EUROPEAN UNION

European leaders jostled for the opportunity to host the Ukrainian leader during his trip.

Europe's fears have deepened in the wake of economic and supply crises sparked by the Covid pandemic and war in Ukraine.

European and Asian stock markets mostly dropped Friday, hit by concerns for the US tech sector after poorly-received earnings.

Ukraine urged the European Union on Thursday to impose more sanctions on Moscow, as some of the bloc's top officials visited Kyiv in a show of solidarity that offered no quick path to membership during Russia's invasion.

The EU will reveal Wednesday plans to counter the threat to European industry from US green energy subsidies and unfair competition from China, with leaked proposals pointing to a controversial expansion of state aid rules.

European Union banking regulators on Tuesday launched a stress test to check how banks could cope with a long period of high inflation and interest rates just as the European Central Bank is expected to raise borrowing costs further.

Three years after its departure from the European Union, Britain is yet to benefit from the Brexit dividend that was promised for its economy as it lags its peers on multiple fronts, including trade and investment.

The EU will present long-awaited proposals on Wednesday to counter sweeping US subsidies on green tech that threaten Europe's industry, already struggling with soaring energy prices and unfair competition from China.

Plans by the European Commission to create new European Union funding for the green industry are facing mounting opposition in the 27-nation bloc, as seven EU countries openly rejected the idea in a letter to the EU executive.

The European Union wants swift accountability for "horrific" crimes in Ukraine, EU justice ministers said on Friday, even as they differed over the methods in a debate about how to bring prosecutions, seek evidence or fund war damage repairs.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday he hoped South Africa would use its good relations with Russia to convince it end the conflict in Ukraine.

European Union ministers on Thursday sought ways to curb irregular immigration and send more people away as arrivals rose from pandemic lows, reviving controversial ideas for border fences and asylum centres outside of Europe.

Eight years after facing a refugee crisis in 2015, the European Union is still struggling with how to reform its asylum system -- just as migrant entries are once again rising.

A potential ban on commissions paid by banks to financial advisers who sell their products could be part of a wider shake-up of retail financial services in the European Union, the bloc's finance chief said on Tuesday.

Britain and the European Union are unlikely to fundamentally change their underlying Brexit settlement, making sector-specific deals for financial services, fisheries and energy necessary to prevent more disruption, a report said.

The European Union should introduce more sanctions against Russia's technology sector to curb Moscow's ability to produce arms and rockets it is using to wage war on Ukraine, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told Reuters.

European Union proposals to overhaul its electricity market will attempt to better protect consumer energy bills from short-term swings in fossil fuel prices, the European Commission said on Monday.

The leaders of France and Germany sought at a summit on Sunday to pave over divisions that have dogged Europe's closest bilateral relation since the war in Ukraine broke out, leaving many of their most vexed issues to be worked out later.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday urged allies to double down on sending military equipment to support Ukraine and speed up an end to the war with Russia.

Europeans have dialled down their heating this winter, apparently heeding government calls to conserve energy amid the Ukraine crisis, with some delaying switching it on by almost a month and setting the temperature lower, data shows.

On leaving the European Union, Britain agreed to a protocol that lets Northern Ireland remain in the EU common market.