Fred Pattje, Regional Director, EU Central Operations, represented Amazon at Euractiv´s "Regional Revitalisation: The Transformative Power of Investment in Rural and Post-Industrial Areas Across Europe" event in Brussels.

French left-wing candidates in the EU elections have criticised Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s plan to cut unemployment benefits, which he revealed in an interview on Sunday, just two weeks before the European elections.

Arnaud Rousseau, the head of France's largest farmers' union, is delighted to see food sovereignty taking centre stage in the political debate, and calls for the appointment of a Commissioner for Agriculture who would also be Vice-President of the Commission.

Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, dozens of projects have emerged in Ukraine to combat disinformation. This is a daily challenge for Ukrainians and, given the high level of media literacy in society, they have been able to resist. 

Prominent opposition PiS lawmaker Mariusz Błaszczak called on Prime Minister Donald Tusk to explain his earlier words on the EU’s new Migration and Asylum Pact after his French counterpart Gabriel Attal said in a recent debate that the West had convinced eastern EU countries to either accept migrants or contribute financially to migration management.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have urged voters to take part in June’s European elections, which they say is a bid to protect democracy amid a likely shift to the far right in the EU parliament.

EU foreign ministers will meet with their six counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and the UAE in Brussels on Monday (27 May) for the second time in a few months to discuss efforts to end Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Italian government has objected to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s call for allies to lift restrictions on using Western-supplied weapons against targets in Russia.

Around the globe, the number of citizens who show unwavering support for democracy is on the rise but there are also more and more of those voting for leaders who may undermine democracy.

With two weeks to go to the EU elections, the French Greens - and their allies across Europe - are in freefall in the polls. After the great success of 2019, has the wind changed for the Green lists?

Several key transport files await new and returning lawmakers in September.

Ahead of the June European elections and a parallel national vote, bloc-wide issues are far from the campaign agenda, with domestic matters prevailing across all parties and politicians.

(Recasts with Nauseda calling victory)

By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS, May 26 (Reuters) - Lithuanian Gitanas Nauseda announced his re-election in a presidential ballot on Sunday, following a campaign dominated by security concerns in the European Union and NATO member next door to Russia.

The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, it worries it could be Moscow's next target.

Ballots from nearly 90% of polling stations showed Nauseda, 60, winning roughly three quarters of the vote, followed by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling centre-right Homeland Union party.

If confirmed by final results, Nauseda's backing in his bid for a second term will be highest in the country since it split from the Soviet Union in 1991.

A former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, Nauseda won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44% of the votes, short of the 50% he needed for an outright victory.

Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, according to a ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll conducted between February and March. Russia has regularly dismissed concerns that it might attack a NATO member.

Nauseda told jubilant supporters in the capital Vilnius that he will continue working on the country's defence capabilities.

"Lithuanian independence and freedom is like a fragile vessel which we need to cherish and keep from cracking," he said.

Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3% of Lithuania's gross domestic product, from the 2.75% planned for this year.

But Nauseda, who is a social conservative, has clashed with Simonyte on other issues, including whether to give a legal recognition to same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes.

He has said it would make such unions too similar to marriage, which Lithuania's constitution only allows between a man and a woman.

Simonyte, a former finance minister and a fiscal hawk, said on Thursday that if she won, "the direction for the country - pro-European, pro-Western - would not change".

"But I would like quicker progress, more openness and understanding, larger tolerance to people who are different from us", she said.

Lithuania's president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, chairing the supreme defence and national security policy body and representing the country at EU and NATO summits.

The president sets foreign and security policy in tandem with the government, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defence and the head of the central bank. (Reporting by Andrius Sytas; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Tomasz Janowski)

Ahead of the 2019 European Parliament elections, Europe was rocked by massive climate marches. But as the 2024 elections approach, the streets remain silent.

In this week's edition: Russia's hybrid warfare, Palestine diplomacy and Georgia on everyone's mind.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that European banks face growing risks operating in Russia and the US is looking at strengthening its secondary sanctions on banks found to be aiding transactions for Russia's war effort.

French President Emanuel Macron lands in Germany on Sunday (26 May) for a three-day state visit followed by a bilateral cabinet meeting as the European Union's two biggest powers seek to show unity ahead of next month's EU parliamentary elections.

Lithuania holds presidential elections on Sunday (26 May), with incumbent Gitanas Nausėda expected to win after a campaign dominated by security concerns in the post-Soviet state.

G7 finance ministers cited "progress" on Saturday (25 May) in finding ways to use profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, envisioning a concrete proposal to present to a leaders' summit next month.I’m

The Franco-German engine needs an overhaul to adapt to the realities of today’s Europe. These two very different sources of power can still move Europe forward – but they need to be better coordinated, write Mathieu Droin and Gesine Weber.