Greece and creditors proclaim 'end of crisis'
After late-night talks, the Eurogroup agreed on a €15bn disbursement and debt relief measures for Greece, while setting out a tight monitoring when the bailout ends in August.
Opinion
The risks behind the 'green bond' boom
The EU should not overuse the financial system in order to achieve environmental goals, or it risks the emergence of a green bond bubble which would be detrimental to the financial sector and hinder the achievement of climate targets.
Opinion
Eurozone needs institutional reform
Both the examples of Greece and Italy test the limits of a system with inherent weaknesses that feeds internal gaps, strengthens deficits and debts in the European South, and surpluses in the European North respectively.
News in Brief
- EU closes deficit procedure against France
- Romania's ruling party leader gets jail sentence
- EU states defer individual decisions on asylum reforms
- Commission opens case on Qatar gas flow
- EU adopts posted workers directive
- EU leaders to call for 'coordinated plan' on AI
- May passes Brexit bill after rebels accept compromise
- Pope: populists 'creating a psychosis' on migrants
EU 'dual quality' food probe to visit Hungary
The Joint Research Centre coordinates the EU-wide campaign to see if citizens in some member states receive inferior versions of products branded under the same name.
Analysis
Commission bets on states to make farm policy 'green'
The European Commission has shifted responsibility of how to achieve climate goals to member states in proposed reforms to its agricultural aid budget.
Does Belgium's mail company need EU farm money?
As Brexit leads to budget cuts in the agriculture subsidies, EUobserver looks at some of the surprising recipients of CAP funding.
Investigation
How a US firm pushed for EU €2.1trn pension fund
A huge cross-border personal pension fund is being prepared by the EU - in the wake of suggestions from the world's largest asset fund manager BlackRock.
Analysis
Greece facing post-bailout challenges
Creditors are expected to agree Thursday on a final loan and debt relief measures for Greece. After eight years on an international lifeline, the country will remain under close surveillance - but will have to find a new economic model.
Investigation
How to get around the EU posted workers directive
Some EU careworkers in Belgium receive around €400 a month - despite their carers paying €2,500 a month and paying for flights and accommodation. The answer lies in how firms can skirt the safeguards in the EU's posted workers directive.
Greek bailout exit takes shape
At a meeting next week, eurozone finance ministers and the IMF are expected to agree on new cash, debt relief measures, and a monitoring mechanism to ensure that Greece can live without international aid for the first time since 2010.
Euro is 'indispensable', Italian populists say
Italy's EU minister has said the euro was "indispensable", reassuring markets amid uncertainty over populist rule in Rome.
Opinion
Europe could lose out in North Korean bonanza
South Korean businesses including Hyundai and Samsung are already scoping investment opportunities. Will North Korea become a 'new Vietnam' opportunity - or more like Myanmar, where slow Brussels policy-making meant EU exporters lost out.
Nato helps bind Western ties amid G7 'trade war'
Nato is helping to sustain transatlantic unity amid a Western rift on trade, as Macron and Trump exchange blows on Twitter ahead of a 'G6+1' summit.
Analysis
Beyond US dispute, EU still aiming at China
On the day it outlined its reaction to US tariffs on steel and aluminium, the EU commission also launched a case against China on property rights - an issue on which EU and US are working hand-in-hand.
NGO testing omitted from new Dieselgate legislation
It was independent organisations that flagged up Volkswagen's emissions scandal in the US - yet a legal clause giving such 'third parties' a role in EU emissions testing has been removed from bill.
Opinion
Nordic states urge U-turn on EU digital tax plans
Finance ministers of the EU's three Nordic countries have urged partners to shelve plans to tax large corporations for their digital turnover. The digital economy should be taxed where value is created, they say.
EU seeks unity as trade war with US begins
EU commission gets ready to hit back after Trump's decision to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminium.
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Latest News
- Merkel and Juncker's mini-summit risks fiasco
- Greece and creditors proclaim 'end of crisis'
- How a US firm pushed for EU €2.1trn pension fund
- Commission defends Africa migrant plan ahead of summit
- Bavaria hijacks EU migration talks
- The risks behind the 'green bond' boom
- Greece facing post-bailout challenges
- How to get around the EU posted workers directive
Opinion
Trump's trade position weaker against EU than China
The idea that the USA benefits less from market access to the EU than vice-versa is a fairy tale. That is why Trump is mistaken if he believes that he can blackmail the EU.
Italian crisis felt in Spain and wider EU
Collapse of government talks in Rome triggered instability on eurozone markets and controversy over an EU commissioner's comments on Italian democracy.
Hungary and Poland to lose quarter of EU funds
Reasons for the cut not political, EU executive said, but based on growth in regions in Hungary, Poland, and further afield.
EU friends of US tread softly on Iran
Pro-American EU states are saying US ties are more important than Iran amid disagreement on the nuclear deal.
Analysis
EU can afford to be tough on plastic straws
The EU commission wants to ban plastic straws and cutlery. Most of these are not made in the EU, making the proposal more likely to succeed.
Interview
EU 'in search of lost time' on trade defence
The EU should use its trade muscle to keep out hostile investors, the MEP behind a new screening mechanism aimed at China has said.
Finance ministers clear way for eurozone reform
An agreement on measures to reduce risks in the banking sector will help start discussions on risk-sharing and on Franco-German plans.
Debt relief talks mar Greek bailout exit
While the Greek government has committed to fulfill the last creditors' requirements in the coming month, Europeans and the International Monetary Fund are still far from an agreement on measures to reduce the country's debt in the future.
Visegrad Four 'nothing to hide' on rule of law issue
Central European countries say they have "nothing to hide" on rule of law issues - while justice commissioner Vera Jourova said they should agree to the Commission's controversial budget plans on rule of law conditionality.
'Killer robot' projects eligible for EU defence fund
Negotiators from the European Parliament give up attempting to bar 'lethal autonomous weapons' from new €500m European Defence Industrial Development Programme.
EU pessimistic on permanent US trade exemption
EU trade chief said the US will impose tariffs or "other limiting measures" on 1 June, as the EU's offer to start limited trade talks is probably not enough for the protectionist Trump presidency.
Defence firms 'reap benefits' of advice to EU
Six beneficiaries of a €35m defence research grant were also part of the EU expert group that called for more public money in for the military. 'This raises serious concerns about a conflict of interests,' says campaigner Bram Vranken.
Italian populists to defy EU debt rules
Italy's would-be populist new rulers plan to pile on debt, posing questions for eurozone stability and monetary union.
Commission 'playing tricks' with EU budget figures
The EU parliament's budget rapporteur complained the Commission is using numbers with a "desire to confuse". According to parliament estimates, the cohesion fund could suffer as much as a 45 percent cut.
Focus
How France escaped EU legal action over chemical ban
A previously-unseen internal paper by the European Commission warned that a French ban of the bisphenol A chemical was "fully disproportionate". However, there was no consensus on starting an infringement procedure against France.
Analysis
EU has no 'magic bullet' against US Iran sanctions
EU leaders in Sofia will discuss how they can protect the bloc's economic interests against US threats to sanction companies doing business in Iran. But their options are limited.
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