The European Union needs a NATO-like mechanism to better respond to drone incidents, acts of sabotage and cyberattacks across Europe, many of them blamed on Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday (September 16, 2026).

“Europe needs its own counter-hybrid playbook. We urgently need a consensus on how to respond to certain incidents,” Ms. von der Leyen said, particularly for acts that “fall below armed aggression but clearly threaten our national security.” Officials in Germany, Denmark, and Poland have in recent weeks accused Russia of involvement in drone incursions, sabotage, arson, surveillance of defence facilities and planning to use a drone carrying explosives to attack an airport.

Italian fighter jets working with NATO shot down a drone over EU member Lithuania earlier this week, the first time one has been downed in its airspace. It was believed to have entered from Russia’s ally, Belarus.

But Europe and NATO are struggling to know how best to respond to acts that fall short of outright aggression.

Ms. Von der Leyen said that the system should be similar to Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which allows countries believing that their territory is under threat to convene emergency meetings.

“When triggered by one member state, all member states would convene to coordinate a European response, to deter further escalation, and to mitigate the impact,” she said.

NATO’s Article 4 is separate from Article 5, the collective security guarantee that obliges all member countries to come to the aid of an ally under attack.

Ms. Von der Leyen also said that the EU Commission will “set out our ideas to make a European Security Council a reality.”

It would involve other international partners like Britain, Canada, Norway and Ukraine, she said. No details were provided.

The Union Health Ministry has proposed amendments to the Medical Devices Rules, 2017, to promote ease of doing business. The amendments seek to simplify regulatory requirements, standardise testing fees and facilitate faster market access for eligible medical devices.

The Centre has eased regulatory requirements for medical device manufacturers by removing the need for a separate licence for outsourced sterilisation and expanding the list of countries and regulatory jurisdictions whose approvals can facilitate waiver of clinical investigation requirements in India, a release issued by the Ministry said on Monday (August 24, 2026).

Under the proposed amendment to Rule 44, manufacturers that outsource sterilisation of their medical devices to a facility holding a valid licence under the Medical Devices Rules, 2017, will no longer have to obtain a separate loan licence for the sterilisation activity.

Earlier, manufacturers had to secure a separate loan licence even when the outsourced sterilisation facility itself held a valid licence. The government said removing the duplication would reduce paperwork, administrative burden and compliance costs, particularly for manufacturers without their own sterilisation facilities.

However, a traceability requirement has been retained. Manufacturers will have to mention the licence number of the sterilisation facility on the medical device label. A six-month transition period has been provided to allow companies to modify labels, packaging and related processes.

The government said the change was intended to balance regulatory oversight with ease of doing business by retaining traceability while simplifying the licensing framework.

In another change, the amendment to Rule 63 includes the European Union (EU) among the stringent regulatory jurisdictions recognised for waiving clinical investigation requirements for medical devices that do not have predicate devices in India.

The provision already recognises the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Japan. With the EU now included, medical devices approved in the EU that meet the eligibility conditions can benefit from the waiver provisions in India.

The move is expected to reduce regulatory timelines for eligible importers and manufacturers and facilitate quicker availability of newer medical technologies to Indian patients.

The amendments follow stakeholder consultations and are part of the government’s broader effort to streamline the regulatory framework for medical devices while maintaining standards for their quality, safety and performance.

The changes are also expected to promote greater international regulatory convergence and improve the competitiveness of India’s medical device industry, the government said.

The European Union will fund seven ​artificial intelligence gigafactories across the bloc ‌with €10 billion ($11.5 billion), the European ​Commission said on Thursday (July 30, 2026), as ⁠the EU steps up efforts to close the technology gap with the U.S. and ‌China.

The Commission said it aims to attract at least €20 billion in ‌private investments for the ‌projects. ⁠The total was increased from five ⁠planned gigafactories to seven following strong interest from EU countries.

The facilities will combine advanced AI ​processors, software, cloud technology, ‌high-speed connectivity and data centres. They will come on top of the existing 19 AI factories in various ‌EU countries.

“Access to the raw ​scale of computing power within AI Gigafactories is a strategic ⁠necessity for Europe as AI development accelerates,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said ‌in a statement.

Consortia or special purpose vehicles made up of technology providers, cloud service providers, public entities and investors can apply to take part in the gigafactories.

The tender process will ‌close on November 12. The Commission expects ​to announce successful bidders in early 2027, with the facilities becoming ⁠operational within 18 months of contract signing.

AMD, ⁠Nvidia and Qualcomm have signed letters of intent with the Commission ‌to provide chips to groups involved in the gigafactory projects.

India is a very important partner for the European Union in the semiconductor sector as the bloc seeks to work with trusted partners to strengthen its chip supply chains and build its own capacity, a senior European Commission leader said.

Speaking at a joint press conference after the third India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting in Brussels, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen said India is an important partner for semiconductor research and development because of its vast pool of highly skilled talent.

“With semiconductors, we see that India is a very important partner for the European Union. Our Chips 2.0 was adopted in June. We are especially focusing on improving the resilience of our supply chains. We want to build up our own capacity in the European Union, but we also want to work with our trusted partners,” she said.

Describing the semiconductor industry as global with long and vulnerable supply chains, Ms. Virkkunen said it was important to diversify sources and reduce dependence on any single supplier.

“It’s important to build better resilience for these supply chains to make sure that we are not dependent on one source… That we have alternatives and we have our own capacity.”

“When it comes to research and development of new chips, of course, India is a very important partner for us because it has a very large pool of highly skilled talent,” she said.

Ms. Virkkunen was responding to a question on outcomes of the AI Impact Summit hosted by India and the launch of the Indian government’s Semicon 2.0 programme aimed at strengthening the country’s semiconductor ecosystem.

Calling the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi a success, she congratulated India for hosting the event.

“It was the first time discussions focused on ensuring that everyone has access to these technologies because AI is a crucial, critical technology of the future,” she said.

Her remarks came about a month after the CEO of U.S.-based AI safety and research company Anthropic, Dario Amodei, described the New Delhi summit as “extremely disorganised”.

Ms. Virkkunen said the EU shares India’s vision of making AI technologies accessible while ensuring that they are trustworthy and benefit economies, societies and citizens.

“I think this is something that we very much share with India… we want to have technologies that benefit our economies, societies, and population. Our citizens should be able to trust these technologies, and we are doing this in a sustainable manner,” she said.

A joint statement issued after the TTC meeting said India and the EU agreed to deepen cooperation in semiconductors, high-performance computing, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and 6G.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada said the Union Cabinet has approved the Semicon 2.0 programme with an outlay of about $13.25 billion.

He said the programme will focus on chip design, semiconductor equipment and materials, research and development, chemicals and gases essential for chip manufacturing, and setting up more fabrication units.

“More manufacturing will come to India, further strengthening our ATMP and OSAT packaging networks. R&D in semiconductors and talent development will also be major thrust areas under the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 (Semicon 2.0),” Mr. Prasada said.

The European Union on Monday (May 11, 2026) imposed sanctions on 16 officials accused of helping Russia to abduct tens of thousands of children from Ukraine and force many to change their identities or be put up for adoption.

Sanctions were also slapped on seven centres suspected of indoctrinating the children or training them to serve in the armed forces, either for Russia or pro-Russian militias inside Ukraine.

Over 130 people and “entities” are now under EU travel bans and asset freezes over the abductions.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, about 20,500 children have been unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred to Russia or Russian-held territories in eastern Ukraine.

“Russia is trying to erase their identity,” Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said on Monday at a meeting with EU counterparts in Brussels, where the sanctions were endorsed.

“When you look at the Genocide Convention, it’s one of the features of the genocide crime. So, it’s very serious.” The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions.

Around 2,200 children have been returned, but identifying them is complicated. Children taken at a young age can be difficult to recognise just a few years later. Getting them home is a harrowing task, and some children are not necessarily welcomed when they return.

The EU on Monday was hosting, alongside Canada, a meeting of the 47-country International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children to increase diplomatic pressure on Russia and rally support for work to verify and trace those who are taken.

“War has really many faces, but stealing the children is really one of the most horrific,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said ahead of the gathering. “We should stop this, and Russia should pay.”

The ripples from war in the Middle East are already being felt in Europe, with rising energy prices and NATO allies targeted, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Monday (March 9, 2026).

Oil prices soared on Monday (March 9, 2026), peaking just short of $120 a barrel as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran continued into a second week, with Tehran launching fresh retaliatory strikes in the Gulf.

“We are now seeing a regional conflict with unintended consequences. And the spillover is already a reality today,” the European Commission president told EU ambassadors, ahead of a midday call with Middle Eastern leaders.

“Our citizens are caught in the crossfire. Our partners are being attacked,” she said, citing an Iranian-made drone hitting a British base on EU-member Cyprus, trade disruptions and the “displacement of people”.

While Iran has not officially shut off the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s crude supplies and a substantial amount of gas run — shipping through the critical waterway has all but dried up.

European gas prices also jumped as much as 30 percent% Monday (March 9, 2026), albeit remaining well below the peaks reached in the aftermath of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Ms. Von der Leyen stressed that “there should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime”.

“The people of Iran deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future — even if we know this will be fraught with danger and instability during and after the war”.

The “longer-term impact” of the war posed “existential questions” on the future of an international rules-based system and the 27-nation’s bloc place in the world, she told the annual gathering of European Union diplomats in Brussels.

“The idea that we can simply retrench and withdraw from this chaotic world is simply a fallacy,” she said.

Mr. Von der Leyen also addressed the Ukraine conflict and assured the gathering that Brussels will see through a vital 90 billion euro ($104 billion) loan to Kyiv that is being blocked by Hungary.

“We will deliver on our commitments, because our credibility — and more importantly, our security — is at stake,” she said.

A “successful India” is in the world’s interest, said visiting European Union leaders, as officials in New Delhi confirmed that negotiations for the EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) have been concluded.

“Official level negotiations are being concluded and both sides are all set to announce the successful conclusion of FTA talks on January 27,” Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal told reporters on Monday (January 26, 2026). 

Also Read | India to slash tariffs on cars to 40% in trade deal with EU, sources say

Separately, sources in the Commerce Ministry said that negotiations were concluded on Friday (January 23, 2026) and the deal was approved by both sides on Saturday (January 24, 2026). They added that the final text would be readied once it was “scrubbed” by the legal teams of both sides. 

The deal is part of a number of other agreements, including a Security and Defence Partnership, energy cooperation and a mobility agreement expected to be signed during the EU-India summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa on Tuesday (January 27, 2026).

The presence of the EU’s top leadership “underscores the growing strength of the India-European Union partnership and our commitment to shared values”, said Mr. Modi in a post outlooking the agreements.

On Monday (January 26, 2026), all the leaders attended the Republic Day parade, in which EU defence commanders took part for the first time, and EU Presidents were hosted at Rashtrapati Bhawan by President Droupadi Murmu. “A successful India makes the world more stable, prosperous and secure,” Ms. von der Leyen said in a post, adding that the world’s largest democracies Europe and India are committed to shaping “a new global order”.

The leaders witnessed the parade where India’s military hardware and marching contingents, particularly those involved in Operation Sindoor in May 2025 against Pakistan, were showcased. Significantly, much of the hardware that Ms. von der Leyen and Mr. Costa witnessed in the parade was Russian-made or designed and has been sanctioned under various EU sanction packages since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“An opportunity to recall the importance of the action of the EU Naval Forces to enhance maritime security and protect the freedom of navigation, in particular in the Indo Pacific,” Mr. Costa said on social media, steering clear of any contentious references to the war in Europe.

Also Read | India and EU are showing a fractured world another way to engage: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen

The EU-India FTA conclusion marks the end of a two-decades-old process, after talks were first launched in 2007. The talks have faltered on a number of occasions, particularly over seemingly irreconcilable issues like market access for “sensitive” European agricultural and dairy items, environmental regulations, investment and immigration. After a freeze on talks between 2014 and 2022, the talks were relaunched with more pragmatic goals, and both sides have reportedly agreed to set aside sectors where they failed to find common ground. Once the FTA is announced on Tuesday, officials will complete the legal scrubbing, and it will be sent to all 27 EU states after being translated, before it is ratified by the European Parliament.

With bilateral trade already crossing $136 billion, the sources also said that this would be “one of the biggest” bilateral deals in the world. Unlike ASEAN countries, the EU acts as a single customs bloc, they explained. The EU has FTAs with eight countries and has signed an FTA with the South American bloc MERCOSUR earlier this month. Both India and the EU are also expected to upgrade their strategic partnership, first concluded in 2004, and upgrade defence cooperation and military engagement in areas including maritime security, cyber security and counter-terrorism.