Absolute poverty indicators for Italy have reached levels not seen in the last decade, despite Italy’s GDP having returned to pre-2007-crisis levels, the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) said in its annual report published on Wednesday. 

Spain’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D) wants to defeat the far-right and those who want to break up the EU from within, the party’s lead candidate in the EU elections, Teresa Ribera, said on Wednesday, despite polls favouring right-wing forces.

Four Russian state media outlets will be added to the European Union's blacklist, while other measures for the 14th sanctions package against Moscow are still in the early stages of discussion following a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday (15 May).

Six months after Geert Wilders won a stunning election victory, squabbling politicians finally clinched an agreement Wednesday (15 May) on a coalition government, said the Dutch far-right leader, who will not be prime minister.

Germany’s top economic advisory body, the Council of Economic Experts, on Wednesday slashed its growth forecast for 2024, as the country is once again expected to be among the worst-performing economies in the EU.

The French Socialist Party is going into the EU elections with a manifesto based on the war in Ukraine, a green transition, social justice and institutional reform, the party’s EU election list leader Raphaël Glucksmann, who has recently been rising in the polls, unveiled at a press conference Wednesday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has started touring member states to rally support for her second mandate and strengthen relationships with national centre-right leaders. The latest visits were to Split, Croatia, and the Italian capital Rome.

In the context of the war in Ukraine, the three Baltic States want to accelerate the desynchronisation of their electricity grids from Russia and Belarus and complete it by February 2025 at the latest.

The campaign to take over the chairmanship of the EU’s highest military body, the European Union Military Committee (EUMC), came to an end with the election of Irish head of Defence Forces Seán Clancy on Wednesday (15 May).

The assassination attempt against Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico exposed deep divisions in Slovak society, which his controversial ruling style polarised further.

Europe’s youth now live in a new and challenging work culture, navigating employment scenarios that didn’t exist 20 years ago. Education-to-work network StartNet hosted a conference exploring a roadmap for youth employment and new European skills partnerships.

European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said on Wednesday (15 May) that he is “concerned” that excessive budget cuts could hamper the EU’s fragile economic recovery, adding that public investments will prove key to boosting growth across the bloc over the coming years.

Just one month before the European elections, the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has sparked a wave of reactions in European capitals for a political partner with whom they have not always seen eye to eye.

The vast majority of Europeans, and especially Italians, are in favour of their country investing in development aid outside of EU borders, according to a survey published by the French Development Agency (AFD) on Tuesday (14 May).

Following the UK Parliament's approval of a ban on the export of live animals, European NGOs are welcoming this "historic" step forward and urging the EU to follow suit.

Former Italian PM Enrico Letta's new report on the future of the single market calls for an urgent upscaling of Europe’s competitiveness. Opening a Euractiv debate, Letta emphasised the need for speed, security, and solidarity.

In her first term as Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen was largely free to push through her agenda without having to worry about backlash from her party. If she gets a second mandate, however, this is bound to change, with her conservative CDU party taking a much more prominent role.

The increase in tariffs on China's electric vehicles (EVs) and other products by the US administration is dividing politicians within the EU's centre-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group, who disagree on whether Europe should follow up with a similar measure.

Spain's diplomacy chief is due to meet with his UK counterpart and European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels on Thursday (16 May) to try to hammer out the final details of a long-awaited agreement on the future status of Gibraltar, Madrid’s diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

Denník N reports, that the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD, S&D) got shot on Wednesday afternoon (15 may). He was immediately taken to the hospital.