Saturday
7th Dec 2019
Citing an EUobserver investigation, MEPs on the consumer protection committee have slammed the EU Commission for allowing Apple to get away with refusing to comply with a common smartphone charger for over a decade.
iPhones and Android products don't use the same charger. This is annoying for consumers and harmful for the environment. Old chargers produce more than 51,000 tons of electronic waste per year.
Italy's far-right interior minister was happy to use EU funds to escort the Aquarius rescue boat to Spain, while boasting he was "closing down the ports" to migrants.
Insiders at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the EU's smallest institution, have described a culture-of-fear environment in the workplace, in the wake of the probationary appointment of its newest secretary-general.
Around 30 members of European Economic Social Committee, who live and work primarily in Brussels or nearby, have claimed €1.47m in a 'daily subsistence' allowance from European taxpayers to cover accommodation, food and local transport for meetings held in Brussels.
The French president has repeatedly said an EU border tax on carbon emissions is 'crucial'. However, his civil servants have yet to send Brussels a single proposal on how such a levy would work.
Questions about family wealth and EU values continue to hang over Croatia's European Commission nominee, Dubravka Suica, ahead of next week's parliamentary hearings.
Scientists say there is no acceptable dose to avoid brain damage. Its use is banned in several European countries. Yet its residues are found in fruit baskets, on dinner plates, and in human urine samples from all over Europe.
Companies like the Boston Consulting Group, Google and Uber are pushing the EU to join the race for autonomous (self-driving) cars. But one key question is missing from the debate: should we?
Finland's EU commissioner, Jyrki Katainen told EUobserver in February his cabinet members "always" takes notes when he meets lobbyists. They did not on at least seven occasions, when talking about artificial intelligence.
Five years and €10bn after its EU bailout, Cyprus is a weak link in Europe's banking system - amid renewed fears on Russia money-laundering.
The EU commission, in a novel approach back in 2015, linked EU agriculture policy to humanitarian aid. Did it work?
EUobserver has obtained internal documents and emails from within the European Commission that outline questionable contracts with outside suppliers who appear to be overcharging for goods and services.
A huge cross-border personal pension fund is being prepared by the EU - in the wake of suggestions from the world's largest asset fund manager BlackRock.
Some EU careworkers in Belgium receive around €400 a month - despite their carers paying €2,500 a month and paying for flights and accommodation. The answer lies in how firms can skirt the safeguards in the EU's posted workers directive.
Political funding of European parties is being overhauled ahead of the European parliament elections next year. The latest rules will cut funding for smaller parties, with an aim to squeeze out duplication and over-representation of the far right.
At least 11 European political parties, two EU agencies, and the Nordic Council have a controversial tracking pixel on their website.
An EU-China project on CO2 storage, dating back to 2005, has delivered few results, raising questions for cooperation in 2018.
An internal report finds 'lack of staff' and high 'burnout' levels at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt - the bank trusted with keeping the eurozone stable and secure.
"We are paid as if we were a country of unqualified workers". Union leaders and labour rights experts reveal, in figures, the catastrophic consequences of the laws that have turned Romania into the country of the working poor.
Klaus Mangold, a German businessman with good connections in Russia, and who provided a jet for Commission vice-president Guenther Oettinger, played a crucial role in Hungary's controversial Paks nuclear deal with Russia, Direkt36's investigation has found.
Israelis are using social profiling and predictive policing, also known as 'Facebook arrests', to crack down on suspects in Palestinian territories. National authorities in the EU, including the EU's police agency, Europol, are now applying the tactics closer to home.
The EU has spent at least €587 million so far on carbon capture and storage, and was willing to spend millions more. However, after a decade not a single power plant in the EU is currently using the technology.
The EU executive has still not explained why it accepted that a contract with Russia to extend the Paks plant could be awarded without a public tender, and why commissioner Oettinger travelled with a lobbyist working for the Hungarian government.
An ongoing review of the the European Investment Bank's "complaints mechanism" could make the oversight branch less independent and less effective.
Half the premature deaths from car pollution are caused by nitrogen oxide emissions exceeding the EU limits, a new study shows.
Huge amounts of money from criminal activities are funnelled into the legitimate European economy. But little is being done about it at EU or national level.
"It seems we have not yet reached the bottom of the emission scandal", said the European commissioner for industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, in a confidential letter.
The mafia is often seen as being a traditionally Italian concern, but evidence shows that it might be much closer to home than many Europeans think.
The informal group of national officials that is in charge of checking EU countries' tax laws is now working on the first EU blacklist of tax havens, amid critiques over its lack of transparency and accountability.
The fine for violating the EU principle of net neutrality is €9,600 in Estonia, while it can be up to €1 million in Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and Belgium.
Each member of the European Parliament gets €4,342 every month, mainly to fund an office in their own country. But many of these offices seem nowhere to be found.
Russian intelligence services are using martial arts clubs to recruit potential troublemakers in Germany and other EU countries, security experts have warned.
