Author: Press Room

The salaries of school staff, and in particular teachers and school heads, make up the largest single cost in formal education, yet teachers in most European countries are often considered underpaid relative to their level of education. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Some studies put teachers’ starting salaries at around 40% less than the earnings of other professionals with a tertiary education, and while the gap narrows as they reach the top of the payscale, a stark geographic divide across Europe persists. In the 2024/2025 school year, Luxembourg was the EU country that paid teachers the most across most of the education levels…

Published on 03/09/2026 – 15:37 GMT+2 Five African migrants died while attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, Spanish rescuers said on Thursday. An NGO said dozens more may have died. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Spain’s maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, said it rescued 44 men from sub-Saharan Africa from a boat drifting around 120 kilometres southwest of Gran Canaria on Wednesday night. Three survivors were immediately evacuated by helicopter to a hospital on the island. The remaining 41 migrants were brought to safety by boat and disembarked early Thursday in the port of Arguineguin, where they were cared for by the Red…

The ongoing migration crisis in the Spanish territory of Ceuta, which borders Morocco, continues to fuel misinformation online. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said research by the EU’s diplomatic service indicated that Russian and Israeli networks were responsible for the explosion of fake social media posts, telling Cadena Ser radio on Monday that “the international far right” was also to blame for them, as it always uses migration to “attack not just Spain, but also Europe”. Both Russia and Israel have denied the claims. More than 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta in…

The European Commission will propose new housing rules that would give national and local authorities clearer rules for restricting short-term holiday rentals and the purchase of homes or land that are not used as someone’s main home, according to a document seen by Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The prospect of a tougher crackdown comes as prices have skyrocketed faster than local incomes across most European capitals, rising 64.9% between 2015 and 2025 and rents 21.8%, according to EU data. Even people who cannot afford to buy are facing rising rents, which consume 40% of household income, and middle-class families are also…

Published on 03/09/2026 – 13:01 GMT+2 Belgium logged nearly 3,000 excess deaths during successive heatwaves since June, health authorities said on Thursday, days after this summer was confirmed as the hottest on record in the northern European nation. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Some 365 excess deaths were observed between 28 July-16 August, when Belgium sweltered under its third heatwave of the season, which also saw the beginning of the country’s worst wildfire in modern history. That represented a “slight” uptick of 7% more deaths than normal, the Sciensano national public health institute said. The figure added to a grim tally racked up…

Published on 03/09/2026 – 12:09 GMT+2 Russia is “actively” preparing sabotage operations against Denmark, particularly its defence industry, Danish intelligence agency PET told the AFP news agency on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “The Russian intelligence services are actively preparing acts of sabotage targeting the defence industry in Denmark,” Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said in a statement to AFP. They are recruiting “ordinary Danes” on social media to take photos that can be used in planning acts of sabotage, it said. Emil Graesholm, PET head of counterintelligence at the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, told newspaper Berlingske in an interview…

Published on 03/09/2026 – 10:36 GMT+2•Updated 10:45 Estonia’s Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur announced on Wednesday that he would step down from his political post after it emerged that the government had used European Union funding to purchase artillery shells for Ukraine from companies with no previous track record of producing the weapons. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Estonian public broadcaster ERR reported on Wednesday that the government struck a deal in 2024 to acquire artillery shells for Ukraine, paying €70 million upfront from the EU’s European Peace Facility to fund the purchase. The companies involved, however, had never previously sold a single artillery…

In a civil defence shelter cut into rock, behind doors designed to withstand a nuclear or biological attack, two Finnish conscripts wearing hazmat suits and breathing masks are measuring radiation levels as they take part in an exercise to turn a cave into a place of safety for thousands of people. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Inside, in what is normally a sports hall, hundreds of people are sleeping overnight on camp beds. More than 2,000 people including volunteers and students are taking part in the biggest civil defence exercise in Europe since the end of World War II. In the scenario, critical…

Ukraine and Moldova have finished screening their laws against the EU rulebook. Montenegro has closed 18 of its 33 negotiating chapters, chasing a self-declared “28 by 28” target for membership. Albania hopes to conclude talks by 2027. Each of these candidates is poorer, less institutionally secure, or closer to Russia’s borders than Iceland will ever be, and all want in. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Iceland, richer and more stable than most existing EU member states, said no. On 29 August, voters rejected reopening accession talks by 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent. Iceland remains in the European Economic Area and the Schengen Area,…

Published on 03/09/2026 – 7:17 GMT+2 A Maltese court acquitted tycoon Yorgen Fenech of orchestrating the car-bomb killing of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia on Wednesday, sparking outrage from her family and media freedom advocates. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The wealthy businessman had stood accused of masterminding the 2017 assassination of 53-year-old Caruana Galizia, which sparked unprecedented protests and brought down a government. Caruana Galizia’s family said in a statement that Fenech’s acquittal was “denying her the justice she deserves.” Her son Matthew Caruana Galizia said jurors had made a “terrible decision…that our country may never recover from.” The European Centre for…