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EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday (12 January) hailed Austria's target of being carbon neutral by 2040 as an example for other European countries as she met the country's newly re-elected leader.

The new government in Vienna will aim for “an end to nuclear energy” in the EU, Thomas Waitz told EURACTIV Slovakia. The MEP-elect and Green Party negotiator also calls on the EU to acknowledge that Poland will need financial support in the transition away from coal.

A delegation of US officials will arrive in Britain on Monday (13 January) to try to persuade Britain not to use Huawei equipment in the upgrade of its telecoms network, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday.

French President Emmanuel Macron will on Monday (13 January) host counterparts from five Sahel countries seeking more backing in the fight against a murderous jihadist uprising even as France's military role is being questioned.

Malta's incoming leader Robert Abela promised to strengthen the rule of law and said the country would emerge stronger after recent events, in an address on Sunday (12 January) a day before he is due to succeed Joseph Muscat as prime minister.

Protests erupted across Iran for a second day on Sunday (12 January), increasing pressure on the Islamic Republic’s leadership after it admitted its military shot down a Ukrainian airliner by accident, despite days of denials that Iranian forces were to blame.

New diesel vehicles are exceeding the limit for particle emissions, European campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E) said on Monday (13 January), calling on EU lawmakers to make emissions testing and regulations stricter.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Saturday (11 January) blamed sexism and "fake news" for her defeat in elections last week, as well as a rival who split the right-wing electorate she was counting on.

With the prospects of a potential US-Iran war fading, EU foreign minister during an emergency session on Friday (10 January), said they are willing to maintain the Iran nuclear deal as long as Tehran fulfils its commitments in order to achieve it.

The last monthly update on agri-food trade with data until October 2019 confirmed a favourable trend of EU food exports to the US ahead of punitive tariffs promised by the Trump administration.

The European Parliament declared Friday (10 January) that jailed Catalan separatist Oriol Junqueras is no longer an MEP, stripping him of the immunity his supporters hoped would see him freed.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appointed former European Commission spokesperson Arancha González as his new foreign affairs minister, while Nadia Calviño, who used to be a director-general in the EU executive, will become vice-president for economy, and former EU official Luis Planas will stay on as agriculture minister.

Europe has always praised its soft power skills in doing international politics and criticised Washington’s harsh, interest-driven, 'cowboy' approach. But when a problem appears at home, Europeans invariably ask Americans to intervene.

New European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was put on the spot during her visit to Zagreb on Friday (10 January). Asked how she would prove that her Commission is ‘geopolitical’, given the EU's weak response to growing challenges in the region, von der Leyen failed to provide convincing answers.

Shortly before Germany launches its "green week", Lower Saxony's conservative agriculture minister, Barbara Otte-Kinast (CDU), raised the issue of introducing a meat tax, again, which is something animal welfare activists have been demanding for years. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Bulgaria's minister for environment and water resources was placed in 24-hour custody, the office of the Prosecutor General said on Thursday. The development took place after an investigative report by EURACTIV Bulgaria exposed mismanagement that left the city of Pernik without drinking water.

Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer plans to use automatic facial recognition at 134 railway stations and 14 airports, according to a news report published on 3 January. Although official confirmation of the plan is still missing, an alliance between civil society and politicians has called for the banning of this surveillance technology. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is not a good instrument to cut road transport emissions because it will raise petrol prices and fuel popular discontent, as seen in the past with the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ protests, writes William Todts. Road emissions...

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out about Portugal's historic approval of a budget with a surplus, Orban's corruption in France, Greece's stance on 5G, Viktor Orban's worship of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, and so much more.

Milorad Dodik, a Serbian member of BiH’s presidency, said the future of BiH’s Serb entity of Republika Srpska (RS) was in “integration with Serbia” and that nothing would stop this process. Dodik said those words at an event marking the...