Author: Press Room
As military escalation surges in the Middle East, Iran’s announcement of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent crude oil and natural gas prices soaring. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Faced with rising energy costs at home, European leaders are scrambling to avoid a cascading energy crisis, and are especially concerned about mitigating the price shock already being felt in markets. Many European countries like Italy, Greece, Spain, Poland and Belgium rely on the Strait of Hormuz for imports or refining. Experts say the closure of this corridor will not cut off Europe’s oil supply, but will continue to drive oil…
Published on 04/03/2026 – 13:58 GMT+1 The European Commission said on Wednesday it would make sure the European Union’s interests are fully safeguarded after the the White House threatened to cut off trade relations with Spain. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The Commission offered its support after United States President Donald Trump lashed out at Madrid for its refusal to allow the US military to use its bases to support its operations in and around Iran. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump called the Spanish government “terrible”. “We’re going to cut off all trade. We don’t want anything to do with…
The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled its long-awaited industrial plan, rolling out a “European Preference” that shuts China out of European public funding and tightens the screws on Beijing’s future investments in the European Union. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The move comes after 200,000 European jobs were wiped out in energy-intensive industries and the automotive sector since 2024, with 600,000 losses projected this decade in carmaking alone, as China floods Europe with exports while building plants that create scant local employment. “Facing unprecedented global uncertainty and unfair competition, European industry can count on the provisions of this act to boost demand and…
By James Thomas & video by Maud Zaba Published on 04/03/2026 – 10:30 GMT+1•Updated 11:00 Despite significant progress in women’s representation in leadership roles and a narrowing gender pay gap, full gender equality in the EU is said to still be at least 50 years away, according to the European Institute for Gender Inequality Index. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT One area that still needs improvement is pensions: new figures from Eurostat show that the average pension for women aged 65 or above in the EU was 24.5% lower than that for men in 2024. When broken down by country, Malta had the largest pension gender…
Hungary’s last-minute veto on the €90 billion loan to Ukraine highlights the need for the European Union to move away from unanimity, Rob Jetten, the new prime minister of the Netherlands, said on his first trip to Brussels since taking office. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “The new Dutch goverment is in favour of less and less decision-making by unanimity on the European level,” Jetten told a group of media, including Euronews, on Tuesday. “This is a clear example of why that is important because we cannot explain to our constituents that Europe is sometimes way too level in reacting to great issues…
European Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen hailed his visit to Azerbaijan on Tuesday as “fruitful” as the European Union deals with the halt in liquid natural gas (LNG) production from Qatar, an important energy exporter, and the impact of the Strait of Hormuz’s closure amid the conflict in the Middle East. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “Diversification, energy security and clean transition are top priorities. This is even more important in the context of the ongoing tensions in the Middle East,” Jørgensen wrote on X, as EU imports from Qatar accounted for 8% in 2025, according to real-time data and intelligence market Kpler Insight.…
Critics of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are casting her reaction to the US-Israeli war in Iran as the latest example of a foreign policy “power grab” – even as the commission’s formal diplomatic powers are limited and member states themselves are still grappling with how to respond. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT When the war began with US strikes on Iran last Saturday, von der Leyen was the first leader across Europe to issue a reaction, calling the developments in Iran “greatly concerning”. Since then, she has issued 12 posts involving Iran on X and held talks with at least…
Published on 03/03/2026 – 16:56 GMT+1 Drone activity targeting British military facilities in Cyprus has raised security concerns in recent days, but the incidents have so far not prompted formal consultations within either NATO or the European Union over collective defence measures. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Two drones targeting a British base in Akrotiri were intercepted on Monday after another attack on Sunday caused limited damage. Britain is a member of NATO, but a source at the military alliance confirmed to Euronews on Tuesday that no dedicated discussion had been held among the 32 allies over the incident, which is so far…
Budapest and Kyiv have once again clashed over the status of the Druzhba pipeline, putting Brussels in an awkward position amid a dispute that has stalled a €90 billion European Loan to Ukraine and shows no sign of being resolved soon. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT In a new letter, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose veto has outraged his fellow leaders, asked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to “increase political pressure” on Ukraine to restart crude deliveries through the Soviet-era pipeline. He also asked the executive to “enforce relevant provisions” of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which he argues is being…
Claims that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has escaped to Berlin amid the Iran war, which was sparked by US and Israeli airstrikes, have swamped social media platforms. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT On Saturday evening, the same day that the airstrikes took place, flight-tracking data showed that Israel’s government plane had landed at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport. Online, users claimed that Israeli Netanyahu was on board the flight. Some posts accused him of having fled the country following the start of coordinated US and Israeli strikes on Iran. One post, with more than 1.5 million views, claimed to have tracked Netanyahu to a…