Latest Brussels News

FILE - In this Friday, July 10, 2020 file photo, France's President Emmanuel Macron, right, attends a video conference with Kosovo's Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo resumed talks Sunday, July 12, 2020, via video conference with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Brussels, aimed at normalizing their long-strained relations, more than 20 years after Belgrade sent troops into its former territory to crush an uprising by ethnic Albanian separatists. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool, File)

Serbia, Kosovo leaders agree agenda for Brussels talks

Jul. 12, 2020 2:03 PM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union praised the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo on Sunday for getting long-stalled talks on normalizing their tense relations back on track and for setting up a face-to-face meeting in Brussels later this week. It came after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime...

France's President Emmanuel Macron, right, attends a visio conference with Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, July 10, 2020. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo will hold talks in Brussels on July 12, the first meeting between the two in long-stalled European Union-supervised negotiations aimed at normalizing relations, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said Monday. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool)

Serbia, Kosovo to resume talks but won't budge on key issues

Jul. 10, 2020 1:49 PM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Serbia and Kosovo agreed Friday to resume long-stalled negotiations on normalizing their strained relations, but both sides refused to budge on key issues in their dispute during video talks led by France and Germany. And Serbia's president said the Europeans have unrealistic expectations...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a plenary session at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Germany has just taken over the European Union's rotating presidency, and must chaperone the 27-nation bloc through a period of deep crisis for the next six months and try to limit the economic damage inflicted by the coronavirus. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)

Germany's Merkel: Pandemic highlights limits of populism

Jul. 8, 2020 11:02 AM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic is showing the limits of “fact-denying populism,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday, as she urged European Union countries to quickly agree on a major economic recovery package and deprive nationalists of any opportunity to take advantage...

European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni speaks during a media conference on the summer 2020 economic forecast at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, July 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, Pool)

EU forecasts deeper economic hit from pandemic

Jul. 7, 2020 5:54 AM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive arm forecasts that the bloc's economy will contract more than previously expected because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused lockdowns on business and public life that are only slowly being eased. The 27-nation EU economy will contract by 8.3% this...

In this Thursday, June 25, 2020 file photo, Kosovo's Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, left, is welcomed by European Council President Charles Michel prior to a meeting at the Europa building in Brussels. The EU announced on Monday, July 6, 2020 that European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will host a meeting on July 12 between Serbia and Kosovo's leaders, the first meeting between the two in long-stalled European Union-supervised negotiations aimed at normalizing relations between the two. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP, File)

Serbia, Kosovo leaders to meet as EU-backed talks resume

Jul. 6, 2020 8:37 AM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo will hold talks in Brussels on July 12, the first meeting between the two in long-stalled European Union-supervised negotiations aimed at normalizing relations, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said Monday. Sunday’s meeting between Kosovo...

European Union's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and British Brexit negotiator David Frost attend a meeting with their delegations on further Brexit negotiations at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday, June 29, 2020. European Union and U.K. negotiators resumed in-person talks on a post-Brexit trade deal on Monday, with both sides insisting that the process must accelerate markedly if they're to reach an agreement by the end of the year. (John Thys, Pool Photo via AP)

Post-Brexit talks deadlocked after latest negotiating round

Jul. 2, 2020 12:01 PM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — EU and U.K. negotiators in charge of finding a post-Brexit compromise resumed in-person talks this week, but the result remained the same, with no progress achieved on a range of key issues preventing a new trade agreement to be sealed. Discussions ended Thursday a day earlier than...

In this photo taken on Monday, June 29, 2020, clockwise from top left, Simone Ngalula, Monique Bitu Bingi, Lea Tavares Mujinga, Noelle Verbeeken and Marie-Jose Loshi pose for a group photo during an interview with The Associated Press in Brussels. Five women who were taken from their families as children in Belgian Congo and placed in a religious mission run by Catholic nuns have filed a lawsuit seeking reparations from Belgium. The women were among thousands of biracial children seized from their mothers and separated from their African roots by Belgian authorities ruling over the area from 1908-1960. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Women taken from African mothers by Belgium now want redress

Jul. 1, 2020 4:00 AM EDT

NEDER-OVER-HEEMBEEK, Belgium (AP) — Monique Bitu Bingi was only 4 years old when she was taken from her family in Belgian Congo and locked up in a religious mission run by Catholic nuns. Her friend Lea Tavares Mujinga was even younger the day her mother was forced to give her up: just a 2-year-old toddler....

FILE - In this Sunday, June 21, 2020 file photo, gondolas are lined up during the Vogada della Rinascita (Rowing of Rebirth) regatta, along Venice canals, Italy. European Union envoys are close to finalizing a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed back into Europe once it begins lifting coronavirus-linked restrictions. The United States appears almost certain not to make the list, as new infections surge and given that President Donald Trump has imposed a ban on European travelers. (Anteo Marinoni/LaPresse via AP, File)

EU finalizing virus 'safe list,' US unlikely to make the cut

Jun. 29, 2020 11:04 AM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is edging toward finalizing a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed to enter Europe again in coming days, with Americans almost certain to be excluded in the short term due to the number of U.S. coronavirus cases. Spain’s foreign minister said that the...

In this photo taken on Monday, June 22, 2020, Eric Baranyanka, right, and his foster mother Emma Monsaert look at a photo of Eric as a young boy in Lembeek, Belgium. Baranyanka fled political persecution in the Belgian protectorate of Burundi in the 1960's, landing half a world away at a military airport in Brussels, before being fostered by Emma Monsaert and her husband Paul. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

In Belgian town, monuments expose a troubled colonial legacy

Jun. 27, 2020 3:17 AM EDT

HALLE, Belgium (AP) — For a long time, few people in the small Belgian town of Halle paid much attention to the monuments. They were just fixtures in a local park, tributes to great men of the past. But these are very different times, and yesterday’s heroes can be today’s racist villains. And...

People cross the border between France and Spain at Behobie, southwestern France, Sunday, June 21, 2020. Spain reopened its borders to European tourists Sunday in a bid to kickstart its economy while Brazil and South Africa struggled with rising coronavirus infections. At a campaign rally, President Donald Trump said he told the U.S. government to reduce testing for the virus, apparently to avoid unflattering statistics ahead of the U.S. election in November. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

US citizens likely to be left out as Europe reopens borders

Jun. 24, 2020 12:43 PM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Americans are unlikely to be allowed into more than 30 European countries for business or tourism when the continent begins next week to open its borders to the world, due to the spread of the coronavirus and President Donald Trump’s ban on European visitors. More than 15 million...

LOADING MORE STORIES