Amid burning refineries, grinding Ukraine warfare is eroding Putin’s power faster than Western sanctions, but it is not easy to foresee when or where a breaking point might come.
![[Interview] ‘Some of the resistance comes from people fearing they’ll end up without a job,’ says industry expert on Europe’s slow electrification](https://static.euobserver.com/2026/07/anja-van-de-gronde-PY7r5dJ_v-Y-unsplash-2400x1602.jpg)
According to Devan Pillay of Schneider Electric, it’s not just grids and prices holding electrification back. It’s also change-resistant engineers of the older generation that are running plants today. “Their attitude is: if it works, let’s leave it.”
![[Interview] The US Democrat trying to convince Brussels to stand up to Trump on methane](https://static.euobserver.com/2026/07/Captura-de-Pantalla-2026-07-13-a-las-18.28.15.png)
US congressman Sean Casten, a longtime champion of methane rules in Washington, recently wrote a letter urging EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen not to cave to US pressure to weaken the regulation. EUobserver asked him why he believes delay is a mistake.
Ukraine’s war planners see a paradoxical path ahead: even as battles grind on around Donbas, the real turning point may come from collapsing Russian logistics deep behind the front.
Heart disease, cancer, menopause and endometriosis: millions of European women are paying the price of late diagnoses, underfunded research and medicines never properly tested on their bodies.
Austrian expert on Russian hybrid warfare Pichler warns that Austria’s cult‑like neutrality and apathetic middle class have turned the country into a playground for Kremlin spin.
Ukrainian drones reshape the war and expose Russian vulnerabilities but Europe’s disjointed weapons factories and looming US pull-back could leave its own cities unprotected in a future confrontation.
While Brussels leads with some of the world’s strongest human-rights laws, the European Fundamental Rights Agency director says uneven enforcement, security crackdowns and permissive border abuses are leaving migrants, women and minorities exposed.
Far from the front, ordinary Russians are starting to feel a war their leaders can no longer afford.
Tea with Putin in Sochi, Peskov in New York, oligarch sponsors in Dubai, and other ways the Russian elite captured the global chess circuit – an insider’s guide by Peter Heine Nielsen, the coach of chess champion Magnus Carlsen.
As Alexander Lukashenko ties his political future to Vladimir Putin and Russia’s wartime economy, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya argues that many Belarusians are waiting for a Ukrainian victory to challenge his grip on power.
As LaRochelle counts down his final days of Ebola incubation alone in a sealed biobox, Czechia’s rare display of political unity over his transfer collides with public fears of importing a lethal virus.
Swedish MEP Abir Al-Sahlani is a loud and outspoken feminist in the rightwing and male-dominated corridors of the European Parliament. “The far-right is really funny because they will fight you for the right of Syrian women to wear lipstick, but then they will not allow women with a veil to work in this house,” she tells EUobserver.
As Iceland’s leaders tiptoe around talk of war, tariffs and Arctic flashpoints, voters are being asked to decide whether to anchor their tiny, fish-dependent island more tightly to Brussels or double down on going it alone.
As Russian pressure, disinformation and war next door test her country’s nerves, Maia Sandu is gambling her presidency on a fast, risky push to anchor Moldova firmly inside the EU.
As EU lawmakers turn their fire on “foreign-funded” NGOs, Natacha Kazatchkine warns that a coordinated witch-hunt is starving civil society of money, legitimacy and space to defend basic rights.
“Citizens can make personal choices – I decided on the Fairphone, with a Murena operating system, which is de-Googled,” said Belgian AI expert.
As Lukashenko tried to ban even her red lipstick from prison, Maryja Kalesnikava describes why she refused exile and chose an 11-year sentence instead.
On 1 July this year, Ireland takes the rotating EU presidency and agenda powers on the crown jewels of EU tech laws: “That should make you worried,” says activist Johnny Ryan.
Delivering help to Palestinian refugees is harder than ever due to fragile relations with host countries, a volatile conflict, and funding cuts, said veteran German humanitarian Dorothée Klaus, who is director of the UN relief agency in Lebanon.