The EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels today to discuss the situation in Syria following the fall of ruler Bashar al-Assad. One question will be how the EU can contribute to stabilizing the country. This will also involve facilitating the return of the many refugees from Syria living in Europe.According to the EU, it […]
António Costa will chair his first summits next week. The meeting with the heads of state and government of the Western Balkan states is still to come before the European Council on Thursday. According to EU diplomats, preparations have gone remarkably smoothly so far. They are still on their honeymoon with the new Council President, […]
The heads of the political groups in the EU Parliament did not completely clear the way for the committee reform yesterday. They actually wanted to turn the previous subcommittees Security and Defense (SEDE) and Public Health (SANT) into full committees. In addition, there are to be two special committees limited to twelve months: for combating […]
Yesterday, Minister Robert Habeck was in Brussels to meet some of the new Commissioners. In an interview with journalists, he also explained why he had supported the relatively strict German position at the time of the negotiations on the EU debt rules. At the end of November, Habeck suddenly judged these rules to be a […]
The EU finance ministers are meeting today for the Council of Finance Ministers in Brussels. However, most of them were already there for yesterdays Eurogroup meeting. Including Jörg Kukies, who was making his first appearance as German Finance Minister in Brussels.And as befits a German Finance Minister in Brussels, he was immediately confronted with the […]
The flight of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad from Damascus marks a turning point in the Middle East – comparable to the fall of Saddam Hussein in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, writes my colleague Markus Bickel in Table.Spezial: “How the fall of Assad is shifting the balance of power in […]
The 15th package of sanctions against Moscow is on the home straight, an agreement today in the circle of EU ambassadors is very possible. Rarely has the discussion about new punitive measures against Russia been so quiet.In fact, the package is not very controversial, as no new sectors are being targeted this time. The focus […]
Ursula von der Leyen and her head of cabinet Björn Seibert are currently fine-tuning the new EU Commission’s work program; the document is due to be published before Christmas. However, the EPP does not want to wait for the result: The Christian Democrats are currently writing their own wish list for their party colleague von […]
The Mercosur summit will take place in Montevideo on Thursday and Friday. Until recently, the Commission saw the occasion as an ideal time to conclude negotiations on the trade agreement between the EU and the South American trading bloc. On Monday, however, a Commission spokeswoman said that a trip by the Commission President to Montevideo […]
Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House casts a shadow over the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels today and tomorrow. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warns Trump of the security risks if Ukraine is forced into a “bad deal” with Moscow. A dictated peace would make the USA and Europe appear weak.The […]