Category Archives: European Union

Thousands of foreign nurses a year leave UK to work abroad

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Exclusive: Surge in nurses originally from outside the EU moving overseas prompts concern Britain is a ‘staging post’ in their careers

Almost 9,000 foreign nurses a year are leaving the UK to work abroad, amid a sudden surge in nurses quitting the already understaffed NHS for better-paid jobs elsewhere.

The rise in nurses originally from outside the EU moving to take up new posts abroad has prompted concerns that Britain is increasingly becoming “a staging post” in their careers.

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‘This must stop’, says EU foreign affairs chief after Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure – as it happened

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Josep Borrell, high representative for foreign affairs, says ‘all responsible will be held to account’ after attacks on energy infrastructure

After Russian strikes targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s grid is getting urgent assistance from Poland, Romania and Slovakia, national grid operator Ukrenergo said, Reuters reported.

Russia regards itself to be in a state of war due to the West’s intervention on Ukraine’s side, the TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, Reuters reported.

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EU agrees to begin membership negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Leaders of the bloc caution that the country will have to undertake more reforms before the next step can begin

EU leaders have agreed to open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina on joining the bloc, while also stressing the Balkan country would have to undertake more reforms before the talks could begin.

“Congratulations! Your place is in our European family. Today’s decision is a key step forward on your EU path,” European Council president, Charles Michel, wrote on X as leaders met at a Brussels summit.

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EU agrees in principle to give profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine

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Ukraine could receive the first €1bn of interest on the sequestered assets by early July

EU leaders have agreed in principle to commandeer a large majority of the profits generated from frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine.

The proposal could generate €3bn (£2.6bn) this year and the first billion could be released to Ukraine by July, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said late on Thursday at the end of the first day of an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.

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EU and US pile on pressure for Gaza ceasefire

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EU leaders call for ‘immediate humanitarian pause’ while US expected to bring UN resolution calling for truce without delay

EU leaders have overcome their differences to call for an “immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire” in Gaza, hours before the US is expected to bring a resolution to a vote at the UN calling for a truce and a hostage deal without delay in the face of a looming famine.

The EU declaration, at a Brussels summit late on Thursday, marked the first time European leaders had agreed a declaration on the Middle East since October. The US draft resolution to be put to a vote in the UN security council on Friday morning also reflects greater urgency in Washington’s position. It is the first time the Biden administration has put forward language calling for an “immediate ceasefire”, although it continues to link a truce with a hostage deal.

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Europe live: European leaders gather for two-day summit as concerns grow over aid for Ukraine

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EU is preparing for elections in June and summit agenda includes Ukraine, the Middle East and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession candidacy

The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has just revealed he is not looking for a new job in the EU.

Asked by the Guardian if he was looking for a new job in Brussels he expressed surprise and laughed. “No, definitely not”.

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Populist parties’ divisions jeopardise chances of setting European agenda

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Survey shows supporters of nationalist parties hold widely differing views on EU membership, migration and support for Ukraine

Populist and nationalist parties fighting the European elections in June are deeply divided on almost all key issues, according to a survey, in a finding that questions their chances of defining the bloc’s agenda even in the event of a predicted far-right surge.

However, the report, by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), also said pro-EU parties risked mobilising the Eurosceptic vote if they continued to ape hard-right policies rather than coming up with persuasive alternatives.

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EU leaders urged to put economies ‘on war footing’ at Ukraine negotiations

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Prime ministers to examine plans to confiscate billions of euros in interest from frozen Russian assets and send the money to Kyiv

EU leaders are to meet in Brussels to discuss ways to radically increase military and financial support for Ukraine amid calls for member states to put their economies “on a war footing”.

Fuelled by what one diplomat said was a new “sense of urgency and immediacy” over the war in Ukraine, rhetoric on Moscow has notably hardened in the past few days.

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Portugal’s new prime minister promises to bring stability after narrow win

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Luís Montenegro must now try to form government but has vowed not to do any deal with far-right Chega party

Portugal’s new prime minister, Luís Montenegro, has promised stable government after the country’s president invited him to try to form a minority administration that could face a rough ride in a hung parliament.

Montenegro, 51, was named prime minister early on Thursday after a long-awaited count of overseas votes confirmed a narrow victory in 10 March elections for his centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD).

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EU says Hong Kong’s new security law could affect its status as a business hub

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European Union joins chorus of criticism of Article 23, which includes harsh new penalties for offences such as insurrection, sedition and espionage

The European Union has sounded the alarm over Hong Kong’s new national security bill, saying it had the potential to “significantly” affect the work of the EU’s office and the territory’s status as a business hub.

On Tuesday Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously passed the new bill only two weeks after it was first presented, fast-tracking a major piece of legislation that critics say further threatens the city’s freedoms.

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EU seals €7.4bn deal with Egypt in effort to avert another migration crisis

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Six of bloc’s leaders sign agreement in Cairo aimed at boosting economy and bringing stability to region

EU leaders have sealed a €7.4bn (£6.3bn) deal with Egypt to help boost the country’s faltering economy, in an attempt to bring stability to the “troubled” region and avert another migration crisis in Europe.

The three-year EU-Egypt strategic partnership involves €5bn in soft loans to support economic changes, €1.8bn to support investments from the private sector and €600m in grants including €200m for migration management.

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EU approves watered-down human rights and supply chain law

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Revised corporate sustainability directive, first agreed in December, draws criticism from environmental campaigners

EU countries have slashed the scope of a law to make companies hunt down human rights abuse and environmental harm in their supply chains.

The EU’s corporate sustainability directive, which was agreed in December but nearly scuttled after a minor coalition partner in the German government withdrew its support, was approved by member states on Friday after a month-long search for compromise and further lobbying from France and Italy.

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EU calls on tech firms to outline plans to tackle deepfakes amid election fears

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Move involving companies such as Google, Facebook and X comes after evidence of Russian online interference in polls

The EU is calling on eight major tech companies including Google, Facebook and X to detail how they identify and tackle deepfake material amid concerns about the use of the technology to influence elections.

In a world first, they will be using new laws on artificial intelligence to force companies to root out fake video, imagery and audio.

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European Commission accused of ‘bankrolling dictators’ by MEPs after Tunisia deal

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Members of justice committee say €150m in EU funding went straight to country’s president, Kais Saied

The European Commission has been accused of “bankrolling dictators” by senior MEPs who have claimed that the €150m it gave to Tunisia last year in a migration and development deal has ended up directly in the president’s hands.

A group of MEPs on the human rights, justice and foreign affairs committees at the European parliament launched a scathing attack on the executive in Brussels, expressing anxiety over reports that the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, was about to seal a similar deal with Egypt.

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New EU gig economy laws saved from oblivion by Belgian compromise

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Directive aims to give taxi and delivery drivers such as those working for Uber and Deliveroo rights similar to those enjoyed by full employees

New laws designed to improve the rights of gig economy workers in the EU contracted to companies such as Uber have been saved from oblivion after they won the majority backing of member states.

The legislation had been blocked by a group of countries last month, when France said it could not support the text on the table and Germany abstained.

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EU will open sea corridor to send aid from Cyprus to Gaza amid famine fears

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Commission president says pilot delivery is expected to set sail on Saturday but did not say where shipments would land or unload

The EU has announced the opening of a sea corridor this weekend for shipping humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza in the race to stave off a famine that is already claiming lives.

“We are now very close to the opening of the corridor, hopefully this Sunday. And I’m very glad to see that an initial pilot operation will be launched today,” the EU commission president, Ursula Von der Leyen, told reporters after touring harbour facilities at the Cypriot port of Larnaca, the departure point for the aid shipments.

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Dutch ministers trying to stop tech firm ASML moving abroad over foreign labour fears

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Prime minister will reportedly meet CEO of semiconductor equipment maker ASML, which has warned against anti-migrant stance

The Dutch government is scrambling to ensure that the country’s largest company, the semiconductor equipment maker ASML, does not move operations or expand abroad after the tech firm voiced concerns over the country’s hardening stance on migrants.

On Wednesday, the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that the Dutch government had launched a cross-ministry effort, dubbed “Operation Beethoven”, to encourage ASML to continue to invest in the country.

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Von der Leyen’s EU group plans Rwanda-style asylum schemes

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Centre-right European People’s party says it wants to create deportation deals with non-EU countries to head off rise of far right

The European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, has given her support to controversial migration reforms that would involve deporting people to third countries for asylum processing and the imposition of a quota system for those receiving protection in EU countries.

Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s party (EPP), said the policies – similar to the UK’s Rwanda scheme – had been worked out with all the parties in the EPP political group, which includes von der Leyen’s Christian Democrat Union in Germany.

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EU fines Apple €1.8bn over App Store restrictions on music streaming

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Penalty for breaching competition law is four times higher than forecast as Brussels looks to send message to tech firms

Apple has been fined €1.8bn (£1.5bn) by the EU after an investigation found it had limited competition from music streaming services such as Spotify.

The fine is nearly four times higher than expected as the European Commission attempts to show it will act decisively on tech companies who abuse their dominant position in the market for online services.

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Italian warship forced to shoot down Houthi missile in Red Sea

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Destroyer Caio Duilio, part of the EU shipping protection force, took out weapon when it came within four miles of the vessel

An Italian warship participating in the EU naval protection force in the Red Sea was forced to shoot down a Houthi missile on Saturday in a rare engagement by the country’s navy, which has largely avoided direct action since the second world war.

The incident came as Houthi officials vowed to continue to attack British ships after the UK-owned Rubymar sank on Saturday having taken on water for a fortnight after being hit by one of the group’s missiles.

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