Poland's parliament on Wednesday (17 January) said it would create a committee of inquiry into alleged use of the Israeli spyware Pegasus by the previous populist government as well as police and secret services.

The Netherlands are planning to make a frigate available for the EU's new mission in the Red Sea to protect ships against attacks from the Houthis in Yemen, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

To reduce tensions and speed up the climate transition, the European Union needs to improve its offer on cooperation with other parts of the world, in particular the so-called ‘global South’, writes Mats Engström.

In this episode, the Beyond the Byline podcast looks into the EU’s plan to grant €87 million, alongside new equipment, to Egypt to manage migration in 2024, under a project initiated in 2022.

The liberal group in the European Parliament, Renew Europe, will elect its new president next Thursday (25 January) at 8 am, with the two candidates, the French Valérie Hayer and Dutch Malik Azmani, interim group President, as the top contenders. 

The leader of the recently-founded "Alliance Rurale" party in France, Willy Schraen, told Euractiv in an interview that if he is elected as an MEP, he aims to create a 'rural affairs' group in the EU House with like-minded lawmakers.

The European Commission said on Wednesday (17 January) it was "now going to start" the EU accession screening process for Ukraine and Moldova, with member states already wondering why the process for the two Eastern candidates had not started in December, as expected. 

In Borgen, the award-winning Danish TV series of the 2010s, the negative image of a career in the EU institutions was in the spotlight, with “In Brussels, no one can hear you scream” one of its well-known quotes.

To maintain online integrity in an election-heavy year around the world, tech leaders gathered in Davos debated on Tuesday evening (16 January) the recent rise of AI and its implications for misleading campaigns and deceptive content in the run-up to polls.

The European Parliament objected to raising the limit of the maximum quantity of residues of the insecticide thiacloprid, banned in the EU from 2020, on more than 30 products coming from third countries.

Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission (1985-1995), is little known for his work on the environment, but he was instrumental in laying the foundations for a number of European laws that are currently in force.

With an overwhelming majority, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position for the EU rules on national debts and deficits, despite Green fears that it could lead to renewed austerity and destabilise the European Union.

Russia is developing its relations with North Korea in all areas, including "sensitive" ones, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday (17 January).

NATO members and defence industries must step up commitments to meet the military's needs to prepare for all eventualities because we are "in an era in which anything can happen at any time", the alliance's military committee chief, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, said on Wednesday (17 January).

World Health Organisation (WHO) report showed positive trends – tobacco use globally declined but the European region has one of the highest percentages of the population using tobacco, moreover, the highest share of women and adolescent smokers.

During a conference with journalists at the Élysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron hammered down that "order and progress" go hand in hand, promising new rules for taking back control of youth screen use.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a European Parliament plenary on Wednesday (17 January) she was "confident" of getting Hungary to drop its Ukraine aid veto at a decisive summit on 1 February, but Budapest's new alliance-in-the-making could still complicate things.

This week health has made a timid appearance in the European Parliament’s Plenary in Strasbourg with Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, presenting the priorities of the presidency and EU lawmakers voting on reducing emissions from fluorinated gases.

Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas is about to complete a tour of the five Central Asian countries in advance of an ‘Investors Forum for EU-Central Asia Transport Infrastructure’, to be held in Brussels on 29-30 January.

The final days of 2023 were marked by what could end up being a turning point for Europe’s energy and climate policy. Find out more in this week's Green Brief.