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28th Mar 2023

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Opinion

Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity

The EU is at odds with itself. It wants to be a democracy but presents itself as an association of states. The reason for this contradictory state of affairs is that self-proclaimed illiberal member states continue to prevent the Union from committing ...

Agenda

Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK

While Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin might be popular internationally, she will have to face a tough fight at the end of the week to retain her job. Voters in Finland will head to the ballot on Sunday (2 April) with the top political parties neck-and- ...

Opinion

EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict

Last week, the European Commission unveiled the Critical Raw Materials Act to reduce its dependence on third countries for key raw materials deemed indispensable for the green and digital transitions. The proposed legislation seems to be a first step in ...

Editorial

Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all

As a seasoned sceptic of everything blasted into the ether by Silicon Valley hypemen, I found myself in a bit of a quandary this week. No doubt, you've seen hundreds of posts touting how this new generation of AI will change the world. Normally, my ...

Von der Leyen pledges to help return Ukrainian children

The European Commission and Poland are to hold an international conference to help find some 16,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. "We aim to put international pressure to make all possible efforts to establish the whereabouts of the children," EU ...

EU leaders agree 1m artillery shells for Ukraine

EU leaders have endorsed a plan to send Ukraine 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition in the next 12 months to help fight Russia's invasion. EU foreign and defence ministers already approved the plan earlier this week, while leaders gave their political ...

Polish abortion rights activist vows to appeal case

Polish abortion rights activist Justyna Wydrzyńska is angry. Last week, she was found guilty of helping an abused woman seeking to terminate a 12-week pregnancy after sending her abortion pills. "I'm so angry, I'm so angry because of this," she told a ...

How German business interests have shaped EU climate agenda

Germany has been at the forefront of the hydrogen hype, propelling what is essentially a niche industrial resource used to produce fertilisers, petrochemicals and methanol to the centre of European climate and industrial policies. In recent weeks German ...

Opinion

The EU-Turkey migration deal is dead on arrival at this summit

On Thursday (23 March) and Friday, the leaders of EU member states will get together in Brussels to discuss the future of EU migration policy. We already know what they will agree on: more border control (e.g. more guards, security infrastructure, ...

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. In what it called "serious abuse" of EU visa policy, the Swedish EU presidency warned that numbers of people ...

Spain denies any responsibility in Melilla migrant deaths

The Spanish government denies any responsibility over the deaths of some 23 people who attempted to cross from Morocco into its north African Melilla enclave last summer. Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told MEPs on Wednesday (22 March) ...

Opinion

How much can we trust Russian opinion polls on the war?

The lack of Russian opposition to the Russo-Ukrainian War is puzzling. The war is obviously going nowhere, Russian casualties are staggering, the economy is in trouble, and living standards are declining, and yet polls indicate that most Russians support ...

Banning PFAS 'forever chemicals' may take forever in Brussels

So-called 'forever chemicals' (PFAS) have increasingly made the headlines, as more people become aware of these almost-indestructible toxic chemicals, which are to be found in thousands of products, places, food and water across Europe. As nature cannot ...

EU Parliament joins court case against Hungary's anti-LGBTI law

The European Parliament's committee on legal affairs on Tuesday (21 March) voted in favour of the parliament joining the EU Commission's case against Hungary over its anti-LGBTI law. MEPs said the vote was carried by 18 votes in favour and two against, ...

Three French MEPs to stay on election-observation blacklist

Three far-right French MEPs are to stay on a European Parliament blacklist after losing a legal challenge. The French politicians — Hervé Juvin, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, and Thierry Mariani — have been banned from doing official election-observation missions ...

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

After months of drama and tension that reached a climax in the last week of February, Turkey's opposition has chosen Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), as their presidential candidate. He will run in the country's 14 May ...

Column

When geopolitics trump human rights, we are all losers

For a fleeting moment this month, global attention switched from guns to people and from geopolitics to human rights. Many were too busy fighting wars or speaking the "language of power" to pay attention. But for those who did find the time, the United ...

EU starts talks on 11th round of Russia sanctions

Ukraine will need even more ammunition in future and the EU should already start drawing up its 11th round of Russia sanctions, hawkish EU countries have said. "In order to go on the offensive, Ukraine needs more than one million shells a year. This is a ...

EU fears Tunisia turmoil will spark migrant boat departures

The potential economic collapse of Tunisia has startled EU decision-makers amid fears that more migrants may leave on boats towards Europe. "If Tunisia collapses economically or socially then we will be in a situation where new flows of migrants will come ...

'Symbolic' Putin indictment gets some EU backing

Several EU foreign ministers on Monday (20 March) welcomed the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abduction of ...

'Final warning' to act on climate change, warns IPCC

The United Nations published a report on Monday (20 March) synthesising years of climate, biodiversity, and nature research to paint a picture of the effects of global warming on the natural world, concluding there is "no time for inaction and delays." The ...

'No one is unemployable': the French social experiment

More than 13 million people are unemployed in the EU, 5.3 million of them for more than a year. Underlying these figures is often the misconception that these workers lack education or training, or that it is too costly to invest public money in lifting ...

Opinion

Why can't we stop marches glorifying Nazism on EU streets?

The threat of far-right extremism has been an increasing concern over the last years — from the ground gained by conspiracy myths like the "Great Replacement" and QAnon, to the storming of parliaments on both sides of the Atlantic, to the rise to power of ...

'Forever chemicals' industry hit by perfect storm

Institutional investors controlling assets worth $8 trillion [€7.57 trillion] called in November 2022 called for a phase-out of dangerous 'forever chemicals'. A tsunami of court cases in the US, coupled with EU plans to restrict toxic PFAS "forever ...

Agenda

EU summit zooms in on global roles This WEEK

EU leaders are set to meet on Thursday and Friday (23-24 March) in Brussels for their regular March summit. Competitiveness is expected be on the top of their agenda after the EU Commission rolled out last week a series of proposals to boost the bloc's ...

EU launches 'Hydrogen Bank' — but what is it?

On Thursday (17 March) the EU launched the Hydrogen Bank. It is a new platform to connect users with producers and generate private sector interest in the fledgling green and low-carbon hydrogen technologies. Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water ...

MEPs probing spyware 'stonewalled' by EU states

MEPs probing spyware are set to visit Spain next week amid brewing resentment with member states and the European Commission. "I sincerely hope that we can count on full cooperation with the Spanish authorities, unlike what we received in our previous ...

Opinion

Why the EU double standards on mental help for asylum seekers?

"When I try to sleep, war memories come to my mind and my body starts shaking," a 62-year-old man told Human Rights Watch researchers eight years after surviving a suicide bombing in Kabul in 2011. "Everything gets dark and I lose consciousness." His ...

Interview

'Bravery has no gender', Ukrainian Nobel winner says

Russian soldiers' misogynistic violence in Ukraine shows there's a "civilisational clash" going on in Europe, Nobel-winning Ukrainian activist Oleksandra Matviichuk has said. Ukraine's "Revolution of Dignity" nine years ago was about human rights, rule of ...

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