Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister on Sunday (12 May) in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.

Belgian Ambassador to Bulgaria Frédéric Meurice brought together EU ambassadors and DPS leader Delyan Peevski, who has been sanctioned for corruption by the US under the Global Magnitsky Act and by the UK - again for corruption.

North Macedonia's first woman president was inaugurated on Sunday (12 May), with the new nationalist leader angering Greece after a speech that did not acknowledge her country's new name.

Slovakia’s three main parliamentary parties reiterated their opposition to the possible abolition of the EU member states’ right of veto, saying it is crucial for Slovak sovereignty, candidates in the EU elections from the ruling Smer, Hlas and opposition SaS parties said in a televised debate on Sunday.

Lega leader and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini announced his party’s plans to reintroduce universal conscription at the recent Alpini parade in Vicenza, but Fratelli d’Italia Defence Minister Guido Crosetto -who was also present- voiced scepticism over the idea.

The leader of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, offered an alternative euro-to-zloty exchange rate as proof that Warsaw should not join the eurozone.

The leader of Catalonia’s socialist party (PSC) and former health minister, Salvador Illa, won Sunday’s elections, followed by the separatist JxCat formation of former regional president Carles Puigdemont and the left-wing pro-independence ERC party, but the socialist candidate is not certain to govern.

Hundreds of civil society organisations decried the recent reversal of EU sustainability policies for the bloc’s agrifood sector in an open letter published on May 13.

Malta’’s Prime Minister Robert Abela said both he and the country are proud of the work done by former deputy prime minister and minister for European Funds and the country’s EU commissioner candidate Chris Fearne who resigned after he was charged with defrauding the government through deceit and misappropriation of funds.

More Ukrainian refugees in Germany should take up work, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said over the weekend, promising that this would secure their right to stay as fewer than two in 10 are currently employed.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda appeared on track to secure his second and final term in office after the first round of voting on Sunday (12 May), following a campaign focusing on security concerns across the Baltics amid Russia's war against Ukraine.

The EU’s new carbon pricing scheme for road and heating fuels (ETS2) – set to be introduced across the bloc in 2027 – could lead to higher price hikes than initially thought, key lawmakers told Euractiv.

Croatia’s centre-right coalition agreement with the far-right has raised concerns from the Socialist and Greens, something the country's EU Commissioner Dubravka Šuica has downplayed, staying close to the line of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In an exclusive interview with Euractiv, French top candidate of La France insoumise (LFI, The Left) for the 2024 EU elections Manon Aubry, strongly critised a divided left in the face of a far-right at the top of the polls.

Fossil fuel intensive industries will soon have to pay for their carbon emissions, according to the new Europe-wide carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS2).

After a 12-year delay, France's first EPR has been greenlighted by the French nuclear safety authority as control procedures are set to speed up and simplify.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Global Europe Brief, your weekly update on the EU from a global perspective. You can subscribe to receive our newsletter here. What seemed like a breakthrough a year ago is now facing a stalemate: Neither Belgrade nor Pristina...

Fierce fighting raged into a second day on the fringes of Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday (11 May) as Moscow said it had captured five villages, while Kyiv said it was repulsing the attacks and battling for control of the settlements.

Switzerland on Saturday (11 May) won the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Swedish host city Malmö, beating runner-up Croatia, after having been among bookmakers' top-three to win the competition.

Lithuanians vote on Sunday (12 May) in a presidential election expected to hand a new term to incumbent Gitanas Nausėda, a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its two-year war with Russia, following a campaign focusing on security concerns in the Baltic states.