European Union

The Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement to improve the efficiency of the EU External Action Guarantee under NDICI-Global Europe.

The 25th meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro provisionally closed chapter 32 on financial control.

Damit haben nur wenige gerechnet: Gino Caviezel kehrt 13 Monate nach seinem fürchterlichen Abflug in Bormio (It) an den Weltcup-Start zurück. Der Bündner erklärt, wieso es in diesem Winter bei diesem einen Start bleiben wird.

Nach dem Rücktritt von Joel Wicki ist es Zeit, die besten Schwinger der Historie anzuschauen. Den amtierenden König Orlik lässt er hinter sich, verpasst aber die vorderen Plätze der Top 15.

Eine Idee mit politischem Hintergrund: Eine Ehe zwischen Prinzessin Isabella und Barron Trump. Dabei geht es nicht um die beiden Teenager, sondern um Grönland. Der ungewöhnliche Vorschlag sorgt für Wirbel im Netz.

Dem Aargauer Tiefsteuerparadies Meisterschwanden droht ein Loch in der Kasse. Nun will die Gemeinde den Steuerfuss von 60 auf 70 Prozent erhöhen. Grund ist unter anderem der Wegzug der Swatch-Dynastie Hayek.

Der Luzerner Regierungsrat ist beunruhigt darüber, wie der Stromkonzern Axpo mit seiner Luzerner Tochter CKW umgeht. Er will deswegen alle Optionen prüfen, auch einen Verkauf seiner CKW-Aktien.

No Normal boomt bei Outdoorfans weltweit, besonders aber in den USA. Trotz Zöllen verkauft sich Kaffee in der Tube dort besser, sagen die Schweizer Gründer. Alexander Häberlin und Philippe Greinacher verraten ihre Kaffee-Pläne für das laufende Jahr.

Vor 26 Tagen änderte sich das Leben von Leila Micheloud aus Réchy VS dramatisch: Ihre Töchter Farah (20) und Meissa (18) wurden beim Inferno von Crans-Montana schwer verletzt. Die Familie kämpft um Heilung – und Gerechtigkeit.

Written by Saša Butorac.

CONTEXT

Timely, cost-efficient expansion and modernisation of the European energy infrastructure is one of the key challenges in the EU’s ongoing energy transition. Grid development is needed to ensure energy supply security, increase the resilience of Europe’s energy system and integrate the rapid roll-out of renewable energy sources. Cross border infrastructure plays a vital role in connecting national energy networks..

Meeting the 2030 interconnection targets is particularly important for completing the energy union and reaching European Union energy and climate goals. Given the scale of investment required, the persistent governance challenges around cross‑border projects and the need to enhance the robustness of the scenarios on which they are based, the European Commission has put forward a proposal to revise the TEN‑E regulation, as part of the European grids package published on 10 December 2025. The proposal is one of two legislative initiatives forming the core of the package (the other is on accelerating permit‑granting procedures).

Legislative proposal

2025/0399(COD) – Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, amending Regulations (EU) 2019/942, (EU) 2019/943 and (EU) 2024/1789 and repealing Regulation (EU) 2022/869 – COM(2025) 1006, 10 December 2025.

NEXT STEPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

For the latest developments in this legislative procedure, see the Legislative Train Schedule:

2025/0399(COD)

Read the complete briefing on ‘Guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure Revision of the TEN E Regulation‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Written by Victoria Martin de la Torre.

Commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz

On 27 January 1945, the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was liberated, after some 1.1 million people – mostly Jews, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities – were murdered there. This year, survivor Tatiana Bucci, who was six years old when she was deported to Auschwitz with her family, will address MEPs, recalling that around 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust.

Role of the European Parliament

In 1995, Parliament called for a Holocaust Remembrance Day in all Member States, and in January 2005 proposed 27 January as the EU’s Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust. In November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated 27 January as an international day of commemoration to honour Holocaust victims. Since 2005, Parliament has marked this date every year.

Parliament’s Vice-President responsible for Holocaust Remembrance Day and the fight against antisemitism is Pina Picierno (S&D, Italy). The House of European History, established at Parliament’s initiative in Brussels, features a permanent exhibition on the Holocaust and offers the Hidden Children – Survivors of the Holocaust in Brussels, a guided educational and commemorative walk for young people.

In October 2017, Parliament called on the Member States to mark 2 August as the date to remember the victims of the Roma Holocaust and to include this community in Holocaust Remembrance Day. In June that year, Parliament called on the Member States to adopt and apply the working definition of antisemitism employed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, so as to identify and prosecute antisemitic attacks more efficiently and effectively. In October 2018, in relation to the rise of neo-fascist violence in Europe, Parliament drew attention to growing violence against Jews, and called on the Member States to counter Holocaust denial and trivialisation, and to mainstream Holocaust remembrance in education.

Parliament regularly adopts resolutions on fundamental rights in the EU, addressing a wide range of issues such as human dignity, freedom, minority rights and antisemitism. Its September 2022 resolution on the situation of fundamental rights in the EU (2020-2021), for instance, provided an overview of antisemitism, racism, discrimination against LGBTIQ persons, anti-gypsyism and xenophobia.

In 2023, Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) began work on a report supporting the extension of the list of EU crimes in Article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to include hate speech and hate crime, in response to a 2021 Commission communication. If the list is extended, Parliament and the Council may then establish minimum rules on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions across the EU. Parliament endorsed the report in plenary on 18 January 2024.

The European Parliament’s Working Group against Antisemitism, bringing together more than 80 Members from across the political groups, cooperates with all EU institutions.

This is an update of an ‘At a glance’ note from January 2025 drafted by Alina-Alexandra Georgescu.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026: Through the eyes of a child‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

The Council formally adopted the regulation on phasing out Russian imports of pipeline gas and LNG into the EU.

Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2026/88 of 9 January 2026 amending Decision (CFSP) 2024/254 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Guatemala.

Agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency have shot and killed a person in Minneapolis for the second time within a month. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, the officers were acting in self-defence. However, video footage broadcast by US media shows no evidence that the victim, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, had threatened them with a weapon. Europe's media fear a dangerous spiral of violence.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attracted particular attention when he declared the end of the old rules-based order and the "beginning of a harsh reality". Carney explained that middle powers must join forces to act together against threats from the major powers. Commentators also see the need to act.