As production and sales move underground, governments lose their ability to regulate, assess and control alcohol distribution. This can result in serious public health risks, especially for the poorest and heaviest drinkers, writes Marjana Martinic.

Italy said French President François Hollande's call for a joint European economic government should be considered, Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said on Friday (17 May).

European business organisations joined forces at the European Business Summit on Thursday (16 May) to press for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel may not have a "bosom friendship" with her French counterpart, she said on Thursday, but her working relationship with François Hollande was strong and crucial for Europe.

One of the global financial crisis' consequences has been the lack of access to treatment for millions of Europeans. According to health promoters, alternative solutions to the problem may be the way forward.

Europeans are the heaviest drinkers in the world and in some EU member states, such as Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, the alcohol consumption is 2.5 times more than what an average person in the world drinks. The Commission's new strategy on alcohol, to be published later this year, has to better address the issue of alcohol-related harm, MEPs say.

Germany's Bundestag has approved Croatia's entry to the European Union, clearing the last formal hurdle for the former Yugoslav republic to join the Union on 1 July.

Closer cooperation between European countries and an emphasis on energy efficiency would be more effective at lowering prices in Europe than dreams about an American-style shale gas boom, the EU's climate chief said on Thursday (16 May).

The 22 May EU summit dedicated to energy issues should clearly transform the prevailing talking mode in the energy and climate framework into action mode, Jean-Claude Depail, tells EurActiv.

Culture is essential to a sustainable recovery in Mali, Lazare Eloundou, the UNESCO envoy to Mali’s donor conference held on 15 May, told EurActiv in an interview. 

Burning fossil fuels is warming the planet over centuries to an extent that previously only happened over millennia. Correspondingly, an inexorably rising price urgently needs to be put on carbon emissions, says James Hansen, a renowned climatologist, scientist, and environmental campaigner.

Updating the 2003 public information directive to increase the amount of public data that Europeans can access may be perceived as a transparency measure, but it is likely to bring real financial benefits and boost skills in a growing IT sector, writes Dinand Tinholt.

Few criticisms of the state of the European Union are more pervasive than the democratic deficit of the European institutions. If so many voters feel there’s a deficit, politicians will have to work hard to improve things or be cast aside, writes Reinhard Bütikofer.

The EU's use of antitrust disciplines will deter some of the legal injunctions, but not solve the underlying problems – they offer no solution to the problem of how design patents, sometimes with disputable merits, can be used to block competitors’ products, writes Hosuk Lee-Makiyama.

Romania's president appointed six chief prosecutors and deputies yesterday (15 May) who had been hand-picked by the prime minister, defying the European Union, which had called for a transparent application process.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso urged France on Wednesday (15 May) to push ahead faster with economic reforms in return for being granted two more years as promised to bring its budget deficit below the EU limit. The Commission will present more detailed recommendations to France on 29 May.

China and Africa will be an important engine for economic growth in the next 20 years and Europe should seize the opportunity to engage with them strategically and not see them as a threat, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said Wednesday (15 May) in Brussels, where he attended the European Business Summit.

Budget consolidation efforts are necessary but should be complemented with a clear promise that better times are lying ahead, says Karl Aiginger, director of the WIFO economic institute in Austria. Otherwise, people will reject it, he argues in an interview with EurActiv.

The EU’s transformation into a more integrated bloc centred on the eurozone will be a key part of the German election campaign, according to Karl Aiginger, director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO). But politicians will probably give in to “populist statements”, he warns, saying the debate on Europe is currently “very irrational” in Germany.

The European Commission warned China on Wednesday (15 May) it was ready to launch an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour by producers of mobile telecommunications equipment, but stopped short of beginning proceedings.