Parliament

Despite internal divisions and an attempted delay, MEPs have passed a report calling to reduce Europe’s reliance on non-EU suppliers, boost joint procurement, and strengthen the bloc’s defence capabilities.

Beijing’s offer to lift sanctions on MEPs comes amid growing speculation of an impending EU-China reset in reaction to Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) last week struck a coalition deal.

A parliamentary committee has voted down a raft of amendments from right-wing lawmakers seeking to incorporate sharp criticism of EU funding for non-governmental organisations into the discharge of the bloc’s 2023 budget.

The European Union has achieved its highest-ever approval rating, with 74% of those surveyed in the latest Eurobarometer believing their country benefits from EU membership.

Belgian judicial authorities sealed two offices of parliamentary assistants on Thursday as part of the latest corruption investigation in the European Parliament.

Some MEPs deplored the Commission’s use of Article 122 of the Treaty to avoid a vote on the newly proposed €150 billion instrument for defence funding. Others are less concerned.

All the opposition parties, with the exception of the Liberal Initiative, voted against the motion of confidence in the government. PM Montenegro even offered to suspend the session if the socialists presented specific questions, but PS leader Pedro Nuno Santos didn’t back down.

The European parliament approved the establishment of new offices in Moldova and Albania on Monday, 10 March, in an attempt to boost its presence in Eastern Europe.

MEPs Alessandra Moretti and Elisabetta Gualmini enmeshed in the corruption scandal that rocked the Parliament in 2022