European Union

Paolo Gentiloni Silveri will become Italy's new European commissioner. He was nominated the moment the Five Star Movement (M5S) voted yes to a new government with Paolo Conte as its prime minister. Gentiloni is a founding member of the Democratic Party. He was Italy's foreign minister between 2014 and 2016, and its prime minister from 2016 until 2018. He played an important role in making the new Italian coalition possible.

The European Council has decided to allocate €101.4m from its 2020 budget to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, to start building a force of 10,000 border guards. This number should be reached by 2027. The council stated that "in the field of security and migration, the EU budget will continue to support member states". Frontex foresees an operational staff of 5,000 people by 2021.

North Macedonia's foreign minister, Nikola Dimitrov, said he expects to receive from the EU a date for the start of accession talks in October, Reuters reports. He added this is important in order not to discourage the Balkan states from reform and for young people not to migrate to the EU. The Former Republic of Macedonia became North Macedonia thanks to an agreement with Greece after a two-decades dispute.

UK exporters have expressed their concern that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, they will not be able to sell animal products to the bloc.

Despairing at a country she believed was becoming more insular the more its Brexit debate raged, Briton Jess Worsdale decided this year that it was time to move to Ireland for good. On Tuesday (3 September), she was among about...

The Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which brings together the EU’s member states, has requested an analysis note from the European Commission to further look into the risks posed by Facebook’s controversial digital currency Libra and the ways to regulate it.

The new US Special Envoy to the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, said on Tuesday (4 September) a priority in his new role is restarting a dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought on Tuesday (3 September) to re-establish friendlier ties with the incoming leaders of the European Union and mark an end to troubled relations since President Donald Trump took office, a senior US diplomat said.

Boris Johnson will attempt to force a snap election after suffering a humiliating defeat to his Brexit strategy on Tuesday night (3 September).

British prime minister Boris Johnson faced a stormy debate on Brexit as parliament met for the first time since summer recess Tuesday. He said plans to delay Brexit until January, mooted by some MPs, were a "surrender bill" to the EU. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said Johnson's only idea was a "reckless" one to crash out of Europe. Tory rebels said Johnson's plan was to blame the EU for no-deal.

In its annual report, the EU's anti-fraud agency said it concluded nine investigations into Hungary and found irregularities in seven cases. In total, the agency recommended the recovery of €371m EU-wide.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson lost his already razor-tight House of Commons majority of one on Tuesday, as a Conservative MP dramatically defected to the opposition Liberal Democrats. Philip Lee, a Conservative MP since 2010, dramatically crossed the floor of the chamber to join the opposition benches during Johnson's statement on the G7 summit, saying later the party he was leaving "was no longer the party I joined in 1992."

Spain's acting PM Pedro Sánchez insists he can solve the country's political deadlock without repeating elections or agreeing on a coalition government. Instead, he is trying to get the backing of the left-wing party Unidas Podemos with over 300 proposals.

In the convoluted, protracted, high-stakes game of poker that is Brexit, it has become very difficult to predict who will blink first. Or if someone already has. Or even in whose court the ball currently is.

Boris Johnson's political advisor, Dominic Cummings, has said the ongoing Brexit talks with the EU over the Irish backstop are a "sham", according to the Daily Telegraph, citing two sources. Many MPs, both Labour and Conservative, believe the UK government is privately only interested in a no-deal Brexit on October 31 - despite Johnson promising German chancellor Angela Merkel last month he would present new ideas on the Irish backstop.

Elections in Saxony and Brandenburg have changed the balance of power in these states. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has recorded significant gains, while the more traditional parties (CDU and SPD) continue losing ground. EURACTIV Germany brings an overview of reactions by party leaders after the elections.

The aerospace industry builds the aircraft that allow people to travel the world. But the industry itself is a globe-trotter as well. Designing and building aircraft is a truly international endeavour, as experts and workers collaborate across borders to deliver products to a lucrative market.

The United States, Britain and France may be complicit in war crimes in Yemen by arming and providing intelligence and logistics support to a Saudi-led coalition that starves civilians as a war tactic, the United Nations said on Tuesday (3 September).

The British government is apparently making plans for a snap election to prevent Brexit opponents in Parliament from passing legislation that would oblige Prime Minister Boris Johnson to postpone Britain's departure from the EU. The talk is of a three-month extension of the deadline. What impact would a snap election - which could take place as soon as 14 October - have on the Brexit crisis?