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Volkswagen Group has announced it will eliminate 50,000 jobs across its German operations by 2030, accelerating a restructuring programme that has become one of the most consequential in the European automotive industry's recent history. The announcement accompanied full-year 2025 results that made for uncomfortable reading in Wolfsburg. Operating profit fell 53 per cent to €8.9 billion, the group's lowest margin since the Dieselgate scandal a decade ago. Revenue held broadly

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have launched a joint tender for up to 20 high-speed regional trains to run on the Rail Baltica corridor, pressing ahead with rolling stock procurement even as the infrastructure those trains are meant to serve remains years from completion. The tender, published in mid-March, covers electric multiple units capable of 200 kilometres per hour on the European standard gauge. Estonia is leading the initial order with five trains and an option for tw

European aviation quietly crossed a significant threshold this week when the European Union Aviation Safety Agency indicated that the bloc's airlines had likely met, and possibly exceeded, the two per cent sustainable aviation fuel mandate for 2025. The confirmation, delivered on the eve of the March 31 reporting deadline, offers a rare moment of cautious optimism for an industry navigating one of its most demanding regulatory periods in a generation. The FuelEU Maritime mand

Europe's shipowners faced a moment of reckoning on Tuesday as the deadline passed for submitting verified emissions reports under the EU Emissions Trading System, marking the first full year in which the maritime sector must account for the entirety of its carbon output. Companies were required to complete third-party verification of their 2025 emissions by 31 March, with verified compliance then to be logged by 30 April. For an industry accustomed to partial obligations, the

The EU softens its near-term emissions rules for heavy vehicles, citing a charging network that has not kept pace with policy ambition. The European Council formally adopted a targeted amendment to CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles on Monday, handing truck and bus manufacturers additional compliance flexibility ahead of the bloc's 2030 reduction targets, in a move that underscores the widening gap between Brussels' climate ambitions and the infrastructure needed

A Dutch startup is betting that cheap tickets and guaranteed seats can do to trains what budget airlines did to flying. GoVolta, a privately held rail operator founded in Breda, launched its first international services from Amsterdam to Berlin and Hamburg on 19 and 20 March respectively, entering a market long dominated by state-backed incumbents and pitching itself as the first genuinely low-cost alternative to both the plane and the car on the North Sea-to-Germany corridor

European carriers face a structural reckoning as full emissions compliance strips away the relief of lower fuel prices The European shipping industry entered 2026 facing a compliance cost reckoning that is reshaping freight economics across the continent's major trade lanes. With the EU Emissions Trading System reaching full implementation from 1 January, carriers serving European ports are now required to surrender allowances covering 100 per cent of verified emissions, up f

EASA and EUROCONTROL publish a joint action plan as satellite navigation attacks on commercial aviation reach a new intensity European aviation regulators moved on Thursday to confront one of the most persistent and underappreciated threats to commercial flight safety: the systematic jamming and spoofing of satellite navigation signals across the continent's most congested flight corridors. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency and EUROCONTROL published a joint action pla

As EU ministers debate the 2035 emissions target, the real battle is over who benefits from the rewrite The numbers tell a story Brussels would rather not headline. Battery-electric cars accounted for 19.3% of the EU market in January 2026, up from a low base of 14.9% a year earlier, yet current forecasts suggest the bloc will reach only 37.9% electric penetration by 2030, far short of the 57% that existing regulation demands. Something has to give, and this month, EU environ

European Sleeper launches its Paris-Berlin sleeper as public operators retreat The overnight train that left Paris Gare du Nord on Thursday evening carried with it more than the usual assortment of travellers seeking a cheaper path to the German capital. It carried a question about the future architecture of European rail: as state operators retreat from unprofitable routes, who fills the void? European Sleeper's first departure on the Paris-Berlin route ran on 26 March 2026,

Europe's low-cost aviation sector is facing its most complex operating environment in years, as the continuing Iran conflict drives oil prices higher and forces carriers to reassess route economics just as the summer travel season approaches. EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis said this week that fuel hedging and a route network weighted heavily to Western Europe would shield the airline from the worst effects of the conflict, but warned that sustained high oil prices coul

European energy traders and shipping operators are reassessing their exposure to LNG supply disruption after Iranian missiles struck Ras Laffan, the world's largest liquefied natural gas terminal, on 19 March, sending shockwaves through global cargo markets and raising fresh concerns about the continent's energy security. The Qatari terminal, which supplies around one-fifth of the world's LNG, suffered substantial damage in the strikes, with fires reported across the gas-to-l