Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition politician and former deputy prime minister who was an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead metres from the Kremlin in central Moscow late on Friday (27 February).

Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times in the back, the Interior Ministry said. A police spokeswoman on the scene said he had been walking on a bridge over the Moskva River with a Ukrainian woman.

It’s time for policymakers at both the national and European level to incentivise the renovation of homes, Ingrid Reumert said in an interview with EurActiv.

During a visit to Brussels, the President of Bulgaria, a country which depends on Russia for over 90% of its gas supplies, accused Vladimir Putin of planning to destroy the EU from the inside.

Speaking at a conference organised by the Centre of European Policy Studies (CEPS), Bulgaria’s Rossen Plevneliev said that Putin’s propaganda machine was attempting to split the member states of the European Union.

The leaders who rule by force across the world have one thing in common - breaking the rules, Plevneliev said, as quoted by Vesselin Zhelev, the correspondent of ClubZ.

Speaking at the EEF National Manufacturing Conference in London, Miliband said yesterday (26 February) that “There is no greater threat to the long-term stability and prosperity of Britain and British business than leaving the European Union.”

Leaving the European Union is not in Britain’s national interest, the UK opposition leader added.

Taking aim at the Conservatives, Miliband said it was, “wrong to play fast and loose with our membership of the European Union.”

Jahrelang wurde in Deutschland über sie gestritten, nun soll die Frauenquote in Führungspositionen endlich kommen. Doch Politik, Arbeitnehmer und Gewerkschaften sind sich in einem einig: Der Gesetzesentwurf, dem noch der Bundestag zustimmen muss, ist voll von Mängeln. Einige Experten halten ihn sogar für verfassungswidrig.

EXCLUSIVE: UK membership of the EU was in “fundamental Irish national interest”, and would adversely affect the whole EU, the Irish Ambassdor in London told EurActiv.

Ireland will do “all that we can” to ensure the UK remains in the EU, stated Dan Mulhall.

“A British exit would inevitably weaken the Union, which is something that cannot be in Ireland’s interests,” said the diplomat.

The UK shouldn’t expect other member states to be “indifferent” or “tight-lipped” on the referendum debate because “it concerns the future of a Union to which we all belong”.

Germany's parliament approved an extension of Greece's bailout on Friday after Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who has voiced doubts about whether Athens can be trusted, promised it would not be allowed to "blackmail" its euro zone partners.

With 542 lawmakers voting in favour, including almost all of Chancellor Angela Merkel's right-left coalition plus the opposition Greens, it was the biggest majority for any euro zone rescue package so far in the 631-seat chamber.

Bulgaria's parliament scrapped preferential prices for new renewable energy installations on Thursday as the country is struggling to cut deficits in the energy sector and keep a lid on consumers' utility bills.

Wind power farms and photovoltaic parks mushroomed in 2011, after Bulgaria introduced generous subsidies for renewable energy, guaranteed for 20 years and committed to buy all the energy produced by them.

Hinter den Auseinandersetzungen um die Hilfen für Griechenland steckt ein versteckter parteipolitischer Machtkampf zwischen traditionellen und europakritischen Bewegungen, sagt Finanzexperte Dieter Spöri. Die etablierten Parteien müssen zurecht fürchten, dass Athen als fruchtbares Modell einer neuen Balance von Reform- und Wachstumspolitik in der EU anerkannt werden könnte.

MEPs discussed Thursday (26 February) reforming the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), whose three-year review is planned for this year.

During a public hearing organised by the Constitutional Affairs and Petitions committee,  a number of stakeholders criticised the ECI as flawed.