French economy minister Bruno Le Maire insisted it would be possible to reach agreement on the digital tax before the country hands over the rotating EU presidency to the Czech Republic at the end of June. Photograph:   Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP

Delay risks slowing momentum for global OECD levy deal ahead of crucial midterm elections in the United States

There is a limited risk of another housing crash here, according to a review by the European Commission. Photograph: iStock

Strict lending rules have reduced risk in the financial system, Commission review concludes

UK foreign secretary Liz Truss says the aim is not to scrap the protocol completely. Photograph: Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty

Within Belfast, Brussels, London and Dublin, politicians get to grips with the protocol problem

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, Italy’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Luigi Di Maio and Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejcinovic Buric in Turin. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images

Work of Council of Europe will be dominated by continuing war in Ukraine, says Minister

IMinister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney pictured  in Turin. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images

Minister issues warning after meeting his UK counterpart Liz Truss in Turin

EU officials have been preparing options on how to respond if the government of British prime minister Boris Johnson chooses to abandon talks and breach the international treaty. Photograph: JOHN THYS / AFP

EU ambassadors call for range of options to be ready if UK over-rides post-Brexit deal

A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo

Resolution calls for co-operation by agencies to collect evidence swiftly to aid prosecutions

European Commission executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy Josep Borrell and European Commissioner in charge of internal market Thierry Breton at a joint press conference on EU defence investment gaps, in Brussels on Wednesday. Photograph: Stephanie Lecocq

Foreign affairs chief urges co-ordination of defence spending to reduce fragmentation

A photograph of a cast of the sculpture in the studio of artist of Elizabeth O’Kane.

Bronze bust is the work of Dublin-based sculptor Elizabeth O’Kane

In the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin was highly critical of the British move to depart from the Stormont House agreement on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. Photograph: Collins

Taoiseach accuses Johnson of abandoning agreements to pursue domestic political goals

US president Joe Biden and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan fist bump during a plenary session of a Nato summit in Brussels last June. Photograph: Olivier Matthys/AFP via Getty Images

Europe Letter: Erdogan wants leverage and allies to take Ankara’s concerns seriously

It’s not that the European Union is deaf to the concerns about the Protocol in Northern Ireland and its political sensitivities. It’s more that London is not believed to be representing these concerns in good faith. Photograph: iStock

EU hopes UK chooses not to pursue current path any further and return to table to find solution

“We don’t want to nix it, we want to fix it and we will work with our EU partners to do it,” Boris Johnson said. Photograph: Andrew Matthews / POOL / AFP

EU has ‘significant concerns’ about UK’s intention to change the protocol. Sefcovic says

British prime minister Boris Johnson: ‘To have the insurance we need, we need to proceed with a legislative solution at the same time.’ Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Johnson insists post-Brexit deal will not be scrapped but ‘fixed’ after visit to North

Tory top brass: British prime minister  Boris Johnson (2nd left), and foreign secretary Liz Truss   (right) with  justice secretary and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab (left),  chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak,  and home secretary Priti Patel   in the House of Commons,  London, last week. ‘London is seen to have instigated unnecessary drama at a time when other matters are more pressing.’ Photograph: Jessica Taylor/AFP/Getty

Key British figures convinced Russia’s invasion will push EU members to keep London happy

Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto: ‘It’s a rightful expectation from Hungary ... that the EU should offer a solution: to finance the investments and compensate.’ Photograph: John MacDougall/AFP via Getty

Sanctions require the unanimous agreement of the 27 member states in order to pass

MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly have lodged legal proceedings against RTÉ. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Media freedom NGOs issue alert about defamation action against RTÉ by MEPs

British prime minister Boris Johnson  with  European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Photograph:   Aaron Chown/AFP/Getty

Europe Letter: Spoils of northern elections claimed by every facet of post-Brexit debate

British prime minister Boris Johnson speaking during the first day of a debate on the queen’s speech, in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/AFP via Getty Images

Individuals will have to co-operate with commission for reconciliation and information

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest on Monday. Photograph: Vivien Benko Cher/EPA

Efforts to persuade Orbán’s government to back latest round of measures fail

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen  with French president Emmanuel Macron and  European Parliament president Roberta Metsola  (centre) during the closing event of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Photograph:  EPA/Ronald Wittek

European Citizens’ Assembly concludes with proposals for major reform, which may go nowhere

Ukrainian president  Volodymyr Zelensky urged EU states to act together on the latest sanctions against Russia. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/EPA

Kyiv and allies to discuss war effort as Kremlin prepares Red Square military parade

‘Such a theft cannot be tolerated.’ Photograph: Getty

Most of aircraft worth a combined $10bn are registered in Ireland and Bermuda

Sofia Sapega (24) was flying with her boyfriend Roman Protasevich, a dissident blogger critical of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, on a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius in May 2021 when it was diverted to Minsk by Belarusian authorities. Photograph: Leonid Shcheglov/Belta/AFP via Getty Images

Sofia Sapega sentenced to six years following forced landing of plane in May 2021

Leaders at the donors’ conference in Warsaw where pledges of support for Ukraine were made. Photograph: Rafal Guz/EPA

Zelenskiy tells leaders at conference of need for ‘practical steps’ towards EU membership

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, and two smaller banks be barred from the Swift international payments system. Photograph:   Patrick Hertzog/AFP via Getty Images

Oil imports, top bank and alleged war crimes perpetrators targeted by new measures

Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb on October 16th, 2017: ‘Laws . . . designed to protect people who are genuinely hurt are  being used as a tool of abuse and aggression by people in power.’ Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Campaigners fear State will grow as hub for ‘libel tourism’ in wake of UK exit from EU

  European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the new sanctions  ‘send another important signal to all perpetrators of the Kremlin’s war: we know who you are, and you will be held accountable’. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA

Fresh sanctions to phase out Russian oil imports and bar Sberbank from Swift system

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi. Photograph: Fabio Frustaci/EPA

Aid package of €14bn also approved with tax breaks for energy-intensive industries

Fuel tanks belonging to  Russian multinational energy corporation Lukoil at its Belgian headquarters in Brussels. Photograph: Stephanie Lecocq/EPA

Breakthrough in German position sets stage for agreement by countries

Pipework at a PGNiG gas storage facility in  Poland. Companies across Europe are scrambling to find sanctions-compliant ways to keep gas supplies moving. Photograph: Bartek Sadowski/Bloomberg

Companies operating on basis that rouble payment structure is sanctions-compliant

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen insists Russia has “failed once again in its attempt to sow division among member states”.  Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard

Moscow’s move seen as warning it may stop flow to countries such as Germany

The PCK oil refinery in Schwedt, Germany. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty

Europe Letter: Hardball Kremlin tactics could again serve to unify western countries

A community hub for refugees in south Dublin. Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien brought a memo to Cabinet  outlining plans to provide longer-term accommodation of refugees from Ukraine. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times

Each council could be mandated to develop a significant housing centre in their area

‘The investigations right now point towards a link to adenovirus infection,’ says the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Photograph: iStock

Illness has killed one child and led to 17 others requiring liver transplants

 Delegates sit in the plenum of the Ukraine Security Consultative Group meeting at Ramstein air base, Germany. Photograph:  Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

US convenes meeting of 40 countries amid reports Finland and Sweden applying to join Nato

Slovenia’s former prime minister Janez Jansa distinguished himself in November 2020 by congratulating Donald Trump for a ‘triumph’ in the US election, and suggesting that mainstream media were attempting to deny him victory. Photograph: Darko Bandic/AP

Analysis: Results in France and Slovenia show threat of populism not as strong as feared

EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness: ‘It is better that private investment in gas and nuclear aligns with the strict criteria set out in the taxonomy.’ File photograph: Alan Betson

McGuinness seeks to use EU taxonomy of environmentally sustainable activities

German authorities have impounded one of the world’s largest yachts, the Dilbar, at an estimated value of $735 million.  Photograph: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images

Some states have frozen very few assets of sanctioned oligarchs and companies

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi in Algiers: Draghi says he will not block EU sanctions on Russian gas and has moved to secure alternative supplies from Algeria. Photograph: Algerian presidency handout/ EPA

Europe Letter: Italian prime minister works his magic as Italy takes tough stance on Ukraine

Mick Wallace and Clare Daly have become staples of state-controlled media in the Russian, Chinese, and Arabic language. File photograph: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A new Irish Times investigation shows the MEPs’ outsized profile in regime-controlled media

Polish servicemen help a family  return to Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland. Photograph: Sergei Grits/ AP Photo

Women, children and elderly return despite warnings of further Russian attacks

 The naval flagship  Moskva. It  was a key part of Russia’s dominance of the Black Sea. Photograph: Getty Images

Vindication of so-called porcupine strategy has lessons for Ireland

Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto: Since the invasion, support for Nato membership has ballooned in Finland, which shares a long border with Russia and has been invaded by its neighbour in the past. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/ EPA

June set to be crucial month as enlargement may be considered at back-to-back summits

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney (left) in Luxembourg on Monday. Photograph: EPA/Julien Warnand

Oxfam says vital food supplies were at risk of being exhausted as war in Ukraine continues

A Ukrainian policeman bends over bodies  covered with tarpaulin after a rocket attack at  a train station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, that was being used for civilian evacuations. Photograph:  Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

Children among the dead as western leaders condemn the strike as an atrocity and a war crime

A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on a street in Bucha, Ukraine. Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Moscow expels two Irish diplomats in retaliation for expulsion of four Russians

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya addresses the United Nations General Assembly meeting where member countries  voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council. Photograph: Jason Szenes/EPA

US-led push garnered 93 votes in favour, while 24 countries voted no and 58 abstained

The European Parliament has voted by an overwhelming majority to approve an EU rule change to ensure medicines can continue to flow into Northern Ireland seamlessly from Britain. File photograph: PA Wire

North is granted a derogation in bid to resolve ‘main issue’ with NI protocol

Man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on a street  in Bucha, Ukraine. Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Alliance ‘ready to do more’ but wary of being drawn into direct confrontation with Russia

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Bucha. The Ukrainian government has accused Russian forces of committing a “deliberate massacre” as they occupied and eventually retreated from Bucha, 25km northwest of Kyiv. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Descriptions of searches for documents and tattoos match multiple accounts by Ukrainians

A temporary metal security door at 5 Belgrave Square in London on Monday, after people protesting the invasion of Ukraine occupied the mansion, reportedly owned by members of billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s family. Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Oleg Deripaska could be subject to asset freezes

 French finance minister Bruno Le Maire at the start of a finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg. Photograph: Julien Warnand

Warsaw alone vetoes directive at meeting of finanace ministers

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy (centre) in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv: ‘We know thousands of people have been killed and tortured with extremities cut off, women raped, children murdered.’ Photograph:  Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP

Russia denies atrocities and accuses Kyiv of staging images of dead civilians

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde talks to Minister for Finance and Eurogroup president  Paschal Donohoe at the start of a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg on Monday. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA

Paschal Donohoe warns of slowdown in economic growth due to war in Ukraine

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban waves to supporters. Photograph: Zoltan Fischer/EPA

Orban’s ‘unfair’ election victory brings potential headaches for Brussels’ war response

Bodies were discovered strewn across streets in Bucha in the wake of a pullback by Kremlin troops. Photograph: Ivor Prickett/The New York Times

European leaders vow to support efforts to prosecute possible war crimes

A Ukrainian soldier walks near destroyed Russian tanks, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Friday. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images

Attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol cut short while Chernihiv faces ‘catastrophe’

 European Council president Charles Michel: ‘We hope China will take into account the importance of its international image.’  Photograph: EPA/Olivier Matthys / Pool

Beijing appears to criticise EU's use of sanctions and insists Moscow's concerns must be addressed after talks with Brussels

A subsidiary of Gazprom Germania, Astora GmbH, controls many of the country’s largest gas storage facilities. Photograph: John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s Gazprom to sell German gas companies to fend off nationalisation threat

Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to make overseas buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles rather than euro or dollars. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik

‘Historic release’ of 180 million barrels of oil from US stockpile in bid to cool crude prices

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on aviation via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Friday. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

US releases one-third of its oil reserves in effort to stabilise crude prices

A man in military uniform carries bags as Ukrainian refugees depart from the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, on Wednesday. Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP Photo

Europe Letter: London hopes for new dawn of ‘understanding’ to ease protocol rollout

Neighbours look at a group of villagers after arriving in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Tuesday, evacuated by the Ukrainian government due to heavy fighting against Russia. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo

Ukrainian negotiators at talks in Istanbul flag territorial concessions for first time

US deputy secretary of the treasury Wally Adeyemo, left, and European Commissioner for Financial services Mairéad McGuinness. Photograph: Johanna Geron/Pool photo via AP

US deputy treasury secretary says capital is fleeing from Russia as Moscow pushes back

Data privacy campaigner Max Schrems has already indicated that he expects the deal not to fix the problems found by the court in 2020, and the commission is anticipating future challenges

Q&A: Will it face challenges from privacy campaigners?

Russian president Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

G7 nations call Moscow’s bluff in stand-off over natural gas deliveries

A train from Odesa carrying mainly women and children  arrives at Przemysl in Poland on Monday. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Co-ordination needed to protect women and children, with refugee numbers set to double

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the deal with the US was a ‘big step’ in reducing dependency on Russia fuel. Photograph: John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

Discussions on electricity prices follow Biden announcement of deal for US to supply LNG

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, via video link at the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Liesa Koppitz-Johanssen/Bloomberg

Ireland has declined to provide lethal aid but has been a strong supporter in other ways

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaking online at a meeting of the European Council. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images

Move by Ireland on international crimes is welcomed Ukrainian minister

US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Boris Johnson at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Calls from Kyiv for intervention rebuffed but West vows more aid for Ukrainian resistance

Protesters during a rally against the Russian invasion of  Ukraine at Independence Square in front of the Parliament Palace in Vilnius, Lithuania. Photograph:  Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty

Alliance warns of ‘severe consequences’ if Russia uses chemical or biological weapons

US president Joe Biden  being welcomed by European Council president Charles Michel at the start of European Council summit in Brussels. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

Brussels meetings on Ukraine war illustrate drawbacks but also benefits of constraints

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez: Madrid has led calls for the electricity pricing market to be changed to remove the role of gas. Photograph: Fernando Calvo/ La Moncloa/AFP

Europe Letter: Energy to spark difficult debate as 27 EU leaders meet in Brussels

A food distribution point for the elderly and needy in Kyiv  on Saturday, March 19th. Photograph: Ivor Prickett/The New York Times

Fears raised of instability and famine in vulnerable countries as food prices soar

The United Nations in New York: Their tweet describing my initial story as “fake” has now been deleted. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

Vigilante ‘fake news’ watchdogs roamed the internet demanding people delete my story

Newly arrived refugees are assisted by volunteers to board a train bound for Krakow just after crossing the border into Poland from Ukraine. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP via Getty

UN staff were instructed not to use ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ in regard to Ukraine

People carry a wounded woman during the evacuation by civilians of the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on Tuesday.   Photograph: Getty

Email on communications policy reminds worker of responsibility to ‘be impartial’

 EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness: ‘Recent events highlight the urgency of regulating crypto-assets.’ Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Concerns grow that cryptocurrencies will be used to evade effect of economic sanctions

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to US secretary of state Antony Blinken after a meeting of foreign ministers at the Nato headquarters in Brussels. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Russia accused of war crimes for indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas as it besieges cities

Refugees from Ukraine arrive at the Polish-Slovakian border crossing in Kroscienko, Poland, on Thursday. Photograph: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images

Refugees arrive at western European stations as UN describes exodus from Ukraine

Russian president Vladimir Putin  with Fifa  president Gianni Infantino  at the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow.  Photograph:  Alexander Nemenov/AFP/ Getty Images

Minister of State calls on sporting bodies to ‘act in unison in solidarity’ with Ukraine

Mr Donohoe said that neutrality had been the cornerstone of Irish international diplomacy Photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times.

Finance Minister says he expects the public debate around neutrality is going to continue

A Member of European Parliament wears a shirt in support of Ukraine during an extraordinary session on Ukraine. Photograph: Virginia Mayo

More sanctions will be imposed in bid to target Russian economy, says Donohoe

A superyacht in the port of Barcelona, Spain. Photograph: iStock

Kleptocrats and oligarchs use expensive lawyers to censor reporting

The EU has announced fresh rounds of sanctions designed to punish the regime of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Photograph: iStock

Nicolas Schmit warns that invasion may lead to years of high inflation

Ukrainian refugees rest in the school building near the Polish-Ukrainian border in Medyka, Poland on Tuesday. Photograph: Darek Delmanowicz/EPA

Dead civil servants pulled from rubble of attack on regional government building in Kharkiv

A Member of European Parliament clad in Ukraine colours during a session on Ukraine at the European Parliament in Brussels, on Tuesday. Photograph: AP

Standing ovation at extraordinary European Parliament session but West rules out no-fly zone

Cars are stopped at a roadblock set by Ukraine’s  civil defence in central Kyiv on Monday. Photograph: Emilio Morenatti/AP

Talks fail to halt war that has already sent 500,000 Ukrainians fleeing to EU states

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy  (centre) posing with prime minister Denys Shmyhal (right), and chairman of the parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk with  a signed application for Ukraine’s membership to the EU. Photograph: EPA

EU works to connect electricity grid with Ukraine and Moldova

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell make a joint press statement at EU headquarters in Brussels on Sunday. File photograph: Stephanie Lecocq, Pool Photo via AP

It was hard to keep up as bloc taboos were broken in quick succession this weekend

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Sunday. Photograph: Stephanie Lecocq/Pool photo via AP

Ireland opts out of spending on weapons, but agrees funds for non-lethal assistance

Ukrainian refugees at the train station in Przemysl, southeast Poland, on Sunday. Photograph: Darek Delmanowicz/EPA

EU to buy arms for Kyiv and aim sanctions at banks, media, air travel and oligarchs

Ukrainians arrive at a border crossing into Hungary: 368,000 people have fled so far, according to the UN. Photograph: Janos Kummer/Getty Images

Poland and Hungary open their borders to receive families fleeing invasion

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said “there are dead and wounded among our comrades”, without offering any numbers. Photograph: PA/Focke Strangmann

Ukraine and Russia agree to talks without preconditions at Belarus border

Protest at  Brandenburg Gate  in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday. Photograph: Clemens Bilan/EPA

Rallies target Russian embassies and landmarks to call for more action to help Kyiv

‘I didn’t feel at the time that voting in favour of the resolution would help the situation,’ said Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan. ‘Now I think there’s nothing to lose. If the vote was today I’d support it.’

Just six of Ireland’s 13 MEPs voted for supportive European Parliament resolution

Ukrainian service members in Kyiv on Saturday. Photograph:  Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty

EU foreign ministers to meet to adopt further measures in support of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has sent shockwaves across Europe.

Years of naivety, complacency and fuel dependency have left the EU strategically weak

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