Latest Belgium government News
Vatican advances beatification process for Belgium's king who abdicated rather than approve abortion
ROME (AP) — The Vatican has taken the first main step to implement Pope Francis’ wish that Belgium’s late king be beatified for having abdicated for a day rather than approve legislation to legalize abortion. The Holy See’s saint-making office on Dec. 17 established a...
Putin boasts of gains in Ukraine at annual news conference meant to reinforce his authority
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin boasted that his military operation in Ukraine has strengthened Russia and denied that the ouster of key ally Bashar Assad in Syria had hurt Moscow’s prestige, as he took questions at his annual news conference and call-in show Thursday. He...
Italy's Salvini faces verdict for blocking migrants at sea. Case weighs limits of stemming migration
MILAN (AP) — Italy’s deputy premier, Matteo Salvini, has sounded defiant ahead of Friday’s court verdict in Sicily for blocking some 100 migrants at sea on a humanitarian rescue boat in 2019 when he was interior minister. Salvini, who leads the Euroskeptic, anti-migrant League,...
NATO leader says he wants to put Ukraine in a position of strength for any peace talks with Russia
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO's secretary-general said he wants to discuss ways to put Ukraine in a position of strength for any future peace talks with Russia during a meeting Wednesday with Ukraine’s president and a small number of European leaders. But Mark Rutte appeared frustrated at...
Georgia's outgoing president urges EU to use more leverage to back protesters
BRUSSELS (AP) — Georgia’s outgoing president on Wednesday appealed to the European Union to press her country’s pro-Russia government to hold a new election amid a police crackdown on peaceful opposition protesters. Tens of thousands of people have filled the streets regularly...
NATO chief warns that Putin wants long-term confrontation with Europe after Ukraine
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next, as he urged Europeans to press their governments to ramp up defense spending. “It is...
UK leader Starmer invited to EU meeting in latest sign of post-Brexit thaw
LONDON (AP) — Keir Starmer will attend a meeting of European Union leaders early next year, becoming the first U.K. prime minister to do so since the country’s departure from the bloc in 2020. Starmer was invited to the “informal” Feb. 3 meeting in Brussels by European...
Kosovo's parliament speaker ejects ethnic Serb lawmakers because of their truancy
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo's parliament speaker ejected several lawmakers of the ethnic Serb minority from the chamber Thursday because of several recent absences, a move that could spark new frictions in the tense relations with neighboring Serbia. Speaker Glauk Konjufca...
European Union orders TikTok to preserve data related to Romanian election
LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators ordered TikTok on Thursday to retain any information related to Romania's presidential election, after the country’s top defense body released declassified intelligence alleging that Moscow arranged an online campaign to support a candidate who emerged as...
Belgian authorities open fraud probe into former EU justice chief days after his mandate ended
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian authorities said Wednesday they have opened a fraud investigation into the former European Union justice chief, just days after his mandate ended. An Schoonjans, a spokesperson for the Brussels prosecutor general’s office, told The Associated Press that an...
