Kallas backs Morocco on Western Sahara, calls for ‘partnership’ deal this year
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas doubled down on the EU’s support for Morocco in its battle to retain control of Western Sahara.
Benjamin Fox
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EU leads €1.3bn Sudan aid pledge and backs arms embargo
EU leaders announced more than €800m in new aid pledges to help the victims of Sudan’s three year civil war, at a summit on Wednesday, but there is still no end to the war in sight.
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Berlin summit aims to shape Sudan’s post-war future – despite boycott by warring groups
A summit on Sudan’s future, jointly hosted by the EU on Wednesday, will gather dozens of the African country’s civilian political leaders as its civil war enters its fourth year.
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€500m per day: Europe counts the cost of indecision over energy
€500m per day is the cost – and counting – of the Iran war to Europe’s energy bills.
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Spain’s Sanchez uses China trip to urge Beijing to ‘open up’ to end trade row
Despite being one of China’s main economic allies in Europe, Spain’s prime minister has urged Beijing to take steps to reduce its ‘unsustainable’ trade deficit with the EU.
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EU gives Russia €3bn LNG Arctic boost as Iran war exposes energy vulnerability
The EU is spending billions of euros on LNG from Russia’s Yamal Arctic facility, and accounts for 97 percent of the gas produced by the project. The LNG facility, which is based in north-west Siberia, is not currently subject to the EU’s sanctions regimes against Russia.
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EU aid budgets drop by 10 percent in largest-ever annual fall
At $44bn [€38bn], more development aid was sent to Ukraine than to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, as overall official development assistance slumped by 23 percent.
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Gunboat trade policy: how Trump’s tariffs have ended ‘free-trade’ orthodoxy
Despite its insistence that it supports ‘rules-based trade’, the EU has accepted president Donald Trump’s tariffs. And its own trade agenda is more complicated than just free trade.
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France expects green light for €70bn nuclear expansion despite EU probe
France’s plans for a €70bn expansion of its nuclear energy production come after EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said that abandoning nuclear had been a “strategic mistake”.
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As the EU loses interest, the rule-of-law unravels
Corruption, judicial bias and threats to media freedom – plenty of it exists across the EU, despite the institutions in Brussels making their absence a prerequisite for joining the bloc. In truth, the EU has been very reluctant to impose sanctions for rule of law breaches.
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EU signs off on €260m grant for Ukraine’s defence
The new funds are from the European defence industry programme, part of the bloc’s plans to scale up its defence industry.
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MEPs back US trade pact, but add safeguards as pressure builds for quick deal
MEPs have inserted a series of safeguards into the EU-US trade tariff deal that will require Washington’s approval, as US urges the EU to sign it off.
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Kallas takes aim at Russia’s ‘unethical’ army recruiting in Africa during Ghana trip
A report by the All Eyes on Wagner investigative group listed 1,417 fighters from 35 African countries who had joined the Russian army between 2023 and mid-2025, 316 of whom have been killed. Ghana’s West African neighbour Cameroon has suffered the highest losses: 94 of its 335 recruits have been killed during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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EU offers cash and defence deal as it inks migrant returns pact with Nigeria
The EU and Nigeria have made progress on the ‘strategic partnership’ first announced in 2023, unveiling a returns and readmission agreement for failed migrants on Monday.
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Beef and car duties on the line, as von der Leyen hopes for Australia trade pact
Beef quotas and the scrapping of an Australian tax on luxury cars are the main issues to be resolved by officials.
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MEPs greenlight US trade pact after steel promises
MEPs expect to take a final plenary vote on a hotly contested EU-US trade deal in Strasbourg next Thursday.
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EU must stop banned chemicals being sold to Africa, judge urges MEPs
The South African tribunal on agrotoxins wants its government to overhaul national laws on chemicals and pesticides and for the EU to apply a blanket ban on the sale of banned substances.
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MEPs set to finally green light EU-US trade deal in Thursday vote
MEPs are going to press ahead with a vote to approve the EU-US trade pact —despite most observers believing that it clear favours the US.
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Mozambique urges EU rethink on ending Rwanda peace-mission cash
Mozambique wants the EU to rethink a decision to end €20m monthly payments for a Rwandan-led peacekeeping mission in its northern Cabo Delgado province.
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EU foreign ministers face tense talks on Ukraine amid spillover fears of Iran war
Amid concerns about waning US aid and shortages of air‑defence systems for Ukraine linked to the Iran war, there are expected to be renewed calls during Monday’s foreign affairs council meeting for increased bilateral military support for Kyiv alongside the stalled €90bn in EU funding that Hungary is currently blocking.
