Europe politics

Europe politics

The EU is introducing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) on 1 January targeting imports produced using carbon-intensive methods, such as steel, glass and fertiliser. Businesses have been concerned about the impact of the EU tax on UK consumer bills and the prospect of cheap goods originally destined for Europe, such as Chinese steel, flooding the British market. The UK is introducing its own version of the tax but not until 2027.

EU commissioners are meeting today for a security college discussion on defence and security issues, where they will be joined by the secretary general of Nato, Mark Rutte. Their meeting comes amid growing concerns about drones appearing in European airspace, causing continuing disruption in parts of the Nordics. It remains unconfirmed who or what is behind them, but still prompted a strong reaction in the region.

The EU steel industry, already reeling from Donald Trump's 50% tariffs on imports, is bracing itself for further damage after the US opened the possibility of a rolling list of derivative products that could be subject to tariffs including windows and doors with some metal. In August the US listed 407 product categories as derivative inclusions, ranging from wind turbines, mobile cranes and bulldozers to rail cars and furniture.

The narrow win will come as a relief to Switzerland's main political parties, which had mostly supported plans for the e-ID. Both houses of the Swiss parliament had backed the measure with large majorities and the government had recommended a yes vote. But voters rejected an earlier version of the e-ID in 2021, largely over objections to the role of private companies in the system.

From 12 October, non-citizens of the EU will start having to register their biometric information at the border with faces photographed and fingerprints scanned before being allowed into Europe's Schengen area. After helping draw up the scheme a decade ago, the post-Brexit UK now finds itself lumped with nations from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe outside the bloc. Hopes of prior registration via an app have not materialised, and the whole biometric process must still take place at each airport, crossing or port.

"This election is really about the future orientation of this country," Lipavsky told DW. "For the first time, forces that are openly collaborating with Putin's Russia are reaching for power." "That's the main reason why I'm running in this election," he continued, "I believe we can succeed in maintaining the pro-Western course of the country. And that's incredibly important."

Fionnán Sheahan: Mary Lou's bags of cash could be key as Sinn Féin takes left alliance for test-drive There goes the last faint hope for a bit of craic. Pearse Doherty entering the presidential election would have livened it all up. The Sinn Féin frontman could have feasted on the raw meat on offer in the live debates. Alas, the lion won't be let loose in the cage with the antelopes.

A water cannon was deployed by Dutch police to disperse anti-immigration demonstrators in the Hague after some protestors began throwing bottles and rocks at police officers. A a spokesperson for the Hague local government on Saturday said the those targeted by the police water cannon had split from the main demonstration to block a highway. According to local Dutch media, thousands of people joined the protest, which also saw at least one police car set on fire.

'This refusal sends out the wrong message to the public,' says Joint Oireachtas Transport Committee's Michael Murphy

The door to greater UK participation was pushed open in May when Keir Starmer and von der Leyen signed an EU-UK security and defence partnership. Without this pact, the UK could never supply more than 35% of the value of components of any Safe-funded project. Yet the UK still needs to negotiate a technical agreement to secure a bigger role for its defence firms, and the EU could impose limits on British participation.

The EU executive has called for a suspension of free trade with Israel and sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Ursula von der Leyen had already floated the proposal to suspend the trade parts of the EU-Israel association agreement last week as the European Commission faced intense pressure for greater action amid criticism that it was not using its economic leverage to influence the Israeli government.

Follow the latest developments in the presidential race on our Irish Independent live blog Three candidates have been nominated by parties via the Oireachtas route - Catherine Connolly, Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin Roscommon, Longford, Cork City, Galway City and Dublin City councils yesterday opted not to nominate anyone Presidential hopefuls pull on the wellies for campaigning at the Ploughing Championships

If you were a US-dwelling American in the year 2025, there's a very good chance that you would also want to emigrate. But why Portugal specifically? Expatsi, a company that helps Americans move abroad, published the results of a test that matches users to various countries. And Portugal came out on top. Should I take the test? Not really.

Delivering her state of the union address in Brussels last week, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, painted a grim but accurate picture of the challenges faced by Europe as the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close. A world of imperial ambitions and imperial wars, she noted, is a world in which dependencies are ruthlessly weaponised.

With a pre-prepared statement about a catastrophic international result as the starter of a press briefing that concluded with a response to a public lashing from Roy Keane, perhaps this is the day that David Courell truly arrived as FAI chief executive.

A statement from Eurojust, the European Union's criminal justice coordination body, said it had worked with Romanian, Czech and Hungarian authorities to capture an individual investigated for the crime of treason by way of transmitting state secrets. The Czech Republic expelled a Belarusian diplomat over the affair, as did Moldova. Eurojust did not identify the main suspect but the Hungarian news outlet Telex named him as Alexandru Balan, a former deputy head of the Moldovan intelligence service and for a time its liaison in Kyiv.

A majority of people across the EU's five biggest member states believe the European Commission sold citizens out when negotiating a humiliating tariff deal with Donald Trump that benefits the US far more than Europe, a survey has shown. The poll by Cluster17, which is published on Tuesday, found 77% of respondents ranging from 89% in France to 50% in Poland thought the deal would benefit above all the US economy, with only 2% believing it would benefit Europe's.

It had been expected that each candidate would be given 15 minutes to present - but this may be reduced given that 17 candidates are now seeking Kerry County Council backing

Given how strongly the Kremlin is opposed to any suggestion of NATO membership for Ukraine, it felt like a surprise when Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country wouldn't be opposed should Ukraine join the EU. "As for Ukraine's membership of the EU, we have never objected to this," Putin said while visiting China. "As for NATO, this is another issue." Observers were quick though to note that Putin was likely trying to appear as a peacemaker to US President Donald Trump.

Anyone entering the first room of the exhibition "Our Boys" in the Main Town Hall branch of the Museum of Gdansk is greeted by dozens of photos showing young men in the uniform of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Some of the men in the photos are smiling; some look extremely serious; some look sad.

Italy is considering keeping state flights secret after the satellite signal of the aircraft carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was allegedly jammed by Russia, Italian defence ministry sources said. Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Moscow's war in Ukraine, was flying to Bulgaria on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids, delaying its arrival in Plovdiv, and reportedly forcing it to circle an airport for an hour.

"Since then, I have engaged in thoughtful conversations with people both in the Party and in the wider community. These discussions have reaffirmed my belief in the unique and vital role the Presidency plays in our national life. Fianna Fáil has a proud tradition of nominating people from different backgrounds, each bringing their own perspectives and experiences to the Office."

A Ukrainian former parliamentary speaker was shot dead in Lviv on Saturday, authorities said, as European foreign ministers met to discuss increasing pressure on Moscow to end its war against Ukraine. Andriy Parubiy, a member of parliament who served as parliamentary speaker from 2016 to 2019 and a key figure in Ukraine's 2013 pro-European Maidan revolution, was shot dead, prosecutors said. A murder investigation has been launched and the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned the killing as a horrific murder.

Over the past nine months, Serbia has experienced more than 23,000 unauthorised rallies. Most were small, sometimes just a few dozen people, but they disturbed daily life, brought government to a halt, and recently turned violent. More than 170 police officers have been injured. Despite this, police actions have remained limited and restrained, and have targeted only those who damaged property or assaulted officers.

"It's more like a flying combat system," Christian Molling, a German security expert, told DW.

Navalnaya’s account on Instagram, where she shared the video, stayed up. On X, however, her account was suspended, sparking concern and outrage among the site's users.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of negotiating Britain's relationship with the EU, said on Wednesday he was looking forward to signing a deal to let young people travel and work more freely across Europe. His tone contrasted with that struck just a few months ago, when the government would not even say whether it was willing to enter negotiations over such a scheme.