European Commission Ursula von der Leyen did not attend Forza Italia’s EU election campaign kick-off on Monday (13 May) while visiting Rome as key figures in the party disagree over backing her. 

The professional standards of Hungarian healthcare providers are under scrutiny following the introduction of a new framework of healthcare regulations. An ageing population is being cared for by an ageing medical workforce.

Prioritising pollution prevention or human health? That's the question probing the ethical limits of Belgium's pharmaceutical industry, amidst discussion of whether to approve new medicines if environmental risk assessments prove inadequate.

The European Commission has open infringement procedures against Bulgaria for the long-term violation of internal market rules and illegal procedures allowing private hospitals to avoid tendering for medicines.

Eighty-five percent of Poles believe that drug prices in the country are high, according to a survey conducted by Ariadna, the Nationwide Research Panel for Health Market. Despite this perception, the prices of reimbursed drugs in Polish pharmacies are among the lowest in the EU.

French president Emmanuel Macron announced the project aiming at producing decarbonised nitrogenous fertilisers at the "Choose France" summit, an annual meeting of international business leaders at the Château de Versailles, on Monday 13 May.

“[NextGenEU] for me, is the piece in the jigsaw that allows us to reconcile the need to normalise budget policy but give a higher priority to capital investment that we’ve done in the past,” Paschal Donohoe told Euractiv in an interview.

Regards from Sofia, where the author of this Brief has witnessed the first days of the European election campaign and concluded the following: The number one election punching bag is the European Green Deal, and it's no different in many other EU countries.

France achieved a 22.2% share of renewable energy in its gross final energy consumption in 2023, according to the French Ecological Ministry figures from 7 May, but the trend is not sufficient for the country to reach a target of at least 44% renewable energy by 2030, as set by EU law.

North Macedonia’s election-winning nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party has sparked reactions across Europe and from its own EU family, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), after President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova refused to use the country’s official new name during her inauguration on Sunday (12 May).

The European Commission announced on Monday (13 May) the designation of Booking, the parent company of online travel giant Booking.com, as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and initiated a market investigation of social media platform X.

The EU should assess how Georgia's foreign agent law will impact the country's accession process before the parliament's final vote, twelve EU foreign ministers said in a letter addressed to the bloc's chief diplomat Josep Borrell and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi.

The EU Council gave its final green light on Monday (13 May) to a relaxation of the environmental rules under the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which will apply until the end of the current period in 2027 despite vocal protests from green NGOs.

European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) do not intend to promise support for Ursula von der Leyen to continue as head of the European Commission, Czech MEP Alexandr Vondra told Euractiv Czechia in an exclusive interview.

Negotiations on a new pandemic treaty were meant to have concluded on Friday(10 May) ahead of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which starts on 27th May. However, agreement has remained out of reach.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel lacked a "credible plan" to protect Palestinian civilians in Rafah and warned an Israeli attack could create an insurgency.

At least 15 people were killed and 20 injured on Sunday (12 May) when a section of a Russian apartment block collapsed after being struck by fragments of a Soviet-era missile, launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister on Sunday (12 May) in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.

Belgian Ambassador to Bulgaria Frédéric Meurice brought together EU ambassadors and DPS leader Delyan Peevski, who has been sanctioned for corruption by the US under the Global Magnitsky Act and by the UK - again for corruption.