Stefan Grobe

Europe News

EU must stand 'firm' with Taiwan to ease tensions with China: envoy

The European Union must stand "firm" with Taiwan to confront China's "intimidating and coercive" behaviour, says Taipei's envoy to the bloc.

15/01/2024

My Europe Series

State of the Union: The Council President who stunned Brussels

This week, EU Council President Charles Michel announced that he would resign to run for a seat in the European Parliament.

12/01/2024

Brussels, My Love?

Brussels, my love? The EU lacks leverage in the Middle East

In this edition of Brussels, my love? we discuss EU diplomacy in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and talk about Spanish politics after the passage of a controversial amnesty law.

25/11/2023

Europe News

Brussels cuts EU growth forecast again to just 0.6% this year

Europe's economy will grow less than originally predicted, according to the European Commission's latest forecast.

15/11/2023

Europe News

Was von der Leyen's EU speech a precursor to an election campaign?

Ursula von der Leyen delivered a "reactive" as well as an "election campaign" speech this week, one expert argues.

15/09/2023

Europe News

Ukraine war forces EU to revise its budget

Brussels is bracing for a budgetary battle: the Ukraine Facility represents half of the almost €100 billion that the European Commission is asking for to reinforce the current 2021-2027 budget.

04/09/2023

Europe News

State of the Union: Disagreements over enlargement timeline

In this edition of State of the Union, we take a look at the political response to the extreme weather and the institutional disagreements over the EU enlargement timeline.

01/09/2023

Europe News

EU foreign affairs ministers call for meeting with candidate countries

EU foreign ministers called on Thursday for a meeting with their counterparts from Ukraine and the western Balkans -- all candidate countries to the bloc -- by the end of September to discuss the enlargement process.

01/09/2023

Europe News

New EU law plans for smartphones to include replaceable batteries

The EU wants to prevent manufacturers from making it difficult for consumers to change their devices' batteries safely and cheaply.

25/07/2023

My Europe Series

State of the Union: Grain deal ends as Latin America comes to Brussels

The long-term viability of the agreement between Kyiv and Moscow had been up in the air for some time now.

21/07/2023

Europe News

Wagner mutiny is 'internal Russian affair', say EU leaders

Leaders from the 27 EU member states have come together in Brussels for a two-day summit with a busy agenda on the table.

29/06/2023

My Europe Series

State of the Union: Kyiv wants fighter jets, EU economy gets stronger

In a whirlwind tour of major European capitals, President Zelenskyy was trying to forge a “coalition of fighter jets” - something the West was so far unwilling to consider. Until now. This comes on the heels of Germany pledging an additional €2.7 billion of military aid.

19/05/2023

Europe News

Greek elections: For Brussels, rule of law woes ousted economic ones

While Athens has regained the EU's confidence in terms of the economy, this is not the case with the quality of the rule of law.

19/05/2023

Europe News

Falling energy prices boost EU's growth outlook, Commission says

GDP in the EU is now forecast to reach 1.0% in 2023 and 1.7% in 2024, up from a previous forecast of 0.8% and 1.6%.

15/05/2023

Brussels, My Love?

Brussels, my love? Germany calls for a more geopolitical Europe

In this edition of "Brussels, my love?", we take a look at Germany’s role in Europe following Chancellor Scholz’s speech before the European Parliament and ask whether the belated ratification of the Istanbul Convention to fight violence against women was a relief – or an embarrassment.

13/05/2023

Brussels, My Love?

Brussels, my love? Is radical activism hurting the climate cause?

Panelists discussed the ongoing debate about whether the climate crisis justifies any form of protest, even if it's most annoying for fellow citizens.

06/05/2023

Europe News

EU Commission wants to harmonise rules to crack down on corruption

The package would enable the EU to introduce entry bans and asset freezes for individuals and entities from third countries if they have committed serious corruption offenses.

03/05/2023

My Europe Series

What were the top stories in Europe this week?

Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen tried to convince Xi Jinping to side with Europe and try to end the conflict in Ukraine.

07/04/2023

Europe News

EU and US pledge to reinforce energy cooperation ahead of next winter

While the EU went through these cold months without trouble, next winter might be more difficult.

04/04/2023

My Europe Series

State of the Union: What were the top stories in the EU this week?

Biden makes his way to Kyiv as Europe marks one year since the Ukraine war began and Brexit reappears on the agenda, if not slightly prematurely.

24/02/2023