
Russian diplomats in EU: unpaid wages, low morale
Jaded Russian diplomats in dark suits are parroting old propaganda lines in EU capitals, according to a grim portrait of Russian diplomacy after one year of war.
Thursday
9th Feb 2023
Jaded Russian diplomats in dark suits are parroting old propaganda lines in EU capitals, according to a grim portrait of Russian diplomacy after one year of war.
While every European diplomat knows that a return to the "status quo" means maintaining the daily oppression, humiliation and anguish that comes with living under apartheid, the EU continues to acquiesce to a situation that gets worse by the day.
The scars of Brexit have left their mark in communities across Wales. The Menai mussel industry has experienced a sharp decline having once been a staple in fish counters and restaurants across Europe; its business model wrecked by post-Brexit rules.
The EU must realise the need for a trade agreement with Mercosur. The timing has never been better. The recent election of the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, marks a fresh start to move forward on the Mercosur Agreement.
Senior EU officials pledged more military aid and Russia sanctions on a unique trip to Kyiv on Thursday (2 February), as Russian president Vladimir Putin amped up talk of World War Three.
Industrial energy-intense sectors, outside Germany and France, will not move to the US. They will go bust, as they cannot compete in a fragmented single market. So to save industry in two member states, we will kill the rest?
A fourth MEP's undeclared Azerbaijan trip adds to pressure for EU Parliament reform.
Countries that were once democratising are now moving in the other direction — think of Turkey, Myanmar, Hungary or Tunisia. On the other hand, in autocracies mass mobilisation rarely succeeds in changing political institutions. Think of Belarus, Iran or Algeria.
The European Parliament special committee still wants to hear from EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, whose undisclosed text messages with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during the crisis have raised transparency concerns.
Political scientist David Rowe has been looking into why so much of Europe wasn't ready for Putin — and the consequences for the Western allies of not spilling their own blood in Ukraine.
Pressure is mounting for EU states to ease multiple-entry visas for human rights defenders from Belarus and Russia. But with EU states in charge of issuing visas, the possibilities for a coordinated EU approach appears limited.
Japan and the Netherlands are set to agree to join the United States in restricting exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.
Sanctions targeting Russia's fossil fuel earnings are now in place but as exports by European-controlled tankers persist, revenues still flow into the Kremlin purse.
Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky writes that it is self-evident that Vladimir Putin and his cronies must be held accountable for planning and ordering a war of aggression — whatever the legal hurdles.
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold", W.B. Yeats wrote. Yet now, a century later in Europe — from Italy, to Hungary, to Belgium and the Netherlands, even in the European Parliament — the centre is shrinking.
Europe's response to Elon Musk's Starlink broadband internet system — currently used by Ukraine in its war against Russia — is to deliver its first services sometime next year.
MEPs should pay for their own foreign trips to avoid suspicion of undue influence, a German deputy has said after rebelling over a recent visit to Azerbaijan.
Poland is urging other EU states with Leopard-class tanks to send them to Ukraine after Germany softened its position on re-export.
The 40 civilians buried in a Dnipro apartment block by a Russian missile won't be the last war victims, since diplomats have yet to find a concrete plan to hold president Vladimir Putin accountable for the crime of aggression.
Accusations of Russia appeasement have redoubled following Germany's decision to continue withholding tanks from Ukraine.
EU navies should stay parked beside Libya for years to come, military advisors say, renewing concern on "vile" conditions for refugees.
Olivier Vandecasteele, an experienced and respected Belgian humanitarian worker, is being arbitrarily detained in an unknown location in Iran, sentenced to a cumulative total of 40 years of prison and 74 lashes.
The EU Parliament has cast doubt on whether Hungary's commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, is fit to do his job following his antics in the Western Balkans.
A distinguished Australian scientist says he was duped into doing Azerbaijan propaganda, in a PR fiasco that sheds light on shady spin tactics in Brussels.
The Antwerp diamond industry has managed to evade sanctions for nine European sanctions packages. They remain convinced that voluntary measures will suffice to eventually reduce the trade in Russian blood diamonds to zero. That's incomprehensible.
EU countries should consider a new round of Russian diplomatic expulsions, Estonia has said after ejecting 21 more Russians.
The European Commission is hoping to mitigate regional and industry-specific labour shortages with the launch of a new mechanism to facilitate the arrival of workers from third countries.
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.
A European 'Foreign Agents Registration Act' would systematically expose the countless lobbyists and influence-peddlers on foreign powers' payrolls, giving Europeans an idea of which countries are lobbying most aggressively and toward what goals.
Pan-European media could show citizens of Europe that the EU is not just a bureaucracy machine that produces rules, but a society made up of people who might share some similarities with you — or not. But does it exist?
The EU will allow post-Covid recovery funds to be spent on "urgent" energy infrastructure developments —which could see dozens of liquefied natural gas projects awarded funding. Campaigners call it "disastrous", fearing projects will increase Europe's dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Serbia and Kosovo have stepped back from the brink of violence after ethnic Serbs began dismantling roadblocks in northern Kosovo.
Leaked EU papers are clickbait for Brussels media, but how do journalists get them and what are they good for?