Hong Kong - when the Chinese Dream became a nightmare
"Let's face it: the Communist Party of China (CPC) is not our friend", writes the policy director of the European People's Party think tank, the Wilfried Martens Centre.
News in Brief
- Poland accused of 'blatant violation' of EU court injunction
- EU concerned by US approach to Kosovo and Serbia
- City morgues cast doubt on Putin's virus data
- ECB increases pandemic stimulus to €1.35 trillion
- New EU cloud computing platform 'moonshot'
- City of Berlin passes anti-discrimination law
- Iran hits record corona cases in second wave
- EU job losses tell tale of pandemic damage
Budapest to EU: 'Sorry seems to be the hardest word'
Hungary's government deserves an apology for the way its use of emergency powers under the coronavirus pandemic have been portrayed, writes justice minister Judit Varga.
Column
Hawks to doves? Germany's new generation of economists
For many Europeans, Angela Merkel's change looked sudden. But the groundwork started two years ago. Germany slowly ripened for the Merkel-Macron plan. This explains why it didn't meet massive public resistance in Germany.
Is Russia manipulating food supplies during pandemic?
Russia already dominates global oil – letting them dominate global food during a pandemic would spell disaster for the EU. It would effectively mean the EU, not just depending on Russian energy, but increasingly also on Russian food supply.
Clock is ticking: 300,000 vs 3.3m Covid-19 Africa deaths?
With the exception of South Africa and some parts of West Africa, the continent has been relatively untouched, including (quite surprisingly) highly-connected Ethiopia.
Column
That German court ruling hurts EU rule-of-law fightback
The short-term damage to financial markets may be smaller than feared. The damage to democracy is considerable because it weakened the ECJ - the most effective institution to stop attacks against democracy and rule of law in EU member states.
Letter
Right of reply: Letter from the Hungarian government
Hungary's government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs responds to this week's comment piece, "Anti-Roma hatred on streets of Budapest".
Europe's last stand for the two-state solution?
European governments, despite their different policy sensibilities, are still united in their support for a two-state solution. This may be the last chance Europe has to defend this goal.
Column
The slow death of EU Christian Democracy
Before World War Two, Christian parties' commitment to democracy was far from unequivocal. But after the war, Christian Democratic parties adopted a political formula that brought them political domination in much of western Europe for two decades.
Anti-Roma hatred on streets of Budapest
Remarkably, no national or EU leader has yet publicly condemned the aggressive and open dissemination of violent hate speech in Hungary's capital. Only Budapest's mayor Gergely Karácsony has raised his voice in protest.
EU's new migration pact must protect people on the move
The new EU pact on migration and asylum must cease the reliance on the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept and return those fleeing violence and armed conflict in Libya.
China's post-Covid 19 'techno-nationalist' industrial policy
While Covid-19 brings China one step closer to technology-perfected authoritarianism through improvised health apps and real-time surveillance, Europe is busy looking inward.
China's cat-and mouse game blocking web content no model for EU
The angriest citizens can turn to protests or violence, leading governments to increase control and monitoring of platforms, reinforcing the problem. This painful point has to be made to stop the EU repeating China's mistake of top-down internet regulation.
Why is Greece an outlier in EU's Covid-19 response?
One country has been largely successful in combatting the coronavirus, particularly given the past 10 years - Greece.
Covid-19 in Europe's prisons - and the response
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Sweden have taken no steps towards reducing the use of imprisonment and others, like Greece, appear to be waiting for Covid-19 to spread through prisons before acting.
Pandemic means EU needs to regionalise its Iran policy
The country has become a corona hotspot due to the clergy's stubborn refusal to impose social distancing and to close religious shrines, but also because US sanctions create severe shortages of a medical imports.
What future for the Future of Europe Conference?
The Conference on the Future of Europe will help to find out why a large part of the Europeans does not endorse the Union.
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Latest News
- EU warns UK to abide by Brexit political declaration
- Internal EU borders open by 15 June - bar V4, Portugal, Spain
- CAP 'failed to halt biodiversity loss', auditors find
- After Covid-19, deserted Venice struggles to survive
- Commission plans strategy to 'maximise' vaccine access
- How spies use women to steal EU secrets
- Hong Kong - when the Chinese Dream became a nightmare
- Right of reply: Letter from the Hungarian government
Column
Where will Europe's new mojo come from?
Europe today is the continent of the solid 15-20 percent party which means loads of energy gets absorbed just by keeping coalitions together and majorities stable.
EU can safely rescue summer season in Europe
Measures deemed necessary at the start of the epidemic in Europe to stop cross-border contagion are now becoming disproportionate in light of the lighter national internal measures in place, writes Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People's Party.
Stakeholder
Solidarity is the cure for post-pandemic Europe
It is crucial for European countries to mobilise all the necessary resources to strengthen public health systems, nationalising healthcare facilities if need be.
A Covid-19 vaccine? Why licensing is so important
Once again, a large corporation seems set to win, with global public health losing out.
Operation Irini is wrong, for Libya and for sea rescues
The task been transferred from Operation Sophia to Operation Irini. Instead, a coalition of EU states must finally be formed which are willing to rescue and receive people in distress at sea.
Russia's EU envoy: The choice is always yours
Russia wants more respect for its role in defeating the Nazis in World War 2, its EU ambassador, Vladimir Chizhov, says in an op-ed.
Letter
Right-of-reply from Chinese embassy to Belgium
Such claims, based on internal reports four years ago, fall far from the truth, and are mainly based on conjectures and presumptions. The so-called 'Chinese espionage menace' is nothing new and has time and again been proven fictitious.
Resources for Covid-19 abuse victims 'insufficient'
Support services for victims and witnesses, the police and other relevant authorities are stretched to the limits because of staff shortages, travel restrictions or other demands related to Covid-19.
The Dutch tracing app 'soap opera' - lessons for Europe
The app would need to be paired with more than 100,000 daily tests in order to have effect. And far more than 60 percent of the population will need to use the app in order for it to be effective.
Column
Should Hungary and Poland benefit from next EU budget?
If the North-South divide is bridged by a significantly increased EU-budget for the next seven years, anti-democratic governments should not continue to benefit.
Media freedom must not fall victim to Covid-19
One of most catastrophic fallouts of this crisis is that it is paving the way for a crackdown on press freedoms across the world.
Orban's risky bet in economic response to coronavirus
Two concerns loom large: a large part of the stimulus the Orbán government is offering is directed towards particular industries where oligarchs are particularly influential; and the response does not address the needs of large swathes of the population.
How Europe's terrorists take advantage of the pandemic
No surprise thus that the global pandemic serves as inspiration and influences the modus operandi of terrorists, both in terms of tactics and target selection.
Some lessons from Ibsen's An Enemy of the People
Theatres are dusting off a 19th century play: Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. It is about truth, freedom and tyranny. It deals with the loner versus the group, the role of the elite and the power of the majority.
Covid-19: Low-paid workers risk lives, let's protect them
Doctors, nurses, paramedics, carers, cleaners, porters and ambulance drivers are at the sharp end of this pandemic. 8,000 Dutch healthcare workers have tested positive, with several in intensive care. Spain has 24,000 infected care-workers and Italy 16,950, with 150 dead.
Undocumented workers are Covid-19 'elephant in room'
There is a pan-European systemic issue: from Spain and Italy to France, Belgium, or Poland, harvests are under threat and Europeans are entirely dependent on the hard labour and sweat of foreign-born workers. The elephant in the room? Regularisation.
Stakeholders' Highlights
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