ELLA JOYNER

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen at the National Assembly, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
The EU Parliament has transparency problems. Marine Le Pen’s case is a window into what’s wrong
The conviction of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen for embezzling funds from the EU Parliament has sent shockwaves around the continent and beyond. But it’s just one example of transparency problems that have long plagued the legislature.
 
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, left, speaks with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The EU shrugs off Hungary’s opposition to Ukraine support at a summit. What’s Orbán’s next move?
For the second time in a month, all European Union nations but Hungary signed a joint statement Thursday backing Ukraine.
 
French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin acknowledges members of foreign police forces that help with the security of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
French minister thanks Belgium for detaining 7 terror suspects on eve of Olympics opening ceremony
On the eve of the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, France’s interior minister thanked Belgium for a string of raids that led to the detention of seven people for questioning over suspected terrorist activities.
 
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban speaks to the media as he arrives to attend the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, Thursday July 18, 2024. (Jacob King/Pool Photo via AP)
EU executive criticizes rule of law issues in Hungary, Slovakia, Italy; lauds reforms elsewhere
The European Union’s executive commission has criticized rule of law developments in Hungary, Italy and Slovakia, but welcomed reforms in Poland and Spain in its latest democracy health check across the 27-nation bloc.
 
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, reads a document as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, July 22, 2024. European Union foreign ministers on Monday meet to discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
The EU is putting new pressure on Hungary’s Orban over his outreach to Russia
The EU’s top diplomat says Hungary won’t be allowed to host a strategic EU meeting next month. That’s because of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s surprise, self-proclaimed “peace mission” trips to Moscow and Beijing aimed at brokering an end to the war in Ukraine.
 
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, left, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, and former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, right, attend a meeting at Brussels Airport, Brussels, Belgium, Friday June 28, 2024, a day after the EU summit. European Union leaders have agreed on the officials who will be the face of the world’s biggest trading bloc in coming years for issues ranging from anti-trust investigations to foreign policy. The EU presidency of the Council said Ursula von der Leyen was approved for a second term as the EU’s executive Commission. (Olivier Hoslet/Pool via AP)
EU leaders have tapped their top brass. Von der Leyen must win over parliament to keep her job
European Union leaders moved quickly this week to pick appointees for the bloc’s top jobs. Despite far right gains in the June 6-9 elections, mainstream parties retained a majority and forced through their candidates.
 
From left, European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo walk together to a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels, early Friday, June 28, 2024. European Union leaders signed off a trio of top appointments for their shared political institutions on Thursday evening, reinstalling German conservative Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission for another five years. At the side of von der Leyen should be two new faces: Antonio Costa of Portugal as European Council President and Estonia's Kaja Kallas as the top diplomat of the world's largest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Union leaders agree on top officials who will be the face of world’s largest trading bloc
European Union leaders have agreed on the officials who will be the face of the world’s biggest trading bloc in coming years for issues ranging from anti-trust investigations to foreign policy.
 
From right, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Czech Republic's Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris, European Council President Charles Michel and Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Monday, June 17, 2024. The 27 leaders of the European Union gather in Brussels on Monday evening to take stock of recent European election results and begin the fraught process of dividing up the bloc's top jobs, but they will be playing their usual political game with a deck of reshuffled cards. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
EU leaders break off talks on top job nominees without result
European Union leaders have broken off talks without reaching final agreement on the nominees for the bloc’s top jobs.
 
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses the media after receiving the results of the European Parliamentary elections in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Top EU court fines Hungary $216 million for flouting asylum law
The European Court of Justice has ordered Hungary to pay a fine of 200 million euros and a further 1 million euros per day of delay for failing to comply with the bloc’s asylum rules.
 
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni casts her vote for the European Parliament elections, in Rome, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Nearly 400 million European Union citizens have been going to polls this week to elect members of the European Parliament, or MEPs, in one of the biggest global democratic events. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)
Europe’s far right won ground in the EU elections. Can they unite to wield power?
The next European Parliament will have more hard-right members than ever before, occupying close to a quarter of the 720 seats.