Euractiv.com

Polish hauliers on Monday (18 December) resumed their blockade of the largest freight border crossing with Ukraine following a court order that allowed the truckers to go back to the Dorohusk checkpoint.

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about the French left ramping up a united front against the immigration bill and EU migration pact, Finland allowING US soldiers to move closer to the Russian border, and so much more.

Romania’s right-wing parties USR, Forța Dreptei, and PMP have decided to form the United Right Alliance and present a joint EU election list to challenge PSD-PNL in June’s upcoming EU elections, the parties announced Monday despite all being quite low in the latest polls.

The extreme left and pro-Russian parties are fuelling an anti-Semetic rhetoric in Bulgaria, particularly since the attack by the terrorist group Hamas against Israel on 7 October, the organisation of the Jews in Bulgaria Shalom and B’nai B’rith told Euractiv Bulgaria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is waiting for the 2024 US elections, hoping to negotiate on the future of the Russia-Ukraine war with Donald Trump without the involvement of any European state, Czech President Petr Pavel has said. 

A team of international observers on Monday (18 December) slammed Serbian elections over a string of "irregularities", including "vote buying" and "ballot box stuffing", after the opposition accused the ruling party of committing voter fraud.

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Donald Tusk is not satisfied with the insufficient efforts by the Culture Ministry to reverse the controversial changes in public broadcasting that made it dependent on the previous nationalist PiS government, according to local media.

The two main Catalan separatist forces Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is relying on for government stability is trying to legally “shield” the amnesty law for those involved in the 2017 secessionist attempt in Catalonia and prevent it from being overturned by the EU Court of Justice, Spanish media reported on Monday.

The Italian population has decreased by almost 33,000 people, and the average age in the country has risen to 46.4 years, according to the 2022 census of the National Institute of Statistics (Istat).

Over 380 Green Party members called for overhauling the French government’s immigration bill and the EU migration pact, echoing other left-wing forces in the country, in an op-ed published on Monday.

Opposition to the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico is growing as it seeks to pass legislation that would dissolve the special prosecutor’s office that oversees high-profile corruption cases, reduce penalties for corruption and weaken whistleblower protection.

Twenty-six members of the European Parliament are set to receive coal from Santa Claus this Christmas, according to 2023's 'Naughty List', seen by Euractiv. From fraud and kickbacks to harassment and the spreading of fake news, no political group but the Greens has been spared.

Although some EU countries are late in submitting their draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), it is essential that they engage in a dialogue with local authorities, argue various authors from Energy Cities and the IEEP.

A deal was reached between the European Parliament and Council on Monday (18 December) on new rules to tighten pollution standards for cars and trucks, with the text primarily focused on reining in pollution from brakes and tyres.

US companies Adobe and Figma decided on Monday (18 December) to call off a €18 billion merger they had been foreseeing for 15 months following concerns from regulators in the EU, UK and US.

The German government’s delicately constructed new federal budget risks being toppled by pushback, including from inside the governing coalition, against planned cuts to diesel tax breaks for farmers.

The EU is “very unlikely” to meet its target of 25% organic agriculture for 2030, as it would take almost double the current rate of progress to reach the goal, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Ireland’s Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has appointed Professor Mary Horgan to lead the creation of a new emerging health threats agency, with the aim of ensuring "strengthened preparedness".

The EU signed an Economic Partnership Agreement with Kenya on Monday (18 December), including significant social and climate commitments, with the European Commission describing the deal as the "most ambitious with an African country". 

Holding the presidency of a UN climate summit gives the host country huge influence on its agenda and outcomes. If you thought Dubai was a bad venue for COP28, here comes COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, another petrostate. COP is the...