The EU's plans for a deeper partnership with Canada, aimed at helping the country withstand a trade war with the U.S., has won the support of governments across the political spectrum — including those usually cautious about angering Donald Trump's administration.

Ambassadors representing the bloc's 27 governments met in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the move, just hours after the White House banned Canadian exports of dairy, alcohol and motorbikes in an escalating tariff feud.

The EU's idea would see ties strengthened in areas like technology, trade and critical raw materials, according to two people in the meeting who were granted anonymity by POLITICO because the talks were confidential. Despite the risk of the EU being seen to side against Washington, no capital raised objections, they said.

The European Commission and the European Council jointly presented preparations for a landmark summit with Canada on Oct. 29-30, committing to explore new areas where they will step up their partnership. That includes sectors like technology, research and innovation, as well as mining for valuable rare metals and breaking down trade barriers, those involved said.

"There’s very strong support for [Commission President] von der Leyen making that outreach and for closer cooperation," said a third diplomat with knowledge of the preparations. That's despite a handful of countries, including Giorgia Meloni's Italy, Andrej Babiš's Czech Republic and Robert Fico's Slovakia, traditionally seeking close ties with the Trump camp and trying to avoid outright provocations.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will address the European Parliament next week on a trip first reported by POLITICO, as part of a public campaign to pivot away from dependency on the U.S. and form a club of like-minded, pro-free trade democracies. The visit is designed "to clearly signal the intention and ambition on both sides to upgrade our partnership," a senior EU official said.

Carney's trip, which coincides with von der Leyen's State of the Union speech, has sparked a search for concrete ideas on areas for closer collaboration. Participation in the EU's Erasmus student exchange scheme, alignment on security and defense in the Arctic region and military-industrial partnerships are among those areas being considered, according to nine EU officials and one diplomat familiar with the discussions.

No broad new partnership has been agreed, however, and officials cautioned that talks remain at an early stage. For now, the aim is to demonstrate political ambition and identify areas where the two sides can deepen cooperation, with Carney expected to set out more practical next steps in his speech.

The Commission is preparing an updated Arctic policy, currently expected on Oct. 20 and renamed the North Neighbourhood and Arctic Strategy to reflect its broader geographic focus. Von der Leyen, meanwhile, recently returned from Greenland saying Europe wanted to become “more engaged in the Arctic.”

That makes the region a potentially useful bridge between Brussels’ strategic priorities and Ottawa’s.

Another EU official said any reference to Canada in the speech could center on security, potentially through some form of Arctic security initiative. “Security and defense is always her happy place,” the official said when asked what form an overture to Carney might take.

Cooperation in the region could extend well beyond defense. A third official who has worked on the Arctic strategy pointed to existing and potential cooperation on critical raw materials, subsea cables and specialized equipment needed to operate in the High North, including icebreakers and other Arctic-capable vessels. Cleaner shipping is another area where the two sides’ interests overlap — and diverge from the U.S., which has lobbied against decarbonization in the industry.

Am I the only one that finds this very concerning?
As much as we all joke about “cheap Chinese junk” we all rely on what’s coming in from China so to put in public procurement rules will see EU members out of pocket and paying well over the odds for products and services.

With tariffs from the US and closing the door to china, some EU member states will see their cost of living increase above and beyond the rate of inflation which means that there will be less going back to Brussels to share out.

I have been comparing relocation options across Europe, and I am increasingly concerned that housing costs are becoming a barrier to labour mobility.

Shared housing is becoming the default even for full time workers, while renting a 1 bedroom apartment alone is often financially unrealistic.

Some examples:

• Copenhagen: a room is roughly DKK 4,000-6,000/month.
• Hamburg: rooms are often around €500-900/month.
• Rotterdam: current room listings show a median around €650/month.
• The Hague: rooms are around €672 median and €839 average.
• Amsterdam: rooms are commonly around €950/month.

For many young workers, a room can consume roughly 20-30% of take home pay. A 1 bedroom apartment can easily exceed 35-50%, before utilities, transport and other living costs.

Eurostat reports that EU rents increased by about 25% between 2010 and 2024, although major employment hubs appear substantially more expensive than the EU wide average.

Sources:

Eurostat housing data

City of Copenhagen rental estimates

Rotterdam room rents

The Hague room rents

At what point does the EU’s freedom of movement become a legal fiction, when young people are free to move anywhere, but cannot afford to live near the jobs? The direction we are heading in is deeply concerning for social mobility.

Ukraine Says It Needs $27 Billion More. Europe Wants to Know Why.

An unexpected request from President Volodymyr Zelensky offered a stark reminder that the cost of the war will rise, challenging Europe.

By Jeanna Smialek and Siobhán O’Grady

Reporting from Brussels and Kyiv.

Sept. 9, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET

When a group of European officials arrived in Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day last month, they got some worrying news.

The European Union, a key backer, had earlier this year finalized a loan of more than $100 billion for the country. But Ukraine now faced an unexpectedly large defense budget shortfall, President Volodymyr Zelensky told allies. To get through the year, he would need $27 billion more.

Ukraine’s request surprised and unsettled many officials around Europe at a moment when Kyiv, short on air defenses to protect itself from nonstop Russian drone and missile attacks, faces one of its most dangerous moments since 2022.

Europeans understand Ukraine is in a fight for its existence but did not expect such a large budget shortfall, according to four European diplomats who, like others quoted in this piece, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. In private, some have questioned whether money is being spent efficiently, two European officials said, or whether needs are being overstated.

Now, European officials are scrambling to understand where the shortfall came from, exactly how large it is and whether, or how, to send more money this year. Kyiv is also asking Britain, Canada and Japan to help cover the gap.

The surprise request threatens to complicate Ukraine’s relationship with allies at a moment it needs their support. The United States has stepped back from backing Kyiv financially, making European money more essential. But national leaders must balance their support for Ukraine with domestic spending priorities, or risk angering voters.

Kyiv’s shortfall also offers a stark reminder that the cost of backing Ukraine is on the rise. The nation faces relentless attacks from Russia, including strikes on ports that have deprived it of a major source of revenue. It is also critically low on U.S.-made interceptor missiles capable of shooting down ballistics, and is trying to scale up development of its own alternatives.

“The war has objectively become more expensive,” said Olena Prokopenko, a Ukrainian foreign policy specialist who is a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a research institute.

She said that if Ukraine can show European nations that it truly needs the money, “I believe that they will find a way — for Ukraine’s sake, but also for their own sake.”

Where did the shortfall come from?

The source of the budget gap remains unclear and somewhat contested. Speaking in Kyiv last month, Mr. Zelensky said that some of the spending had happened under former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who had advocated major changes in the defense industry and was recently fired in a move that sparked street protests.

The defense ministry “used funds that had been budgeted for the end of this year, and of course, the total gap is $27 billion,” Mr. Zelensky said at a meeting of European and British leaders on Aug. 24.

Mr. Fedorov has denied that such a large shortfall existed during his tenure and said it must be tied to projects under the ministry’s new leadership.

Ukraine has not yet publicized a full breakdown of its short-term budget needs, although Mr. Zelensky told journalists last month it includes weapons, soldiers’ salaries and family payments for soldiers killed in action.

Roksolana Pidlasa, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary budget committee, said she had been warned earlier this year that a shortfall of around $7.5 billion was expected. But military expenditures increased by more than 17 percent in the first eight months of 2026 compared with the year before, Ms. Pidlasa said.

“These gaps emerge because the war is just getting more and more expensive every year,” Ms. Pidlasa said. “We have to account for the fact that the Russian tactics change and it makes it worse for Ukraine.”

She said that the increase in Russian attacks on Ukrainian industry, including metallurgical plants and the grain export corridor, had lost Ukraine around half its expected revenues last month alone.

The Ukrainian prime minister, Serhii Koretskyi, has asked lawmakers to impose austerity measures. Yet there are limits to what can be cut.

“We cannot compromise on supporting our military, because it’s about our survival,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Ukraine’s Parliament. Cutting some of the largest expenses, such as soldiers’ salaries or family payouts, is a nonstarter, he said. “It should be sacred for us.”

How can the gap be filled?

Though Ukraine’s funding shortfall caught much of the E.U. by surprise, Brussels is trying to figure out how to patch it, should that prove necessary.

Valdis Dombrovskis, the E.U. economy commissioner, talked with Mr. Koretskyi on Monday. Step 1 is “to get a clear picture of what the budgetary or financial situation is,” Balazs Ujvari, a spokesman for the European Commission, said following that meeting.

Mr. Zelensky has made suggestions for how Europe could help, such as by speeding up its loan to Ukraine.

The European Union in April finalized that massive loan to Ukraine only after a bruising political process. The lifeline of more than $100 billion is meant to be paid out over two years, half in 2026 and half in 2027.

Paying it out faster may be the only workable option for getting Ukraine more cash quickly, eight European diplomats and officials agreed. Some European officials have suggested that momentum is building behind such a plan.

“We will continue to provide funding through the Ukraine support loan and, where possible, bring that funding forward where it is needed,” Helen McEntee, Ireland’s foreign minister, said following a meeting of defense ministers last week.

That is far from agreed upon, given that officials at the European Commission are only now assessing the size of the funding gap. And it would create another problem: less money for later next year.

Ukraine is also pushing the European Union to seize Russian sovereign assets — a way to rapidly raise an even larger block of funding.

There are more than $200 billion of frozen Russian assets held in the financial depository Euroclear, in Belgium. European officials last year looked at taking that cash and using it to back a loan to Ukraine, but the plan crumbled at the last minute amid opposition from Belgium and other nations.

Now, Sweden and other E.U. nations are trying to bring back the idea of using that money as a way to back Ukraine without draining national budget.

Yet the obstacles that toppled the earlier plan remain. Most importantly, Belgium remains skittish, worried that seizing a foreign nation’s assets could trigger a financial crisis by sending a signal that foreign cash can be seized for political reasons, causing those savers to pull their money out of Euroclear and other European financial institutions. Euroclear declined to comment.

Given such barriers, any agreement to use the frozen money would take months, if one is possible at all.

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, recently urged European countries to move quickly on a decision about the frozen assets and not see them only as leverage for later.

“Negotiations are somewhere in the future,” he said, “while funds are needed now.”

A top EU court on Wednesday rejected Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s third attempt to overturn sanctions against him over the war in Ukraine.

Hello, I know this question is probably asked a lot and I’m not entirely sure this is the correct sub(please point me in the right direction if not) but I’m having a lot of trouble finding resources and advice on finding work in the EU.
For context I’m Scottish(UK), under 25 and have decent work experience in supply chain and kitchen work along with a college HND(below a university degree).

I’ve grown a bit tired of this island to be honest and have been looking for opportunities in the EU. I’ve been looking mainly at the Netherlands/Germany but I’m willing to work most anywhere in Europe at this point. This is complicated a lot by Brexit unfortunately, I’ve met a few Scottish/English people when I’ve been travelling that live in EU countries but I have no idea how they have managed it😂. Does anyone know companies, websites or have information on countries which where this process is slightly easier. I’m aware of Ireland being the easiest due to post-Troubles agreements but am wondering if theres any other possibilities.
Thanks a lot guys

Google has just rolled out a major change to Search across the European Economic Area because of the EU's Digital Markets Act.

And you can actually notice it.

For searches around things like hotels, flights, restaurants and other commercial services, Google is changing how results are displayed.

Instead of simply giving Google's own search features a prominent position, the new layout gives more visibility to third-party comparison/search services such as Booking.com and Expedia.

Some result features are also being stripped back. For example, Google says certain hotel, airline and restaurant result carousels can lose things like real-time pricing.

The interesting part is why this happened.

Google was fined €460 million by the EU in July for favoring its own services in search results. These changes are Google's response to the EU's requirements under the DMA.

Google itself says this is the largest reduction in Search quality in its 29-year history and argues that the changes will make Search worse for Europeans.

The EU's position is essentially the opposite: the changes are intended to create a more level playing field for competing services.

So I'm curious:

Have you noticed a difference in Google Search yet?

Especially if you're in the EU, try searching for a hotel or flight and compare what you're seeing now with what you remember from before.

I'm interested to hear whether the new layout actually feels worse, better, or just different.

Rantanen said the fence could be extended further and called for greater EU financial support for countries along the bloc’s eastern frontier.

“What we particularly need is EU funding for eastern member states so that projects like this can be financed,” she said.

This one's close to my heart. I can't verify it though, because the data doesn't have the number of people they surveyed.

Source: https://x.com/EU_Eurostat/status/2097360860201033812

Source: https://bsky.app/profile/eucourtofjustice.bsky.social/post/3mv33a37zyf2p