Mayor breaks language divide in mixed Romanian city
The Romanian city of Sfântu Gheoghe plans to bridge the language gap between Hungarian and Romanian speakers by pioneering a programme to incentivise learning each other's languages.
News in Brief
- 'No embargo' on meetings with Putin, EU says
- Austria to fine unvaccinated people €3,600
- MEP: Airlines should start paying for CO2 sooner
- Twitter forced to disclose what it does to tackle hate speech
- EU watchdog calls for ban on political microtargeting
- MEPs adopt position on Digital Service Act
- Blinken delivers stark warning to Russia in Berlin
- Hungary's Orbán to discuss nuclear project with Putin
Too few central and eastern Europeans at top of EU
European Democracy Consulting study said continued low numbers, or "even just a feeling of lasting under-representation", will lead to frustration and impact EU governance.
EU adds new 'dark red' zone to travel-restrictions map
The European Commission has proposed additional measures to limit non-essential travel within and to the European Union - amid fears over more transmissible mutations triggering a new surge in cases across the bloc.
EU wants large firms to report on gender pay-gap or face fines
In the EU, women earn 14.1 percent less than men across the bloc - even though they have had the right to equal pay since 1957. The gender pension gap is at 30 percent.
Opinion
Orbán leaves EPP group - the beginning of a long endgame
Aside from the EPP, Hungary was also protected - at a member states' level - by key bilateral partners; and not only illiberal countries like Poland, Bulgaria or recently Slovenia - but most importantly also by Germany.
Analysis
Relief in EPP group, as Orbán's party finally leaves
The debate over Fidesz had become an unbearable political burden on EPP - but it also represented a core dilemma for many centre-right, mainstream parties struggling to deal with their populist challengers.
Poland and Hungary challenge rule-of-law tool at EU court
MEPs pledged that the parliament will request an expedited procedure at the European Court of Justice, to speed up deliberations, and urged the EU Commission not to wait for the ruling and take action.
MEPs to declare EU an LGBTI 'freedom zone'
The symbolic move is an attempt to buttress against right-wing governments' increased scapegoating of LGBTI people, particularly in Poland and Hungary.
EU fears death of free media in eastern Europe
Efforts to shut down government-critical media go beyond Hungary and Poland, but current EU law means there is little the European Commission can do about it.
EU-UK vaccine 'nationalism' spat intensifies
Britain has rejected claims from the European Council president Charles Michel, who accused the UK of imposing a ban on vaccine exports. Meanwhile, one-third of vaccines produced in the EU last month were exported to the UK.
Germany 'main target' of Russian disinformation
"The Kremlin is creating a mental image of a Germany, where a few sane voices are heard among a chorus of irrational 'Russophobia'," the report said.
Letter
Poland on brink of having no independent media
The time for euphemisms is over. The attack on media freedom in Poland clears the way for an all-out assault on fundamental EU values. You need to protect them, writes the editor of Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza.
Catalan MEPs lose immunity, slam 'political persecution'
Catalan separatist MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí lost their parliamentary immunity - a result they have hailed as a "political victory" for bringing the conflict between Catalonia and Spain closer to the heart of Europe.
Von der Leyen on vaccines: 'We're tired of being the scapegoat'
The commission president also backed Italy's recent decision to block a shipment of AstraZeneca's vaccine to Australia, for the first time using a new EU rule on exports.
EU Commission 'surprised' by Belgian travel ban extension
The European Commission has expressed surprise over the Belgian government's decision to extend the ban on non-essential travel, stressing that "all options" are on the table to ensure free movement across the bloc.
EU to control vaccine exports in row over delays
The European Commission wants to control exports of coronavirus vaccines to outside the bloc, after pharmaceutical firms said EU countries will receive fewer jabs than they ordered due to alleged production problems.
Analysis
Eastern Europe wakes up with Trump hangover
Trump's legacy in the region is mostly linked to the bilateral accords normalising economic relations between Kosovo and Serbia. During the signing of the Washington Agreement, Trump allegedly pressured the Serbian president to move Serbia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
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Latest News
- Lawyers threaten action over new EU gas and nuclear rules
- MEPs urge inclusion of abortion rights in EU charter
- EU orders Poland to pay €70m in fines
- Dutch mayors protest strict lockdown measures
- Macron promises strong EU borders
- MEPs to crackdown on digital 'Wild West'
- Macron calls for new security order and talks with Russia
- Macron's vision will hit EU Council veto buffers
Giuseppe Conte: scapegoat or Italy's most cunning politician?
According to a poll published on Monday, 56 percent of Italians want, in one way or another, Giuseppe Conte as their prime minister.
Worries on Europe's infection surge, after six-week drop
The World Health Organization warned of a surge in new coronavirus infections across Europe, pointing out healthcare systems should not be under pressure in some countries. Meanwhile, the European Medical Agency is reviewing Russia's Sputnik vaccine.
EU needs to 'raise price' for attacking democracy, MEPs say
The special committee on foreign interference was created in June with the aim of assessing the foreign threat to European democracy - and identify possible tools to fight it.
EPP group moves forward to suspend Orban's Fidesz
MEPs are scheduled to vote on Wednesday to change the rules of procedure of the centre-right European People's Party parliamentary group to allow the suspension of a member party.
'Difficult weeks' ahead, as variants spread across EU
EU leaders have discussed how to accelerate the rollout of vaccines, amid fears over more transmissible mutations triggering a new surge in cases.
EUobserved
The trap of spreading ideas while attacking them
Ideas that are attacked are actually being promulgated. That has been the case for centuries, at least as far back as Thomas Aquinas. And that is certainly the case today with Facebook and Twitter.
EU leaders face Covid-mutations dilemma at summit
At their summit, EU leaders will also discuss through a videoconference Covid-19 certificates, travel restrictions, and how to speed up the vaccine roll-out.
Covid-19 certificates back on EU leaders' agenda
EU countries whose economies are dependent on tourism push for the introduction of passports that would allow holiday and business travellers to move between countries.
Brussels: Six EU states travel restrictions went 'too far'
The European Commission has written to Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, urging them to obey travel restrictions recommendations of the European Council.
Northern Ireland unionists attack EU-exit treaty
Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland and England have threatened legal action against the Brexit deal due to trade disruptions.
Rich countries 'stockpile one billion vaccines', report says
Just 10 countries have administered 75 percent of all Covid vaccines so far - while some 130 poor countries have not yet received a single dose
Opinion
Two lessons worth learning from the Catalan elections
The stubborn fact is that, election after election - and it's already three consecutive absolute majorities - anti-independence forces cannot convince the majority of Catalans that our democratic rights and a better future can be attained within the Spanish kingdom.
EU legal threat to Hungary over failure to obey ECJ
Hungary has two months to respond, after which the commission can again turn to the EU's top court and ask for Budapest to be fined.
EU condemns Slovenian PM's harassment of journalist
Slovenia's populist prime minister Janez Janša attempted to discredit a Brussels reporter after she published a critical article about the state of media freedoms in the country. The European Commission condemned the PM's language - but refrained from naming him.
Opinion
The Visegrád dream deteriorates
Czech president Václav Havel hoped that the region, with its 40-year experience of communism, could play a major and audacious role in the future of a never-changing Europe. That isn't happening.
Analysis
Visegrád 'trouble-makers' celebrate 30 years together
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki welcomed in the Wawel Castle his Hungarian, Czech, and Slovak counterparts Viktor Orban, Andrej Babis, and Igor Matovic, and European Council president Charles Michel, for the 30th birthday of the Visegrád Four group.
