The European Commission’s remarks follow the threat by Donald Trump to halt all trade with Spain, following PM Pedro Sánchez denial of the use of military bases in the peninsula for further attacks against Iran.
Like much recent EU migration legislation, the proposal was presented without a comprehensive fundamental rights impact assessment. Sixteen UN experts have already raised concerns about its compatibility with international law. Yet EU institutions are rushing the file through the legislative process.
Iran is now blocking the Strait of Hormuz, through which one in five barrels of oil and a quarter of the world’s liquefied natural gas transit. As oil and gas prices rise, should Europeans be worried about a new energy crisis?
The European Central Bank itself has repeatedly said over the years that its policies are ineffective when dealing with energy shocks.
Russian president Vladimir Putin phoned his ally, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, on Tuesday to “commend” his “principled” and “sovereign” Ukraine foreign policy, according to a Kremlin readout.
After the college of commissioners failed to agree on many of the details of the Industrial Accelerator Act again on Monday, it will now be published in more limited form. Plans to bar non-EU producers from government contracts and funding have been delayed by six months.
European leaders have been carefully drafting cautious statements urging ‘de-escalation’ and ‘respect for international law’. But one voice has sounded different. And it speaks Spanish.
Historically, the EU has placed crucial importance on upholding international law. But after the US and Israeli strikes in Iran, the EU is turning a blind eye to the violation of the principles of the UN charter. Are we witnessing an erosion of this principle within the EU?
Iran is the second-largest refugee hosting country in the world, spooking leaders in Europe of any possible mass exodus, with the commission stepping up monitoring and cooperation with relevant UN agency and countries in the region.
“Law is stronger than force”, said Ursula von der Leyen on Greenland. Last week, the EU rightly stressed once more the illegality of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Four days later the US and Israel attacked Iran and the EU forgot about international law.
A decade after the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe launched its journalist safety platform, threats have surged: over 2,300 alerts in more than 40 countries, yet fewer than one-in-three receive government responses. Impunity persists, journalists face violence, and democracy pays the price. Responding to alerts, resolving cases and addressing systemic problems should be the rule, not the exception.
Donald Trump is inspiring European states to consider how to avoid the omnipresent services of US tech giants in everyday life.
Iran has shown EU cities could be hit in the Middle East war, as tens of thousands of European nationals try to flee the region.
The new EU-Swiss trade pact does not include a cap on freedom of movement, despite Switzerland’s focus on migration control.
While leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn Iran and consider defensive steps, they stop short of direct war involvement, coordinating cautiously with the United States. Here’s a closer breakdown of how each country is positioning itself.
The European gas price was 40 percent higher on Monday after Qatar halted liquid gas production.
TikTok removed 112 million pieces of content – mainly with automated systems – that violated the platform’s policies in the EU between July and December 2025, according to the platform’s latest Digital Services Act transparency report.
The European Union must decide whether it will confine itself to the comfortable position of simply saying ‘no to war’, or whether it will actively support a democratic transition. A reactive anti-war posture may appear principled in Brussels. For Iranians who have already paid for regime change with massacres, mass imprisonment, executions, and now open war, it is inconsequential.
Friedrich Merz has pledged to transform the German armed forces into the strongest conventional land force among European Nato members. Will that be enough for Donald Trump?
THIS WEEK offers a weekly snapshot of the key developments in Brussels and across Europe over the next seven days, published every Monday morning.