European | News

Warsaw is lining up military acquisitions under an EU loan scheme that comes with a preference for European vendors as a prerequisite.

Qivalis, a European banking consortium, is reportedly in talks with crypto exchanges ahead of a planned euro stablecoin launch in the second half of 2026. Qivalis, a consortium of major European banks, is in advanced talks with crypto exchanges and liquidity firms to distribute its planned euro-pegged stablecoin, Spanish business newspaper Cinco Días reported Monday. The group, including banks such as ING, UniCredit, and the recent addition of BBVA, is moving toward the launch of a stablecoin in the second half of 2026, Cinco Días reported. The consortium is now reportedly in advanced discussions with crypto exchanges, market makers and liquidity providers. The shareholder banks themselves will also be able to distribute the stablecoin. Read more

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, is convening European foreign ministers for an extraordinary meeting on Sunday, March 1, over Iran.

ISLAMABAD: Three European countries — Italy, Spain and Greece — and Pakistan reached a consensus on Thursday to promote legal pathways to “effectively combat illegal migration”, according to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. The consensus was reached at a four-nation conference in Rome, Naqvi said in a post on social media platform X, adding that ministers from Italy, Spain and Greece attended the meeting. “Productive meeting in Rome with my counterparts from Italy, Spain and Greece at the four-nation conference on curbing illegal migration. “Pakistan, Italy, Spain and Greece agreed on a coordinated strategy against illegal migration, human smuggling and narcotics, including a joint policy framework and rapid-response mechanism,” he said. The interior minister added that a consensus was also reached at the conference on “promoting legal pathways to effectively counter illegal migration [and] repatriation of criminals to face the law”. “European partners appreciated Pakistan’s strong actions, noting a 47 per cen...

Muslim and European countries, including Pakistan, on Wednesday condemned Israeli attempts aimed at the “unacceptable de facto annexation” of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. A joint statement by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Brazil, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Egypt, Pakistan, Luxembourg, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said that recent changes made by Israel to reclaim land in the occupied West Bank as “state property” are “wide-ranging” and accelerate illegal settlement activity and further entrench Israeli administration. Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property” for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967, in clear violation of international law, which states that an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories....

A delegation of European Union leaders and heads of European countries visited one of the thermal power plants in Kyiv, which was targeted by Russian attacks.

European intelligence chiefs are pessimistic about the chances of an agreement being reached this year to end Russia's war in Ukraine, despite Donald Trump's assertions that U.S.-brokered talks have brought the prospect of a deal "reasonably close."

Advisors on security issues from European leaders have also arrived in Geneva, where trilateral talks between the delegations of Ukraine, the United States, and Russia are taking place today. However, they are not directly present in the negotiation room.

Five European countries — including Britain, France and Germany — accused Russia of “poisoning” opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison in 2024 using a “rare toxin”, on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “The UK, Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin,” the countries said in a joint statement, following “analyses of samples” from his body. The staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin died in an Arctic prison in February 2024, while serving a 19-year prison sentence. The epibatidine toxin found in the skin of dart frogs native to South America was found in samples and “highly likely resulted in his death”, the European states said. “Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin to target Navalny during his imprisonment in a Russian penal colony in Siberia, and we hold it responsible for his death,” the UK foreign office added in a statement. Navalny’s widow, ...

Boerse Stuttgart will merge its crypto arm with Tradias, creating a regulated European crypto unit providing services in trading, custody, staking and tokenized assets. Boerse Stuttgart Group, operator of one of Europe’s largest stock exchanges, said it will merge its cryptocurrency business with Frankfurt-based digital asset trading firm Tradias in a strategic move to expand its presence in institutional crypto markets. The transaction will consolidate about 300 employees under a joint management team from both companies, according to a Friday announcement. The combined unit aims to cover multiple digital asset services, including brokerage, trading, custody, staking and tokenized assets. It will serve banks, brokers and other financial institutions across Europe, providing fully regulated crypto infrastructure, the announcement said. Read more

Britain and several other European countries have lost their measles elimination status, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday, after a jump in infections across the continent. Spain, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan also lost their status, and the WHO urged countries to boost vaccination rates, particularly among under-protected populations, to prevent the viral disease from infecting more children. Measles is entirely preventable by vaccination, but it is very contagious, and so it is among the first illnesses to rebound when vaccination rates decline. It commonly causes symptoms including high fever and a rash, but can also lead to serious long-term complications and even death. Sign of declining vaccination Health experts have warned that rising outbreaks worldwide point to a resurgence of other preventable illnesses in populations increasingly mistrustful or skeptical of vaccines since the COVID-19 pandemic. “The UK’s change of status reflects a broader challenge we’re facing acro...

The moves highlight growing uncertainty over whether crypto prediction markets are to be treated as finance or gambling. Update Jan. 20, 12:29 p.m. UTC: This article has been updated to include a paragraph on the details surrounding Portugal’s ban on Polymarket. Hungary and Portugal have taken steps to restrict access to the crypto-based prediction market Polymarket, adding to mounting regulatory pressure on the platform across Europe. Hungary’s regulatory authority, Szabályozott Tevékenységek Felügyeleti Hatósága, has temporarily blocked access to Polymarket’s domain and subdomains, citing the “forbidden organization of gambling activities.” According to an official notice released Friday, the restriction will remain in place until the authority completes its review. Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump refused to comment on whether he would use force to seize Greenland and advised European countries to focus on the war in Ukraine.

The creation of a European army would require resolving a number of fundamental issues, which could take years.

A group of European leaders on Tuesday underlined their support for Denmark after US President Donald Trump again voiced designs on its autonomous Arctic territory of Greenland. The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain as well as Denmark said that sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders were “universal principles, and we will not stop defending them”. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears about Trump’s designs on Greenland, which has untapped rare earth deposits and could be a vital player as polar ice melts, opening up new shipping routes. Greenland is on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States, and Washington already has a military base there. With the situation in Venezuela more pressing, Trump quipped on Sunday that “we’ll worry about Greenland in about two months”. The European leaders’ joint statement said: “Arctic security remains a key priority for Europe and it is critical for international ...

The euro finally has a substantial stablecoin market, and for once, it's not just a niche corner of DeFi. When MiCA’s stablecoin rules kicked in June 2024, they turned euro-pegged stablecoins into a regulated product category with paperwork, reserve rules, and an actual licensing lane. Under MiCA, stablecoins that reference a single fiat currency sit […] The post European crypto trading volume is soaring, but a hidden “venue gap” is silently killing your execution price appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A military-political block of consultations with European partners has begun in Kyiv, during which approaches across the military, intelligence, and political dimensions will be discussed. 

On January 3, a meeting in the format of national security advisors is expected to include representatives from more than 10 European countries, as well as NATO, the European Commission, and the European Council. American partners are also expected to join online.

German instructors, together with their European counterparts, have so far trained around 23,000 Ukrainian service members in Germany, out of a total of about 85,000 trained across the European Union, and they will continue providing training for as long as necessary.

The presidents of Ukraine and the United States are holding a telephone conversation with the leaders of leading European countries.