Euractiv.com

The European Commission came under new pressure on Monday (22 February) from Poland's biggest power producer, PGE, and its own advisors, over whether to include gas power in EU rules on sustainable finance.

It is vital to ensure that electrified vehicles have access to a sufficiently developed network of charging and re-fuelling infrastructure. This requires a pan-European effort with binding and measurable targets, writes Oliver Zipse.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan escalated sharply after peace talks began last year, the United Nations said in a report released on Tuesday (23 February), calling for a ceasefire as negotiators met for the first time after weeks of inaction.

Geothermal energy could help central and eastern Europe break away from coal and gas, but it needs a quicker uptake and government backing to help meet renewable energy targets, advocates say.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Czechia saying it will sue Poland for illegal coal mining, Bulgarian restaurants calling for a reduction in the fees they have to pay, and so much more.

China on Monday (22 February) rejected “slanderous attacks” about conditions for Muslim Uighurs living in Xinjiang, as European powers and Turkey voiced concerns and called for UN access to the remote western region.

At least 130 children from Western Balkan countries, including 40 from Albania, are still staying in refugee camps in Syria, which were set up following the fall of the Islamic State (IS), the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network said on Monday....

Serbia’s goal is to become an energy transit corridor like it already is for transportation, said Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlović on Monday at the signing of a funding agreement for the construction of a section of the Trans-Balkan Power Corridor....

Employment dropped by 0.8% in January compared to December 2020 and by 0.3% compared to January of the previous year, and registered unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points on the month to 9.8%, according to data released by the...

Restaurant owners in Bulgaria insist that local authorities in the country reduce several fees they have to pay in order to help them emerge from the crisis. In an open letter, two restaurant associations have called for the fees for...

As Slovakia recorded the highest COVID-19-related deaths and hospitalisations per capita last weekend and its ongoing lockdown and nationwide antigen testing experiments are not bearing fruit, Social and Family Minister Milan Krajniak is proposing to re-open the country’s churches, referring...

Tomasz Greniuch resigned from the position as director of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Wrocław after 13 days since taking office.  Since the day Greniuch took up the position on 9 February, there has been a lot of...

Budapest’s position is that relations between the EU and Moscow have to be looked at “strategically,” which “cannot be reduced to sanctions, nor the Navalny case,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó meeting his counterparts in Brussels on Monday. “It...

Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Luca Attanasio, a soldier, and a driver were killed Monday morning in an attack on a UN convoy carrying a delegation to Rutshuru to visit a UN-run school feeding programme along...

A number of associations representing Greek arts have issued strong statements against culture minister Lina Mendoni following her refusal to resign following a scandal of alleged rapes and paedophilia in theatre. The Association of Greek Archaeologists described Mendoni as “persona...

Seeing the surge in coronavirus infections, politicians and civil servants will have to quickly decide whether to go ahead with April’s municipal elections or postpone them till autumn. At the start of February, justice ministry officials started preparing to delay...

There is a possibility to relax some COVID-19 measures in March, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced in a press conference where, together with health experts, four different relaxation models were presented. In the press conference on Monday (22 February),...

Politicians from across the political spectrum in Germany want to expand the eligibility for the AstraZeneca vaccine – which was only approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for people under 65 – at a time when scepticism towards the...

The Czech Republic will take Poland to the European Court of Justice for illegal mining activities in the Túrow coal mine, Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (S&D) has confirmed. According to the European Environmental Bureau, it will be the first legal...

Georgian police on Tuesday (23 February) arrested a top opposition leader and used tear gas in a violent raid on his party headquarters, further deepening a political crisis sparked by last year's disputed parliamentary elections.