In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about von der Leyen being pressured not to have Ribera at the helm of the climate portfolio, Le Pen's far-right party saying it will judge Michel Barnier on performance, and so much more.

Russia said on Sunday (8 September) its forces had taken full control of a town in eastern Ukraine as Moscow's forces advance on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk and seek to pierce the Ukrainian defensive front lines.

The leader of the main opposition USR party, Elena Lasconi, has called on President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to provide explanations on Russian drones entering Romanian territory over the weekend.

Bulgaria and Germany signed a declaration on cooperation in energy, green policies and climate protection, the Bulgarian Energy Ministry announced on Sunday.

Slovakia has failed to include charges for emissions from heating and road transport in its latest amendment to its Emissions Trading Act, despite an EU directive requiring member states to do so by 25 September, with Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba (SNS) urging Brussels to revise the directive instead.

An unidentified object with Cyrillic writing initially thought to be a balloon, fell a few metres from the Belarusian border in another incident of this kind in recent months.

Czech commissioner-designate Jozef Síkela will be proposed to take up an economic portfolio with a focus on trade, Czech European Affairs Minister Martin Dvořák (STAN, EPP) said in the Czech Television debate on Sunday.

The Italian technocrat’s policy proposals, set to be released on Monday (9 September), are likely to profoundly shape EU-US relations over the coming years.

A censure motion pushed forward by several members of leftist main opposition Syriza party in Greece was approved on Sunday and overthrew the 36-year-old Stefanos Kasselakis from the leadership of the party.

The EU Deforestation Regulation in its current form will result in perverse outcomes that harm the world’s poorest farmers – but they can be avoided, writes Eddy Martono.

Ukraine will have its peace plan ready in November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as he met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over the weekend.

French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) has vowed not to oppose President Emmanuel Macron's pick for prime minister, said party figurehead Marine Le Pen and party leader Jordan Bardella over the weekend, adding that Michel Barnier would instead be judged on his performance.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a peace conference with Russia on Sunday, a move the far-right AfD saw as a sign the government was bowing to its pressure.

The pro-nuclear lobby in Brussels and the EPP are reportedly pressuring European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen not to appoint Spanish Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera as her new climate commissioner, with speculations in Madrid now suggesting Ribera will instead be presented with the powerful competition portfolio.

Greece plans to impose a 20-euro levy on cruise ship visitors to the islands of Santorini and Mykonos during the peak summer season, in a bid to avert overtourism, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Sunday (8 September).

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is in China's capital Monday (9 September) for talks with top officials including President Xi Jinping, keen to boost economic ties despite a trade standoff between Beijing and the EU.

Welcome to Euractiv’s Global Europe Brief, your weekly update on the EU from a global perspective. You can subscribe to receive our newsletter here. Dear readers,  In today’s edition: a closer look at what lies ahead for the European Commission’s next...

The Kremlin refuses to cancel next month’s elections in the Kursk border region despite Ukraine’s ongoing offensive there, deeming it “only a local crisis” from a military perspective, said three Russian officials familiar with the election preparations.

Venezuela's former presidential opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia has left for Spain in the wake of the South American country's contested election, Venezuelan and Spanish officials said on Saturday night (7 September).

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged unwavering support for Ukraine after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday (7 September), in which they discussed Kyiv's plans to end the war with Russia and reconstruction efforts.