The European Commission has confirmed Cyprus’s technical readiness to join the Schengen area. At the same time, the country’s final accession requires a unanimous decision by the Council of the EU after consultations with the European Parliament. The positive assessment of technical readiness was recorded in the European Commission’s Schengen...
Lithuania calls on the EU to designate Russian military intelligence as a terrorist organisation
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has called on the European Union to recognise Russian military intelligence (the GRU) as a terrorist organisation. He made the statement on 12 October 2026 in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. According to Budrys, the EU must intensify Russia’s...
UK and EU to hold annual leaders’ summit on 20 November in Brussels
London and Brussels have agreed to hold the annual UK-EU leaders’ summit on 20 November 2026 in Brussels. The date was confirmed on Monday, 12 October, by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham in a statement to the House of Commons. The summit will be the second annual leaders’ meeting under...
How corruption and intermediaries devour billions in European aid to Ukraine and the NATO budget
September 2026 brought yet another political scandal in the sphere of European security. Its essence is that as European capitals, under the slogan “we must arm ourselves faster than Russia,” ramp up defence spending, large-scale schemes of abuse, waste and intermediary mark-ups have come to the surface. In early September...
Kremlin prepares assassination attempts on top managers of European defence companies
Against the backdrop of a stalemate on the front in Ukraine and growing pressure on the Russian economy, the Kremlin, according to Western intelligence, has ordered an expansion of sabotage and “hybrid” operations in Europe. The goal is to undermine support for Kyiv in the coming months. One of the...
Lithuania proposes banning Russian grain transit through the EU
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said he will propose that the European Union ban the transit of Russian food grain through the bloc and impose sanctions on individual Russian agribusiness figures who, in his view, support the war against Ukraine. The head of the Lithuanian government wrote this on Facebook...
EU prepares the largest sanctions package against Russia since the start of the full-scale war
The European Union has agreed the biggest expansion of its Russia sanctions list since the start of the full-scale war. On 7 October, EU ambassadors approved the addition of 1,646 individuals and entities. Foreign ministers still must adopt the list formally at a meeting in Luxembourg on 12 October. The...
Le Pen opposes Ukraine’s EU membership
Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally group in France’s National Assembly, has spoken out against Ukraine’s possible membership of the European Union. In her view, Paris would be among the first to face economic losses. “If Ukraine joined the European Union, we would be the first losers, on...
European Commission has proposed dropping unanimity on sanctions and on some EU enlargement decisions
The Commission published a package of documents on preparing the Union for future enlargement and is proposing a shift from unanimous voting to qualified majority voting on sanctions, the opening of negotiating clusters and intermediate decisions in accession talks. The package, “Preparing for a wider Union,” was adopted on Tuesday....
Brussels prepares new restrictions on Russian diplomats amid sabotage across Europe
EU member states are discussing tighter restrictions and additional checks on Russian diplomats amid a wave of hybrid attacks in Europe, Euronews reported on 6 October, citing diplomatic sources. The talks are still at an early stage and are seen as a possible next step in the bloc’s sanctions regime....