Euractiv.com

As the dust settles around EU election results and Brussels looks towards the EU's incoming leaders, one last policy hurdle sits on the desks of energy officials: a definition of low-carbon hydrogen.

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about Italy's Matteo Salvini being convinced that the new EU alliance with Orban will overtake Meloni’s ECR, , the Spanish right allegedly being nervous about Orban's new group, and so much more.

Socialist and leftist politicians from across Europe expressed their satisfaction about the defeat of far-right Rassemblement national (RN) in the second round of the French elections on Sunday, with some pointing out the unity of leftist forces.

Experts and politicians from across the spectrum have criticised the budget agreement reached by Germany's coalition parties, bemoaning the small increase in defence spending as insufficient to counter the threat from Russia.

The Philippines and Japan have signed a reciprocal access agreement (RAA) allowing them to deploy their forces on each other's soil, a milestone in their security relations amid rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, an official said on Monday (8 July).

As Bulgaria heads for its seventh general election in nearly four years, DPS co-leader Delyan Peevski, sanctioned by the US and the UK for corruption, poses several obstacles in negotiations to form a regular government in Sofia.

Buildings and transport are the two most crucial sectors to decarbonise to meet EU’s 2030 climate targets. However, they are also have the most directly affect on EU citizens in their daily lives, as the choice to undertake energy renovations...

Polish air defences could protect the airspace over Ukraine's border regions, the deputy speaker of Ukraine's Supreme Council told her Polish counterpart in Vilnius on Saturday.

The recent entry of the far-right VOX party into Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's new Patriots for Europe group has made many in the right-wing Partido Popular (EPP) and Alvise Pérez's new 'ultra' force SALF nervous, warned VOX leader Santiago Abascal.

The new alliance Patriots for Europe, led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and seeking to form a political group in the European Parliament, will overtake Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's ECR, Matteo Salvini, who is aligning himself more closely with the new group, said on Sunday.

Last Thursday and Friday (4 and 5 July), officials outlined Hungary's priorities for its upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU, promising an "honest broker" role amid concerns over its impartiality, focusing on peace, migration, family policies, and competitiveness.

On their first visit to Kyiv on Saturday and Sunday (6 and 7 July) , Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans and foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp held meetings with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's controversial visit to Russia, condemned by most EU leaders as appeasement towards Moscow, aimed to ‘collect information’ about the possibility of a ceasefire, his chief foreign policy advisor told Euractiv.

The US military withdrew its personnel from Niger's Air Base 101 near the airport in the capital Niamey on Sunday (7 July), ahead of its exit from a major drone base near the desert city of Agadez in the coming weeks.

The French far-right party Rassemblement national (RN) is set to join the "Patriots for Europe" group formed in the European Parliament by Viktor Orban and his allies, several sources within the party and Lega confirmed to Euractvi on Sunday (July 7). 

In a surprising turn of events, the French left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, has overtaken Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, coming first during the second and final round of France’s snap elections on Sunday (7 July).

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was in Beijing on Monday (8 July) for a visit he branded as a "Peace mission 3.0" after recent trips to Moscow and Kyiv.

Having come third in the elections, Macron's party has won more MPs than predicted in the polls, and now hopes to bring together a grand coalition from the Socialists to the liberal right to form a government after the Olympic Games.

Pope Francis denounced populist politics and what he called "the dross of ideology" on Sunday (7 July), warning that democracy was not in good shape in many parts of the world.

The leftist bloc Nouveau Front populaire (NFP) won an unexpected victory in the second round of French parliamentary elections but the loose coalition of left-wing parties could be short-lived as a broad new alliance in the centre will be needed to form a new parliamentary majority.