Category Archives: European Union

Ukraine war and energy crisis on Truss agenda as British PM speaks to Biden

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The new British prime minister also spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskiy on her first day in office, pledging UK ‘assistance for the long term’

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing global energy crisis have emerged as a leading foreign policy priorities for Britain’s new prime minister Liz Truss, as she and her US counterpart Joe Biden promised to strengthen their relationship in face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Truss’s call to Biden on Tuesday night followed a conversation with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and focused on what she called “the extreme economic problems caused by Putin’s war”. Biden and Truss “reinforced their commitment to strengthening global liberty, tackling the risks posed by autocracies and ensuring Putin fails in Ukraine”, according to Downing Street.

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Instagram owner Meta fined €405m over handling of teens’ data

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Penalty follows investigation into Instagram setting that allowed teenagers to set up accounts that displayed contact details

Instagram owner Meta has been fined €405m (£349m) by the Irish data watchdog for letting teenagers set up accounts that publicly displayed their phone numbers and email addresses.

The Data Protection Commission confirmed the penalty after a two-year investigation into potential breaches of the European Union’s general data protection regulation (GDPR).

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Russia will not resume gas supplies to Europe until sanctions lifted, says Moscow

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Kremlin blames western sanctions for failure to deliver gas through Nord Stream 1 pipeline

Russia will not resume in full its gas supplies to Europe until the west lifts its sanctions against Moscow, the Kremlin said, as concerns over Russian gas supplies continued to drive up energy prices.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, blamed sanctions “introduced against our country by western countries including Germany and the UK” for Russia’s failure to deliver gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

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EU and UK could ‘have another go’ at Brexit talks, says NI minister

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Meeting of Conor Burns and Maroš Šefčovič a promising sign as taoiseach says dispute is ‘testing and fraying’ Anglo-Irish relations

Hopes that Brexit talks between the EU and the UK could restart after nine months of paralysis were raised over the weekend after Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns held talks with the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič.

He spoke as the Irish prime minister, Micheál Martin, said the deepening row over the Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland was “testing and fraying” Anglo-Irish relations, but that the arrival of a new prime minister offered a chance for a fresh approach to break the impasse.

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Aaron Banks ‘writes off £7m loan’ as Leave.EU goes into liquidation

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Brexit campaign group fronted by Nigel Farage leaves thousands in unpaid fines for data law breaches

The Brexit campaign group Leave.EU has gone into liquidation with its controversial co-founder Arron Banks appearing to write off a loan worth more than £7m.

Documents submitted to Companies House also reveal that the anti-EU lobbying group, which was fronted by Nigel Farage during the 2016 EU referendum campaign, has failed to pay tens of thousands in fines owed to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for breaches of data law.

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EU ‘prepared to meet challenge’ if Russia fails to respect energy contracts

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Comments come after Gazprom extends shutdown of gas supply through Nord Stream 1 to Germany

The EU expects Russia to respect existing energy contracts but is prepared to meet the challenge if it fails to do so, the economic commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said.

Gentiloni was speaking after Russia scrapped a Saturday deadline to resume flows of an important gas supply route to Germany, deepening Europe’s difficulties in securing winter fuel.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zaporizhzhia plant again loses last main power line; public bids farewell to Gorbachev at funeral – as it happened

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Nuclear energy facility now linked to grid with a reserve line; former leader buried without state honours. This blog is now closed.

The Russian energy major Gazprom has said Siemens Energy is ready to help repair broken equipment for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, but claimed there was nowhere available for them to carry out the work.

Gazprom, the state-owned oil and gas firm, extended the shutdown of gas flows through its key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany on Friday evening, citing “malfunctions” on a key turbine along the pipeline.

In Kramatorsk, a rocket hit a food enterprise, injuring a person. Another one hit a light industry enterprise. A fire broke out there.

The city was shelled again. There were loud explosions on the outskirts. In Bylbasivka, private houses were damaged on Shkilna and Yaseneva Streets.

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EU to invite next UK PM to summit on new pan-European security body

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European leaders will head to Prague on 6 October to forge European Political Community

The EU will offer an olive branch to the new British prime minister with an invitation to a summit to discuss a new organisation uniting the democracies of the European continent.

Britain’s next prime minister, widely expected to be Liz Truss, will be invited to join fellow leaders across Europe at a summit in Prague on 6 October to forge a European Political Community, a body dedicated to advancing security across the continent.

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EU warns next PM unilateral action on Brexit deal is of ‘great concern’

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European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, says it is ‘legally and politically inconceivable’

The EU has warned the incoming British prime minister, likely to be Liz Truss, that any unilateral action to scrap part of the Brexit deal is legally and politically of “great concern” across the continent.

The warning by the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, comes just days before the new prime minister is expected to confirm they will press ahead with new laws to dismantle the arrangements for Northern Ireland.

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EU must act now on ‘catastrophic’ energy price spike, says European Council chief

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Charles Michel says bloc must address price caps and has been too late in putting ‘concrete proposals on the table’

The EU must “make up for lost time” in finding urgent answers to an energy price spike that is a “catastrophe” for households and businesses, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, has said.

Michel, who chairs EU leader summits, said the bloc needed to address the question of price caps, an idea backed by many EU member states.

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Iran nuclear deal: US dismisses latest move from Tehran as ‘not constructive’

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US state department rejects what Iran characterised as a bid to ‘finalise the negotiations’ in latest efforts to agree a deal

Hopes of a rapid conclusion to negotiations on a revived nuclear deal with Iran have receded after the US quickly rejected the latest Iranian proposal as “not constructive”.

Washington’s rapid reaction to the Iranian text, which had been delivered shortly before 3am on Friday Tehran time, directly contradicted Tehran’s claims that its proposals presented “a constructive approach” aimed at “finalising the negotiations”.

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Energy price inflation: how the UK and EU could fight it

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What can be done about rising prices – and would nationalising gas and electricity firms help?

Governments across Europe have been funding relief measures to help people with energy and petrol bills. The UK announced a £15bn package in May, largely in the form of cash payments to households, while EU member states are estimated to have spent €280bn (£243m) over the past year on everything from subsidies and price caps to one-off payments. But bills for households and businesses are reaching unsustainable levels, with further increases expected next year, sharpening the debate over whether ministers should be intervening directly in energy markets to help bring prices down.

As Russia threatens to further reduce gas supplies, politicians in Italy, Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic are among those pushing for coordinated action. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Monday Brussels was considering measures to be adopted by the 27 member states. What are the options?

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EU foreign ministers agree to suspend visa travel deal with Russia

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Move will curb number of Russian nationals entering the bloc but stops short of full tourist visa ban

The EU has agreed to suspend a visa travel deal with Moscow to curb the number of Russian nationals entering the bloc for holidays and shopping, stopping short of a full tourist visa ban demanded by some central and eastern European countries.

Meeting in Prague, the EU’s 27 foreign ministers promised to suspend the 2007 visa facilitation agreement with Russia that makes it relatively easy to obtain travel documents.

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Wholesale gas prices tumble as Europe prepares to intervene in energy markets

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European Commission says it is working ‘flat out’ on emergency intervention and on longer-term structural reform

The wholesale price of gas has dropped sharply in a rare respite from recent highs on signs that Europe is preparing to intervene directly in energy markets.

The European Commission said it was working “flat out” on an emergency package, and on a longer-term “structural reform of the electricity market” to combat soaring prices while efforts to fill gas storage facilities appear to be ahead of schedule.

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Eurostar to axe direct trains from London to Disneyland Paris over Brexit

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High-speed rail firm blames departure from EU and Covid for decision to halt service next summer

Eurostar has decided to stop direct services from London to Disneyland Paris from next summer, citing the fallout from Brexit and Covid.

The high-speed train operator said on Tuesday it was scrapping trains running from the British capital to the Disneyland site in Marne-la-Vallée, in the eastern Paris suburbs.

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Greece to launch parliamentary inquiry into spy scandal

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Move follows revelations that opposition leader was placed under surveillance while serving as MEP

Greece is to launch a parliamentary inquiry into a spy scandal embroiling the government as MEPs also step up calls for an investigation into the use of phone taps in the country.

An inquiry proposed by the centre-left Pasok party was backed by the entire political opposition late on Monday after revelations that the group’s leader, Nikos Androulakis, had been placed under surveillance while serving as an MEP.

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European gas shortages likely to last several winters, says Shell chief

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Warning raises prospect of continued rationing, as Total boss says Europe has to plan for future without Russian supplies

Gas shortages across Europe are likely to last for several winters to come, the chief executive of Shell has said, raising the prospect of continued energy rationing as governments across the continent push to develop alternative supplies.

Cuts to the supply of Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine have plunged European countries into a devastating energy crisis, driving up wholesale prices to leave consumers facing huge bills and the highest rates of inflation since the 1980s.

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EU foreign ministers expected to suspend Russian tourist visa facilitation

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Move comes as EU official says it is ‘inappropriate for Russian tourists to stroll in our cities’

The EU’s foreign ministers are expected to approve suspending the bloc’s visa facilitation agreement with Moscow next week, as Russian rocket and artillery strikes hit areas across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

The EU move, aimed at reducing the number of visas issued to Russian nationals after pressure from eastern member states, falls short of an outright ban but would make getting travel documents significantly more complicated and expensive.

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Serbia and Kosovo reach free movement agreement

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Serbia to abolish entry-exit document for Kosovo ID holders and Kosovo agrees not to introduce them

Serbia and Kosovo have agreed on an arrangement for free movement between their countries, the EU’s foreign policy chief announced Saturday.

Serbia agreed to abolish its entry-exit document for Kosovo ID holders, and Kosovo agreed to not introduce them for Serbian ID holders, said Josep Borrell.

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‘The blue flags are proof’: how Greece cleaned up its act on sewage

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Greeks take their seas seriously, with the construction of one of the world’s biggest sewage treatment plants a real game-changer

The shimmering waters along the Athenian riviera offer a welcome respite in the summer heat. In one of Europe’s most congested cities the sight of ever more beaches attaining blue flag status – a mascot of water quality – has heightened the sense of relief that the coastal location affords. For those who flock to its coves, rocks and sandy stretches, the shoreline that extends from the Greek capital’s southern suburbs has become the perfect antidote to the rising temperatures that have accompanied climate breakdown.

It was not always so.

Tell us what you think about the Guardian’s climate reporting – it takes just two minutes

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