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Open letter calls for green policies that empower farmers, after months of protests jeopardise future of flagship biodiversity dealThe EU’s nature restoration law will only work if it is enacted in partnership with farmers, a group of leading scientists has said, after months of protests have pushed the proposals to the brink of collapse.In an open letter, leading biodiversity researchers from across the world...

European parliament term ends with warnings about dangers of disinformation and authoritarian forcesThe starting gun has been fired on the next European parliamentary elections with more than 600 MEPs departing Strasbourg urged to use their “strength and patience” to fight the far right and disinformation and return a vote across the bloc for democracy.There were flowers, tears and cheers on Thursday as Roberta Metsola,...

Prime minister Petteri Orpo says eastern Finland ‘suffering because of Russian behaviour’Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, visited the Donetsk region today.Two people have been detained in Poland on suspicion of attacking Leonid Volkov, an aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda told reporters today, Reuters reported. Continue reading...

European leaders to focus on future of European economy as Donald Tusk says if words were bullets, Europe would have the world’s strongest powerCharles Michel, the European Council president, opened today’s session.He welcomed Enrico Letta, who prepared a report on the future of Europe’s single market for the leaders’ consideration. Continue reading...

Health, jobs, defence, security and climate crisis all seen as more important than immigration with June elections approachingIrregular migration is not the top priority for European voters despite the prominence of the issue in the media and political campaigning by rightwing parties over the last year, a new survey commissioned by the European parliament shows.The Eurobarometer poll which tracks public opinions every quarter puts...

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...

Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, says ‘every life counts equally, whether in Ukraine, in Gaza, or in Sudan’The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has warned of a further escalation in violence in Sudan.“The Sudanese people have been subjected to untold suffering during the conflict which has been marked by indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas, ethnically-motivated attacks, and a high...

Kyiv running short of missile defence systems while US military aid dries up Ukraine’s air defences are being overwhelmed by concentrated waves of Russian bombing aimed at its power stations, acknowledged a senior presidential adviser after the destruction of an entire plant on Thursday.Mykhailo Podolyak said Moscow was adopting new tactics of attacking power stations with up to “10 or 12 missiles at a...

Proponents of legislation for bloc say it will take away far-right arguments but critics claim the oppositeThe European parliament is to vote on Wednesday on sweeping new laws to overhaul its migration policy amid renewed criticism that it is feeding the agenda of the extreme right rather than protecting vulnerable people.Ylva Johansson, the home affairs commissioner who was the driving force behind the legislation,...

Péter Magyar building centrist movement that has visibly shaken ruling party he dramatically broke withA political newcomer who is causing headaches for Hungary’s government has said his experience as a regime insider can help him succeed where other opposition figures have failed, citing his “crazy” rise in the polls and “vision” as signs that change is possible.Fourteen years after the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor...

Parliamentary elections thought vulnerable to fake news will test social media firms and bloc’s new DSA lawsSocial media firms including TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram will be required to put an army of factcheckers and moderators in place with a collective knowledge of 24 EU languages amid fears that the European parliamentary elections will be a prime target for disinformation campaigns run by Russia...

No risk of dam breach, Ukraine’s state hydropower company says, after Russian on dam in ZaporizhzhiaRussia regards itself to be in a state of war due to the West’s intervention on Ukraine’s side, the TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, Reuters reported.The EU is set to impose a tariff of up to 50% on Russia grain imports amid fears that...

Ukraine could receive the first €1bn of interest on the sequestered assets by early JulyEU leaders have agreed in principle to commandeer a large majority of the profits generated from frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine.The proposal could generate €3bn (£2.6bn) this year and the first billion could be released to Ukraine by July, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen,...

Leaders at summit agree text that says pause should lead to ‘sustainable ceasefire’ Meanwhile, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has met with Luís Montenegro, who has been nominated as Portugal’s next prime minister.Both are members of the centre-right European People’s party. Continue reading...

Survey shows supporters of nationalist parties hold widely differing views on EU membership, migration and support for UkrainePopulist and nationalist parties fighting the European elections in June are deeply divided on almost all key issues, according to a survey, in a finding that questions their chances of defining the bloc’s agenda even in the event of a predicted far-right surge.However, the report, by the...

Civil liberties network says in states where far-right parties influence power, rule-of-law deterioration risks becoming systemicThe rule of law is declining across the EU as governments continue to weaken legal and democratic checks and balances, a leading civil liberties network has said, highlighting in particular a sharp rise in restrictions on the right to protest.Berlin-based Liberties said in its annual report, compiled with 37...

Revised corporate sustainability directive, first agreed in December, draws criticism from environmental campaignersEU countries have slashed the scope of a law to make companies hunt down human rights abuse and environmental harm in their supply chains.The EU’s corporate sustainability directive, which was agreed in December but nearly scuttled after a minor coalition partner in the German government withdrew its support, was approved by member...

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,...

Ombudsman says papers show EU agency made four offers to help Greece with surveillance of boat that sank, but got no responseOpinion: Emily O’ReillyThe rules governing the EU’s border and coastguard agency Frontex must be urgently revised if Europe is to avoid a repeat of last year’s tragedy off the coast of Greece in which about 600 people are thought to have died, an...

Exclusive: Shift in sentiment requires EU politicians to focus on defining an acceptable peace, say authorsSupport for Ukraine among Europeans remains broad, but nearly two years after the full-scale invasion barely 10% now believe it can defeat Russia, according to an EU-wide survey – with some form of “compromise settlement” seen as the most likely end point.The shift in sentiment – this time last...

Video platform under scrutiny over potential breach of Digital Services Act in areas such as age verificationThe EU has launched a formal investigation into whether TikTok has broken online content rules including the safeguarding of children.The European Commission said it had opened official proceedings against the Chinese-owned short video platform over potential breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Continue reading...

With ongoing US support far from guaranteed, Ukraine urges Europe to back fight against Russia, for its own sakeOn the top floor of Literaturhaus in Munich, the Ukrainian veteran Yuliia Paievska was asked to speak to the elite of the transatlantic security and political establishment, including Hillary Clinton and the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, as they lunched on a three-course meal, served with...

Outrage over jailed opposition leader’s death grows with detention of over 350 people in Russia who attended vigilsAlexei Navalny – obituaryAlexei Navalny’s allies have accused the Kremlin of “covering their tracks” as, two days after the imprisoned opposition leader’s death in custody, uncertainty continued to surround the whereabouts of his body and what it may reveal about how he died.Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, and...