EU and the world
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton today faced down her critics and presented her plans for a new European diplomatic service to MEPs. Pointing to Europe's declining world influence, she said the time had come for the bloc to stop its infighting and unite - behind her.
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The European Parliament today took a strong stance against Belarus’ treatment of its Polish minority. MEPs today condemned recent police action and legal measures against Belarus’ Union of Poles and urged Minsk to release political activists.
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It seems EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is dreaming of a jet plane. The EU luminary, who came under fire for failing to attend key meetings recently, has suggested that this is exactly what she needs if she is to raise her profile and keep all her essential foreign engagements.
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At least 51 people are now known to have died in a powerful earthquake that shook a remote province of eastern Turkey early this morning.
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Whether your main concern as a European is the environment, energy, education or the economy, the new EU 2020 strategy has it covered. Or does it? The plan was unveiled today amid concerns that it is too political and is no different than its failed predecessor, which hit none of its targets.
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Catherine Ashton is in hot water again this week over a perceived British bias in her newly proposed diplomatic service. Just over 100 days in office and the honeymoon period is definitely over for the new EU foreign policy chief. In fact, some would argue that it never really began.
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The appointment of a former Lithuanian foreign minister as the EU’s special envoy in Afghanistan has raised eyebrows in Brussels. The announcement comes only months after he was forced to resign from his previous post after allegedly covering up a secret CIA interrogation centre.
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Seven senior Turkish military officers have been charged with plotting a 2003 coup against the Islamist-leaning government in Ankara. The men were among 49 suspects detained earlier this week in an unprecedented series of police raids.
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Left-wing MEPs have blocked the European Parliament from passing a motion condemning Belarus for the increasing harassment of its Polish minority.
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The Libyans are not happy, the Swiss are outraged, the Germans are disappointed and the Italians are furious. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s decision to stop issuing entry visas to 25 European nations is just the latest move in a diplomatic dispute that has been escalating since 2008.
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Panicked EU leaders discussed the struggling economy, while In Greece workers took to the streets. In the Netherlands Dutch politicians have been fighting for fewer restrictions on euthanasia and in Spain football fans may soon be able to own a share in their favourite player.
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Finland’s foreign minister has said the EU is ready to put down “very strong sanctions” against Iran if the UN Security Council fails to do so first. And the tough talking Finn has said this could happen in a matter of “days or weeks.”
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The editor of a Kurdish newspaper in Turkey has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after publishing material deemed sympathetic to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkey’s tough sentencing is doing little to enhance its image within the EU.
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Herman Van Rompuy’s first summit as European Council President today will see 27 European leaders along with economic advisers, the central bank chief and other senior officials face one of the EU’s toughest tests to date – saving the euro.
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Poland and Belarus are at loggerheads after the Polish president claimed Belarus was unjustly repressing his compatriots. And now Poland has recalled its ambassador for consultation.
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After delays, arguments, alleged mafia links and a couple of referenda, today the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new European Commission.
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As Ukraine waits with baited breath for Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko to speak following her presidential election defeat, close aides have revealed that she plans to take the results all the way to the courts.
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Germany's foreign minister pushed the question of a EU army back into the spotlight this weekend, by publicly backing the idea of a European defence force. The creation of such an army is allowed under the Lisbon Treaty, but many EU states are still unsure that this is the right way forward.
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The trial of six men accused of murdering a prominent Croatian journalist kicked off today under the watchful gaze of the EU.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in Cyprus to help boost reunification talks on the divided island of Cyprus. The push comes as elections loom in the Turkish part of the island, the results of which could seriously derail hopes of a deal.
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The mud-slinging in Ukraine has stepped up a gear as the campaign for the final round of the presidential elections enters its last week.
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A blogger and one-time advisor to the finance minister has built a political party which, in just 12 months, has become the third most popular in Slovakia.
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EU leaders aren’t feeling the transatlantic love after Washington announced that President Obama would not be attending the US-EU Summit this year.
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Serbia is calling on the African Union for support in its campaign of non-recognition for Kosovo.
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The European Commission will pump €6.7 million into European think tanks and NGOs this year. But some argue the money simply guarantees EU cheerleaders while discouraging criticism.
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The European Court of Human Rights was pulled back from the brink of collapse yesterday as a Russian change of heart put it back on track. The court has struggled under the pressure of an increasing backlog of cases, which has threatened its very existence.
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The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion is upon us and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The EU is ready to take on the endemic problems after failing to eradicate them to date, as was proposed at a Lisbon meeting ten years ago.
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Lithuania’s foreign minister Vygaudas Usackas has resigned following an investigation into whether his country hosted secret CIA prisons between 2002 and 2006. The country’s president led calls for the resignation.
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Slovakia’s European commissioner-designate emerged relatively unscathed from a European Parliament Q&A session today, even after facing questions about his alleged racist comments towards Roma gypsies.
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As predicted, Ukrainian voters gave incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko the boot in yesterday's presidential election. Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych and former Orange Revolution leader Yuliya Tymoshenko will now battle it out in what is expected to be a very close second round.
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Bulgarians are set to be the happiest in 2010, Poles and Hungarians will be less miserable than the Brits and everyone will be wearing a broader smile than the Spanish.
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As Haiti lies in ruins following the devastating earthquake that hit the country yesterday, aid teams around the EU and the world are embarking on a mass relief effort.
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Former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, now charged with updating NATO's mission statement, was in Prague yesterday for a conference that tackled the tricky issue of just what the military alliance's priorities should now be in the post-Soviet 21st century.
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Istanbul has a wealth of cultural treasures but in the past it has been criticised by organisations such as UNESCO for failing to look after this heritage properly. As it prepares to become a European Capital of Culture, some of its projects have again ended up in the firing line.
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A Dutch inquiry today into the Iraq war reported that there was no mandate under international law for the Dutch government’s decision to give political support to the American-led invasion in 2003.
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Three cities won the race to be declared a European Capital of Culture for 2010. Essen, Pécs and Istanbul have been renovated and refurbished for all they are worth. Now the cities have just one year to strut their stuff on the cultural scene.
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Over the next ten days MEPs have the opportunity to grill the men and women nominated to become the new EU commissioners. First up to fight for her job today was Catherine Ashton, nominated for the new post of EU's foreign policy supremo.
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Law professor and classical composer Ivo Josipovic has stormed the Croatian presidential election for the left-wing Social Democratic party with his pledges to crackdown on corruption and lead the former Yugoslav republic into the European Union.
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International leaders have expressed concern over arrests made in Moscow, particularly that of prominent human rights activist, 82 year-old Lyudmila Alexeyeva.
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Demonstrators congregated outside the Visoki Decani monastery in Kosovo to protest the President of Serbia’s special Orthodox Christmas visit on 7 January.
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Bulgaria has moved to diffuse anger after one of its ministers created an uproar by suggesting that it intended to block neighbouring Turkey's path to EU membership unless Ankara coughed up billions of euros in compensation for events that took place nearly a century ago.
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As the protests that have buffeted Iran since last year's disputed elections continue, Tehran has banned its citizens from making contact with 60 foreign organisations, which it accuses of trying to incite unrest to topple the government.
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Bad blood between Bulgaria and Turkey is threatening to create a further obstacle to Turkey's EU membership hopes. A Bulgarian minister is now saying that Ankara must pay up $20 billion in compensation before Sofia will agree to talks on its neighbour's accession.
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The European Union faces a brave new era as the Lisbon Treaty comes into force on 1 January. But how will Spain, the first member state to hold the rotating presidency, under the new system tackle these new challenges?
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