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The European Union's flagship fund to wean regions off fossil fuels will not finance natural gas projects, EU governments said on Wednesday (16 December), ending a debate over whether to make the fuel eligible for support.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday (16 December) US sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of Russian defence systems were a "hostile attack" on its sovereign rights and defence industry, and the move was bound to fail.

Planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from buildings and construction are jeopardising global goals to keep devastating climate change at bay, a UN-backed coalition warned on Wednesday (16 December), after data showed they hit an all-time high in 2019.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Germany, France, Austria, Italy announcing their vaccination strategy, Bulgaria paying for a media in North Macedonia, and so much more.

PCR tests costs between €40 and €120 across Balkan countries, with the cheapest – on average – being in North Macedonia and the most expensive in Slovenia. In the majority of countries, the prices vary depending on whether the test...

Ludovic Orban, prime minister again? The centre-right parties are yet to form a coalition as they have not settled on the name of the prime minister. PNL (EPP) has proposed Florin Citu, the current finance minister, as prime minister, but...

With 133 votes in favour, six against and three abstentions, the European People’s Party Group withdrew all rights to speaking time in plenary on behalf of the group, to be nominated to lead political files on behalf of the group...

Poland’s parliament adopted by a large majority a law amending the scope of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence known as the Istanbul Convention. The new law allows the president to...

5G broadband frequency networks auction concluded on Wednesday and all three main mobile companies – German-owned Cosmote, multinational Vodafone and fund owned WIND – were awarded some spectrum for the new generation networks. The government got a total price of...

Portugal’s Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva is hoping the first tranche of EU recovery fund will reach member states “in the first half of 2021”, saying Portugal aims to reach the end of its EU Council presidency with “all national...

Lithuania has become the first European country to launch an investigation into crimes against humanity potentially committed by the Belarusian security forces. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main leader of the Belarusian opposition who was forced to flee to Lithuania, called on...

While 38% of Finns reject the country’s participation in the EU’s €750 billion recovery package, close to half (49%) believe Finland’s influence on the EU is next to unrecognisable, according to a survey published on Tuesday by the Finnish Business...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlić Radman that “the EU is not quite ready for good relations with Russia, but Russia has good relations with Croatia”. Radman called the meeting an “incentive to...

Behind the corporate battle for French media company Lagardère, there’s a political tug-of-war involving the country’s richest man, a media magnate and President Emmanuel Macron.

British pet owners will need a new document to enter the European Union with their animals after the Brexit transition period ends on 1 January next year, the government said on Wednesday (16 December).

The European Medicine’s Agency is expected to approve Pfizer’s vaccine at an extraordinary meeting on 21 December and then, within three days, the European Commission is set to give its final green light. As for the vaccination process, in practice, everything depends on the readiness of EU countries, especially when it comes to logistics.

The European Union’s future carbon border adjustment mechanism must mirror the EU’s own carbon market price and structure in order to be compatible with WTO rules, says Pascal Canfin.

European regional policy has a special role to play in overcoming the coronavirus crisis, with one of the main new instruments being REACT-EU, a fund which represents an increase of €47.5 billion in structural funds. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Policymakers have started re-thinking the EU strategy for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that the European Commission unveiled only a few days before the start of the first lockdown all over Europe.

Talks between France and the United Kingdom over the management of the Channel Tunnel risk failing as the EU’s plan for the rail link is “absolutely unacceptable”, a UK government minister said on Wednesday (16 December).