Author: Press Room

Published on 27/08/2026 – 14:10 GMT+2 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that if negotiations to reduce the record-high trade deficit with China did not produce a breakthrough, the EU should make use of all its trade defence mechanisms. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Tensions have remained high between Brussels and Beijing since the talks were launched last June. Over the summer, China moved to ban Chinese firms from participating in EU antitrust probes, while the Commission has continued opening trade defence investigations into the suspected dumping of Chinese products into the European market. “Dialogue with China remains necessary.…

Ceuta has faced its second consecutive night of protests over the migration crisis, and social tensions continue to rise. Tuesday’s demonstrations against the alleged plan by the government to house migrants in the Coronel Fiscer barracks were followed on Wednesday by a new wave of protests that ended with barricades, rubber bullets fired by police and blockades on the streets around the port. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Both days share a common denominator that is starting to repeat itself as the crisis persists: the press covering the situation has also become a target of criticism. Two nights, two TV crews harassed On…

Hungary’s Fidesz party is facing an existential crisis following its dramatic defeat in the country’s April elections, in which Péter Magyar’s Tisza party unseated Viktor Orbán after 16 years of governing with a supermajority. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Having been a key driver of Hungary’s democratic transition at the end of the 1980s and then a vehicle for Orbán’s nationalist, eurosceptic transformation of the country since 2010, Fidesz has since struggled to adapt to Hungary’s new political reality. Tisza commands nearly 70% support in opinion polls, while Fidesz’s own rating has fallen below 20%. Several leading figures have left politics altogether since…

Published on 27/08/2026 – 11:04 GMT+2 Iceland’s referendum on whether to restart EU accession negotiations is heading for a knife-edge result, the latest polls show, with the gap between “yes” and “no” narrowing sharply ahead of Saturday’s vote. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Maskína, a polling and market research company, says its survey of voting intentions for the high-stakes referendum put the “Yes” camp ahead on 51.3% and “No” on 48.7%. Previous polls have consistently shown a lead for the pro-accession camp, but also a steady closing of the gap. In earlier surveys commissioned by the Icelandic news outlet Vísir, Maskína put the…

Published on 27/08/2026 – 10:15 GMT+2 Norway’s 89-year-old King Harald is in an “extremely serious” condition after his health deteriorated while being treated in hospital for a blood disorder, the royal palace said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “His Majesty the King’s health condition is extremely serious,” the palace said in a statement, without providing further details. Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon, who is acting as regent during his father’s illness, have cancelled all royal engagements, while Norwegian media reported that members of the royal family were at the king’s bedside. Europe’s oldest reigning monarch has been in Oslo University…

Europe’s militaries are pouring money into the sea. EU defence expenditure rose to €418 billion in 2025, a 20 percent increase from the previous year, and is projected to reach €454 billion in 2026, equivalent to 2.4 percent of GDP. Maritime defence is one of the fastest-growing sectors. Production of naval vehicles and equipment across the bloc has reached €117.8 billion since 2016, with output hitting €13.7 billion in 2025 alone. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Who’s building Europe’s navies On paper, four countries dominate that output. France, Germany, Italy and Spain account for 87 percent of the EU’s maritime defence industrial base…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded tech billionaire Elon Musk the Order of Freedom, one of Ukraine’s most prestigious state honours, months after the SpaceX founder worked with Kyiv to block Russia’s illegal use of Starlink — a move that disrupted Moscow’s battlefield communications and helped slow the Russian advance. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The decree, published on Ukraine’s presidential website on Wednesday, cited Musk’s “outstanding personal merits in protecting human life and freedom” and his contribution to relations between Ukraine and the US. The award marks a striking turn in the complicated relationship between Musk, Ukraine and the country’s leadership, as Kyiv…

The Ionian Islands region was placed under a Code Red alert on Wednesday, as a very high risk of wildfires (Category 4) is forecast. The decision was taken by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Under the alert, the National Civil Protection Mechanism is fully activated, deploying the necessary personnel, equipment and resources required to prepare for imminent threat, respond to emergencies and manage the consequences of any destructive event. Short-term recovery, relief and support measures are also activated to help mitigate the impact of the disaster. A high wildfire risk (Category 3) is forecast for…

The EU’s migration policy has increasingly centred on the controversial notion of using “return hubs” to externalise irregular migrants to third countries, as enshrined in the recently adopted Return Regulation. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We need to set up repatriation centres in third countries, as well as other innovative solutions outside Europe. We are working hard on this,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen wrote in a joint statement earlier this month. Nineteen EU countries are convinced this is an “innovative solution” to pursue for migration management, as made clear in a joint letter sent to EU…

Published on 26/08/2026 – 12:46 GMT+2 State actors have been attempting to hack into EU officials’ Signal and WhatsApp accounts, according to a confidential European Commission presentation obtained by Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The presentation, prepared by the Interinstitutional Cybersecurity Board – a body set up in January 2024 to ensure EU institutions comply with the bloc’s cybersecurity rules – provides an updated overview of the threat landscape facing Brussels over the past year. In an unprecedented admission, first reported by Politico, the EU body acknowledged for the first time that state-sponsored actors have engaged in “spearphishing”, a highly targeted cyberattack…