EUalive

Bulgaria proposes six-way talks of Black Sea countries, including Russia

October 8, 2026 05:37

President Iliana Iotova called for a moratorium on hostilities in the Black Sea and for turning it into a zone of shared security

NATO’s highest military authority in Kyiv, with a message for Moscow

October 7, 2026 16:02

For the first time in the last eight years, the Alliance’s full Military Committee met with counterparts in the capital of Ukraine

France answers Russia’s missile theater with its own

October 7, 2026 12:10

Macron’s M51.3 launch from Le Vigilant, days after fresh Kaliningrad nuclear warnings, shows how Moscow’s habit of public ballistic tests and deterrent signalling has become contagious

The Wires

Maricarmen’s death becomes Sánchez’s election test

The eviction that started Spain’s housing protests has ended in a hospital death, a general strike and a 29 November vote that still favours the right

Yemeni forces retake Bab el-Mandeb coast as Houthis claim Saudi strikes

Government advance reaches Mocha outskirts while Hormuz tanker traffic resumes but oil prices remain elevated near $100

Bolsonaro beats expectations in Brazil presidential vote, will face Lula in runoff

Brazilian intelligence officials reportedly briefed a French and German delegation on alleged U.S. and Russian interference before the election

Calls to ban La France Insoumise follow violent school protests

A government crisis meeting was told by intelligence services that the movement was “an operation organised by LFI and its proxies on the far left”

News

Belgian school protests echo France’s, but fees and regional cuts drive the anger

Liège police have made 107 arrests since early October as pupils and students block schools over rising tuition, bus-pass prices and classroom shortages

Belgium

Platforms still silent as Bosnia’s fake-account network raises concerns ahead of Serbia’s election

X and Facebook hosted coordinated inauthentic accounts that amplified ruling-party narratives and attacked election authorities ahead of Bosnia’s 4 October vote

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Diaspora groups denounce unusual restrictions in Serbia’s October vote

Voters in Chicago, home to a substantial Serbian community, face a voting period running from 1 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time

Serbia

MED9 meets in Split, minus Sánchez

Croatia’s Mediterranean summit was meant to align nine southern governments before the European Council. The two largest arrive weakened, and one does not arrive at all

Croatia

Dacia cuts Romanian output as energy costs threaten industrial competitiveness

Production at the Mioveni plant has fallen from a peak of around 1,300 vehicles a day to approximately 1,060

Romania

Former German spy chief arrested over classified documents. Why Berlin keeps leaking secrets?

The arrest of ex-BND chief August Hanning is not a Russian plot, investigators say. The country’s wider exposure to foreign pressure is older and structural

Azerbaijan

Drone strikes hit commercial ships in Bulgarian waters, triggering major Black Sea rescue

The first such attack inside Bulgaria’s EEZ leaves one vessel sunk and another ablaze; two crew members are confirmed dead as regional tensions rise

Bulgaria

Views

Enlargement review: a safeguard with an expiry date

Two EPC commentaries accept stronger post-accession tools, then ask what protects the Union when the special regime ends

Geopolitics

The Board of Peace, transatlantic loyalties, and the monetisation of diplomacy

Hierarchy with a membership fee: how Trump’s Board reprices democracy in Wider Europe

Geopolitics

What the Irkutsk plague-lab case does and does not show

Russian authorities call Darya Shipilova’s illness pneumonia of unknown cause and say no work-related pathogen was found

Society

7500 over the desert: how FZ1073 became a live drama before anyone knew what happened

Hollywood will not have to invent the beats. It will have to decide which version of them is true

Energy & Transport

Strange French idea for filling the EU’s coffers

Using Google fines to cut national contributions is a windfall, not a budget strategy

Economy

Defence expert: Only sustained Ukrainian strikes can force a truce

Oleksandr Khara thinks Ukraine’s remaining leverage is the ability to keep hitting Russia until Moscow calculates that a pause hurts less than another winter of burning refineries

Geopolitics

Berlin’s Left victory and the German consensus on antisemitism

How Die Linke’s election success united parties from AfD to the Greens - and what Mark Mazower’s history of a shifting word reveals about the charge itself

Society

Catch the wind in your sails with your next big campaign!

Ready to propel your brand forward?

You say you want a revolution? Lead the charge with your brand!

Make sure you lead, not lag!

Analysis

Membership with strings attached: how Brussels is rewriting the EU path for Ukraine

Brussels drops the idea of membership before reforms and offers Ukraine gradual access plus farm sector limits

Opinion

A sarcophagus of Macedonian marble for the tsar of the Bulgarians

Bulgaria received the remains of its tsar, Greece received 48 relics, and North Macedonia received one more reason to argue about the past

Catch the Eye

Associate membership for Canada: a slogan in search of a status

Von der Leyen’s “associate membership” offer to Canada is undefined, unprepared and politically costly. The alliance both sides want does not need it

Editor's Take

Trump wants Europe’s diesel reserves spent before the midterms

Washington wants the EU to release about 120 million barrels over six months to bring down pump prices in the U.S.

Policy Topics

From complainant to accused: San Marino lawyer who spoke in Brussels sees her father indicted for slander

In the micro-state the same judges, the same bank, the same external counsel and the same supervisory bodies allow no redress

Society

What the press can reuse from Facebook without author’s consent, after a recent EU court ruling

What counts is how the material is used and how much is reproduced. Quoting a text to inform the public can fall within a legal exception

Society

KIDS Act: no social media under 13, personal accounts only from 15, and new duties for platforms

The fight in Brussels will be over design duties, age checks, AI companions - and whether platforms have to prove safety before the harm is done

Society

UN rights chief: AI race is already a human rights emergency

The press line from Volker Türk: urgent, meaningful action, before the pace of the machines writes the rules

Society

PISA: Global student performance falls as reading crisis deepens

Poland and Italy limited the damage, but the overall picture for much of the EU is one of erosion rather than recovery

Culture

Iceland’s small referendum with big consequences for the EU

Should voters endorse reopening accession negotiations, then Iceland could become one of the EU’s fastest-moving candidates

Geopolitics

A pre-summer holidays energy outlook for Europe amid escalating Middle East conflict

Analysts note that while physical supply has held up better than feared thanks to U.S. output and weak demand elsewhere, “it may not last” if attacks intensify