Europe Explained

Euro-sceptic gains in EU election complicate von der Leyen’s Commission bid

The rise of euro-sceptic nationalist parties in the European election is likely to complicate Ursula von der Leyen's bid to get a second term as president of the powerful European…

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EU’s von der Leyen seeks centrist allies after far-right election gains

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen began trying to piece together a coalition on Monday after the far right gained ground in a European Parliament election, spurring French President…

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Who were the winners, who were the losers, and who miscalculated in the EU election?

While the right gained in strength, greens and liberals had a rough night. French President Emmanuel Macron took such a beating he immediately dissolved the national parliament and called a…

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From trade to climate, five takeaways from the EU election

The European Parliament took a shift to the right after a four-day election concluded on Sunday, with more eurosceptic nationalists and fewer mainstream liberals and Greens. The parliament's most important…

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EU’s eastern members see strong performances by centrist parties

Pro-European centrist parties performed well overall in central and eastern Europe during the European Parliament elections on Sunday, partial results and exit polls showed, bucking the trend elsewhere on the…

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Economy, migration, war top voters’ concerns in EU election – survey

The economy, migration and international conflicts were the top concerns for voters in the European Union election, data from the bloc's biggest member countries suggested on Monday. Provisional results in…

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European Election: Key quotes from across the EU

Gains by the far-right in voting for the European Parliament on Sunday prompted a bruised French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national election and added uncertainty to Europe's…

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Far-right advances in EU election

Gains by the far-right in voting for the European Parliament on Sunday prompted a bruised French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national election and added uncertainty to Europe's…

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Election 2024: Seat projection for new European Parliament

Projection for the composition of the new Parliament based on provisional results in 23 countries and estimates and pre-electoral data for the remaining four (as of 00.17). The above projection…

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European election 2024: How it works and who can vote?

Around 373 million citizens across the 27 member states of the European Union are eligible to vote on June 6-9 in elections to the European Parliament. Here is all you…

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European election 2024: What are the political groups?

Voters in the 27 countries of the European Union will elect 720 lawmakers to the European Parliament for the next five years between June 6-9 and are expected to deliver…

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Earth Records Hottest May On Record

May 2024 was the warmest May on record, marking the 12th consecutive month in which the global average temperature reached a record value for the corresponding month, according to data…

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Netherlands to kick off four days of EU elections across 27 nations

The Netherlands is the only EU country to start its polling so early, followed by Ireland on Friday. The rest of the EU nations hold their elections over the weekend,…

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A quick look: D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion in history

D-Day was the Allied troops invasion in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, having been delayed by 24 hours because of poor weather, to fight Nazi Germany in World War…

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EU struggles to counter Russian election disinformation

The European Union's disinformation-busting team last month debunked a Russian-language video on YouTube that said citizens were fleeing dictatorship in EU member Poland and seeking refuge in Belarus, a close…

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Estonians cast first votes in European Parliament election

The first votes have been cast in the European Parliament election. The official election dates are June 6 to 9, with most countries going to the polls on Sunday (June…

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Vatican to EU election voters: don’t dehumanise migrants

The Vatican's point man on migration and social justice on Monday urged EU citizens who might be tempted to vote for far-right parties in this week's European Parliament elections to…

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ECB warns against high levels of public debt

The European Central Bank has warned that the European countries' inability to continue reducing their public debt makes them susceptible to negative impacts from geopolitical tensions and persistently high interest…

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‘Plausible’ June rate cut as European equities hit record highs

According to Euronews, the latest minutes from the European Central Bank meeting indicated a rising chance for easing monetary policy in June. While a majority support maintaining current rates. The…

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EU leaders to back EIB financing of defence projects

European Union leaders will back a change to the lending policy of the European Investment Bank, so that the huge European government-owned lender can finance defence projects, draft conclusions of…

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Euro zone banks should consider using profits to fix IT, says ECB

Euro zone banks should consider using their current, high profits to fix issues such as shortcomings in their digital infrastructure, the European Central Bank's chief supervisor Claudia Buch said on…

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Euro zone lending stagnates as recovery remains elusive – ECB

Bank lending to companies and households in the euro zone stagnated last month, indicating the bloc's long-awaited economic recovery has yet to gain traction, European Central Bank data showed on…

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Euro zone wage growth to peak early in 2024, path further ahead unclear -new ECB tracker

Euro zone wage growth is likely to peak early this year but the path further ahead remains uncertain, a new forecasting tool developed by the European Central Bank showed on…

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Europe’s property boom lowered inequality, ECB says

Wealth inequality declined in the euro zone over the past five years, confounding some expectations, as a large middle class with widespread property ownership benefited from a house price boom,…

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ECB’s Lagarde warns against premature inflation celebration

The European Central Bank has time now to assess how inflation unfolds after a record string of rate hikes but victory has not yet been won and bets based on short term…

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ECB should shed half its bonds and then buy some more -staff paper

The European Central Bank should halve its stock of bonds by mid-2026 before resuming purchases to underpin banks' lending to the economy, according to a paper by top ECB staff.…

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EU loophole lets banks dodge ECB’s crypto supervision, needs fixing -Enria

EU rules to protect the financial system from risks stemming from cryptocurrencies contain a loophole that allows banks to circumvent some safeguards and should be fixed urgently, the European Central Bank's chief…

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Euro zone should not ease bank buffers, ECB says

Euro zone economic growth will remain weak in the near term as services and the labour market weaken but nations in the bloc should not free discretionary bank buffers to…

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ECB hawks take aim at rate cut bets for first half of 2024

Two European Central Bank policymakers pushed back on Monday against market bets that the ECB will start cutting interest rates in the first half of next year and undo some…

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ECB has long road on disinflation but in a good place now: Dutch Governor

The European Central Bank has made "important progress" in getting inflation back down to target but there is still a long road ahead and a further rate hike cannot be…

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ECB to write to Italy raising objections over windfall tax on banks – press

The European Central Bank (ECB) is preparing to send a letter to Italy raising objections about the government's windfall tax on banks' profits, the Corriere della Sera daily wrote on…

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ECB to raise interest rates for ninth time in a row

The European Central Bank will raise interest rates for the ninth time in a row on Thursday and keep the door open to further moves as persistent inflation and growing…

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Encrypted phone service ‘Encrochat’ shutdown leads to 6,500 arrests – Europol

European policing agency Europol said on Tuesday that the takedown of Encrochat, an underground company that offered criminals supposedly secure encrypted communications, led to more than 6,500 arrests and 900…

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Italy says ECB war against inflation will hit growth

Interest rate rises set by the European Central Bank (ECB) to curb inflation will take their toll in terms of lower economic growth, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Monday.…

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European elections 2024: Parliament proposes more seats for nine EU countries

The European Parliament has adopted the proposal on its composition seeking to increase the number of seats by 11, to a total of 716, ahead of the European elections in…

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ECB to raise rates further even as economy stutters

The European Central Bank is all but certain to raise borrowing costs to their highest level in 22 years on Thursday and leave the door open to more hikes, extending…

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Tighter ECB policy could push up bad debt levels – de Guindos

FRANKFURT, May 14 (Reuters) - European Central Bank interest rate hikes are in their final stretch, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos told an Italian newspaper, while warning that higher…

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Euro zone banks slowed lending further in March, ECB says

Bank lending to euro zone companies and households slowed again in March as higher interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook appeared to put a dampener on credit, European Central Bank data…

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ECB should keep raising rates until mid-2024, EU must tighten fiscal policy -IMF

The International Monetary Fund called on the European Central Bank on Friday to keep raising interest rates until the middle of 2024 and on European Union finance ministers to tighten fiscal policy…

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Half of Europeans concerned on ability to pay their bills

Almost half of European consumers (48%) were worried about being able to pay their bills, and a large majority (71%) took measures to reduce their energy consumption at home. In…

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Banking crisis headlines EP Committee activity

Having quizzed ECB President Christine Lagarde on the bank’s measures to deal with an economic environment marked by high uncertainty and strong inflationary pressures, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee…

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Lagarde says ECB ready to help banks but sector is ‘resilient’

The European Central Bank remains ready to support euro zone banks with loans if needed, ECB President Christine Lagarde told MEPs, as she reiterated earlier assurances after the Swiss-brokered rescue…

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ECB survey sees moderating inflation, rising wage expectations

Inflation expectations among euro zone consumers dropped in January but expectations for wage growth continued to rise, adding to fears wage growth will slow efforts to control prices, a European…

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Spain defends use of EU aid as transparent after MEP’s doubts

Spain defended its management of billions of euros of European pandemic recovery funds as transparent, rejecting allegations of opacity by the chair of the European Parliament's budget control committee who…

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ECB must avoid unnecessary rise in real interest rates – Bank of Italy Governor

The European Central Bank (ECB) must avoid pushing real interest rates too high, given the level of private and public debt in the euro area, a top Italian policymaker said on Saturday. ECB Governing…

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Euro zone business activity back to growth in January

Euro zone business activity made a surprise return to modest growth in January, adding to signs the downturn in the bloc may not be as deep as feared and that…

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New rules needed to prevent NGOs being used by foreign actors – EPP Group

The EPP Group calls for new rules to prevent NGOs from being used by foreign actors, for funding transparency of NGOs, for a formal suspension of the S&D Chair of…

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EP reconvenes for first plenary of 2023 as Qatargate dominates proceedings

The European Parliament resumes plenary sessions in Strasbourg this week, where it will be voting for a new Vice President of the European Parliament, deciding its position on a new…

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Metsola to set out transparency plan to respond to EP scandal

The head of the European Parliament will set out a 14-point plan on Thursday to tighten within weeks rules for lawmakers on financial declarations and contacts with lobbyists, in a…

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ECB’s Centeno: we are approaching the end of the interest rate rise process

LISBON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - European Central Bank's governing council member Mario Centeno said on Tuesday the current process of interest rate increases is approaching its end. The central banker, who was…

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Goldman Sachs no longer expects recession in euro zone in 2023

Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday it expects the euro zone economy to grow by 0.6% this year, compared with its previous forecast of a contraction, thanks to a fall in natural gas…

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ECB must step up efforts to ‘green’ monetary policy, board member says

The European Central Bank must adjust its monetary policy to make it more climate-friendly, even as it shrinks its bloated balance sheet to fight runaway inflation in the euro zone, ECB board…

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EIB lends €20 million to biotech company for development of cancer treatment

The European Investment Bank (EIB), backed by the InvestEU programme, has today announced it has provided a €20 million venture debt loan facility to Affibody. Affibody is a Swedish clinical…

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Sakharov Prize 2022: European Parliament honours the Ukrainian People

Parliament’s 2022 Sakharov Prize was awarded to the brave People of Ukraine, in a ceremony on 14 December.They were represented by their president, elected leaders and civil society at the…

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EP reaches deal on new rules to protect consumers from taking on too much debt

MEPs have reached a provisional deal with Council on new measures protecting consumers from credit card debt, overdrafts and loans unsuitable for their financial situation. Negotiators from Parliament and Council…

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ECB says inflation hasn’t peaked, may surprise

Euro zone inflation has not peaked and it risks turning out even higher than currently expected, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Monday, hinting at a series of…

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European Parliament celebrates 70th anniversary

In a ceremony in Strasbourg’s hemicycle, MEPs marked the creation of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952, the EP’s forerunner. EP President Roberta Metsola…

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