EU Council

The Council of the EU is highlighting Europe's push to develop its own payment system, reducing reliance on US-dominated networks like Visa and Mastercard. The initiative, long championed by the European Central Bank, includes plans for a digital euro and greater payment sovereignty. The topic is drawing wide attention as discussions over strategic autonomy and financial independence intensify across the continent.

The Council of the European Union has adopted the 'pharma package', a set of new rules intended to make the EU pharmaceutical sector fairer and more competitive. The legislation reforms how medicines are authorised, priced and supplied across the bloc, with aims including faster patient access to new treatments and stronger security of supply. It marks a major update of the EU's pharmaceutical framework.

The Council of the European Union has identified the first five projects of common interest under its work to strengthen the European defence industry. The designation is meant to steer EU cooperation and funding toward jointly agreed industrial capability priorities. The move reflects Brussels' broader push, accelerated by the war in Ukraine, to build a more integrated and autonomous European defence technological and industrial base.

A rally in support of residents of Oleshky, a Ukrainian town in Kherson region under Russian occupation, is taking place in Brussels. It began at 10:00 near the Schuman roundabout, as EU officials meet. Organisers are drawing attention to a humanitarian crisis in the town, where people have limited access to food, water and electricity.

Greece's government has announced plans to establish a European deportation centre in Africa during its EU Council presidency in summer 2027. The proposal revives long-debated plans to outsource asylum processing and returns outside Europe, and is already drawing criticism from refugee advocates who question which African country would agree to host such a facility.

The Council of the European Union has decided to extend the mandate of EUBAM Rafah, the EU Border Assistance Mission at the Rafah crossing point, until 30 June 2027. The announcement was made by the European External Action Service. The mission monitors the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, and the extension signals the EU's continued commitment to a role at the border amid the ongoing situation in Gaza.

The Council of the European Union has moved to strengthen the EU's architecture for responding to threats in space, according to an announcement published on its official website. The step is part of ongoing European efforts to protect space assets and improve coordination among member states as concerns grow over satellite security and hostile activity in orbit.

The Council of the European Union has given its final approval to updated rules on social security coordination, which determine how workers' pension, unemployment and other benefits are handled when people move between EU member states. The update modernises a framework that affects millions of cross-border workers, students and families across the union, aligning it with current employment patterns.

The Council of the EU has appointed new prosecutors for Germany and Slovenia to serve at the European Public Prosecutor's Office, the body that investigates and prosecutes crimes against the EU's financial interests such as fraud and corruption affecting EU funds. The appointments fill key national posts within the office, which operates across participating member states.