Panama is increasingly becoming the hub of illicit tobacco trade, costing the country massive loss of public revenues and at the same time, raising questions over the policy response to this phenomenon.

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European finance ministers failed to make any breakthroughs on Friday (12 April) on whether to prolong the bloc's multibillion pandemic recovery fund beyond 2026 and on how the EIB's investment criteria could be modified to boost defence-related expenditure.

The Belgian EU Council Presidency's latest compromise text of the draft law on detecting and preventing online child sexual abuse material further clarifies risk categorisation thresholds and lays out service providers' obligation for data retention.

EU member states imposed on Friday (12 April) measures under the bloc's human rights sanctions regime on the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad for 'widespread' sexual violence during the 7 October attacks on Israel.

A subtle but unmistakable change is rippling through tech policy in Brussels and the discussion is moving towards a place where tech is primarily a tool for sovereignty while competitiveness in global markets is the top priority. 

While the EU is moving to renew trade liberalisation with Ukraine, Budapest announced on Thursday (11 April) it would tighten controls on the import of the liberalised agricultural products regardless of their origin, for which it unilaterally banned imports from Ukraine in 2023.

One year on from French president Emmanuel Macron's infamous warning, is the EU still overly — and perhaps dangerously — subservient to the US?

Some words are bigger than others. When accompanied by "food", the term "security" is one of them.

Welcome to Euractiv’s Tech Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has launched an investigation against members of the European Parliament allegedly paid by Moscow, and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo will bring the issue of Russian interference to the top of next week's leaders' summit.

EU Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi, recently criticised by the Greek government for 'overstepping her mandate', should keep her “eyes wide open” when it comes to the implementation of the Greek Recovery Fund, in light of a new investigation over alleged fraud, a leading opposition lawmaker told Euractiv.

The Internal market EU Commissioner Thierry Breton wanted to push for a Nuclear technologies act to motivate the development of an integrated nuclear industry in Europe, he said on Thursday (April 11). The proposal was welcomed by nuclear developers as EDF.f

This week we talk to Max von Thun, Europe Director at the Open Markets Institute about competition policy.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Zelenskyy thanking Czech President Petr Pavel for the Czech shells-for-Ukraine initiative, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico reaffirmed his country's support for Ukraine, and so much more.

Britain's defence ministry on Friday (12 April) said it would install lasers on warships designed to cheaply shoot down drones from 2027, five years earlier than previously expected, under reforms designed to speed up the deployment of new technology.

The FBI is concerned about the possibility of an organised attack in the US similar to the one that killed scores of people at a Russian concert hall last month, the bureau's director told a House of Representatives panel.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Russian government-backed hackers have used their access to Microsoft's email system to steal correspondence between officials and the tech giant, an emergency directive by the US watchdog released on Thursday (11 April) showed.

Bulgarian farmers will take part in a wave of simultaneous protests in Brussels and EU member states planned for 4 June, just days before the upcoming European Parliament elections, Ilia Prodanov, president of the National Association of Grain Producers, has said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Czech President Petr Pavel for Prague's initiative to purchase artillery shells for Ukraine from outside the EU, which has helped the war-torn country with its ammunition shortage, as the two leaders met in Vilnius on Thursday during the Three Seas Summit.