EuropeAnalysis
ECB holds rates as euro-area growth stalls
Rates on hold for a third meeting as manufacturing contracts.
Europe
EU, UK, the Balkans and the rest of non-CIS Europe.
Nordic states draft a joint plan to protect Baltic Sea cables
Governments want shared surveillance and faster repairs for undersea infrastructure.
Universities brace for tighter research security rules
New guidance on international partnerships worries researchers who depend on cross-border collaboration.
EuropeAnalysis
EU leaders weigh a staged path to membership for Ukraine and Moldova
A proposal circulating before the December summit would open parts of the single market to candidates long before full accession. Supporters call it realism; critics call it a waiting room.
EuropeOpinion
Europe’s enlargement debate needs a timetable, not another summit
Candidate countries have been told for two decades that their future lies in the EU. What they need now is a sequence of dates and conditions that both sides can be held to.
Security & DefenseAnalysis
NATO’s eastern flank turns to air defence as a shared priority
Frontline allies argue that integrated air and missile defence is now the alliance’s most urgent capability gap.
EuropeExplainer
Why the Western Balkans keep losing patience with Brussels
Two decades after the promise of membership, voters in the region increasingly doubt it will be kept. Here is how the process stalled.
EuropeNews
Poland’s presidential vetoes test the government’s reform agenda
Ministers are looking for ways to pass judicial and media changes without the president’s signature.
Global EconomyAnalysis
Shipping insurance costs ripple through European supply chains
Higher premiums on key routes are showing up in the prices of goods that rarely make headlines.
EuropeNews
France’s pension debate returns to the National Assembly
The government faces a familiar arithmetic problem: finding a majority for a reform most deputies dislike.
Security & DefenseAnalysis
The Arctic becomes a test of the new great-power rivalry
Melting ice is opening routes and resources, and drawing navies into waters that were long a zone of cooperation.
EuropeExplainer
What qualified majority voting would change in EU foreign policy
Ending unanimity on sanctions and statements is popular in Berlin and Paris. Smaller states see a loss of leverage.