Author: Press Room

The European Commission is redirecting internal resources to Moldova’s enlargement process, after Chișinău’s reform pace outstripped the department’s capacity to keep up with it, EU officials told Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Moldovan government has pushed through required reforms so quickly that the Commission is now playing catch-up, reallocating existing resources to keep tabs on progress. “Moldova’s impressive record of EU reforms is paying off. I had a good call with new Prime Minister Vasile Tofan during which we discussed the next steps on Moldova’s EU accession path,” Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos wrote on X on Tuesday. The Commission’s enlargement department,…

Published on 10/09/2026 – 6:00 GMT+2 August was the hottest month on record, tied with July 2023, according to data published on Thursday by the European climate observatory Copernicus. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Last month, the global average air temperature reached 16.96°C, which is 1.65°C higher than the pre-industrial reference period of 1850–1900. August was the first month since November 2025 to exceed 1.5°C, the limit set by the Paris Agreement on climate change. The extra-polar oceans also broke a record for their average temperature last month, due to global warming, Copernicus points out. The average temperature reached 21.07°C, the highest ever…

An urgent memo from the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), declassified on Wednesday and dated 29 July, confirms that the agency was aware, at least 24 hours in advance, of the possibility of a migrant crossing linked to Morocco’s Throne Day celebrations. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The memo, declassified by the Spanish Prime Minister’s Office, shows that Morocco’s intelligence services, the DGST and DGED, were warned about several active WhatsApp groups that were “preparing an attempt to enter (…) next Thursday, 30 July”. Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday, in an interview on ‘Mañaneros 360’, that the CNI had failed to effectively anticipate the…

Published on 09/09/2026 – 12:48 GMT+2 The European Union’s General Court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the previous Hungarian government that sought to block billions of euros in aid to Ukraine funded by frozen Russian assets. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Hungary, under the previous government of Viktor Orbán, turned to the European Court of Justice last year to annul a Council decision channelling interest payments from frozen Russian central bank assets to Ukraine via the European Peace Facility (EPF), the EU’s principal military aid instrument. The Orbán government argued that the EPF had breached EU law by disregarding its veto on…

There has been dismay and pledges for action across Europe after it was revealed on Tuesday that maths and reading skills among pupils have declined across the world, largely due to digitalisation and a drop in recreational reading. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The OECD’s latest PISA report, based on a standardised test taken by 15-year-olds, found that student performance across OECD countries reached a record low in maths and reading. Within the EU, pupils in Spain, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta, Greece, Romania, Cyprus, and Bulgaria score below the OECD average in reading, mathematics and science skills. Only Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Poland and…

Published on 09/09/2026 – 16:01 GMT+2•Updated 16:04 The Hungarian government has formally notified the European Commission of the reforms it has passed to address the EU’s rule of law concerns, in a move that could unlock €4.2 billion in cohesion funding and restore access to EU programmes. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “The European Commission has received Hungary’s written notification under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation. The notification sets out measures to remedy the situation that led to the adoption of protective measures,” the European Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, Piotr Serafin, wrote on X on Wednesday. The notification follows…

Published on 09/09/2026 – 16:06 GMT+2 European cities will have greater powers to restrict short-term rentals such as Airbnb under EU plans unveiled on Wednesday aimed at tackling rising housing costs in popular tourist destinations. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The European Commission set out conditions under which local authorities will be able to limit short-term lets as part of its affordable housing package, designed to address what Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera described as a “terrible crisis”. “When the market fails to deliver something as fundamental as an affordable home, public authorities have a responsibility to act”, Ribera said. Short-term rentals are popular…

Published on 09/09/2026 – 16:48 GMT+2 The EU has announced an affordable housing plan aimed at encouraging long-term rentals and making housing more accessible for Europeans. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Unveiled on Wednesday, the plan aims to create clarity and predictability in how rules are applied by local authorities, particularly in neighbourhoods popular with tourists where short-term rentals have displaced residents. “Lack of affordable housing is a matter of concern for so many of our European citizens,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a press statement. “Essential workers and students cannot afford to live where they serve and study.…

Published on 09/09/2026 – 20:30 GMT+2 The same week that Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas, travelled to Brussels in a cry for help, we are joined by Czech centre-right MEP Tomáš Svetechovský and German Socialist MEP Birgit Sippel for their points of view. One month on from the arrival of thousands of irregular migrants in the Spanish city, we hear how EU countries could have shown more solidarity and what more can be done to help Ceuta. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Tomáš Svetechovský criticised the Spanish government’s handling of the situation, arguing that it should have acted sooner and requested more European…

Six hours of footage and a torrent of racist, misogynistic and conspiratorial remarks. The local newspaper Midi Libre has published video from a night-time patrol by Carcassonne’s municipal police, recorded on 6 November 2025. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Captured inadvertently by one officer’s body camera, which they thought was switched off, it contains, according to the daily, comments described as “of exceptional violence”. According to Midi Libre, a preliminary investigation has been under way since January 2026, when the footage is said to have been passed to the Carcassonne public prosecutor’s office. Following the video’s publication by the newspaper, the prosecutor’s office…