Kyiv may limit imports of Polish agri-food production if Polish farmers do not stop blocking the country’s borders in Ukraine against the influx of Ukrainian grain and other products, government officials told Ukrainian media.

Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to re-run for the EU Commission presidency has prompted some positive reactions in several EU capitals, but her quest to secure enough support from governments may prove to be a delicate balance to strike. 

A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter last year was found dead in an underground garage in Spain last week, his body riddled with bullets, Ukrainian and Spanish media reported on Monday (19 February).

Strong relations between Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who on Monday announced she was seeking a second five-year term, will be key to countering rising far-right anti-EU forces, Ignacio Molina, a senior researcher at the prestigious Elcano Royal Institute told Euractiv’s partner EFE in an interview.

Germany’s liberal FDP party is taking an increasingly confrontational stance on the economic policies of the three-way coalition government in which it is a junior partner, saying it has more in common with the conservative opposition.

Sweden is ready to talk with Hungary, which is still holding Stockholm's NATO accession, but its membership of the alliance is "not a matter of negotiation",  Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson told Euractiv.

The Dutch advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) field is highly fragmented and needs central coordination to unblock bottlenecks. Dutch researchers made the recommendations in a recent report offering insight gaining an efficient overview of ATMP regulations.

Swedish Members of the European Parliament welcome updated EU pharma legislation but remain divided on amendments, including on how to handle incentives for developing new antibiotics, though common ground for the Swedes exists on boosting the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Belgium aims to double cancer survival rates by 2040, relying on its current cancer plan despite pharmaceutical firms calling for a new strategy. Belgian Health Minister Vandenbroucke said he prefers implementing the existing strategy to drafting a new national plan.

Vast cancer care inequalities along patient pathways are highlighted in a new report from the Swedish Institute for Health Economics (IHE). Recent IHE research also shows divergence not only across the European Union, but within each country.

The European Left party (EL) wants to “abolish” the EU’s current fiscal rules to facilitate greater social and environmental spending, according to a draft electoral manifesto seen by Euractiv. 

Grain and oilseed exports from Ukraine have returned to the same levels as in March 2023, when the UN initiative was securing food trade through the Black Sea corridor, according to data from the International Grain Council (IGC).

Tensions are rising over the renewal of the EU's trade liberalisation with Ukraine, with the European Commission meeting with neighbouring countries on Tuesday (20 February) and a joint protest in Eastern Europe set to take place on Thursday.

Fabrice Leggeri, the former boss of EU border agency Frontex who will run for the far-right Rassemblement National in the European elections, criticised European migration policy while touring the French-Italian border on Monday (19 February), saying Europe should "regain control of its borders".

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s CDU party announced today her candidacy as the Spitzenkandidat for the European elections and, according to a well-choreographed scenario, the EPP congress in Bucharest on 6 March will make official her bid to succeed herself as Commission chief.

Europe aspires to become a global leader in battery innovation. To this end, BATT4EU has published a new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda recommending the battery research and innovation priorities for which public funding should be allocated effectively and efficiently.

The far right is gaining momentum in Europe ahead of EU elections and is converging with the right, centre-right, and liberals on policies and politics ahead of EU elections, the co-president of The Left group at the European Parliament, Manon Aubry, told Euractiv in an interview

The European Commission opened formal proceedings against TikTok under the Digital Services Act on Monday (19 February), due to possible breaches in several areas, including child protection.

To reach the EU's climate targets, increase industrial competitiveness, and improve its energy resilience, carbon capture and storage technologies play an important role. As part of its decarbonisation efforts, in 2023 the European Commission released a Net-Zero Industry Act for a simplified regulatory environment and a rapid deployment of carbon solutions. The Act aims at promoting investments in the production capacity of products that are key in meeting the EU’s climate neutrality goals. To facilitate and enable carbon capture and storage projects and increase the availability of CO2 storage sites, the Act sets a target of 50 million tonnes of annual CO2 storage capacity by 2030. In addition to this, the adoption of the Industrial carbon management strategy by the European Commission should help identify the gaps to deploy these systems at scale. Industry stakeholders argue that while the EU has set ambitious objectives, the deficiency in transport and storage infrastructure remains an issue in the absence of substantial policy support. Hard-to-abate industries such as cement, steel, chemicals, are in particular need of additional technology options as they chart their transition and make investment decisions. Join this Euractiv Virtual Conference to discuss where we stand on the road to reaching the target of 50 million tonnes of CO2 stored by 2030. Questions to be addressed include: - Is the Communication on industrial carbon management enough to raise awareness about the role of CCS? - How challenging is the business case for building a better transport and storage infrastructure? - What kind of policy support would be needed for appropriate transport and storage infrastructure to be put in place?

The French electricity sector fears that the revision of the EU's energy taxation directive will fail before the June European elections, despite a last push by the Belgian EU presidency, which is seeking to break the deadlock in the Council of the EU.