UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting with EU executives in Brussels today for the first time since he won UK general elections last July. He promised to rekindle the relationship with Brussels after Brexit ground it down. However, so far, the prime minister has turned out to be a less collaborative partner than the EU might have expected.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday he was released after years of incarceration only because he pleaded guilty to doing "journalism", warning that freedom of expression was now at a "dark crossroads".

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about the Polish far right getting a boost in the polls following the floods, the Bulgarian government not having a clear picture of Russian investment in the country, and so much more. 

Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and Socialist Party leader Pedro Nuno Santos will meet again at the end of the day on Thursday as part of the negotiations on the 2025 budget, a source in Luís Montenegro's office told Lusa.

The long-simmering crisis at the world's fourth-largest carmaker has now reached a critical point, with lawmakers from the opposition and ruling parties set to question CEO Carlos Tavares on 11 October.

Russian troops have reached the centre of Vuhledar, a bastion on strategic high ground in eastern Ukraine's industrial Donbas region that had resisted Russian assaults since Moscow's full-scale invasion, a regional Ukrainian official said on Tuesday (1 October).

Bulgaria, which has not yet sanctioned any Russian assets, does not have an accurate picture of the scale and nature of Russian investment in the country's economy, Justice Minister Maria Pavlova said in response to a parliamentary question.

“We make it clear that Le Pen's protégé is unwelcome in Athens”, Nasos Iliopoulos, spokesperson of the New Left party told Euractiv, adding that it is “unthinkable” to invite Bardella to speak about democracy.

Slovak MEPs are sharply divided over the European Commission's possible move to freeze its EU funds amid concerns over the rule of law, with ruling party members condemning the move as politically motivated while the opposition remains divided.

Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance clashed on Tuesday (1 October) at a vice presidential debate that was surprisingly civil in the final stretch of an ugly election campaign marred by inflammatory rhetoric and two assassination attempts.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský will stay in the government despite a reshuffle that saw his party, the Czech Pirate Party, pull out of the ruling coalition.

A fight over key positions in the European Parliament’s research panel and working groups has sparked a major spat between influential lawmakers from the centre-right EPP and the Greens.

As Europeans scramble to find a unified response to the escalating tensions in the Middle East, the failure to publish a joint statement on Lebanon has yet again laid bare disagreements between EU member states vis-à-vis Israel.

Iran said early on Wednesday (2 October) that its missile attack on Israel was over barring further provocation, while Israel and the US promised to retaliate against Tehran as fears of a wider war intensified.

The long-simmering crisis at the world's fourth-largest carmaker has now reached a critical point, with lawmakers from the opposition and ruling parties set to question CEO Carlos Tavares on 11 October.

The latest poll shows that Poland’s far-right Confederation Party has gained the most support among the parliamentary parties following the floods that struck the country's southern regions.

The National Commission for Public Debate (CNCP) published its conclusions on Monday 30 September about the opening of the largest lithium mine project in France, after five months of public debate.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier presented his energy and climate programme to MPs in the National Assembly on Tuesday (1 October), with commentators concerned he announced impact assessments for renewables, not nuclear. 

On Wednesday (2 September), political leaders in the European Parliament will decide which parliamentary committees will hear which commissioners-designate, as well as a timetable for the upcoming hearings.

Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday (1 October) in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, drawing vows of a sharp response from both Israel and the United States.