Euractiv.com

Problems inside and outside Europe’s gates keep piling up, while our decision-makers continue to sleepwalk toward the cliff edge. Since our leaders don’t deliver on Brexit, migration or improving the monetary union, is it time to lock them in their meeting rooms until they find a solution?

The Assistant to US President for National Security Affairs John Bolton arrived in Azerbaijan on Wednesday (24 October), as part of a tour which will also take him to Armenia and Georgia, in an effort described by commentators as an attempt to isolate Iran.

Tim Cook, head of tech giant Apple, has rallied the US to “follow the lead” of the EU in privacy rules, saying that humanity is living amid a “data industrial complex” in which “our own information is being weaponised against us with military efficiency”.

MEPs moved on Wednesday (24 October) to ban widely-used, throw-away plastics such as straws, bags and cotton buds, putting the burden on manufacturers to recycle more in an effort to clear up ocean pollution.

A proposal to disregard CO2 capture and underground storage is doing the rounds in Strasbourg ahead of a Plenary vote on a COP24 Resolution on Thursday (25 October). The proposal is anti-science and anti-technology and must be rejected, writes Frederic Hauge.

19 European countries now support introducing a tax on tech giants’ revenues but a handful of capitals are resisting, including Paris. Campaigning so that the plan is successful, Bruno Le Maire, the French minister of economy and finance, has 60 days to convince. EURACTIV France reports.  

The new regulations on property regimes for international couples were welcomed on Tuesday (23 October) by professionals and academists as a step forward that will benefit European citizens, but some questions remain ahead of their entry into force in January 2019.

The German economic powerhouse is booming. But its export-centric model is drawing complaints from other eurozone countries and the United States.

The European Union remains committed to good neighbourly relations and respect of international agreements, an EU spokesperson told EURACTIV.com following tensions between Athens and Ankara on the expansion of territorial waters in the Aegean.

James Dyson, the billionaire British inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, has chosen to build his electric car in Singapore to be close to Asian customers, supply chains and a highly skilled workforce.

NATO’s largest exercise since the end of the Cold War will focus on the mock defence of Norway. "Trident Juncture" starts on Thursday (25 October) and involves 50,000 military personnel from 31 countries – the 29 NATO members plus Sweden and Finland.

A proposed ePrivacy regulation currently under discussion at EU level would hurt new business models in the clean energy sector, which are “almost all” based on the collection and treatment of data by home equipment and smart meters, warns an industry coalition.

There is a need to form progressive alliances to tackle critical issues such as immigration, social inequalities and inefficient economic policies in the run up to European elections 2019 stressed the Vice-President of the European Parliament and head of the SYRIZA delegation, Dimitris Papadimoulis, in an exclusive interview with EURACTIV Greece.

The construction of a super-modern school in Vukovar, a town that symbolises suffering in Croatia's 1991-95 independence war, was meant to foster inclusiveness and reconciliation in a place that remains divided along Croat-Serb ethnic lines. But the project never took off and Norway is now demanding its funding back. EURACTIV Croatia reports.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday (23 October) he "probably" will meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Paris on 11 November. Both Trump and Putin already are planning to be in the French capital that day to mark the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.

The UK government told the House of Commons that it has "not seen evidence of successful use of disinformation by foreign actors, including Russia, to influence UK democratic processes", which without any doubt includes the Brexit referendum.

The European Union cannot keep turning a blind eye to the flood of illegal chemicals, writes Bart Staes.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook is expected to praise new European privacy rules and to voice the company’s support for strong laws in Europe and the United States to protect the use of data, according to prepared remarks for delivery at a Brussels event.

The United States is pushing for a late change to the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) landmark cap on sulphur emissions, throwing into doubt the 2020 implementation date.

EU-funded efforts to boost the uptake of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies have failed largely because of a lack of coordination and long-term strategies that scared away investors, according to a report by the European Court of Auditors.