Editorial

The relief over the green light from Washington for billions in new aid to Ukraine is likely to be great when the EU foreign and defense ministers meet today. That is good because, without the Americans, Ukraine would probably be lost. However, the $60 billion aid package from the USA does not mean that the […]

The density of the meetings underlines the urgency and drama of the situation in Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has convened the defense ministers for a virtual crisis meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council this afternoon. President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who spoke to the heads of state and government at the special EU summit on Wednesday, […]

The EU heads of government have been meeting in Brussels since yesterday. While they initially discussed international crises, today they are discussing one of their own: the European economy is being left behind. The USA is racing ahead thanks to its uncomplicated industrial policy and Chinese overproduction is forcing European products off the world markets.But […]

Following the surprising withdrawal of Markus Pieper (CDU) as the Commission’s SME Envoy, there will be no high-ranking expert for the time being to insist on the reduction of harmful bureaucracy and reporting obligations. Much to the regret of the business community, the Commission has announced that it will not restart the appointment procedure until […]

The initiative came from the Commission President: shortly before Christmas, Ursula von der Leyen proposed lowering the protection status of the wolf from “strictly protected” to “protected.” The EU should advocate this within the framework of the Bern Convention of the Council of Europe. In a second step, the Commission would then have amended the […]

Although the meeting of energy ministers starting today is informal, the topic is quite serious. A perfectly timed report by the regulatory agency ACER made this clear on Friday. Without massive additional efforts, the EU will miss its central goal for the internal electricity market and the construction of ever-new and, above all, ever-cheaper wind […]

On Monday and Tuesday, the EU energy ministers will convene for an informal meeting in Brussels. In the run-up to the meeting, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, have spoken out: the EU has finally succeeded in freeing itself from its dependence on […]

The EU finance ministers are meeting today for the monthly Eurogroup and ECOFIN meeting in Luxembourg. This means that those ministers who want to make the trip to Luxembourg are meeting. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Dutch Minister Steven van Weyenberg, for example, are skipping the meeting.Now that the EU finance ministers have […]

It is supposed to be the crowning glory of this legislative period: Today, the European Parliament is voting on the legislative package on asylum and migration policy. After years of hesitation and wrangling, the so-called CEAS reform is intended to create a uniform, efficient and (to a certain extent) solidarity-based asylum policy in the EU […]

It is not the Commission or the Parliament that is in the spotlight in Strasbourg today, but the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It will deliver its judgment on three climate complaints. The outcome of the proceedings could also influence German climate policy – although Portugal, France and Switzerland filed the complaints in question.Lawsuit […]