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Commission president, who is seeking another term, took aim at group that includes AfD and National Rally in pre-election debateThe European Commission president, Ursula Von der Leyen, has criticised the far right as “Putin’s proxies”, while refusing to rule out working with other rightwing nationalists, as campaigning began ahead of June’s European elections.Von der Leyen is seeking a second five-year term leading the commission,...

Commission to seek approval from leaders to start talks with UK on visa-free exchanges for 18- to 30-year-oldsThe European Commission has proposed opening negotiations with the UK to allow mobility enjoyed before Brexit to millions of 18- to 30-year-olds in a major concession.It said it would now seek approval from individual EU leaders to start the talks, which could partly eliminate one of the...

Markus Pieper resigns from €17k-a-month role hours before he was due to start amid claims of favouritismEurope live – latest updatesA row threatening to overshadow Ursula von der Leyen’s campaign for a second term as European Commission president has ended after a German colleague in her Christian Democratic Union party quit his new role as her special envoy for small businesses.Markus Pieper resigned from...

Brussels vote cancelled after it became clear law would not pass final stage with majority voteThe EU’s nature restoration laws appear on the verge of collapse after eight member states, including Hungary and Italy, withdrew support for the legislation.The laws, which have been two years in the making and are designed to reverse decades of damage to wildlife on land and in waterways, were...

Members of justice committee say €150m in EU funding went straight to country’s president, Kais SaiedThe European Commission has been accused of “bankrolling dictators” by senior MEPs who have claimed that the €150m it gave to Tunisia last year in a migration and development deal has ended up directly in the president’s hands.A group of MEPs on the human rights, justice and foreign affairs...

Centre-right European People’s party says it wants to create deportation deals with non-EU countries to head off rise of far rightA group of political parties backing Ursula von der Leyen for a second term in one of the most powerful jobs in Brussels at the head of the European Commission is planning to call for further migration reforms, similar to the UK’s Rwanda policy,...