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BRUSSELS — The European Commission is considering stationing its officials in EU capitals, speeding up recruitment and getting the institution “AI-ready,” according to a sweeping set of proposals unveiled in an internal meeting Monday.

“There is an appetite for change,” said Piotr Serafin, the commissioner responsible for human resources. “There’s a readiness to reform the Commission … among the staff.”

The potential changes are part of the Commission’s first comprehensive workplace review in two decades. Launched last year, the review aims to make the Commission more efficient and a more attractive employer, with final recommendations due to be presented to President Ursula von der Leyen by the end of 2026.

The review comes as von der Leyen’s self-described “geopolitical Commission” confronts growing demands, from trade tensions with Washington and Beijing to supporting Ukraine against Russia. Its expanding role has also sharpened sensitivities in some capitals about the EU executive’s growing reach.

Monday’s proposals include shifting more officials from the Commission’s Brussels headquarters to EU capitals to strengthen ties with the bloc’s 27 member countries, accelerating the promotion of a new generation of leaders ahead of an expected wave of retirements, and preparing the institution to become “AI-ready,” according to a senior official involved in the review.

The official, granted anonymity to discuss the contents of the internal report, stressed that the proposals stopped short of abolishing any of the Commission’s 41 directorate-generals (DGs), the EU executive’s policy departments, or creating additional ones. It also won’t recommend cutting staff.

Instead, the focus was on making sure staff are not “siloed” in their departments and can collaborate more easily, the official said, along with reprioritizing work to make better use of existing resources.

‘More and more’

That effort may still require more people. According to a second official, the Commission plans to hire an additional 1,500 staff under the EU’s next seven-year budget, which starts in 2028, alongside another 1,000 roles across other EU institutions.

The first batch of recommendations — laid out in a 400-page report compiled by senior officials from 15 departments — was presented to all 30,000 Commission staff during a virtual meeting on Monday.

Serafin noted that the Commission employs around 1,500 fewer staff than it did in 2014 — even as demands have grown.

The Commission is expected to do “more and more,” he warned, arguing the institution needs adequate funding to match its expanding responsibilities.

Part of the solution, he said, is rethinking where EU officials work. More Brussels-based staff should spend time in national administrations of member countries to deepen cooperation.

“We have the people from the national administrations coming to Brussels, and I believe that we should also invest into the model of EU officials going to national administrations to have this cross-fertilizing of both systems,” he said.

Best talent

Recruitment remains another weak spot. Serafin singled out the European Personnel Selection Office, arguing that its lengthy hiring process is undermining the Commission’s ability to compete for talent.

“My biggest concern with the current model of EPSO is that it takes two to three years from the moment of application to the moment to the first salary,” he said. “This is not a recipe for attracting the best talent to the European institutions.”

Meanwhile, changes at the top are already looming, POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook reported . Several senior roles are expected to open in the coming months as officials retire or move on.

Among them is Gert Jan Koopman, the veteran Dutch official running the Commission’s DG ENEST enlargement department, according to two EU officials.

Michael Karnitschnig, currently acting director-general of DG MENA (foreign relations in the Middle East and North Africa), and Deputy Director-General Despina Spanou of DG CONNECT (comms networks and tech) are both tipped as candidates to replace him, which would leave their roles vacant.

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When it comes to British crime series in the 21st century, few have been as ambitious and well-received as Line of Duty , with its most recent episode scoring an eye-watering 15.79 million live viewers. For the best part of a decade, Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio 's genius cop drama had millions on the edge of their seats as the extent of a corrupt police conspiracy was uncovered by the team in AC-12 ( Martin Compston , Adrian Dunbar , and Vicky McClure ). Sadly, after delivering five near-perfect seasons, a controversial final installment nearly derailed Line of Duty 's entire reputation, leaving the show on somewhat of a sour note.

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The Ninja Slushi is one of my all-time favorite kitchen appliances, but it's simply too large for my kitchen. Thankfully there are personal blenders that are smaller, cost a lot less, and make perfect slushies for one in just a few seconds — and here I've picked three of the best that can tackle ice and other frozen ingredients with ease.

Some single-serve blenders struggle to tackle any ingredients tougher than an apple, but each of the models here will crush ice effortlessly despite their compact size. Once you're done, you can take your drink on the road, to work — or just to the back yard for sipping in the sunshine.

Slushies made this way won't be identical to those created with a Slushi machine, but they can come close. The Slushi works by taking liquid ingredients and freezing them while stirring to create small ice crystals, whereas blenders create slush by chopping up large pieces of ice. If you want an undiluted slushie without added water, try freezing ingredients like juice or soda in an ice-cube tray. Provided you add the recommended amount of liquid to your blender's cup (usually around 6oz / 170ml) you should get a very similar (and equally tasty) result.

Ninja BlendBOSS

Future Amanda Westberg Amanda Westberg Amanda Westberg Amanda Westberg Amanda Westberg At 1,200 watts, the Ninja BlendBOSS has the most powerful motor of all the blenders in this list, and transforms ice and frozen fruit into slush with ease. It consists of a sturdy, unusually-shaped base (which reminds me of a UFO) and a Stanley-style cup, with a sip lid and straw that you can carry, or tuck into your car's cupholder.

It has three preset options (smoothie, ice crush, and blend) plus a pulse option so you can take control yourself. The preset programs will blend and pause in different patterns to ensure all the ingredients come into contact with the blades — and they're very effective. Our reviewer Karen Freeman reported that her smoothie with frozen berries "came out perfectly smooth [with] no chunks of blueberry skin or spinach" and the blender "turned ice into snow incredibly quickly and thoroughly" for iced lemonade. Your recipe needs to include at least 6oz / 175ml liquid along with the ice for proper blending.

Some single-serving blenders tend to jump across your kitchen counter when dialled up to full, but the BlendBOSS has a cleverly designed base with a circle of grippy silicone, plus suction cups to ensure it doesn't dance onto the floor when preparing iced drinks.

The only downside we found is that the lid of the chug cap sometimes fell down and bopped us on the nose mid-slurp, but that was only a very minor annoyance. This is otherwise a brilliant tool for making slushies and smoothies, and very reasonably priced too.

Read our full Ninja BlendBOSS review

Nutribullet Flip

Future Future Future Future Future Future Future Future Unlike the two other blenders here, which comprise a plug-in base that you keep in the kitchen and a detachable cup to take with you, the Nutribullet Flip is fully portable and rechargeable so you can whip up drinks on the move (particularly handy if you're at the gym and want a fresh protein shake, for example). Just add your ingredients to the cup, screw on the lid, flip it upside down and press the button. Thirty seconds later, you can turn it upright again and start sipping. What could be easier?

I was a bit apprehensive about drinking from the part of the blender that contains the motor, but you're in no danger at all of cutting yourself; the blade assembly is well away from the drinking spout and the motor can't activate unless the cover on the drinking spout is fully closed.

The Flip handles ice with ease, and I used it to prepare some very nice iced coffee drinks during testing. Particularly large frozen strawberries sometimes required a second blending cycle to be fully pulverized (the Flip only has one program) but nothing I tested could withstand a minute in contact with its blades. When you're done, the insulated cup keeps your slush and shakes cold for hours. You'll need to add at least 8oz / 235ml liquid along with your ice.

Something I particularly like about the Flip is that its blades are at the widest point of the cup, which means everything falls down onto them rather than getting stuck on the sides. It's especially easy to clean as well; add water and a drop of dish soap, run a cycle, then rinse.

Read our full Nutribullet Flip review

Ninja Blast Max

Future Future Future Future Future Future Future I awarded the Ninja Blast Max a full five stars thanks to its ability to turn even the toughest ingredients into a silky smoothie or tasty slush. Ice and frozen fruit were transformed into a frosty treat in no time at all, and tough fibrous vegetables like kale were no match for its powerful motor and super-sharp blades.

The Blast Max has a 'crush' setting specifically designed for ice, which turns rock-solid strawberries and raspberries into slushies in less than a minute. Alternatively, add plenty of ice, a shot of espresso, and a good splash of milk for a delicious iced coffee. Provided your drink includes at least 6oz / 175ml liquid, the Blast Max will handle it with ease. "The resulting blended iced coffee looked as good as anything you might get from a coffee shop, with a nice layer of foam on top and no chunks of unblended ice crystals," I said.

The Blast Max has a travel cup that detaches from the charging base for sipping on the move, with measuring lines clearly marked on the side. Ninja suggests that you might need to give it a little shake during blending to loosen any ingredients stuck to the sides that might miss the blades, but during my tests I never found that necessary.

The Blast Max is the most affordable of these three blenders right now, and no less impressive than the other two. For me, the only drawback was that, unlike the Nutribullet Flip, the Blast Max doesn't have an insulated cup to keep slushies frosty when you're on the go.

Read our full Ninja Blast Max review

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China ended 2025 with nearly 44 million new energy vehicles in use.

The country aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions from transportation.

BEV and PHEV sales must rise quickly to meet the government’s targets.

China has more new-energy vehicles, a term that includes EVs, PHEVs, and FCEVs , on its roads than any country on the planet, yet all of them together make up only about 12.01 percent of the country’s total fleet. Beijing wants that figure to reach 30 percent within four years, which gives you a sense of how much ground it still has to cover.

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Figures from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security put 43.97 million NEVs on the country’s roads at the close of 2025. Nearly 69 percent of those run purely on batteries . Roughly 34.2 million new cars were registered across China during the year, with about half of them qualifying as NEVs.

Read: China’s Electrified Car Sales Sank 13%, And The World Is About To Feel It

Getting from 12 percent of the fleet to 30 percent by 2030 is a tall order, and the market isn’t helping. New-car sales have contracted for months, and the end of certain tax breaks should push them lower still.

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However, age works in China’s favor. The average car there is under 7 years old, so the fleet turns over faster than most, and cleaner vehicles reach the road sooner. Every year, a larger slice of existing cars on the road gets replaced, which means EVs displace gas cars more quickly than they would in a market full of older holdouts. The typical vehicle on American roads has reached 12.8 years, and those cars aren’t going anywhere soon.

Fighting Carbon

China’s ambitions to rapidly expand the number of NEVs on its roads form part of its ‘15th Five-Year Carbon Peaking Action Plan,’ aiming to cut the country’s carbon emissions by 2030. It wants to see carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP fall by 17 percent from 2025 levels. It’s not just light-duty vehicles that the government is targeting to achieve this. It also wants to see NEVs account for 25 percent of commercial transport vehicles by 2030.

That commercial goal, as CNEVPost points out, leans on heavy-duty trucks catching on across the country, from construction sites to ports and airports where diesel has long ruled.

The plan reaches past the vehicles themselves and into the infrastructure that keeps them moving, calling for a wave of new charging points and battery-swapping stations built nationwide to handle the growing number of NEVs.

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