Friday
16th Dec 2022
The plans include strengthening whistleblower protection, a ban on all unofficial parliamentary friendship groups (groups of MEPs discussing relations with non-EU countries), reviewing enforcement of code of conduct rules for MEPs, and new rules interactions with officials from non-EU countries.
The tax deal was part of a package, including joint aid to Ukraine, and which Hungary had blocked until Monday in the hopes of reducing financial sanctions over rule of law issues.
The evidence shows the 'next Afghanistan' is not in the Middle East but in Africa, specifically West Africa, where religious violence, political corruption, weak states, and the devastating impacts of climate change have combined to create an unprecedented crisis.
Six Russian fertiliser and chemicals barons will partly get off the hook on EU sanctions, in the first significant loosening of EU measures since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The ECB announced another rate hike on Thursday, but economists warn that increasing capital costs will hurt the EU's shift to renewable energy and energy efficiency.
EU leaders' bark will be worse than their bite on Russia sanctions at this week's summit, if disagreements drag out.
Historically, Muscovite and Russian elites viewed the territories that comprise modern Ukraine with indifference or greed, not fear. Ukraine was too far away to matter.
Italy's new government has launched a fresh assault on non-governmental rescue groups that save lives. While the rhetoric is sharper and some tactics are new, successive Italian governments have tried to block maritime rescue groups — including with criminal charges.
Over 4,000 documents from the EU's border police agency Frontex, including freedom of information request responses, are now public. The files were uploaded and published by German-based transparency group FragDenStaat.
After 10 gruelling hours of overnight negotiations that lasted until five in the morning EU negotiators reached a deal on a border tariff for carbon-intensive goods, ending 20 years of discussions.
Modern dictators wear suits instead of uniforms. They hold referendums and opinion polls, and chat with citizens. This democratic façade allows them to mingle with the Davos crowd, keep foreign investors onboard, and, crucially, deliver economic growth for their citizens.
In the last-minute deal, the EU unblocked Hungary's opposition to joint financial assistance to Ukraine and the bloc's adoption of the global minimum tax.
Greek socialist Eva Kaili is set to lose her seat as vice-president of the European Parliament after being arrested and charged with corruption as fallout hits other socialist MEPs, including the chair of the human rights committee.
A new study commissioned by The Left in the European Parliament sets out how even legal forms of subcontracting have become the business model for exploiting workers in the European Union.
In a new paper, economists call on central banks to wield their monetary and regulatory powers to prevent biodiversity loss and the destruction of ecosystems — not just climate change.
Upcoming EU sanctions will strike at Russia's media bullhorn, while shedding light on the horrors behind the propaganda facade.
This week officials from the parliament and council are also set to try and find an agreement on three major bills which are part of the Fit for 55 initiative to make the EU climate neutral by 2050.
European Parliament vice-president Eva Kaili has had her tasks suspended but retains her seat until a formal vote is taken. The move follows allegations of corruption as well as a spate of arrests by the Belgian police, involving €600,000 cash.
The EU Commission says it works closely with EU states on dual-use exports but won't comment on revelations Greece authorised the sale of spyware software to Madagascar.
As a result of my peaceful civil activism, I have been arrested 13 times, undergone five trials, and been sentenced to 34 years of imprisonment and 154 lashes in total. I am currently in Evrin prison, without the slightest regret.
EU commissioner for home affairs Ylva Johnasson called the decision not to allow Bulgaria and Romania to join a "disappointment" — and said the executive will work to include the two countries by 2024.
Thousands of Europeans have lost their jobs as a result of the energy crisis, a new report shows, but overall industrial output has remained stable throughout the year.
More than 1,600 testimonies of alleged illegal pushbacks of migrants and refugees throughout the EU has been published, collated by the Border Violence Monitoring Network and the Left party — adding to the mounting evidence of abuse.
The European Commission has asked the member states' leaders assembling in Brussels next week for the customary end-of-year European Council to approve EU candidate status for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Doing so would be a mistake.
The EU Commission is also taking legal action in another case, where it says China is restricting European companies' rights over their high-tech patents.
A new EU Commission bill wants to ensure the rights of a child from same sex couples are upheld in all EU states — at a time of backsliding of LGBTI+ rights in Poland and Hungary.
From the outset, arms manufacturers eyed this war as a profitable business opportunity. Structural changes took place across the EU, not only to fast-track arms to Ukraine, but also to make more public finance available to the highly-lucrative arms industry.
"We cannot afford any more delays," Czech minister Zbyněk Stanjura said of aid to Ukraine, adding that his country's EU presidency is "fully committed to finding a compromise".
How should democratic states co-operate with authoritarian governments in the future? My organisation, Democracy Reporting International, has studied the security strategies of 13 democratic governments to understand how they see this relationship.
The agribusiness narrative is a masquerade. A smokescreen to water down environmentally-friendly reforms and maintain industrial agriculture. A smokescreen to which a majority of European policy-makers, including member states, are dangerously buying into.
The German constitutional court declared the EU's €800bn pandemic recovery fund 'legal' — although there was one dissenting voice.
Hungary will be in the spotlight on Tuesday as EU governments struggle over suspending EU funds to prime minister Viktor Orbán's government — despite rule of law concerns — and unlock key EU policies which Budapest has been blocking.
The EU's border police Frontex is set to deploy guards throughout the Western Balkans as part of a wider plan to stop migrants from reaching EU states.
