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19th Mar 2024

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Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access

"Israel is provoking famine," EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said in his opening speech at the European Humanitarian Forum in Brussels on Monday (18 March), as he stressed the urgency of Israel opening up more crossing points into the Gaza Strip. ...

Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe

Israel's mass killing in the Gaza Strip is being used by Hamas and others to recruit a next generation of militants and jihadists in the EU. The findings by the EU's police agency Europol come amid wider international outrage over Israel's military ...

EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says

EU foreign ministers are closing in on sanctions against a dozen Israeli settlers, amid Western efforts to also stop an Israeli-made famine in Gaza. "It seems today we will agree sanctions on both Hamas and on violent settlers, who are harassing civilians ...

EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo

The EU is nearing a deal on using profits from frozen Russian assets to buy ammunition for Ukraine, while preparing the next round of anti-Russia sanctions. "I hope today we'll have political unanimity ... to take windfall profits, not capital but revenues ...

Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism

Fourteen EU member states penned a letter on Sunday (17 March) urging the European Investment Bank (EIB) to boost its defence expenditure, as the bloc is scrambling to deliver the promised one million artillery shells to Ukraine. The deadline for this ...

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

One month on from the death of Alexei Navalny and we are still no closer to justice. Vladimir Putin's political opponent died in an Arctic Circle penal colony after 37 months of unlawful detention on trumped up charges. Following weeks of stalling and a ...

Agenda

EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK

This week, EU leaders come together in Brussels for their usual two-day summit on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss defence, enlargement, migration and foreign affairs. On Thursday, the EU heads of state and government will have lunch with ...

Opinion

The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Imagine scrolling through your favourite social media platform one early May morning. You read that Party A, which you had considered voting for but have since developed strong reservations, promises to do everything within its power to ensure business ...

Von der Leyen agrees €7.4bn aid programme for Egypt

The EU finalised an economic investment and migration pact with Egypt on Sunday (17 March) that will be worth €7.4bn to Cairo over the coming four years. The agreement, described by officials as a "comprehensive and strategic partnership," is the latest ...

Von der Leyen courts Greenland for raw materials

The EU opened its first Arctic Office in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, on Friday (15 March). "This office is more than bricks and mortar. This is the beginning of a new era of partnership," said EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who had ...

Africa awaits French bid to ban $1bn second-hand clothes trade

France's attempts to impose an EU-wide ban on the export of used clothes will be watched closely by dozens of African countries, that receive millions of tonnes of used clothes each year. On Thursday (14 March), the French national assembly approved a new ...

Opinion

Brussels Dispatches: The true power of the Council

Editor's note: After reading this first edition of the newsletter Brussels Dispatches, we decided to reach out to Wilf King and Pierre Minoves, respectively working for the European Parliament and Commission, who together started it. Their motivation, as ...

EU supply chain law 'slashed' by member states in last-ditch deal

Member states on Friday (15 March) agreed new rules to hold both EU and non-EU companies accountable for their impact on human rights and the environment — but the landmark legislation was severely watered down by delegations and will not come into force ...

Investigation

How AI proved Russia's 2018 presidential election was fixed

Many of the Russian programmers who investigated the legitimacy of president Vladimir Putin's previous election victory in 2018 have been forced to flee the country fearing prosecution, amid concerns over attempts to hold the country's electoral process to ...

Commission divisions open over asylum ahead of EU elections

Divisions over migration policy within the European Commission have opened ahead of the European elections. Earlier this week, Ylva Johansson, the EU commissioner for migration, poured cold water on ideas to mirror a troubled plan by the UK to outsource ...

EU says 'famine' in Gaza, as Israel vows Rafah invasion

Israel is moving ahead with plans to invade Rafah in southern Gaza despite US pressure, as the EU says "famine" has arrived in northern Gaza. "There are international pressures to prevent us from entering Rafah and completing the job. As prime minister of ...

Analysis

Scepticism surrounds Russian space nuke allegations

If there is one point of agreement between the US intelligence community and the space policy community, it's the seemingly low confidence in recent warnings about Russia readying a nuclear weapon for orbit. At the very least it would violate the UN's 1967 ...

MEPs confirm decision to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament has confirmed that it will sue the European Commission over the release of €10.2bn in frozen funds to Hungary, following a meeting of the assembly's leadership on Thursday (14 March) in Strasbourg. The final decision was made by the ...

Podcast

Podcast: Portugese elections, EPP's von der Leyen, Ukraine

Editor's note: In the spirit of diversifying and experimentation, we've partnered with the reporters behind the Euroscopic podcast, who will be bringing a weekly conversational analysis of the top EU stories, coupled with interviews with some of EUobserver ...

Opinion

World in crisis: 300 million people now in need of aid

Our world is increasingly at war — and the most vulnerable are paying the price. Last year, we witnessed the highest number of conflicts since the end of WWII. This worrying trend has soared in recent years, anchoring conflict as the main driver of ...

EU Parliament to agree fledgling ethics body

EU lawmakers are expected to agree on the creation of a new ethics body, despite major reservations about the weakness of its mandate. EUobserver understands that the draft agreement will go to the European Parliament's leaders, known as the Conference of ...

Interview

Ukrainian girl tells story of Russian child abductions

She was 16 when Russians put her on a bus shortly after 8AM one morning in the main square of her home town of Nova Kakhovka in south-east Ukraine in October 2022. They told her and her grandmother, with whom she lived, she'd be back in two weeks. But she ...

EU's grid problems worse than thought, report finds

Europe's power-grid problem is worse than previously thought, a new report by clean energy think-tank Ember suggests. While additions to solar and wind energy soared in the past few years, European grid investments have lagged behind, resulting in ...

MEPs blast EU commission over Tunisia migrant deal

MEPs are becoming increasingly frustrated with the European Commission for pumping €150m into Tunisia amid accusations the European Parliament is being sidelined and ignored. The frustration is not limited to the moral dilemma of the EU supporting an ...

Finnish PM: Russia preparing for 'long conflict with West'

Finland, with a border of over 1,300 kilometres with Russia, has cautioned about the potential danger of a Russian attack in the upcoming years — echoing earlier concerns from high-ranking politicians. "Russia is evidently preparing for a long conflict ...

Opinion

How the EU can raise its game in the Middle East

The European Union seems to have lost some of its direction in its relations with the rest of the world. Committed to international law and human rights, it has shown admirable solidarity in supporting Ukraine's resistance to Vladimir Putin's invasion but ...

Israel using hunger as weapon of war, Borrell tells UN

Israel was using starvation to wage war in Gaza, the EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has told the UN's highest body, in one of his strongest allegations since 7 October. "Starvation is being used [by Israel] as a war arm [sic] and when we condemn ...

EU ministers call for social investment, amid budget cuts

EU finance ministers met with social affairs ministers in Brussels to discuss novel ways to measure and track the impact of government investment in the workforce. Social investment, for lifelong learning, education, and government support for job ...

MEPs urge capitals to ratify violence at work convention

MEPs on Tuesday (12 March) called on member states to ratify the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) convention on violence and harassment — the first international treaty to recognise the right to be free from violence at work. With 517 votes in ...

Opinion

Ukraine's accession is affordable — but corruption is the worry

It is often assumed that, if Ukraine does become a European Union member, it would place enormous strain on the EU budget. This perception might be an obstacle to the country's accession, but such fears are exaggerated. The impact on the EU budget would be ...

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