Sunday
4th Jun 2023
Researchers found that global societal costs of the so-called forever chemicals or PFAS amount to €16 trillion per year. Meanwhile, the bigger producers of these chemicals are also among the ones spending the most to lobby EU policies.
GDP is an unreliable indicator of economies' capacity to thrive in times of change. And the over-reliance on GDP won't get our economies on track to meet environmental and social goals when crises hit.
Acts of sabotage on wind farms or the underwater electricity grid are likely to be carried out as 'grey zone tactics', state-sponsored sabotage may be disguised as a civilian accident, or carried out from a leisure yacht or fishing boat.
Trading fishing rights with Moscow has become a heated foreign policy pickle in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.
It is problematic that many EU countries have rules that basically exclude men who have sex with men from the possibility to be blood donors. These bars are not evidence based.
Curiously, it is not easy to ascertain exactly why Sweden could not enter the alliance on the same day as Finland, given the submission of parallel bids, writes former Swedish ambassador to Ankara, Michael Sahlin, and Kjell Engelbrekt.
Internal discussions on a key EU asylum bill have led to a raft of opposition from member states that have yet to agree on numerous issues.
Sweden has resumed EU talks on tightening visas for countries with lots of "unfounded" asylum-seekers, mentioning Colombia, Georgia, and Venezuela.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Finland and Sweden will not be requesting any preconditions before joining Nato.
