Belgium

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday urged member countries to provide relief funds to consumers and small businesses hit hardest by rising gas and electricity prices, as criticism mounts that the bloc’s climate change fighting policies are fueling the problem.

In recent days, France and Spain have led the charge for change to the rules governing EU energy markets as the price surge ramps up already-high utility bills and increases pressure on many people already hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

06 Oct 2021; MEMO: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc was unable to persuade Turkey to abandon the purchase of Russia's S-400 defence system and replace them with systems made by Western countries.

Speaking at a seminar in Washington yesterday, Stoltenberg said this is an important issue for NATO, there must be a possibility to integrate the S-400 air defence systems with the NATO air and missile defence system, adding that so far, this is not possible.

BRUSSELS, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The European Union's 27 leaders will seek a new approach to China on Tuesday in their first summit on Sino-European strategy since the bloc imposed sanctions on Beijing in March and faced retaliation, jeopardising a new investment pact.

Leaders will also discuss the idea of setting up an EU gas reserve and decoupling electricity prices from gas prices, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, although it will only be a first debate. 

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s chief prosecutor accused member nation Slovenia on Friday of interfering in the EU’s justice system and raised concerns about whether the trade bloc’s budget is fully protected from fraud or corruption.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office began work in June. Its aim is to independently investigate crimes against the EU budget, such as corruption and serious cross-border value added tax fraud. Slovenia is alone among those countries taking part that refuse to name two prosecutors to the agency.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A round of free trade talks between the European Union and Australia has been postponed by one month in the wake of a dispute over the Australian government’s decision to cancel a multibillion-euro French submarine deal, EU and Australian officials said Friday.

29 Sep 2021; MEMO: EU ambassadors approved on Wednesday €149.6 million ($174 million) extra funding for Syrian refugees in Turkey, Anadolu reports.

The financial support will extend the bloc's multi-purpose cash assistance program that provides monthly transfers for the most vulnerable refugees in the country, the Council of the EU wrote in a press release.

BRUSSELS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Kosovo and Serbia to normalize their relations during her visit to Pristina on Wednesday, after expressing concerns on current tensions at their border.

"I am very concerned about the current crisis. It is important to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table to find a sustainable solution," she said at a joint press conference with Albin Kurti, prime minister of Kosovo.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive branch proposed Wednesday to tighten visa restrictions on members of President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime as allegations mount that Belarus is using migrants to destabilize the 27-country bloc.

EU members Poland and Lithuania are struggling to cope with an unusually high number of migrants, most from Iraq and Afghanistan, arriving at their borders with Belarus in recent months. Poland deployed troops and declared a state of emergency. Dozens tried to cross into Lithuania overnight.

BRUSSELS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The European Union, fearing a political backlash in member states, can no longer agree to give a guarantee of future membership to the six Balkan countries once promised a place in the club, according to four diplomats and an internal document.

An impasse over a declaration for a summit of EU and Balkan leaders on Oct. 6 is a low point in the EU's strategy to bring Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia into the bloc. It coincides with a flare-up of tension at the Kosovo-Serbia border.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Daily Stormer website advocates for the purity of the white race, posts hate-filled, conspiratorial screeds against Blacks, Jews and women and has helped inspire at least three racially motivated murders. It has also made its founder, Andrew Anglin, a millionaire.

Anglin has tapped a worldwide network of supporters to take in at least 112 Bitcoin since January 2017 — worth $4.8 million at today’s exchange rate — according to data shared with The Associated Press. He’s likely raised even more.