Europe must strengthen its ability to defend itself and deter would-be aggressors regardless of who wins the upcoming US elections or how the war in Ukraine turns out, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday (17 February).

With its long-awaited defence industry programme, the European Commission looks to use the bloc’s budget to restructure its defence industrial base, showing determination to ramp up sustainable production across the continent and become more independent from other suppliers such as the US.

US President Joe Biden said he was outraged and joined other Western leaders in criticising Russia over Alexei Navalny's death, blaming it on "something that Putin and his thugs did."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a security pact with France on Friday (16 February), hours after securing a similar deal with Germany, as Paris hardened its tone on Russia’s threat to the West.

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the beleaguered frontline city of Avdiivka to avoid being encircled, new military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday (17 February), handing Russia its biggest symbolic victory following Kyiv's failed summer counter-offensive.

Ambitious new nature and biodiversity policies are needed, say environmental stakeholders. Activists are calling for the European Commission’s proposed Nature Restoration Law to set strong biodiversity targets, just as the Green Deal set robust climate targets.

The European Commission has approved Germany’s €4 billion scheme to green industrial production by deliberately inflating carbon prices, although the sum is a far cry from Berlin's initial vision.

All European political parties have been drafting EU election manifestos these days and, with or without disagreements, will soon come up with an election plan, except for the far-right Identity and Democracy, which will rely on a vague two-page declaration from 2022.

If anyone had any hesitation about whether Russia was a ‘demokratura’ or a totalitarian regime, the answer today - following the death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny - is clear.

The Belgian Presidency failed to garner the necessary support from member states to agree a new platform work directive on Friday (16 February), effectively shelving the proposal, after more than two years of negotiations.

Tensions over renewed trade benefits to Ukraine were high last week, with the coming week shaping up to be just as fraught. 

Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová has announced that she will challenge the controversial reform of the penal code in the Constitutional Court and ask it to suspend the law's effect until a verdict is reached, creating the possibility that the laws will not be enforced and that Slovakia will not face fines or the suspension of EU funds as a result.

Germany became the second country, after the UK, to sign a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine, providing long-term security guarantees for the war-torn country, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday (16 February).

The withdrawal of the Water Resilience Initiative from the European Commission's agenda has raised fears among environmental NGOs that Europe's climate ambitions will be set back.

Backing a call from Ireland and Spain, 78 members of the European Parliament representing a majority of political groups stated they would support a revision of the EU-Israel Association Agreement over Tel Aviv's breach of human rights obligation in Gaza, according to a letter obtained by Euractiv. 

The United States will continue to lead on global security, US Vice-President Kamala Harris said in Munich on Friday (16 February), clearly distancing herself from former US President Donald Trump's NATO statements.

Political momentum is swaying in favour of European solar panel manufacturers, as work progresses on a new EU law banning forced labour practices that would effectively block Chinese imports.

Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition activist and key critic of Vladimir Putin, died in a penal colony on Friday (16 February), according to reports by Russian state media.

Tribalism is not only ubiquitous in economics — it is absolutely essential for the success of the scientific enterprise.

In a bid to appease farmers’ discontent, Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas announced on Thursday (15 February) that he will call on the European Commission to update the EU’s directive on unfair trading practices in the food supply chain.