The European Correspondent

What happened: Yesterday (15 September), the European Commission promised to cut some of the annoying paperwork that makes it harder for EU workers to move to another country. Its proposed Fair Labour Mobility rules aim to make it far quicker to get a diploma recognised in another EU country. Doctors, nurses, engineers – and soon other in-demanded professions such as physiotherapists – could get their diplomas recognised in five weeks instead of three months. Other qualifications would have an 11-week deadline, instead of four months. Social security and health insurance documents, as well as diplomas, would also be available via European digital identity wallets, free mobile apps that store verified personal identification documents. Member states are required to make them a reality across the EU by the end of this year. Why this matters: Europeans looking for work don't always move to where jobs are, even though they have the right to work in any of the bloc's 27 countries. Part of the problem is the lengthy procedure to get their qualifications recognised in another EU country, which The European Correspondent wrote about earlier this year. This can involve translating, certifying, and sending documents to get approved, a costly process that takes months. Employers also complain that they can't find the skilled staff they need to grow their businesses and that it's too difficult to hire foreign workers. The EU proposal promises to help solve these issues and also targets non-EU workers. A 14-month average wait to get a non-EU diploma recognised would be cut to four months. Non-EU doctors and nurses who trained at accredited institutions outside the EU would have their diplomas recognised automatically. The Commission also plans to beef up the European Labour Authority (ELA), which checks if rules for cross-border EU workers are being followed. It would be given the power to check on conditions for non-EU workers, who the Commission says are particularly vulnerable to underpayment or working excessive hours. What's next: EU governments and the European Parliament need to examine and approve the new rules. Once they've given their OK, often with some changes, social security documents could go digital within a year and health insurance cards within three years. Simpler recognition of non-EU qualifications could be a reality within two years and digital diplomas within three years.

You wake up on a hot morning. You're sweating, and you haven't slept well. Your head aches, the workday ahead makes you anxious, and the birds chirping outside make you want to scream. If you lived through this summer's heatwaves in Europe, you know this is hardly an exaggeration of what a typical day can feel like. Record temperatures had Europeans feeling frustrated and dizzy. Part of the reason has to do with how our brain works. Our brain makes up only 2% of our body mass, but eats up 20% of our energy. During a heatwave or short exposure to extremely high temperatures, the heart struggles to keep everything cool. “The heart has to pump blood to the periphery of the body to help the body sweat, and for that it has to work hard. When heat exceeds our capacity to sweat, the supply of blood to the brain might not be optimal anymore, and the brain starts to overheat,” said Pieter Vancamp, a neurobiologist at the PhanLab in Nantes, France. You might not notice the difference between 30°C and 31°C, but your brain does: even a shift of less than a degree alters our nervous system. With the brain running hot, our synapses get weaker and start miscommunicating. “You get this nauseous feeling, for instance, because the brain thinks that you're getting sick. The anxiety, the fatigue, you get it because your brain can't cope with the heat anymore and your brain cells communicate less well,” Vancamp said. As a result, we struggle to focus, reason, understand and retain information. This applies not only to older people with pre-existing conditions, but to healthy, young people too. “There is a rather broad temperature zone under which an average person can adapt. But at the edges, cognitive performance declines, especially on complex tasks which require a lot of attention,” said Mona Bielig, who researches environmental psychology at the University of Konstanz, where she works on a project tracking how heat affects our behaviour. Those edges depend on humidity, personal sensitivity, exposure, and ability to adapt (like having AC or being close to a cool area). Some studies have tracked the decline to start around 30°C. This summer, many Europeans had to withstand temperatures well above 40°C. At the same time, Bielig explained, “heat stress triggers a stress response. So there is a release of hormones such as cortisol, which then also leads to higher agitation and alertness.” Add poor sleep quality and dehydration to this overall discomfort, and you get tired, irritable, and impulsive. “People make the mistake of thinking our bodies can adapt, and that we will get used to this heat by the next generation. But evolution takes much more time,” neurobiologist Vancamp said. “The only thing we can do is fight climate change and adapt our buildings, our clothing, and our technology to deal with the heat; that's what will make a difference, not relying on some sort of natural selection process.”

On 1 September, the German government did what it had never done before. It blamed Russia for an attempted attack on its soil: an explosive-laden drone placed near a Ukrainian cargo plane at the Leipzig/Halle airport. Had the attack been successful, it could have caused mass casualties. What did Germany do in response? It closed Russia's cultural centre in Berlin and the Russian consulate in Bonn. Russia's ambassador got a talking to, with most EU governments joining in. And that was it. Now, you might wonder: is closing a consulate really the most appropriate response to an attempt to blow up an airplane? No, it isn't, and experts are warning that this kind of reaction is inviting Russia to escalate its campaign even further. This year alone, a Russian drone hit a Romanian residential block, injuring two; Russians also set fire to train infrastructure in Latvia while pretending to be Ukrainians; and Russia is constantly jamming GPS over the Baltics, leading to around 123,000 flights disrupted in the first four months of 2025 alone. Drone incursions into European airspace now happen frequently, and NATO countries regularly scramble to shoot them down with fighter jets. The underlying goal of such attacks is to test Europe's ability to respond. “Russia sees what it can do until Europe actually reacts,” said Keir Giles, a British expert on Russian military doctrine. Concretely, this means avoiding actions that would trigger Article 5, NATO's mutual defence clause. Increasingly, many attacks are aimed at achieving tactical or operational benefit in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. “In the early stages, in 2023 and 2024, the campaign was targeted against logistics and communications in Central Europe. More recently, they've targeted arms production and delivery capability to support Ukraine,” said Giles. Just last week, an ammunition depot in Bulgaria exploded in a potential Russian sabotage attack. It's also psychological: “Russia wants European citizens to associate support for Ukraine with increasing chaos at home. More cyber attacks, more infrastructure sabotage,” said Maksym Beznosiuk, security analyst and fellow at GLOBSEC. “They want to plant fear in Europeans' minds.” And then, there's 'random' noise. “It's not always clear whether an unexplained incident is part of the Russian campaign,” said Giles. Yet, these incidents are, by and large, attributed to Russia with no other potential culprits identified. “In all of these circumstances, Russia gathers intelligence on Europe's vulnerabilities,” said Giles. To describe these attacks, European leaders have adopted a catchy term: “hybrid warfare”. First coined in 2007, it means the coordinated use of military and non-military tools, kept deliberately deniable and below the threshold that would trigger an armed response. When Germany's interior and foreign ministers blamed Russia for the attempted drone attack, they said it followed the pattern of previous Russian “hybrid attacks”. Shortly after, the EU's foreign policy head Kaja Kallas gave these attacks an even more unusual name: “kinetic hybrid attacks,” – an oxymoron, as kinetic means the use of physical force. Why do European leaders insist on using the term “hybrid”? They do so because it “absolves them of the responsibility for doing anything about it because they're dealing with something very complex, serious, and impossible to do anything about,” said Giles. Stumbling into war According to experts, these attacks will escalate. “Winter is coming and Russia is in a very difficult situation. They will continue to put maximum pressure on Ukraine, hoping that Ukraine will fall, but then also do everything to reduce the willingness or ability of European countries to support Ukraine,” said Kristi Raik, the director of Estonia's International Centre for Defence and Security. So far, Europe's reaction to these attacks has not been very impressive. “Whatever Europe is doing, does not bring Russia any consequences,” said Giles. “The lack of real response is extremely dangerous. It invites Russia to attack further.” So what could it do instead? Europe should deter Russia by communicating the consequences of an escalation upfront, David Gioe, director of studies for the Cambridge Security Initiative told us. “For every arms warehouse that you destroy, we are sending 10 more Storm Shadows [British cruise missiles] to Ukraine. For every drone we find with explosives in Germany, we are sending 10 Taurus long-range missiles,” he said. Today, no such understanding exists. NATO deters only based on the threat of its fighting force, 32 countries strong, not on concrete consequences attached to actions. “The most obvious consequences to Russian attacks on Europe should be increased support of Ukraine,” said Giles. “In the immediate term, the top priority has to be that the upcoming winter doesn't become an opportunity for Russia to finally achieve its objective to make life in Ukraine impossible.” The threat of real war looms: Russia continues to wage its “hybrid war” only to risk stumbling into a conventional one with NATO – to its own surprise and to that of NATO alike, Gioe warns. This isn't such a far-fetched scenario. “There are hawks on the Russian side who have been saying for a long time that Russia is fighting with one hand behind its back. These voices are becoming louder and will become louder,” said Hanna Notte, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to the Wall Street Journal. She said that these Russian hawks [those who prefer more extreme military means] are calling for the Kremlin to strike military and logistics targets inside European nations to win the war in Ukraine. “The key question is,” she added, “how far will Russia go? How much will they step up the game to deal with this problem?” Russia may not decide to go to war with NATO, but it may miscalculate – as it did in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The task for NATO is to make the risks of such a miscalculation clear.

While some sunshine fanatics embraced this summer's record breaking temperatures and booked their beach getaway come what may, an increasing number of tourists travelled to cooler destinations instead. Northern European countries found themselves in the perfect position to offer such a “coolcation”. The number of passengers who booked flights from mainland Europe to Scandinavia in July and August, increased by 35% compared to the same period last year, according to Scandinavian Airlines' (SAS) data shared with us. Denmark saw the sharpest increase (+60%), followed by Norway (+25%) and Sweden (+20%). “We’re seeing growing interest in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, driven by a desire for nature, open spaces, a slower pace of life and more authentic experiences,” Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji, head of communications at SAS, told us. “It’s a trend we’ve seen building over several years, and one that is now clearly reflected in our bookings.” Why? According to the European Travel Commission, more than three quarters of Europeans say climate-related factors influence their travel behaviour. Among those adapting their plans, 16% actively seek destinations with milder temperatures, while 15% avoid destinations prone to extreme heat or check weather forecasts before booking. “My holiday booking was definitely based around the Scandinavian countries being cooler in summer than other European countries. I went to Canada last year and loved how fresh the air felt and that there were lakes, forests, and mountains to enjoy,” tourist Anna Fenn told us. “I’ve no desire to go anywhere that hits above 30 degrees, far too hot for my Irish skin!” Looking ahead, two in three Europeans say they would modify their travel plans in response to climate-related disruptions or official safety advisories. But that highlights a wider concern. “Coolcations provide a rather visible illustration of a larger problem: climate adaptation risks becoming a commodity,” Harald Sterly, human geographer at the University of Vienna, told us. “The ability to be mobile is very unequally distributed,” Sterly explained. “Wealthier households can change holiday destinations, spend part of the summer elsewhere, or improve or cool their homes. Lower-income households and vulnerable populations, on the other hand, have far fewer options.” Tourism's northward shift can also have significant economic consequences for the places left behind. This summer's record droughts, for instance, majorly impacted popular river tours in central Europe. “‘Regular’ summers have had moments where the water levels drop and cause us to make adjustments, but usually it’s a handful of itineraries affected. This year, it has affected every ship and company on the rivers, non-stop for the last 2.5 months with no end in sight,” a river cruise operator organising tours on the Rhine, Moselle and Danube rivers, among others, told us. “There have been massive cancellations, which hurt us big time because we had to refund people.” As extreme heat becomes more persistent, people may increasingly choose to holiday, work, retire or even permanently live in cooler places. But while individual mobility can offer an escape from rising temperatures, it cannot be the only solution. Destinations will need to adapt, and not just for tourism. “Policy responses need to keep places safe and liveable for everyone, for example through heat-resilient housing, passive cooling, urban shade and greening, heat-health protection, labour protection, etc. Many of this goes beyond what individuals can do,” Sterly said. “Ideally, mobility should be an adaptation choice, not an adaptation privilege or a forced fate.”

The European Commission unveiled an Affordable Housing Act this week that promises more than it can deliver. Dan Jørgensen, the EU's commissioner for housing, told reporters that the legislation won't “lead to cheap houses for everybody in Europe”. It will instead help cities to justify action against short-term rentals, second homes, or vacant dwellings. They could do that if an area is found to be under housing stress, meaning house prices and rental costs far outstrip local incomes. Short-term rentals have boomed in cities popular with tourists. Listings on big platforms nearly doubled between 2018 and 2024. Central Madrid has around 40 such rentals compared to 100 available on long-term contracts, the Commission said. Cities have been striking back. Barcelona will ban short-term rentals from 2028. Amsterdam and Vienna have already restricted them in certain areas. Paris has capped how many nights homes can be rented out for. Right now, these cities risk costly legal challenges, even if they've won cases against short-term rentals in court. Florence property owners and tourist groups lost a lawsuit against the city's clampdown on short-term rentals in May. Airbnb also lost its appeal against a Spanish fine over illegal listings in March. Jørgensen said essential workers, such as teachers or police officers, are being crowded out of the housing market in cities where short-term rentals have increased. What the Commission can do is help cities respond. “If you do want to listen to your citizens that are worried, then it's up to us to make sure that it's not internal market rules” under EU law that prevent cities from taking action, he said. However, short-term rentals are only 1.2% of all EU housing. One in five homes are empty, such as holiday homes. Increases in housing prices and rents are a longer-term problem that will be hard to fix. House prices are up by more than 60% in the EU since 2015 and more than tripled in Hungary, Estonia, and Lithuania since 2010. Rents have climbed by a fifth on average and far more than that in Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Ireland. Housing supply just hasn't kept up with demand. More people in the EU are seeking homes of their own, often on their own. Housing construction dropped during the financial crisis that started in 2008. There will be a shortfall of seven million new homes by 2035, according to Commission researchers. Income also hasn't always kept pace with rising prices. The Commission said people report that they are struggling. One in ten say they can't always pay their rent or mortgage on time. All of this is far more acute for people on very low incomes. Social housing stock has declined and is now just under 7% of total housing. Jørgensen acknowledged that the EU's affordable housing plan is limited. Since it would be up to cities to decide what they do, it's not possible to say how far it could reduce prices and make more homes available. “We are very well aware that this is not a silver bullet that will solve all problems in Europe,” he said.