Author: staff

Lahbib’s comments followed the collapse of a plan to raid Russia’s sovereign assets that have been immobilized in the EU since the start of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Under the proposal, the money would be sent to Kyiv as a “reparations loan,” only due for repayment in the unlikely event that Russia pays war damages in future.  Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever blocked the plan at a European Council leaders’ summit in Brussels on Thursday night because he feared his country would face legal and financial retaliation from Putin.  “We are not ready,” said Lahbib, who holds…

Belgium is not hindering a new way of funding Ukraine’s war effort, EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, told Euronews in an exclusive interview. Lahbib, who previously served as Belgium’s Foreign Affairs Minister, spoke in the wake of a European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday, 23 October, attended by EU heads of state and government. Leaders hoped to come to an agreement over a bold plan to use Russia’s immobilised assets and issue a €140 billion interest-free loan to help Ukraine with its war effort. However, the EU27 leaders parted without a decision on using…

French prosecutors have called for a life sentence for 27-year-old Dahbia Benkired, accused of the rape, torture and murder of 12-year-old Lola Daviet in Paris in October 2022, a punishment so rare it has never before been handed down to a woman in France. The Algerian national is standing trial for the murder of Lola, a case which horrified the country and fuelled anti-immigration sentiment after it was revealed she had no legal right to be in France. The far right seized on the case to criticise the government’s immigration policies after it emerged Benkired had been ordered to leave…

The country has been roiled by political infighting since snap elections were called last year, leading to parliamentary deadlock that has hampered efforts at financial reform and increased borrowing costs. Elsewhere, things were a little rosier. Across the bloc, services rose to 52.6 from 51.3, hitting a 14-month high, while manufacturing improved moderately, according to the eurozone PMI. The composite measure, a combination of both, rose to 52.2 from 51.2, the fifth increase in as many months. The picture was positive even for recent stragglers like Germany, which also experienced a boost led by services, although manufacturing remained contractionary.  “France…

Published on 24/10/2025 – 14:37 GMT+2 •Updated 15:48 Russia will not cave in to US sanctions, which are an attempt to strongarm Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. “No self-respecting country does anything under pressure,” Putin stated. The Russian president also described US President Donald Trump’s latest sanctions against the Kremlin as an “unfriendly act” that would harm Moscow-Washington relations and downplayed their potential impact on Russia’s economy. The US leadership has not responded positively to Putin’s comments. When asked about the Russian leader’s statement at a news conference on Thursday, Trump replied, “I am glad he feels…

Warsaw Stock Exchange CEO Tomasz Bardziłowski told Bloomberg that he expects the Polish capital market to grow in the coming years and enter the ranks of a “developed economy”. Such an upgrade, expected by Bardziłowski in the next three to five years, would make it the first former communist country in Europe to earn that classification from the index provider MSCI. Post-communist European nations are typically labelled frontier or emerging markets, hampered by smaller capital pools, weaker institutions, and limited foreign investment. Poland’s breakthrough to “developed market” status would therefore mark a symbolic milestone for the entire Eastern flank of…

It’s unusual for a central bank to lower its policy rate while revising its inflation outlook upward, since lower rates are usually linked to higher inflation, and central banks are tasked with maintaining price stability. However, the combination of managing escalating foreign sanctions on the economy, together with the need to maintain a high level of industrial output to produce the armaments necessary to prolong its war on Ukraine, has put the bank’s governor, Elvira Nabiullina, in a tough spot. Ukraine’s ongoing drone campaign aimed at crippling Russia’s oil refineries has heaped further pressure on the country’s economic output. On…

The EU region with the highest employment rate is the archipelago of Åland in Finland (86.4%). This small Swedish-speaking community in the Baltic Sea leads the latest Eurostat release on jobs, closely followed by a string of central European capital cities: Warsaw (86.2%), Bratislava (85.4%), and Budapest (85.3%). The new stats come as EU authorities herald a “historic” 75.8% record employment across the bloc for people aged 20 to 64, thanks to a 2.7% increase from 2021. It also means that the EU may be on track to meet the 78% employment target set for 2030 by the European Pillar…

Published on 24/10/2025 – 14:43 GMT+2 According to a survey by the German Association of Local Utilities (VKU), one in five municipal providers (19%) plan to decommission their gas network by 2045 at the latest. Almost half of suppliers, 46%, are still undecided on whether they want to switch their networks to climate-friendly gas in the future or shut them down completely. Only 8% have so far made a clear decision to convert their grids for private households to green gas. Mannheim is particularly ambitious when it comes to phasing out gas. According to the plans of supplier MVV, the…

Orbán — a longtime Trump ally — was defiant, however, claiming the “battle is not over yet,” and insisting Budapest will find ways to get around Washington’s sanctions.   “There are indeed sanctions in place against certain Russian oil companies,” he told the radio program “Good Morning Hungary.” “I started the week by consulting with MOL executives several times, and we are working on how to circumvent these sanctions,” Orbán said, referring to Hungary’s MOL energy company.   “Anyone who wants utility price reductions must defend Hungary’s right to buy oil and gas from Russia,” he added.   The Hungarian leader has previously argued that Budapest has no choice but to rely on Russia for cheap oil…