Latest European Commission News
France has a new government, again. Politics and crushing debt complicate next steps
PARIS (AP) — France’s president and prime minister managed to form a new government just in time for the holidays. Now comes the hard part. Crushing debt, intensifying pressure from the nationalist far right, wars in Europe and the Mideast: Challenges abound for President...
EU investigates TikTok over Romanian presidential election safeguards
LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators said Tuesday they're investigating whether TikTok breached the bloc's digital rulebook by failing to deal with risks to Romania's presidential election, which has been thrown into turmoil over allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling. ...
EU says asylum rights can be suspended for migrants 'weaponized' by Russia and Belarus
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday gave a greenlight to Poland and other countries on Europe’s eastern flank to temporarily suspend asylum rights when they believe that Belarus and Russia are “weaponizing” migrants to destabilize the bloc. Poland’s Prime...
EU chief in Uruguay for final talks on a huge trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Uruguay Thursday for the final stages in years-long negotiations to clinch a trade deal between the 27-nation EU and the South American Mercosur trade bloc that would create a trans-Atlantic market of some 700 million...
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...
Massive EU-South American free trade pact would reduce tariffs, but some farmers are opposed
PARIS (AP) — After more than 20 years of negotiations, the 27-nation European Union and Mercosur — a South American trade bloc of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia — are still trying to finalize a major trade agreement that is sparking protests by European farmers. ...
EU lawmakers seal a deal to rubber-stamp one of the bloc's most right-leaning executives
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union lawmakers on Wednesday ended a week of bickering to rubber-stamp a new team of policy commissioners that will head one of the most rightward-leaning executive branches ever chosen in the bloc for the next five years. The main centrist pro-European...
European committee takes a second look at Alzheimer's drug and now says it should be approved
A European regulatory committee now recommends approval of the Alzheimer’s treatment lecanemab a few months after rejecting the drug. Biogen said Thursday that the drug, known in the U.S. as Leqembi, received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for...
EU slaps Meta with a nearly 800 million euro fine for engaging in 'abusive' Marketplace practices
LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators issued their first antitrust fine to Facebook parent Meta on Thursday with a penalty of nearly 800 million euros for what they call “abusive practices” involving its Marketplace online classified ads business. The European Commission,...
EU top jobs hearings stalled by political infighting over hard right alliances
BRUSSELS (AP) — The process of vetting candidates for some of the European Union’s most important jobs bogged down in acrimony on Wednesday as the biggest political faction in the bloc’s parliament was accused of collaborating with the hard right. Since Nov. 4, senior lawmakers...
