
EU reaches deal on flagship cybersecurity law
The European Parliament and EU member states have reached an agreement over new rules intended to protect Europe's public and private critical entities from cyberattacks.
Saturday
14th May 2022

The European Parliament and EU member states have reached an agreement over new rules intended to protect Europe's public and private critical entities from cyberattacks.

Valdimir Putin's equivalent to Nato — the Collective Security Treaty Organization of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Belarus — is convening in Moscow next week to give cover that Russia is not alone in its war against Ukraine.

The EU Commission is expected to put forward the RePowerEU plan, which aims to help the diversification of fossil fuel imports in the bloc, as the EU aims to get rid of its dependence on Russian energy supplies.
Some 2.7 million Ukrainians have registered for protection in the EU. But many others are hesitating to do the same.
The EU unveiled plans to help Ukraine export its agricultural production — amid fears that the war will create a global food crisis.
Internal documents found EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and energy commissioner Kadri Simson coordinated their Russian gas cutting strategy with oil CEOs to determine which measures were "feasible".

British foreign secretary Liz Truss said the UK has "no choice but to act" on the Northern Ireland protocol governing post-Brexit trade during a call with EU Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič — who warned unilateral action was "simply not acceptable".

A basic lack of transparency around the EU's vaccines procurement negotiations has prevented effective public and parliamentary scrutiny. It has also made it impossible to answer some of the key questions we put forward here.

Finnish public support for joining Nato has risen to record figures since Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Finland's historic move puts pressure on Sweden to also move towards joining the military alliance.

The new draft European Parliament report is an update to the 2018 report which triggered the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, a sanctions probe aiming to rein in member states that break EU rules and values.
The EU aims to diversify supplies and increase imports of renewable hydrogen as part of its efforts to wean the continent off Russian gas — amid a dramatically changed geo-political reality.
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde signalled an interest rate increase possibly as early as July, but some experts warn for a repeat of the 2011-2012 debt crisis.
Online child sex abuse continues to increase with EU-based servers hosting some 60 percent of the global content. But a proposal by the EU commission to stop it has riled privacy advocates.
The UK rejected proposals by the EU to tweak the protocol governing trade in Northern Ireland, and has threatened to suspend the rules as loyalists lost their majority in the Northern Ireland elections.
MEPs have raised questions about the involvement of the EU — through its funding — in the development of the Israeli NSO Pegasus software, directly or indirectly, which has been used to target activists and journalists in Europe.
Russia was not invited to an international donor conference on Syria in Brussels given its war in Ukraine. Moscow had also recently threatened to veto a humanitarian corridor from Turkey to Syria.
Finnish MPs have got the ball rolling on a week that's expected to culminate in a tectonic shift in Nordic security — Finland and Sweden's decision to apply for Nato membership.
After the EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen's Budapest trip, Hungary suggested it wants EU funds to offset the extra costs from receiving different oil sources, and the increased energy prices the planned Russian oil embargo entails.
International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva is among those warning that increases in food and energy prices due to the Ukraine war will trigger social unrest. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are proof that this is already happening.

Civil society groups in Hong Kong have suffered the wrath of the John Lee-led crackdown as security tsar. Now he is the chief executive of Hong Kong itself.

Orbán's government is still beating up and pushing back non-Ukrainian migrants, including one Lebanese man who fled the Ukrainian war zone to Europe.
During the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference, many high-level discussions will touch upon the dynamics of decision-making in the design of new technologies, including the importance of inclusion, diversity, and ethics perspectives within these processes.
The EU may spend up to €20m in non-lethal weapons to help Rwanda's military operations in Mozambique. The EU is also training Mozambique armed forces, which has courted Russia's Wagner group.

Inflation is driving up cost of living across the continent, calls to rapidly increase interest rates are mounting. But some senior ECB council members cautioned against higher borrowing costs for fear of economic damage.

In a major blow to the anti-corruption rhetoric of the ruling coalition, the Slovak parliament has rejected a request for the arrest of ex-prime minister Robert Fico.
The war in Ukraine is fueling the "perfect storm" for a new and serious food crisis that could have been avoided, a new report has found.
As EU ambassadors discuss the sixth round of sanctions against Russia in Brussels, senior EU officials are presenting the plan of citizens for the future of the EU in Strasbourg.

Europe Day should remind us that the values we share can only thrive when they are nurtured, and that the EU needs to help protect those who tend to our democracies.

NGOs and academics say Poland's wall with Belarus violates EU environmental laws. The EU commission says "public safety" exemptions exist — in a possible endorsement of the 186km-long wall.
Countries such as Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Croatia and others pledged a total of billions of euros to support humanitarian and military efforts in Ukraine.
Brussels is to wave goodbye to Russian lobbyists under new sanctions, ending a 20-year era of influence peddling in Europe.

There are around 180 Lukoil stations in Belgium. The company entered the Belgian market in 2007, and expanded in 2009, one year after Russia invaded Georgia, and added another 19 stations in 2014, the year Russia invaded Crimea and Donbas.

MEPs called on all EU member states, especially Poland, to guarantee Ukrainian women access to emergency contraception and abortion — after growing reports of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine.