Euobserver.com

European leaders come together on Thursday and Friday to discuss the latest developments in Israel/Gaza, reconfirm their support for Ukraine, and address migration. Meanwhile, a key EU proposal to reduce pesticide use will be voted upon on Tuesday.

"If we linked one [the Ukraine war] with the other [the Gaza war] then the next sanctions to befall Russia would be drastically more powerful," an EU diplomat said.

Residents of rural areas in the EU feel neglected by their institutions and governments, as gaps in provision and living conditions compared with urban conurbations have increased in the past decade, a new Eurofound report warns.

Details are emerging of EU-funded pilot projects in Bulgaria and Romania to fast-track asylum and fund border technologies, described as essential to help both countries join the visa-free travel Schengen zone.

The last few months have brought increasing clarity on the legislative framework underpinning the European Green Deal — but very little clarity on the key question of how this will be financed.

The reform was meant as a quick intervention — but after months of bickering, EU countries finally agreed on a series of short-term reforms this week that could drastically change how the power market operates in the coming years.

Wages should be based on social contribution, rewarding low-paid posts in care, charity work or the health sector, says a new global report on in-work poverty by the UN's poverty expert. And capping salaries in fossil-fuels, pesticides and tobacco.

There is no evidence Hamas received EU aid, says Haim Regev, Israel's ambassador to the EU and Nato.

Palestine's EU envoy and 15 other Arab diplomats have voiced outrage at Europe's inaction on Israel's killing in Gaza. The Palestinian ambassador also hit out at "Israeli lies" over the Al-Ahli hospital bombing on Tuesday night.

The European Parliament announced Jina Mahsa Amini and the women's movement in Iran won this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

The focus is now on MEPs, who will cast their votes next week. The unprecedentedlevel of lobbying seen in Brussels these days around the Packaging and Packaging Waste revision (PPWR) is making a handful of politicians strangely hesitant.

EU officials have called out US social-media baron Elon Musk for publishing antisemitic content — amid questions over the future of his X platform in Europe.

Questions are mounting on how a Tunisian ordered to leave Belgium after having his asylum request rejected was able to stay, before killing two Swedes in the streets of Brussels on Monday night.

The European Parliament has agreed its position on next year's budget, adding €6.3bn to tackle the challenges ahead. This will further complicate the trilogues with member states who have proposed cuts to the EU Commission's draft.

Comments by a Spanish cabinet minister this week have sparked tensions between Israel and Madrid, prompting a harsh exchange and complicating the two countries' diplomatic relationship.

To this day, not a single Iranian official has been held accountable for ordering, planning and committing widespread and systematic human rights violations against women and girls through the implementation of compulsory veiling.

Almost €14bn of European official development assistance ends up in a handful of rich member states — instead of going towards low-income nations in need around the globe, a new report uncovers.

Whoever bombed a hospital in Gaza broke the laws of war, a top EU official has said, while warning that Middle East violence had raised the terrorism threat in Europe.

The EU Commission has backtracked on its pledges regarding chemicals, animal welfare, and food systems — none of the much-awaited proposals featured in its 2024 work programme, unveiled on Tuesday.

The EU is working on a ban on products made with forced labour. MEPs gave a first green light to the legislation— but progress in the Council is still lagging far behind to start the inter-institutional negotiations.