Author: Rikard Joswiak, RFE/RL

Ukraine’s move to apply for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on September 30 was met with quite some surprise in Brussels. Very few saw that coming and, while there is a lot of sympathy for Kyiv there, don’t expect that the country will join the military alliance in an expedited fashion, as...

It’s an event that gets Brussels types buzzing, but for those outside the world of European Union politics, it normally wouldn’t even register. This year might be different, though, as the annual state-of-the-E.U. speech, given by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, covered a number of...

As electricity prices soar to record-high levels with the ongoing war in Ukraine and after a scorching-hot summer, European leaders and officials are scrambling to come up with a response to what is likely to be a tough winter ahead, with possible blackouts and fears of social and political unrest. Governments across Europe have warned...

Talks in Prague this week over Russian citizens entering the European Union ended with a flexible solution that will decrease the number of visas issued and make it harder for those with relevant travel documents to enter. The visa issue, which has divided the European Union over the summer, is likely to rumble on though...

The European Union’s latest sanctions on Russia, formally adopted on July 21, are probably the weakest package so far from Brussels. To understand why, look no further than the bloc’s other activities in recent weeks to prepare for what could be a long, cold winter. The latest batch of measures against Russia is the EU’s...

Late on June 28, the leaders of Finland, Sweden and Turkey signed a trilateral memorandum on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid, paving the way for the Nordic duo to join the military alliance. But what did they actually agree to and what will happen next? How did we...

The European Commission recommended in mid-June that Ukraine and Moldova be granted European Union (EU) candidate status, while Georgia must fulfill a number of conditions before candidate status can even be considered. At a summit in Brussels on June 23-24, leaders of all 27 EU states were expected to consider all three membership applications. But...