Jennifer Rankin

Brussels, Guildford

Brussels Correspondent at The Guardian

Brussels correspondent @guardian Like ≠ always like. Find me on bsky

Articles

US and Ukraine sign minerals deal after months of strained negotiations - Europe live

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Jakub Krupa |Tom Ambrose |Helen Livingstone |Andrew Roth |Kate Connolly |Ashifa Kassam | +1 more

US and Ukraine sign reconstruction investment fundThe US and Ukraine have signed an agreement to share revenues from the future sale of Ukrainian minerals and rare earths, sealing a deal that President Donald Trump has suggested will provide an economic incentive for the US to continue to invest in Ukraine’s defense and its reconstruction after a future peace deal with Russia.
Malta’s ‘golden passport’ scheme ruled to be illegal by EU’s top court

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Jennifer Rankin

The European court of justice has ruled that Malta’s “golden passport” scheme is illegal, meaning its cash-for-citizenship programme must be scrapped. In a long-awaited ruling on Tuesday, the EU’s top court concluded that Malta’s investor citizenship scheme was contrary to EU law. Judges said the scheme represented a “commercialisation of the grant of the nationality of a member state” and by extension EU citizenship, which was at odds with European law.
‘People were stunned’: Spaniards caught unawares by power outage

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Ashifa Kassam |Jennifer Rankin |Jakub Krupa

It was the moment the lights went out. In a post-match interview, after her straight sets win to reach the last eight of the Madrid Open, American tennis star Coco Gauff was joking about her avocado toast breakfast and bad night’s sleep, when suddenly the microphone cut. She looked surprised, while behind her the LED ad boards turned black. It was just after midday and all across the Iberian peninsula the power was failing, plunging Spain and Portugal into chaos.
‘It makes me sick’: the Amsterdam shops closing because of soaring rents

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Jennifer Rankin

The floral perfume of tea and coffee fills the air in ‘t Zonnetje (The Sun), as – behind the counter – Marie-Louise Velder weighs out loose leaf tea, parcelling black leaves into paper packets. Mahogany-coloured shelves are stacked with pots containing beans from Ethiopia, Java, India, alongside bric-a-brac, such as vintage tea tins and old master-style pictures. But in less than two months, the sun will set for good on this cosy shop in Amsterdam, which was founded in 1642.
EU fines Apple and Meta for breaching fair competition rules

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Jennifer Rankin

The European Commission has fined Apple €500m (£429m) and Meta €200m for breaking rules on fair competition and user choice, in the first penalties issued under one of the EU’s landmark internet laws. The fines under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is intended to ensure fair business practices by tech companies, are likely to provide another flashpoint with Donald Trump’s administration, which has fiercely attacked Europe’s internet regulation.
EU-UK security deal will not be tied to fishing rights, both sides insist

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Jennifer Rankin |Jessica Elgot

The European Commission and UK government are moving closer to a defence deal that will open the door to British arms firms being able to reap bigger potential rewards from a €150bn (£129bn) EU fund, but both sides insisted it was not tied to fishing rights. An EU-UK defence pact is likely to be the highlight of the first post-Brexit summit in May, but has been dogged by questions over how far member states will insist on linking security to a separate agreement on fisheries.
Ukraine war live: Trump denies being ‘played’ by Putin as Russia launches overnight attack

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Daniel Lavelle |Amy Sedghi |Jennifer Rankin |Andrew Roth |Tory Shepherd

Nobody 'playing me', says Trump, amid frustration over progress in peace talksPresident Donald Trump has said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war.
Orbán’s stance on Ukraine pushes Hungary to brink in EU relations

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Jennifer Rankin

The posters are going up all over Hungary. “Let’s not allow them to decide for us,” runs the slogan alongside three classic villains of Hungarian government propaganda. They are: Ukraine’s wartime leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy; the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen; and Manfred Weber, the German politician who leads the centre-right European People’s party in the European parliament, which counts Hungary’s most potent opposition politician among its ranks.
MEPs call for EU court to suspend Hungary’s Pride ban

4 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Jennifer Rankin

A delegation of EU lawmakers visiting Hungary has called on Europe’s top court to suspend a new law banning Budapest Pride, as they criticised a “very hostile atmosphere” for LGBTQ+ people in the country and urged a return to “real democracy”. Tineke Strik, a Dutch Green politician who led a cross-party group of MEPs to investigate democratic standards in Hungary, said developments were going “rapidly in the wrong direction”.
EU could end penalties for companies that break Russian gas contracts

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Jennifer Rankin

The European Commission is considering plans that would allow European companies to break long-term Russian gas contracts without paying penalties to Moscow, it has been reported. Citing three officials with knowledge of the plan, the Financial Times reported that the commission was studying the possibility of allowing companies to declare force majeure, which would absolve importers of their obligations to pay penalty fees for ending contracts.