Euractiv.com

Television comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy took the oath of office as Ukraine’s new president on Monday (20 May), promising that as hard as he had worked in the past to make Ukrainians laugh, he would now work to keep them from crying.

The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network.

From Volkswagen to Spotify to Iberdrola, Europe’s biggest firms are urging people to vote in key European Parliament elections this weekend amid concerns that an anti-EU outcome could disrupt their business and hurt their bottom line. 

Although irregular arrivals in Europe are at their lowest level in five years, migration remains one of the top priorities for European citizens in the upcoming EU election. EURACTIV has looked into the European parties’ proposals on the matter.

In an interview with EURACTIV, European law expert Stefan Brocza explains why the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) could still achieve good results in Sunday's European elections, despite the unfolding scandal linking the party with a supposed Russian oligarch.

The lead candidate for the centre-right in this week’s European elections says “Europe must move towards net-zero emissions by 2050,” voicing his belief in innovation and new technologies to drive the decarbonisation agenda if he becomes the next president of the European Commission.

All remaining ministers from Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) are to resign, a party spokesman said Monday (20 May), after one of them, Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, was fired in the fallout from a corruption scandal that has brought down the government.

This week, the German Federal Administrative Court will decide whether to continue allowing the mass killing of millions of newborn male chickens. If judges ban this practice, eggs could become scarce, according to the Poultry industry. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The next re-authorisation process for the controversial glyphosate weedkiller should also include an assessment of a potential ban of the substance in terms of food availability, biodiversity and farmers’ income, Bernhard Url told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

The EU executive has already prepared the ground for a new initiative on gene editing to overhaul the current GMO legislation, EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan has said.

The two largest parties in the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s ANO (ALDE) and Civic Democratic Party (ODS, ECR), have found common ground in their vision for the EU future: a stronger nation. EURACTIV Czech Republic reports.

New plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) emerged as an innovative agricultural solution in the last decade, allowing the development of new plant varieties by modifying the DNA of the seeds and plant cells.

The lowly milkshake has turned into an unlikely weapon of choice for Britons determined to make a splashy statement against the rise of the Brexit-backing populist right.

Kazakhstan’s first president Nursultan Nazarbayev surprisingly resigned on 19 March and announced that the Speaker of the Senate, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, will serve as interim leader before the next presidential election, which will take place on 9 June.

This week's European parliamentary elections will launch a scramble for the continent's top leadership jobs, but won't decide the winners. Here is a guide to the horsetrading. 

Climate change is threatening the future of younger generations, but decision makers are still not taking it seriously. To get them started, youth organisations have joined forces with partners across Europe to come up with a set of five demands for how to solve the crisis.

A connected Europe is closer than you might think. An explosion of new digital services is just around the corner, from autonomous driving to e-democracy and virtual reality.

Right-wing populists are campaigning for "cleaning up" and "restoring order" once they are in power. Yet the now infamous ‘Ibiza-Video’ is shaking the Austrian political sphere to the core because it shows the exact opposite - their true colours.

This Tuesday, during the General Affairs Council, ministers of foreign affairs will get a presentation by the Commission about a new Communication on the rule of law. Rather than just listen, ministers should show they are committed to backing up talk with immediate action, write Gráinne de Búrca and John Morijn.

Kazakhstan is investing in human capital and plans to become one of the world’s 30 most advanced nations by 2050. At a recent conference in the capital Nur-Sultan, leaders and economists offered advice, valid also for other countries as well: to focus on education.