Monday
24th Feb 2020
Modelled in many respects on the same blueprint for democratic decline followed in Hungary by strongman Viktor Orbán and his ruling Fidesz party, the government in Poland has sought to fuse the ruling party and the state.
The European Commissioner for equality Helena Dalli has said the distribution of 'LGBTI-free zones' stickers or the adoption of anti-LGBTI resolutions cannot be allowed. Some 86 towns in Poland have so far declared themselves 'LGBTI-free zones'.
Belgian intelligence services, responsible for protecting the EU and Nato, have launched a major clear-up amid fears of Russian and other infiltration.
Poland has called for Nato solidarity on Russia, but judicial meddling and populist hate speech have made it unpopular on the Western stage.
The European Commission says it is working on proposals to fight terrorism, organised crime, drugs and now wants to expand the EU's police agency Europol. A whole raft of measures covering all three areas have been proposed since 2001.
Malta's new government does not look likely to turn it into a normal, law-abiding EU state any time soon, the son of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has said.
The Hanau shooting was a national wake-up call to the scale of far-right extremism in Germany, from violent individuals to political hate speech.
No, ending anonymous shell companies does not threaten your privacy rights.
Western Balkan secret services have handed over more the 250 alerts on suspected foreign terrorist fighters since last summer - fed into the EU's police database by the Czech Republic, according to a confidential document seen by EUobserver.
Laura Kovesi who heads the new European Public Prosecutor's Office, tasked to tackle fraud linked to VAT, money laundering, and corruption across the EU, warned she is dangerously understaffed and underfunded.
In her mid-70s and in ailing health, Regina Hayes still holds out hope justice will prevail after losing her life savings in a Ponzi-like scam linked back to a former EU commissioner from Malta.
Around 7,500 applications were sent to Frontex to fill 700 new border guard posts. The guards will become official EU staff and wear a yet to be unveiled 'European Union' uniform.
In a draft resolution, MEPs say that EU countries inability to deal with rule of law breaches by Poland and Hungary undermine the EU's integrity and credibility.
Although non-binding, a critical opinion from the EU's top court could mean laws in Belgium, France and the UK allowing for the indiscriminate bulk collection of people's data may have to be eventually amended to respect EU privacy rules.
Malta's new prime minister has pledged to "strengthen rule of law" amid EU mistrust in the government over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
EUobserver's revelations of how the UK violates and abuses an EU police database sparked heated debate in the European Parliament's civil liberties committee - as the European Commission refused to respond to questions given the confidentiality of the leaked document.
Legal action related to climate change is set to grow considerably in the next few years - especially after a largely-overlooked ruling over Christmas by a Dutch court forced the government to reduce its emission by 25 percent by 2020.
While Poland's government is escalating its rule of law crisis by introducing even more drastic measures against the country's judges, another problem is looming over the EU's commitment to upholding the rule of law: Malta.
EU officials can expect five more years of needling investigations at the hands of their ombudsman, "energetic" Irish woman Emily O'Reilly.
Poland risks blundering out of the EU with a new gagging law on judges, former EU Council president Donald Tusk and others have warned.
MEPs have tasked Irish woman Emilly O'Reilly to hold EU institutions' feet to the fire for another five years.
Calls for Maltese prime minister Jospeh Muscat to resign rang out from several sides in special European Parliament debate on Tuesday.
The way Poland disciplines its judges gives rise to political abuse, a European anti-corruption watchdog has said, but Warsaw is planning to tighten the leash further still.
The Dutch prime minister and figures from the European Parliament are both piling on pressure for leaders at the EU summit to discuss the rule of law in Malta, as the presence of the island-nation's prime minister draws protests.
EUobserver has obtained notification reports from five European states explaining why they want to impose internal border checks. Few provide any substantial evidence to justify the controls, putting the European Commission in a difficult position to end them.
The Maltese Labour Party is a curious creature. No minister, MEP, MP, president, or former president has yet criticised Joseph Muscat publicly and outright over the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The European Asylum Support Office combed through social media to monitor refugee routes to Europe for three years. The agency sent weekly reports on its findings to member states, the EU Commission and institutions such as UNHCR and Interpol.
British PR firm Chelgate worked for the Maltese government on the case of murdered journalist Caruana Galizia, three well-placed sources have told EUobserver.
An open letter to EU leaders from Maltese MEP David Casa on the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case and prime minister Joseph Muscat.
Maltese PM's slow-motion resignation still posed risks of a cover-up on the murder of a journalist, his critics have warned.
MEPs are to send a "fact-finding mission" to Malta amid calls for EU sanctions if its prime minister, Joseph Muscat, refuses to step down over the killing of a journalist.
Joseph Muscat is hanging on to power by his fingernails amid intense domestic and international pressure over his handling of a journalist's killing.
Calls mount for Maltese leader to resign after oligarch's arrest implicates two of his senior officials in one of Europe's most notorious murders.
