European Union

EU bankruptcies jumped in Q2 as business registrations fell

Business bankruptcy declarations across the European Union rose 5.7% in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter, while new business registrations edged down 0.5%, according to data published by Eurostat on Sunday. The figures point to mounting…

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Europe’s banks push to match US deregulation wave

European banking executives are escalating their campaign for regulatory relief after the European Commission adopted a landmark communication on July 17 aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the EU banking sector. The push comes as U.S. regulators have proposed cutting…

Europe’s heatwave summer could wipe out entire EU growth, bank estimates

Successive heatwaves are battering Europe's economy this summer, forcing nuclear power plants offline, choking river transport on the Rhine, and driving energy prices sharply higher across a continent already strained by US tariffs, Chinese competition, and the Iran war.

Apple to overhaul ad tracking prompts across EU after German probe

Germany's Federal Cartel Office on Monday closed a multi-year investigation into Apple, after the company committed to EU-wide changes to how its App Tracking Transparency framework presents consent prompts to users.

EU’s €3 parcel fee reshapes cargo flows at Liege Airport

The European Union's €3 customs duty on low-value shipments has "profoundly altered the structure of imports" at Belgium's Liege Airport, with the facility reporting an immediate reorganisation of e-commerce cargo flows since the charge took effect on July 1, according…

Europe’s drought shrivels crops, could erase EU growth

A relentless summer of heat waves and drought is battering European agriculture from the Netherlands to the Balkans, threatening both summer and winter crop yields and raising alarms about food price inflation across the continent.

Chinese firms quietly acquire 130-plus European auto suppliers, report finds

Chinese automotive parts companies have quietly expanded their control over Europe's car supply chain through a sustained campaign of acquisitions targeting local suppliers, according to an investigation by the Financial Times published on Monday. The findings reveal more than 130…

EU bans ‘forever chemicals’ in food packaging as new regulation takes effect

The European Union's sweeping Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation begins applying on August 12, introducing restrictions on "forever chemicals" in food-contact packaging and requiring sellers to register individually in each of the 27 member states where they ship products —…

Chinese EVs hit 14.2% of European sales despite tariffs

China-made electric vehicles captured 14.2 percent of European market sales in the first five months of 2026, a five-percentage-point jump from a year earlier, according to data from Schmidt Automotive Research cited by the Guardian. The 171,800 EVs sold represented…

Europe’s fifth heat wave could erase EU economic growth, Dutch bank warns

A fifth heat wave since May is bearing down on Europe this week, prompting red-level advisories across western, central, and southern portions of the continent and drawing warnings from economists that the cumulative toll of extreme heat could erase projected…

EU gas storage falls far behind pace to hit 90% winter target

Europe's gas storage tanks are refilling at one of their slowest paces in 15 years, with levels sitting around 58% of capacity in early August — roughly 15 percentage points below where they would normally be at this point in…

Germany, France, Spain back off yuan bond plans

Three of Europe's largest economies held preliminary talks with banks about issuing offshore yuan-denominated debt but have no plans to follow through, according to a Bloomberg report published Friday.

EU’s new tech fund picks Finnish satellite firm ICEYE as first investment

The European Union's new €5 billion technology fund made its first move on Wednesday, investing in Finnish satellite company ICEYE as part of a broader effort to prevent Europe's most promising tech firms from seeking capital in the United States…

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EU says it ‘passed the test’ after Ceuta migrant crisis

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called border security "a shared European responsibility" and urged "united action" from EU member states after approximately 50,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta last week, triggering the…

EU gas storage hits near two-decade low ahead of winter

The European Union is banking on ramped-up liquefied natural gas imports during the winter months to compensate for gas storage levels that have sunk to their lowest point for this time of year in nearly two decades, as the ongoing…

German regulators push for EU-wide Meta smart glasses ban

German rights groups and regulators are intensifying pressure to ban Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, as a growing wave of incidents across Europe raises alarm over covert recording and harassment enabled by the wearable devices.

EU begins enforcing AI Act transparency and deepfake rules

The European Union began enforcing key provisions of its landmark AI Act on August 2, requiring companies to disclose when users are interacting with artificial intelligence and to label AI-generated or manipulated content, including deepfakes, with machine-readable markers.

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Ceuta migrant crisis death toll reaches 72 as EU tensions mount

The death toll from last Thursday's mass migrant crossing into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta reached at least 72 on Sunday after five more bodies were recovered along the city's coastline, officials confirmed. The unprecedented surge, which saw more…

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Sanchez demands EU emergency meeting over Ceuta crisis fallout

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has denounced what he called a "selfish, polarizing and unlawful" reaction from some European Union member states to a mass border incursion in Ceuta, demanding an emergency meeting of EU interior ministers as diplomatic tensions…

EU launches AI enforcement team as landmark rules take effect Sunday

The European Union unveiled a new enforcement team in Brussels on Friday to police AI companies worldwide, two days before key provisions of the bloc's AI Act take effect on August 2. The team will monitor violations including the creation…

EU launches tender for seven AI gigafactories amid OpenAI breach concerns

Germany's digital minister called on Europe on Thursday to accelerate efforts to build its own artificial intelligence industry, citing a recent security incident in which an OpenAI agent escaped its testing environment and breached AI platform Hugging Face as a…

EU gains power to investigate, fine AI providers Sunday under AI Act

The European Union is set to activate enforcement powers under its Artificial Intelligence Act on Sunday, Aug. 2, giving the European Commission authority to formally investigate and fine providers of general-purpose AI models for the first time. The milestone marks…

EU regulators push for disaster insurance pool as wildfires rage across Europe

As wildfires this week threatened the outskirts of Bordeaux and Madrid — forcing more than 300,000 people from their homes and burning over 160,000 hectares across France and Spain — European financial regulators are pressing Brussels to act on a…

ChatGPT, Roblox to face EU’s strictest platform rules

OpenAI's ChatGPT and Roblox are set to be designated as "very large online platforms" under the European Union's Digital Services Act, subjecting both services to the bloc's most demanding content moderation and transparency requirements after each surpassed the threshold of…

EU warns FIFA’s World Cup investor plan may breach competition law

The European Union's sports commissioner has warned FIFA that its plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors raises "important competition law considerations," escalating a growing backlash against the proposal from governments, confederations, and football stakeholders.

Merz pushes for hundreds of billions in EU budget cuts

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz used a bilateral meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin on Tuesday to reiterate his demand for deep cuts to the European Union's proposed long-term budget, calling for reductions of several hundred billion euros…

Google faces up to $10B in private lawsuits after EU fine

A decades-long crackdown on Google Alphabet Inc.'s business practices in Europe has entered a costly new phase. Days after the European Commission imposed a €890 million fine — the first penalty ever issued under the Digital Markets Act — comparison…

VW demands EU tariffs on Chinese plug-in hybrids after Tiguan loses top spot

Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume has called on the European Union to impose higher import tariffs on Chinese-built plug-in hybrid vehicles, a dramatic reversal for the automaker that actively lobbied against EU tariffs on Chinese cars just two years ago.

Google rivals seek up to $10B in damages after EU fine

The European Commission's €890 million fine against Alphabet's Google — the first penalty ever imposed under the Digital Markets Act — is fueling a wave of private damages claims from smaller competitors across Europe, with potential payouts reaching as high…

EU weighs abandoning large Russia sanctions packages

The European Union is considering a fundamental shift in how it imposes sanctions on Russia, moving away from sweeping packages in favor of smaller, thematic measures after Greece held up the bloc's 21st sanctions round for weeks to protect a…