
Sweden worried by EU visa-free deal with Venezuela
Sweden has resumed EU talks on tightening visas for countries with lots of "unfounded" asylum-seekers, mentioning Colombia, Georgia, and Venezuela.
Tuesday
28th Mar 2023
Sweden has resumed EU talks on tightening visas for countries with lots of "unfounded" asylum-seekers, mentioning Colombia, Georgia, and Venezuela.
New year, new Swedish leadership in the European Council. And in 2023 political pariahs, once associated with violent racists and swastika-wearing Nazi sympathisers, are dangerously close to the helm.
Free-market Sweden was scrambling as it took over the EU presidency this week to defuse ever more explosive calls for EU state subsidies — to match the Joe Biden's US Inflation Reduction Act.
The indigenous reindeer-herding Sami people in northern Sweden say they are facing an existential threat from an iron-ore mine billed as a pivotal shift towards the EU's green transition.
Half a kilometre down a mine some 150km north of the article circle, Sweden's centre-right energy and industry minister Ebba Busch holds up a large rock of iron ore.
"If we want to safeguard our national security in the light of Putin's invasion of Ukraine with all its wider implications, we all have to contribute", said the Danish minister of labour.
It is no easy thing to restrict thousands of chemicals used in daily products and manufacturing for some 70 years — but this week the EU opened public consultations on two proposals to do just that.
A tsunami of court cases in the US, coupled with EU plans to restrict toxic PFAS 'forever chemicals' pose a growing risk for investors.
EU ammunition-buying plans show Russia and Ukraine are waging an artillery battle of the intensity of World War II's El Alamein.
Toilet paper should be considered as a potentially major source of PFAS entering wastewater treatment systems, new research shows.
Sweden has launched new EU talks on combatting racism and antisemitism — but not Islamophobia, prompting accusations of a rightwing approach.
"There are a lot of rural areas in Sweden and we must be able to secure people's right to healthcare and access to water, food and medicines. At the same time, we must protect the workers' right to daily rest."
Next summer's EU elections could see voters targeted by very personal ads and EU parties more free to take foreign money, as talks on new laws build momentum.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán's MPs are going to Finland and Sweden on a mission to claw back EU money in return for Nato "favours".
Sweden has urged faith in its "unique" Nord Stream blast enquiry, as Russia repeats allegations of a Western conspiracy.
Hungarian prime prime minister Viktor Orbán has set the ball rolling for ratification of Finland and Sweden's Nato accession.
Even those EU citizens who have not encountered a lot of difficulties are worried about the cost of living (91 percent), with 96 percent of those who deal with difficulties most of the time worried too.
Sweden is demanding Hungary ratify its Nato accession, following fears Budapest may leverage rule of law and frozen EU funds in exchange.
Turkey and Sweden have hit a wall in talks on Nato accession, with some predicting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won't give way till July.
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 lead rapporteur on asbestos, Danish MEP Nikolaj Villumsen, responds to EUobserver's two-part investigation.
The EU Commission has watered-down a broad political initiative —but now governments of member states hold the key to what the EU should do. Some member states and regions have adopted asbestos strategies of some kind, from Poland to Flanders.
Sweden won't make any pledges to relocate asylum seekers under a French-inspired EU plan because there is no legal basis, says Sweden's ambassador to the EU. But Sweden's new right-wing government is also tightening migration rules.
Ukraine and a looming economic recession is set to dominate the upcoming Swedish EU presidency, which takes over at the start of next year. Sweden's ambassador to the EU, Lars Danielsson, laid out some of its priorities.
Where once working men in heavy industry were diagnosed with cancers related to a more direct exposure to asbestos, now women in professions such as teaching, nursing and other occupations are being diagnosed, as well as young people.
Erdoğan wants Sweden to hand me over because he hates me — it's time for Nato to stop his juvenile and anti-democratic games.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has turned the thumbscrews on Sweden by personally naming who he wants Swedish judges to hand over in return for Nato membership.
Denmark's anti-piracy mission in Gulf of Guinea was launched with such haste that no protocols were made with the Nigerian government. So no plan was in place if Denmark killed or captured pirates — likely to be Nigerian nationals.
Norway opposes the EU proposal to set a dynamic price ceiling for natural gas transactions, instead strongly advocating for commercial agreements to tackle the energy crisis, the country's minister of oil and energy Terje Aasland said.
Few took notice when a 4.2-km subsea cable in the Arctic Ocean vanished without trace in April 2021, but these days undersea infrastructure security has become a hot topic.
Concern is growing Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán is delaying ratification of Finland and Sweden's Nato accession for the sake of "dirty political games".
Sputnik and Russia Today can be accessed from any computer via a virtual private network. The problem is that the European Court of Justice is deciding what we — as European citizens — should have access to.
Measuring stations connected to the Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN) detected powerful underwater explosions close to the leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. Poland has already declared it "sabotage".