Euractiv.com

Ireland's prime minister and the deputy prime minister asked European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, Ireland's EU commissioner, to consider resigning over his attendance at an event being investigated for breaching COVID-19 regulations.

After more than four years of brinksmanship and delay it should surprise no one that the final act of the Brexit process – agreeing on an EU-UK trade deal – will go down to the wire.

Talks on an EU-UK trade agreement continue to make little progress, Michel Barnier warned on Friday (21 August, repeating that a deal remained “unlikely”.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday (21 August) said Turkey had made its biggest-ever discovery of natural gas after completing new exploration work in the Black Sea.

This Saturday (22 August) will be "Earth Overshoot Day", the day on which Earth's ecosystems will be exhausted, and humanity's demand for the planet's resources for the rest of the year can no longer be regenerated, EURACTIV Germany reports.

It is possible to keep the coronavirus pandemic in check in Europe while also keeping the economy running and an education system in operation, the WHO said on Thursday (20 August).

The protesters in Belarus are pawns in a geopolitical tectonic battle between East and West, although they don’t realise it, write Noé Morin and Bryan Bille.

Belarus opened a criminal investigation into attempts by the opposition to "seize power" on Thursday (20 August) as strongman Alexander Lukashenko moved to assert his authority after days of protests over a disputed election.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday (20 August) they would not accept attacks on EU member states’ sovereignty, amid an escalating row with Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.

A group of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have called on the European Commission to react to a mass arrest of LGBT activists in Poland.

Allies of stricken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny accused the Kremlin of thwarting his medical evacuation to Germany on Friday (21 August), saying the decision placed his life in mortal danger because the Siberian hospital treating him was under-equipped.

The United States formally began the process Thursday (20 August) of activating a controversial mechanism aimed at reimposing sanctions on Iran, a move that was immediately rejected by European allies fighting to save the Iranian nuclear deal.

A prestigious non-partisan US institute gave a generally positive assessment of the recent electoral reforms in Georgia, a country in the EU's neighbourhoud nourishing hopes to join the Union and NATO.  

Steve Bannon, an architect of Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, was arrested on a yacht on Thursday (20 August) and was charged with defrauding donors in a scheme to help build the president’s signature wall along the US-Mexico border.

Key members of the "Fridays for Future" (FFF) movement in Berlin called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Thursday (20 August) to become more involved in the fight against global warming after what was described as a "friendly" meeting. EURACTIV France reports.

An Irish Cabinet minister apologised "unreservedly" on Thursday (20 August) for attending a social event with more than 80 people – reported to have included European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan – which may have breached COVID-19 regulations.

Joe Biden accepted the Democratic Party nomination for the White House on Thursday (20 August), vowing to heal a United States battered by a deadly pandemic and divided by four years of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Faced with the rapid rise in disease-spreading tiger mosquitoes, a team of French, German and Swiss scientists have combined forces and knowledge to halt their expansion. EURACTIV France reports.

Despite closing weekly markets during the two-month lockdown, farmers in the French region of Hérault have succeeded in continuing or expanding direct sales to their customers through new channels.

The Greek parliament will discuss and ratify the maritime deals demarcating exclusive economic zones (EEZ) with Egypt and Italy next week, Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas has said.