Category Archives: European Union

EU could water down AI Act amid pressure from Trump and big tech

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European Commission confirms reports it is looking at postponing parts of landmark legislation

The European Commission is considering plans to delay parts of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, after intense pressure from businesses and Donald Trump’s administration.

The commission confirmed that “a reflection” was “still ongoing” on delaying aspects of the regulation, after media reports that Brussels was weighing up changes with the aim of easing demands on big tech companies.

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Ukraine faces ‘forever war’ unless Europe steps up pressure on Russia, says ex-Nato chief

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Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls for air shield on Nato territory and deployment of European protection force for Ukraine

Ukraine is facing a “forever war” and a slow erosion of territory unless Europe dramatically increases pressure on Russia, including by deploying troops and establishing a missile and drone shield on Nato territory to protect Ukraine from Russian attacks on its infrastructure, a former Nato secretary general has said.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who held the Nato post from 2009 to 2014 and was the prime minister of Denmark from 2001 to 2009, said in an interview with the Guardian that if countries such as Poland agreed to host such air defences, Russia would understand that an attack on them would be an attack on the whole of the Nato alliance.

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Belgium to hold security meeting after drone sightings at airports and military bases

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Source says Russia ‘very probably’ responsible amid surge in incursions into European airspace since mid-September

Belgium’s national security council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday after drone sightings at airports caused chaos for travellers and raised security concerns.

Arrivals and departures were halted for several hours on Tuesday evening at Belgium’s busiest airport, Brussels, leading to the cancellation of dozens of flights. The skies were also closed over Liège airport, an important hub for freight transport, leading to further cancellations, delays and diversions.

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Huge crowds gather on first anniversary of Serbian train station disaster

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Student-led movement continues to demand political change as embattled president issues rare apology

Tens of thousands of Serbians have gathered to commemorate victims of a fatal railway station collapse a year ago, a tragedy that galvanised anti-government sentiment that still threatens the embattled president, Aleksandar Vučić.

A student-led movement organised the rallies in the country’s second largest city, Novi Sad, where on 1 November 2024, the canopy at the newly renovated railway station collapsed.

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New planning bill could jeopardise UK’s trade deal with EU, ambassador warns

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Exclusive: Proposed legislation removes EU-derived nature protections as government hopes to boost economic growth

Ripping up environmental protections will put at risk the UK’s free trade agreement with the EU, Europe’s ambassador has warned.

The Guardian understands Pedro Serrano visited the environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, this week and warned her that the planning and infrastructure bill going through the House of Lords could jeopardise the trade deal.

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World’s climate plans fall drastically short of action needed, analysis shows

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Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed

Recently drafted climate plans from scores of countries fall drastically short of what is needed to stave off the worst effects of climate breakdown, analysis has shown.

More than 60 countries have so far submitted national plans on greenhouse gas emissions to the UN, setting out how they will curb carbon for the next decade.

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Lithuania says it will shoot down smuggling balloons from Russia’s ally Belarus

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PM blames Alexander Lukashenko for not stopping ‘hybrid attacks’, which closed Vilnius airport four times last week

Lithuania’s prime minister has authorised the shooting down of smuggling balloons that cross the border from Russia’s ally Belarus, calling them “hybrid attacks” in an echo of the term used to describe Moscow’s destabilisation efforts.

Incursions by balloons carrying contraband cigarettes prompted the Nato and EU member state to close Vilnius airport four times last week and shut its border crossings with Belarus temporarily.

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Zelenskyy presses for EU decision on using frozen Russia assets to defend Ukraine

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Ukrainian president says ‘time to act is now’ as Belgium seeks guarantees from other member states over loan plan

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged EU leaders to use Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s defence “as soon as possible”, as summit talks on the issue of a reparations loan get bogged down.

Speaking to EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Zelenskyy called for a decision to be made to use Russian assets fully to defend his country against Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

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US imposes sanctions on Russian oil over Putin’s ‘refusal’ to end war in Ukraine

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Trump administration hardens stance against the Kremlin day after cancelling a planned summit with Russian leader

The US has sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s two largest oil companies, as the Trump administration increased pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine.

The sanctions were the first against Russia since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, and were targeted to cut key revenues from oil sales that finance the Russian war machine.

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US demands EU reverse new climate rules to allow surge in gas imports

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US and Qatar say new rules will hinder imports of LNG, posing ‘existential threat’ to European economies

The US has demanded that the European Union roll back its climate and human rights rules in order to allow greater imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Trump administration approved a controversial gas export hub along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

A letter jointly sent by the US and Qatar, two of the three largest LNG exporters in the world, warned the EU that its new rules pose an “existential threat” to European economies as they would hinder imports of gas from countries such as theirs.

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EU criticised for pausing sanctions on Israel in response to Trump Gaza efforts

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Pause on move to freeze preferential trade pact comes amid scramble to shore up fragile ceasefire

The EU has been criticised for pausing sanctions against Israel’s government in response to Donald Trump’s peacemaking efforts in the Middle East, as the fragile ceasefire came under threat.

After meeting EU foreign ministers on Monday, the European foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced a pause on efforts to suspend preferential trade with Israel and sanctions against people responsible for fuelling the conflict on both sides.

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Nicolas Sarkozy to enter prison for criminal conspiracy over Libyan funding

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Former French president set to start five-year sentence for scheme to obtain campaign funds from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime

The former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will go to prison on Tuesday after a court sentenced him to five years for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, who was the rightwing president of France between 2007 and 2012, will become the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to be jailed.

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Zelenskyy urges allies not to appease Russia after failing to secure US missiles

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Ukraine’s president calls for meeting of European-led ‘coalition of the willing’ on his return from talks with Trump

Ukraine’s president has urged allies against appeasing Russia after returning from a trip to the US, where he failed to secure long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy had flown to Washington after weeks of calls for the weaponry, hoping to capitalise on Donald Trump’s growing frustration with Vladimir Putin after a summit in Alaska failed to produce a breakthrough in the war.

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Chemical linked to low sperm count, obesity and cancer found in dummies, tests find

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BPA, a synthetic chemical used in production of plastics, found in baby products made by three big European brands

A chemical linked to impaired sexual development, obesity and cancer has been found in baby dummies manufactured by three big European brands.

Dummies made by the Dutch multinational Philips, the Swiss oral health specialists Curaprox and the French toy brand Sophie la Girafe were found to contain bisphenol A (BPA), according to laboratory testing by dTest, a Czech consumer organisation. Philips said they had carried out subsequent testing and found no BPA, while Sophie la Girafe said the amount found was insignificant.

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France’s parliamentary permacrisis is the dawning of a new political reality

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Sébastien Lecornu may have lived to see another day, but this crise de régime could yet prove terminal for the Fifth Republic

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In October 2022, when Rishi Sunak moved into 10 Downing St, he became the fifth British prime minister to take up the office in six years.

Unleashed on the UK by Brexit, this was unprecedented political turmoil. So how might we describe what is happening in France, now on its fifth (or sixth, depending how you count) premier in two years – three of them in the past 10 months?

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EU executive to propose short-term rental rules to tackle ‘social crisis’ in housing

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Bloc’s first affordable housing plan to cover issues such as tenants’ rights, property speculation and tourist lets

The EU executive will propose rules to tackle the “huge problem” of short-term rentals via platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com, as it seeks to confront the “social crisis” of people struggling to afford a home, its first-ever housing commissioner has said.

In an interview with the Guardian and other European newspapers, Dan Jørgensen said it was time for Brussels policymakers to take housing seriously or cede ground to anti-EU populists, who, he said, did not have the answers to the shortage of affordable homes.

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China’s Temu more than doubles EU profits to nearly $120m despite having only eight staff

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Online marketplace paid just $18m in corporation tax, leading campaigners to call for government action

The Chinese online marketplace Temu’s EU operations more than doubled pre-tax profits last year to just below $120m (£90m) despite employing just eight people, accounts show.

They rose 171% in the 12 months to December 2024 compared with the $44.1m the year before, as shoppers snapped up its low-cost goods, which are widely promoted on social media.

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European far right follows Trump in calling for antifa to be declared terrorists

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Netherlands and Hungary move towards designation as draft resolution reportedly backed by 79 MEPs in 20 countries

Where Donald Trump leads, Europe’s nationalists and far right follow. After a Truth Social post last month, when Trump announced the US would designate antifa, the decentralised anti-fascist movement, “a major terrorist organisation”, his international allies swung into action.

That same day, the Dutch parliament, where the largest party is Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV, passed a resolution, noting the US decision and calling on the government to declare antifa a terrorist organisation in the Netherlands.

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DRC says EU’s minerals deal with Rwanda is ‘obvious double standard’

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Brussels urged to impose stronger sanctions against Rwanda, as it has in response to Russia for its war in Ukraine

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has accused the EU of “an obvious double standard” for maintaining a minerals deal with Rwanda to supply Europe’s hi-tech industries when it deployed a far-wider sanctions regime in response to the war in Ukraine.

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the DRC foreign minister, urged the EU to levy much stronger sanctions against Rwanda, which has fuelled the conflict in eastern DRC, describing the bloc’s response to violations of DRC territory as “very timid”.

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‘Veggie burgers’ could be off EU menu as MEPs back renaming plant-based foods

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Proponents say move would strengthen position of farmers in supply chain but critics dismiss it as ‘hotdog populism’

Veggie burgers, tofu steak and cauliflower schnitzel will be off the menu if the European parliament gets its way after a vote on food names.

MEPs voted on Wednesday by 355 in favour to 247 against to reserve names such as “steak”, “burger” and “sausage” exclusively for products derived from meat, a longstanding demand of farm unions.

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