment request. It is worth several billion euros and would cover Ukraine’s air defences, including the highly advanced PAC-3 Patriot air defence systems,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. EU countries now need to approve a derogation from the conditions of the Ukraine Support Loan, which limits non-European sourcing…

The European Union’s worsening exposure to extreme weather and imported fossil fuels makes decarbonisation as much a matter of economic and security policy as climate policy, a senior European Commission official said. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Russia’s war against Ukraine and the disruption around the Strait of Hormuz have raised successive warnings about Europe’s dependence on imported oil and gas, Jan Dusik, director general at the Commission’s climate department, said on the sidelines of the think tank Bruegel Annual Meetings on Wednesday. “Climate policy must survive, because we want to survive in Europe,” Dusik said, arguing that abandoning or weakening the agenda…

In an exclusive interview, European Union Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told Euronews that the EU is not in a position to mediate in the trade war between Canada and the United States following the collapse of their trade talks. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Ten days ago, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from the negotiations with the Trump administration, blaming them for pressuring Canada over the use of the French language. In the following days, US President Donald Trump announced 50% US tariffs on Canadian cars and trucks, to which Ottawa retaliated with tariffs on more than 700 US imports, worth…

Spain’s interior minister has asked police to check a report that a government agency blamed Moroccan security forces for July’s mass entry of migrants to the enclave of Ceuta, ministry sources said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Monday that Morocco was not responsible, instead accusing Israel, Russia and the far right of spreading disinformation about the mass entry of around 70,000 migrants into Ceuta. Sánchez told Cadena SER radio that “no intelligence service with which the Spanish government normally cooperates” had suggested “any involvement in one way or another of the Moroccan authorities.” But…

The EU’s diplomatic service presented on Wednesday additional listings targeting 27 Russian individuals and entities involved in the forced deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT EU ambassadors reviewed the new blacklisting at their first meeting since the summer recess. It is expected to be adopted by the end of the month. It is not the first time Brussels has targeted those responsible for Russia’s illegal mass abduction, deportation and re-education of minors from Ukraine’s occupied territories. Several individual listings have already featured in previous sanctions packages. In May, EU countries blacklisted 16 individuals and seven entities to mark…