Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy team may feel nervous about briefing the boss this week. Among recent bad news, the Chinese Communist Party has delivered a double snub to the Kremlin, writes Edward Lucas.
Budget negotiations for the EU’s 2028-2034 framework hope to win over member states with increased agency on border and security funding – which could leave room for human rights abuses to continue far from Brussels’ scrutiny
EU companies have largely escaped any downfall from Trump’s tariffs. “The people who pay US tariffs are the importers,” said one EU official.
Growing revolt against Ukraine’s top commander sees soldiers shredding his awards (Ukraine Battlefield update, Day 1,608)Kyiv’s real strategic gamble may be whether replacing Syrsky reshapes the entire conduct of the war.
Sacked Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov warns about exhausted soldiers, chaotic command and lies to the public.
Addressing the situation in the Western Balkan countries as an enlargement issue rather than a foreign policy issue has allowed European institutions and EU member states to reduce ambiguities and divergent preferences
This SUMMER: EU leaders on the beach, Putin blocked by Ukrainian dronesSome EU leaders are jetting to hotels and mansions as Europe slows down for summer, but Putin is not expected at his favourite palace in Sochi due to Ukrainian drones.
Kyiv dismissed the reformer who was making the concept of speed its defence ministry’s organising principle – just as Russia begins to copy the model, and days after Europe signed up to build on it. So what now?
International flights arriving in Europe from destinations within 5,000 km will be required to pay for their CO2 emissions from 2029 as part of a major overhaul of the EU’s emissions trading system announced on Friday.
The announcement on Friday follows the publication of reports that attempt to decrypt rule-of-law issues in each of the 27 member states. It will include a boost to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Ukraine’s new French and Swedish jets will pose threat to Russia’s top warplanes (Ukraine Battlefield update: Day 1,605)Kyiv’s pilots prepare to fly cutting-edge Rafales against Russian jets, amid a bruising power struggle in Ukraine’s defence leadership.
The EU has probably missed the boat in imposing trade measures against solar panels or electric vehicles (EVs) without China viewing this as a direct, offensive measure (and in turn, incurring harsh retaliation)
Andy Burnham has gone from the “King of the North” to Downing Street in a matter of weeks. But what does this mean for the UK and its relationship with the EU?
Disrupted fuel supplies, damaged refineries and a stalled frontline are starting to bite into Russia’s war machine, even as Ukrainians pay a steep price in money and lives.
![[Interview] ‘Some of the resistance comes from people fearing they’ll end up without a job,’ says industry expert on Europe’s slow electrification](https://static.euobserver.com/2026/07/anja-van-de-gronde-PY7r5dJ_v-Y-unsplash-2400x1602.jpg)
According to Devan Pillay of Schneider Electric, it’s not just grids and prices holding electrification back. It’s also change-resistant engineers of the older generation that are running plants today. “Their attitude is: if it works, let’s leave it.”
With an EU-wide LNG embargo looming in 2027, the battle over a Danish shipyard has become a test of whether Europe can close loopholes that keep Russian gas flowing.
MEPs voting to shield themselves from investigation? Sadly, that’s all too typicalMEPs in the European Parliament’s budgetary control committee voted to shield the Patriots for Europe group from any criminal investigation into misspending EU funds.
The Tisza government is poised to topple Orbán-era power brokers but a messy battle over Hungary’s presidency now risks dragging the Constitutional Court into a full-blown legitimacy crisis.
Even the relevant EU commissioner, Dubravka Šuica, acknowledged the central obstacle: “To be open, the key problem is access to Gaza,” she said.
Russia and China have a plan to disable Starlink, as Ukraine war comes to space (Ukraine Battlefield update: Day 1,604)By treating Starlink as a “space blockade” that must be broken, Moscow and Beijing are turning the Ukraine war into a test case for who will control the orbital infrastructure behind future global conflicts.
