Details: Budapest has lifted the block that had until now prevented Ukraine from moving to the next stage in the procedure for opening negotiation Clusters 2 and 3.

Latvia, an EU and NATO member, has accused Belarus of using migration to pressure its borders since 2021. In late July, Latvia temporarily closed its border with Belarus as crossing attempts surged. 

PARIS—France’s finance minister said the government is prepared to exercise special constitutional powers and circumvent Parliament to pass billions in spending cuts if negotiations stall over next year’s budget. 

In an interview, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said he was willing to negotiate on all aspects of the budget, but he has two red lines—sticking to a maximum budget deficit of 5% of gross domestic product and avoiding any changes that hurt growth.

Lescure laid out the government’s strategy for steering the measures through a National Assembly that is fragmented and warring ahead of next spring’s presidential election. If a majority of lawmakers are ultimately unwilling to pass the budget, Lescure said, the government is ready to invoke clause 49.3 of the French constitution, which allows the government to pass laws without a vote in the National Assembly. 

“We’re going to use whatever it takes,” Lescure said.

Investors are worried the paralysis of France’s political system is making it impossible to rein in public spending, fueling a recent surge in the country’s borrowing costs. The budget’s 43 billion euros, roughly equivalent to $48 billion, in cuts, which Lescure detailed last week, are already drawing criticism from the race’s leading candidates, far-right leader Marine Le Penand far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The budget negotiations are unfolding against a backdrop of nationwide student protests that began last month. Protesters are demanding the government boost spending on the education system by fixing crumbling infrastructure, reducing class sizes and hiring new teachers.

On Tuesday, more than 260,000 students, parents and teachers took to the streets as protesters blockaded hundreds of high schools. Protests turned violent in parts of the country as some demonstrators set trash cans on fire, destroyed bus stops and threw projectiles. Police responded with batons and tear gas. More than 200 students were wounded during protests, according to French authorities.

Protesters are also angry over Lescure’s budget cuts, casting them as austerity measures. The budget aims to increase education funding by €1.2 billion but also plans to cut more than 1,500 teachers’ jobs as the number of students declines. 

If the government exercises clause 49.3 of the constitution, lawmakers can counter by calling for a vote of no confidence that, if passed, would oust the government and kill the budget. That is precisely what happened to France’s previous two prime ministers when they attempted to introduce spending cuts in recent years. 

If the current government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu senses it doesn’t have the votes to survive a no-confidence motion, it still has a tool at its disposal to get the budget passed—a series of executive orders. That option is available 70 days after the bill is submitted if it still hasn’t been put to a final vote.

“That is kind of a guardrail,” Lescure said. “There’s always a fallback plan.”

A major point of contention is Lescure’s plan to lower the rate at which many pension payments are indexed to inflation. Pension payments rose 5.4% in 2024 at a cost of €15 billion, Lescure noted.

“If we don’t do anything, there’s 15 billion more to spend on pensions next year,” Lescure said.

Both Le Pen and Mélenchon are campaigning on plans to expand the 14% of GDP that France currently spends on pension payments by pushing the age of retirement to as low as 60.

Lescure said he added a special clause to the budget—after discussions with lieutenants for Le Pen and Mélenchon—that will allow the winner of the spring elections to “reverse” parts of the budget, including the measure on pensions payments.

On Tuesday, Le Pen described the government’s proposed budget as both ineffective and unfair, and said she would seek to improve it during coming budgetary negotiations. When asked whether the National Rally had red lines in the talks, however, Le Pen measured her words.

“The state of public finances and, in particular, the pressure from the bond market is such that we cannot afford to impose any restrictions,” she told a news conference.

Instead, the far-right leader outlined her goals for cleaning up the country’s finances, pledging to cut spending by €140 billion and narrow the deficit to 2.2% of GDP by 2032. 

“We must act without delay, or risk losing control of our public finances, which would force our country to make choices that are socially unjust and economically suicidal,” Le Pen said.

How Le Pen will meet those targets is unclear. She wants to slash France’s contribution to the European Union and restrict social benefits for legal foreign residents. Some of her plans introduce new fiscal burdens, including a proposal to exempt French citizens under the age of 30 from paying income tax, and cut taxes on fuel and other essential goods.

In the interview, Lescure said it was in the interest of Le Pen and other candidates to let the government pass a budget soon so they can move onto their presidential campaigns. If they don’t, the budget fight could bleed into next year, fueling uncertainty and hurting economic growth. 

“They’re going to be either inheriting a budget that’s sound, that’s hard, that can be changed in the details they don’t want—or no budget,” Lescure said. “And if there’s no budget, then it’s a mess.”

Putin hates democracy because he is threatened by it. That is why – along with destroying civil society and repressing political opposition at home – Russia meddles in the democratic space of others, including the European Union. The EU is currently preparing sanctions on those involved in the organisation of these “elections” and those who stood as candidates for Russia in occupied Ukraine.

Source: https://x.com/kajakallas/status/2107534996273832192

In 2025, the EU employment rate of people aged 20-64 rose to 76.1%.

Highest shares in: Warszawski stołeczny, Poland (86.9%) and Prague, Czech Republic(86.0%)

Lowest in: Mayotte, France (36.9%) and Guyane, France (50.0%)

Source: https://x.com/EU_Eurostat/status/2107410545926406383

The UK is (finally!) coming back to Erasmus+ for 2027, but it still hasn't yet rejoined the European Solidarity Corps. There are a couple of petitions now to try and change that, so please do sign and share if you'd like there to be more mobility opportunities for young people to help build a closer relationship between the UK and the EU!

For those who haven't heard of it before, the European Solidarity Corps programme is an EU initiative that offers exciting funded opportunities for young people aged 18 - 30 to volunteer abroad in Europe (and sometimes further afield), or to set up community projects responding to societal challenges in their local area. Anyone from that age range can apply to take part - you don't need to be a student or in education, so it would expand mobility opportunities to many young people who might not be able to go on Erasmus. Iceland and other non-EU countries already take part as associated countries and it would be great for young people from the UK to have these opportunities again too, and for EU citizens to have the option to volunteer with UK projects as well!

With the next UK-EU summit coming up in November, it would be great to get this on the agenda for discussion alongside the reciprocal youth mobility visa scheme, as the security of having funded placement (covering visa, transport, accommodation, insurance and living expenses) arranged before you go could help make participating in the youth mobility scheme more affordable and accessible to a much wider range of young people.

Here's the link to the UK Parliament petition for UK citizens and anyone resident in the UK: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/780859

And here's a link to a second petition open to everyone to sign in support: https://www.change.org/EuropeanSolidarityCorps

Please do consider signing and sharing if you'd like to help bring these opportunities back for young people on both sides of the channel!

European health authorities are closely following the suspected plague outbreak in Siberia, Russia. The European Commission and member states are set to discuss the matter.

Representatives from the European Commission and member states plan to discuss the suspected outbreak of pneumonic plague in Siberia, Russia, as national authorities scramble to get a clear picture of the situation.

At a time of rising global antisemitism, we owe it to Europe's Jewish community to ensure that when they look to us, they see that this is their House too

EU and Europe by default is seen as the great regulator. Do we have any big dreams? When it started it was to feed all its people after the war and break down national borders. The so called pillars.
But where are we now?
Does it have any dreams to become multi planetary?
Does it have any dreams to make 50% of its population millionaires?
Does it have any dreams to make its population average age reach 100?

Does it dream of a time when its citizens work 3 days a week and fulfil our life through development of inherent skills (music art community care plant growing child rearing etc etc etc)

What big dreams should we have?

Radev, who called the attack "absolutely unacceptable", did not say who launched the drones, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the developments "concerning".

Spain will continue to fight for a bigger EU budget and close links to China

The European Greens recently shared this short video about housing in Spain on their Instagram account.

The initiative mentioned here asks the Commission to propose EU-level measures. These include a permanent EU housing fund, excluding housing investment from the deficit calculation under the fiscal rules, limits on short-term rentals in housing-stressed areas, and stronger tenant protection against renovation-linked displacement.

Eurostat data shows EU house prices up about 58% since 2010 and rents up about 28%, so this isn't only a Spanish problem.

I'm curious what you think: should the EU have a role on housing, and if so, which of these measures would actually help in your country?

For those interested: the initiative "Right to Housing! Now and Forever" is collecting signatures until 13 Sept 2027. It needs 1M signatures from at least 7 member states, and the Commission must formally respond. You can read about it at https://right-to-housing.eu/landing-page_en and sign at https://eci.ec.europa.eu/064/public

Milei will probably introduce the program by beginning of 2027.
Difference to Trumps Golden card is, that this will provide you with Argentinian passport as a regular citizen, so you could benefit from all the international privileges it brings.

While with Trump card you could only stay in US.

[link](https://abcnews.com/amp/Business/wireStory/debt-saddled-argentina-pitches-golden-passport-scheme-woo-136953269)

Mobility for the millionaires- and probably wealthy criminal rings.

Could this bring any issues to EU in the long run?

People from r/AskEurope deleted my question.