The EU is falling short of meeting its 2030 digital targets, particularly in connectivity and digital skills, states the European Commission's latest report on the State of the Digital Decade, released Tuesday (2 July).

The European Green Deal, which came under heavy political attacks in the past year, must be looked at through a new prism of opportunity and pragmatism, Sergei Stanishev, former Bulgarian prime minister and former leader of the Party of European Socialists, told Euractiv in an interview.

The European Parliament’s environment and health committee (ENVI), burdened with a heavy workload in the last five-year term, is on track to be split up so that it no longer handles health and food safety, according to heavyweight centre-right EU lawmaker Peter Liese.

The cordon sanitaire was once a non-negotiable electoral strategy that parties across the French political aisles implemented to block the far right from getting to power, but it is now shattered almost to the point of irrelevance.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urged Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday (2 July) to consider a ceasefire to accelerate an end to the war with Russia and also said he wanted a big cooperation agreement with Kyiv.

Germany should take more responsibility for the security of the EU’s eastern border, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk told his German counterpart Olaf Scholz on Tuesday (2 July) as the two leaders met for the first intergovernmental consultations in six years.

The next European Commission should have a "strong" commissioner for agriculture, to reflect the rising importance of food and farming on the political agenda, the president of COPA, the largest European farmers' association, told Euractiv in an interview.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) officially became the European Drugs Agency (EUDA) on Tuesday (2 July), expanding its advisory support for policymakers.

Providers of general purpose AI, like ChatGPT, will be in the driver's seat when drafting codes of practice that they can later use to demonstrate compliance with the AI Act.

The EU and NATO’s programmes partner to support funding in the defence sector, to attract more private investors, in a bid to answer the industry’s demands to get access to more funds for innovation and production, they announced on Tuesday (2 July).

Ursula von der Leyen started talks with the Greens on Monday (1 July), following negotiations with Socialists and Liberals, as she enters the third stage of her campaigning to get the Commission presidency for a second term: winning over Parliament.

The European Union needs to double targeted investment to meet its 2030 climate goal, a consortium of research organisations said on Tuesday (2 July), warning that the pace of Europe's related action must accelerate.

European manufacturers of hydrogen equipment have urged the European Union to step in to help the industry compete with cheaper Chinese producers, in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday (1 July).

Explosions reverberated across the pre-dawn sky as Ukrainian air defences fended off a Russian attack on the small city of Starokostiantyniv in western Ukraine, home to an important air base and a frequent target of Moscow's strikes.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Polish President Andrej Duda setting up his own council to push ahead with PiS' initiative to build a new 'mega airport', the Spanish Supreme Court refusing to apply amnesty law to Puigdemont, and so much more.

GERB, the party of former prime minister Boyko Borissov which won Bulgaria's recent elections, proposed a government on Monday whose main task will be to rescue the €12 billion promised to Bulgaria under the EU Recovery Fund and the EU budget.

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday (1 July) as fighting raged in Gaza and Israeli tanks advanced deeper in parts of the enclave, residents and officials said.

Prime Minister Robert Fico's government is considering redirecting €300 million from its recovery plan to building an underground carbon dioxide storage facility.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has set up his own council to push ahead with plans to build a new 'mega airport' in Poland, a flagship project of the former ruling PiS party to which Duda is said to still be loyal, following his falling out with Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government over the project.

Portugal pledges "full collaboration and cooperation" with the European Council president-elect António Costa, said Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro on Monday, stressing that Costa will be "another Portuguese" in a "very important" international position.