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Updated: 04/12/2025 – 18:00 GMT+1 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this December 4th, 2025 – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More

Published on 04/12/2025 – 17:33 GMT+1 The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group has confirmed it will support the European Commission’s project to create large artificial intelligence “gigafactories” across the European Union. The agreement was signed in Brussels on Thursday by Commission Executive Vice-President for Technology Henna Virkkunen, EIB President Nadia Calviño and European Investment Fund Deputy CEO Merete Clausen. The goal is to speed up the development of the massive computing centres needed to train advanced AI models. “The EU is determined to become a global leader in artificial intelligence” Virkkunen said. “These gigafactories will form the backbone of Europe’s…

Spanish police said on Thursday they had broken up a criminal network linked to smuggling 300 workers into the country, mostly from Nepal. The workers were placed illegally on farms in central and eastern Spain. Police arrested 11 people and are investigating two others. A total of 322 people, most from Nepal, were among the victims. Of those, 294 lacked proper documentation to live and work in Spain. In a statement, police said most of those smuggled had entered on tourist visas, including for other countries within the European Union’s Schengen area, which is made up of 25 of the…

Update: Merz’ spontaner Belgien-Besuch – Europa misstraut Trumps Ukraine-Kurs – POLITICO Skip to main content

Published on 04/12/2025 – 11:24 GMT+1 •Updated 15:15 As part of the European Commission’s plan to create what it calls “a social Europe”, the Romanian Commissioner will today present the Commission’s plan to upskill workers to adapt to Europe’s current labour needs and prepare them for the green and digital transitions. “Social Europe is not dead. Social Europe is the backbone of the European Union,” Executive Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Jobs and Social Rights Roxana Mînzatu told Euronews’ Europe Today on Thursday. Mînzatu addressed concerns that social rights have been traded off in the name…

Poland has agreed to purchase three Swedish submarines in a deal worth approximately 10 billion zloty (€2.3 billion) as part of its long-awaited Orka naval modernisation programme. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced Poland will acquire A26 Blekinge-class submarines from Swedish manufacturer Saab, with the first vessel due to arrive in 2030. “Sweden presented the best offer according to the team and this was confirmed by the Council of Ministers in an objective analysis of all criteria, both arising from delivery time, price, value, ability to operate especially in the Baltic Sea,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. Seven companies from…

Published on 04/12/2025 – 16:24 GMT+1 The European Commission on Thursday launched an antitrust probe into Meta over its AI policy on WhatsApp. The decision comes just 10 days after United States trade officials visited Brussels and warned that punishing tariffs on European Union steel and aluminium could remain in place if the implementation of digital rules targeting Big Tech was not watered down. “AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” EU competition commissioner Teresa Ribera said, defending the probe. “We must ensure European citizens and businesses can benefit fully of this technological revolution and act to prevent dominant…

Defense is a top priority The former Lithuanian prime minister has been the bloc’s first defense commissioner for a year — a sign of how much has changed in the EU as it wakes up to the threat posed by Russia and ramps up its rearmament efforts, all while the Trump-led U.S. pulls back from the continent. The U.S. has been the linchpin of Europe’s security since the end of World War II, and Kubilius said, “We should always count on Article 5,” referring to NATO’s common defense provision. However, he argued that America’s shift toward the Pacific “is happening.”…

Published on 04/12/2025 – 11:44 GMT+1 Over two-thirds of Europeans believe their country would not be able to defend itself militarily against a Russian attack, a new poll has revealed just days after Vladimir Putin said his country is “ready right now” to take on Europe. Sixty-nine percent of the 9,500 respondents surveyed in nine European Union member states by pollster Cluster 17 for Le Grand Continent said they had no confidence in their country’s ability to successfully defend their territories against a Russian aggression. The country with the highest confidence in its military’s ability to take on Russia was…

Several Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces were forcefully transferred to North Korea, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday. Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at Ukraine’s Regional Center for Human Rights, told a US congressional subcommittee on the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian forces that Kyiv registered at least two cases of children from Eastern Ukraine deported by Moscow to North Korea. Rashevska said during the hearing that “12-year-old Misha from the occupied Donetsk region and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol (in Crimea) were sent to Songdowon camp in North Korea, 9,000 km from home.” “Children there were taught to…