Freedom of movement, including the opportunity to cross state borders without unnecessary obstacles, is of great significance in people’s lives. For this reason, visa policy should not be used as a political instrument, writes Peter Van Elsuwege.

Despite a high rate of approval for the European project, Lithuanians appear to have little interest in the country’s first stint at leading the rotating presidency of the EU, starting 1 July, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius told EurActiv Germany in an exclusive interview.

Germany's geographic position at the heart of Europe forces Berlin to formulate a multifaceted foreign policy. It must balance its military alliance with the United States against its energy ties with Russia, Berlin's largest natural gas supplier. It is through this context that US President Barack Obama's 18-19 June visit to Germany must be viewed, writes Stratfor.

Europe needs to improve the ease with which economic activity can take place across national borders. It must complete the single market to boost GDP and create jobs, writes Mark Spelman.

The latest meeting of the three leaders of Greece's coalition government over the aftermath of the unprecedented decision to shut down ERT, the country's public broadcaster, will not necessarily lead to elections, although no one could rule this out, writes Yiannis  Roubatis

The world's rich economies said they would take a tougher stance on fighting money laundering and tax evasion but promised little in the way of specific new action at the end of a two-day summit yesterday (18 June).

The biggest threat to European citizens’ privacy is posed not by companies, but by governments, according to Digital Europe’s director-general. The US Prism scandal has highlighted the potential for governments to snoop on individuals, which makes it even more important that neither the EU institutions nor other government bodies should be excluded from new data protection rules.

Millions of people around the world are likely to be pushed back into poverty because climate change is undermining economic development in poor countries, the World Bank warned in a report released on Wednesday (19 June).

Lithuania, a country of 3.2 million which joined the EU in 2004, will assume its first presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July. Lithuania considers itself one of the most successful countries to overcome the economic and financial crisis and to return to sustained recovery and growth. It is the first Baltic country to take the EU stint.

Lithuania, which takes over the EU's rotating Presidency on 1 July, is not optimistic regarding the much-protracted accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen borderless area, the country’s envoy to Brussels said yesterday (18 June). 

Greece is set to agree the sale of its natural gas grid operator DESFA to Azeri state energy company SOCAR, a senior official directly involved in the talks said yesterday (18 June). The deal appears to raise the chances that the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will win its bid for Azeri gas, against its competitor Nabucco.

Angela Merkel's conservatives want to increase the use of German in Europe if they are re-elected in September, calling in their campaign programme for the language to be treated on a par with English and French in top Brussels institutions.

Belgian green energy retailer Lampiris doubled its market share last year as customers deserted market leader Electrabel, highlighting the impact of government encouragement for switching.

Aviation superpowers Airbus and Boeing are battling to dominate the transcontinental jet market, each vowing to outdo the other in delivering quieter, more fuel-efficient aircraft. EurActiv reports from the Paris Air Show.

SPECIAL REPORT / Though civilian airlines are pressing for quieter, more efficient aircraft, noise output is low on the list of priorities for the sector’s military wing, but there are indications that may be changing.

Young Europeans entering the labour market today have a much harder time than their parents or grandparents. In Greece and Spain where the crisis has cut the jobs the most, there are now more unemployed young people than employed. This casts a dark shadow on the whole society, hope is scarce. Desperation is becoming a norm, writes MEP Tarja Cronberg.

The European Court of Auditors has slammed the EU's development aid to Egypt, saying the bloc's "softly softly approach" hasn't worked and calling for better spending of taxpayers' money.

Toxic substances contained in micro-plastic waste can enter the food chain through ingestion by marine fauna like sea cucumbers, plankton and mussels, claim the Dutch, who will call on EU environment ministers to address the issue at a meeting today (18 June) in Luxembourg.

The European Union and the United States launched negotiations on Monday (17 June) to forge a comprehensive transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), after overcoming a long-fought battle on excluding the audiovisual sector, led by France.

A Greek court yesterday (17 June) ordered state broadcaster ERT back on air while it is restructured, allowing squabbling coalition leaders to move towards a compromise that avoids early elections.