Germany, along with the greater European Union, has promised to boost its lending to major energy firms as rising energy prices threaten to extend their crushing grip on the industry. According to Reuters, the European Commission has targeted specific paths to reduce electricity consumption along with placing a revenue cap on non-gas fueled plants.
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With the latest effort to revive the Iranian nuclear deal, U.S. allies have stated that they have “serious doubts” that Iran and the U.S. will strike a deal, reports Reuters. President Biden promised to restore the nuclear agreement during his 2020 presidential campaign, yet negotiations appear to be delayed ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Read MoreOn February 24, Russia made the conscious decision to invade Ukraine for yet another time since 2014. This active encroachment into non-Russian territory, which was condemned internationally, triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, reports Reuters. Although Europe has been heavily affected by this Russian aggression, the actions taken by those less impacted by the conflict will set the tone for how the international community reacts to similar crises in the future.
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In November of 2021, a series of rumors about social gatherings at Downing Street, the home and office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, set off a spiraling crisis that put his career in jeopardy. According to Foreign Policy, Johnson’s residence hosted over a dozen gatherings with more than 100 staff. At the same time, COVID-19 restrictions kept working class Britons from “mixing, visiting elderly relatives, or attending the funerals of loved ones.”
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Leading up to Italy’s presidential election, President Sergio Mattarella had plans that did not involve serving a second term. The 80-year-old president made this known, posting images of a packed-up presidential palace and making sure to be spotted on house hunting excursions. But after a week of struggles in Parliament to elect his replacement, Mattarella was asked to stay and accepted.
Read MoreBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s political career may be in danger as allegations swirl that he attended a 50-person Christmas party at 10 Downing Street while the rest of England was under lockdown. According to BBC News, Johnson also hosted a “bring your own booze” event with around 100 invitees in May of 2020. The revelations have sparked speculation Johnson may have to step down, and that a Conservative party election will determine a new party leader and prime minister.
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Belarus has come under fire from the European community for what is seen as an orchestrated attempt to destabilize Poland and Lithuania and pressure the EU to relax sanctions on President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus. These tensions stem from an ongoing border crisis, in which migrants are being systematically pressured, in part by Belarusian officials, to enter Europe through Belarus’s border with Poland and Lithuania.
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In the latest escalation of diplomatic tensions between France and Algeria, the French military announced on October 3 that Algeria had closed its airspace to French military aircraft, reports CNN. Algeria accuses French President Emmanuel Macron of unnecessarily intervening in internal affairs and pushing false narratives about the Algerian government. The restriction comes as a blow to the French military, which regularly uses Algerian airspace to conduct military operations in the Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa.
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On September 12, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his decision to scrap the introduction of vaccine passports. Johnson revealed this in his plans on how to manage COVID-19 in the winter months, according to Reuters.
Read MoreThe acceleration of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe has forced multiple countries to enforce stringent social-distancing rules to prevent a return to full-blown lockdowns. In the final week of October, however, countries across Europe- including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal- all recorded their highest daily number of cases since the pandemic began, Time reports.
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