A diplomatic row has erupted after Sweden’s parliament voted yesterday (11 March) to officially declare the Turkish mass killing of Armenians in World War I as "genocide".

Belgium and Sweden are swiftly returning ethnic Albanian and Roma asylum seekers to their countries of origin, hoping to avert an influx triggered by the recent removal of the visa requirement for Serbian and Macedonian nationals.

EU finance ministers meeting on Tuesday (16 March) will call for cash to be mobilised "urgently" to help developing countries tackle climate change, according to a draft statement seen by EurActiv.

The leaders of the three largest political groups in the European Parliament have joined forces to call for stronger economic governance in the EU.  

EU institutions will work hard to fill management posts with administrators from new member states by the end of 2010, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said yesterday (11 March), presenting a major overhaul of the EU's recruitment procedure. 

Only five EU member states are planning to buy renewable energy from other countries, while the EU as a whole is on track to exceed its 20% collective target, the European Commission said yesterday (11 March).

The French company said it has filed a complaint with the European Commission against Ryanair for allegedly receiving millions of euros in illegal subsidies in exchange for using regional airports in France. 

The European Commission yesterday (11 March) rejected criticism coming from Washington that plans to regulate hedge funds and private equity in Europe would cause a transatlantic rift by closing doors to US funds.

The official in charge of Europe's new ten-year economic strategy has said the European Commission will rely on scoreboards and public warnings to embarrass national governments into hitting targets on reform and research investment. 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday (10 March) that a group of national science academies would review UN climate science to restore trust after a 2007 global warming report was found to have errors.

French Prime Minister François Fillon denounced "serious incompliance" with US competition rules after a European-led consortium was forced to withdraw its bid for a 26-billion contract to build tanker jets, which US rival Boeing is set to win.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich secured a majority coalition in parliament today (11 March), which voted in a new government headed by his ally Mykola Azarov, a former finance minister.

EU plans to exempt smallest firms from having to draw up annual accounts came under fire from a leading European small business group yesterday (10 March), claiming it will distort the internal market without cutting red tape. 

The installed capacity of wind and solar energy projects approved in the Czech Republic is nearly four times what can be safely fed into the country's electricity grid, energy distributors said on Wednesday (10 March).

There is no case for emergency action to crack down on naked selling of credit default swaps, as called for by France and Germany, British authorities said on 10 March. At the same time, the US warned that EU plans to regulate hedge funds could cause a transatlantic rift.

South Stream and Nabucco, the two competing gas pipeline projects supported by Russia and the EU respectively, should combine efforts in a joint cost-cutting drive, according to Eni, an Italian oil company with a stake in South Stream.

European Union ambassadors agreed to propose protecting bluefin tuna as an endangered species on Wednesday (10 March), a move that would effectively ban international trade in the species.

An overwhelming majority of MEPs yesterday (10 March) pushed the EU executive to weigh up the costs and benefits of a possible tax on financial trading to compensate taxpayers for bank bailouts and plug public deficits.

The European Parliament defied the EU executive today (10 March), casting a vote against an agreement between the EU, the US and other major powers on combating online piracy and threatening to take legal action at the European Court of Justice.

The European Heritage Label should be established as an EU-wide initiative, Culture Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou suggested yesterday (9 March), presenting plans to highlight historical sites across Europe that "symbolise European integration, ideals and history".