Chinese surveillance equipment, suspected of espionage in the US and UK, is being used by the Romanian Army in strategic locations, with the Defence Ministry assuring the surveillance systems are secure.

Bulgaria is delaying the delivery of 100 armoured personnel carriers to the Ukrainian army because the Defence Ministry has requested that NATO cover the transport costs, MPs from the ruling majority in Sofia told Euractiv Bulgaria.

The US has proposed a rival draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah.

With an EU Industrial Competitiveness Deal in the pipeline for the next mandate, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo invited European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Antwerp on Tuesday (19 February) to consider the future of the EU's chemical industry.

Pro-Russian forces hijacked a farmers’ protest that saw some 500 tractors roll into Prague on Monday morning, as speeches criticising the EU and the Czech government prompted many farmers to leave.

Kyiv may limit imports of Polish agri-food production if Polish farmers do not stop blocking the country’s borders in Ukraine against the influx of Ukrainian grain and other products, government officials told Ukrainian media.

Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to re-run for the EU Commission presidency has prompted some positive reactions in several EU capitals, but her quest to secure enough support from governments may prove to be a delicate balance to strike. 

A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter last year was found dead in an underground garage in Spain last week, his body riddled with bullets, Ukrainian and Spanish media reported on Monday (19 February).

Strong relations between Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who on Monday announced she was seeking a second five-year term, will be key to countering rising far-right anti-EU forces, Ignacio Molina, a senior researcher at the prestigious Elcano Royal Institute told Euractiv’s partner EFE in an interview.

Germany’s liberal FDP party is taking an increasingly confrontational stance on the economic policies of the three-way coalition government in which it is a junior partner, saying it has more in common with the conservative opposition.

Sweden is ready to talk with Hungary, which is still holding Stockholm's NATO accession, but its membership of the alliance is "not a matter of negotiation",  Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson told Euractiv.

The Dutch advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) field is highly fragmented and needs central coordination to unblock bottlenecks. Dutch researchers made the recommendations in a recent report offering insight gaining an efficient overview of ATMP regulations.

Swedish Members of the European Parliament welcome updated EU pharma legislation but remain divided on amendments, including on how to handle incentives for developing new antibiotics, though common ground for the Swedes exists on boosting the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Belgium aims to double cancer survival rates by 2040, relying on its current cancer plan despite pharmaceutical firms calling for a new strategy. Belgian Health Minister Vandenbroucke said he prefers implementing the existing strategy to drafting a new national plan.

Vast cancer care inequalities along patient pathways are highlighted in a new report from the Swedish Institute for Health Economics (IHE). Recent IHE research also shows divergence not only across the European Union, but within each country.

The European Left party (EL) wants to “abolish” the EU’s current fiscal rules to facilitate greater social and environmental spending, according to a draft electoral manifesto seen by Euractiv. 

Grain and oilseed exports from Ukraine have returned to the same levels as in March 2023, when the UN initiative was securing food trade through the Black Sea corridor, according to data from the International Grain Council (IGC).

Tensions are rising over the renewal of the EU's trade liberalisation with Ukraine, with the European Commission meeting with neighbouring countries on Tuesday (20 February) and a joint protest in Eastern Europe set to take place on Thursday.

Fabrice Leggeri, the former boss of EU border agency Frontex who will run for the far-right Rassemblement National in the European elections, criticised European migration policy while touring the French-Italian border on Monday (19 February), saying Europe should "regain control of its borders".

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s CDU party announced today her candidacy as the Spitzenkandidat for the European elections and, according to a well-choreographed scenario, the EPP congress in Bucharest on 6 March will make official her bid to succeed herself as Commission chief.