In effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, US president proposes tariffs targeting Putin allies and trade partners
Donald Trump has asked the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China as part of an effort to force the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to end the war in Ukraine.
The US president made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia on Tuesday, according to a White House official.
Continue reading...EU Commission president urged to ‘show leadership’ and preserve bloc’s credibility amid catastrophe in Gaza
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is under growing pressure from MEPs to “show leadership” and preserve the EU’s political credibility by taking a tougher approach to Israel’s government over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Von der Leyen is expected to refer to the EU’s role on the world stage in her annual “state of the union” speech to the European parliament on Wednesday, where she will set out her agenda for the year ahead.
Continue reading...Average of 77% of respondents across five countries thought agreement would benefit US economy above all
A majority of people across the EU’s five biggest member states believe the European Commission sold citizens out when negotiating a “humiliating” tariff deal with Donald Trump that “benefits the US” far more than Europe, a survey has shown.
The poll, by Cluster17 for the European affairs debate platform Le Grand Continent, found 77% of respondents – ranging from 89% in France to 50% in Poland – thought the deal would benefit above all the US economy, with only 2% believing it would benefit Europe’s.
Continue reading...Europe and US consider further actions to weaken Russia after largest-ever air attack on Ukraine over the weekend
The EU’s most senior sanctions envoy is holding talks in Washington with US officials after Donald Trump said he was ready to take further action against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
David O’Sullivan, the EU sanctions envoy, is meeting US counterparts on Monday, as Europe and the US look for tougher measures to weaken Vladimir Putin’s war machine after Russia launched its largest-ever air attack on Ukraine over the weekend.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Experts decry lack of nationally determined contributions in negotiating document with weeks to go before UN-set deadline
EU member states are still wrangling over crucial commitments on the climate crisis with no sign of agreement, according to a leaked draft text seen by the Guardian.
With just weeks to go before a UN-set deadline, the European Commission and key member states remain at loggerheads over targets on greenhouse gas emissions, with the prospect of a strong outcome looking increasingly imperilled.
Continue reading...Regulators ordered the tech giant to end ‘self-preferencing practices’ in advertising services but declined to force sale
European Union regulators on Friday hit Google with a €2.95bn ($3.5bn) fine for breaching the bloc’s competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services, marking the fourth such antitrust penalty for the company as well as a retreat from previous threats to break up the tech giant.
The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, also ordered the US company to end its “self-preferencing practices” and take steps to stop “conflicts of interest” along the advertising technology supply chain.
Continue reading...Europe’s ability to help bring peace to the Middle East has long come under question, with Spain’s PM this week saying it had failed on Gaza
In 1980 when Leonid Brezhnev ruled the Soviet Union and Donald Trump was a property developer, the nine leaders of the then European Community made their first major foray into joint diplomacy. The cause: the Middle East, including a Palestinian state.
“The time has come to promote the recognition and implementation of two principles universally accepted by the international community: the right to existence and to security of all states in the region, including Israel … [and] recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” stated the Venice declaration calling for Palestinian self-determination.
Continue reading...EU member states debate how to make leaders’ flights more secure as Russia blamed for GPS loss
Italy is considering keeping state flights secret after the satellite signal of the aircraft carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was allegedly jammed by Russia, Italian defence ministry sources said.
Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Moscow’s war in Ukraine, was flying to Bulgaria on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids, delaying its arrival in Plovdiv, and reportedly forcing it to circle an airport for an hour.
Continue reading...Former parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy shot dead as EU ministers meet to discuss measures to force Moscow to the negotiating table
A Ukrainian former parliamentary speaker was shot dead in Lviv on Saturday, authorities said, as European foreign ministers met to discuss increasing pressure on Moscow to end its war against Ukraine.
Andriy Parubiy, a member of parliament who served as parliamentary speaker from 2016 to 2019 and a key figure in Ukraine’s 2013 pro-European Maidan revolution, was shot dead, prosecutors said. A murder investigation has been launched and the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned the killing as a “horrific murder”.
Continue reading...Regulator Easa concludes there is not enough evidence it is as safe as flying with two pilots as currently required
Proposals for commercial aeroplanes to operate with just one pilot in the cockpit have been put on ice after a report for the European regulator suggested it would make flying more dangerous.
A three-year research project into “extended minimum crew operations” commissioned by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) found that despite advances in technology there was not sufficient evidence that flying with a single pilot could be as safe as with the two currently required.
Continue reading...Levies and restrictions could hit UK’s digital services tax and EU states such as France, Italy and Spain
Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs and export restrictions on countries whose taxes, legislation and regulations target US big tech companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the US president said: “Digital taxes, legislation, rules or regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American technology.”
Continue reading...Tighter family reunification laws are causing long separations, traumatising children, and can push people towards traffickers, campaigners say
Standing outside Germany’s parliament in June, Ahmad Shikh Ali fought back tears as he held up a blurry photo of his three-year-old son. Since fleeing Aleppo more than two years ago, Shikh Ali had done all he could to secure his son a safe future: moving to Hanover, getting full-time employment and wading through endless paperwork so that his wife and son could join him.
He was close to reuniting with his family, with just two cases in front of his in the queue. That was, until Germany’s lower house of parliament passed a bill in June to suspend family reunifications for migrants like him for at least two years.
Continue reading...Labour MP says she and Reform MP want a committee set up, after news of UK’s post-Brexit environmental rollbacks
Stella Creasy and Richard Tice are pushing for Labour to allow a Brexit scrutiny committee to be formed in parliament, after the Guardian revealed environmental protections had been eroded since the UK left the EU.
The Labour and Reform UK MPs argue that there is no scrutiny or accountability over how Brexit is being implemented. Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow and chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, said the UK needed a “salvage operation” to clear up the environmental and regulatory havoc caused by Brexit.
Continue reading...Presidents, PMs and heads of Nato and European Commission accompany Ukraine’s leader at White House
European leaders gathered in Washington on Monday for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, in a show of support for the Ukrainian president. Their presence came amid expectations that Trump would try to bully Zelenskyy into accepting a pro-Russia “peace plan” that would include Kyiv handing territory to Moscow. The Europeans have been described as Zelenskyy’s “bodyguards”, with memories fresh of the mauling he received in February during his last Oval Office visit. So, who are they?
Continue reading...Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he believes E1 plan will ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’
Israel appears set to give formal planning approval to a highly controversial settlement project for more than 3,400 new homes that has been frozen for decades and which critics say would split the occupied West Bank in half.
Strongly opposed by the international community, the so-called E1 plan would extend the existing Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Adumim towards Jerusalem, further cutting occupied east Jerusalem from the West Bank, and further separating the north and south of the territory.
Continue reading...Holiday company boss says tourists are opting instead for destinations such as Canada, Africa and Asia
Tighter border rules are putting European tourists off holidaying in the US, according to Europe’s biggest package trip operator.
Tui’s chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, said there had been a “significant decline” in travel to the US, due to a multitude of factors including “the atmosphere, what you hear from border control”.
Continue reading...Statement on Ukrainian sovereignty signed by all EU leaders except for Viktor Orbán before call with Trump
European Union leaders made a rallying call to defend Ukraine’s freedom to decide its own future in advance of their virtual summit with Donald Trump – convened to discuss US strategy before the president’s talks with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
With the exception of Hungary, all EU leaders signed a joint statement, with Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief, also calling for the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to attend the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska on Friday.
Continue reading...Class action lawsuit argues the online travel platform distorted market with ‘best price’ clauses
Booking.com is facing a class-action lawsuit from more than 10,000 European hotels arguing that the accommodation mega-site used its muscle to distort the market to their detriment over a 20-year period.
The Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe (Hotrec), which represents the industry within the EU and is bringing the legal action, recently extended to 29 August a deadline for hotel owners to join the suit because of high demand.
Continue reading...Europe may have staved off an economic clash, but the compromise leaves the bloc facing higher tariffs and internal discord
There is no doubt that Ursula von der Leyen was under intense pressure on Sunday when she sat next to Donald Trump in the ballroom at his Turnberry golf course before what EU officials knew would be a gruelling round of trade talks.
As the European Commission president emerged less than an hour later to announce that the worst of Trump’s tariff threats had been avoided, the recriminations from inside the EU began almost immediately.
Continue reading...Czech firefighters and Italian aircraft join rescue effort in Greece, and firefighter among those killed in Turkey
Thousands of people in Greece and Turkey have been forced to evacuate homes as firefighters in the countries battled to contain wildfires fanned by strong winds and searing heat.
As temperatures in south-eastern Europe exceeded 40C for a seventh straight day, the Greek prime minister praised rescue workers for waging “a titanic battle” to bring blazes under control.
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