European Union

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont returned to Spain from southern France, and before some 3.500 separatist supporters gathered in Barcelona on Thursday lamented the “repression” of which he said he had been a victim since 2017, while escaping the the police force set up to capture him.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Director General announced that he is convening an emergency committee to advise on whether the new outbreak of Monkeypox (Mpox) constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Big Tech industry groups say six weeks in the middle of summer are not enough time for them to offer views on a Code of Practice for general-purpose AI.

Prosecutors in the US criminal tax case against Hunter Biden accused him of accepting payments from a Romanian businessman who sought to "influence US government agencies" in connection with a criminal probe in Romania.

Taylor Swift's three concerts in Vienna this week were cancelled after the government confirmed a planned attack at the stadium, the organiser announced late on Wednesday (7 August), and Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer said "a tragedy was prevented".

Russia said on Wednesday (7 August) it was fighting intense battles against Ukrainian forces that had penetrated its southern border near a major natural gas transmission hub, in one of the largest incursions into Russian territory since the war began.

Last month was the second hottest July for the planet on record, breaking a 13-month period when each month was warmest, which had been in part fuelled by the warming El Nino weather pattern, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Thursday.

Thousands of police and anti-racism protesters gathered on streets across Britain on Wednesday (7 August) to challenge expected far-right groups that failed to materialise following more than a week of violent racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants.

The European Union, France and the UK on Wednesday (7 August) condemned a far-right Israeli minister for suggesting it would be "justified and moral" to starve two million Gazans to free scores of captives held in the Palestinian territory.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that COVID-19 is surging worldwide and is unlikely to decline in the immediate future. Dr Van Kerkhove warns that in Europe, percent of test positivity is above 20 per cent.

The constitutive meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) took place in Brussels on 23 July 2024 following the appointment of members in the plenary sitting of 16-19 July 2024. At the constitutive meeting, Marie-Agnes STRACK-ZIMMERMANN (Renew, Germany) was elected as SEDE Chair. Four Vice-Chairs were also elected for a two-and-a-half year mandate.

The next meeting of the SEDE Subcommittee is scheduled to take place place on Wednesday, 4 September 2024 from 14.30 to 18.30hrs in room SPINELLI 1E2 (Brussels).

_______________________

SEDE missions 2023:

• India - 17-21 December 2023
• Israel and OPT - 8-10 December 2023
  
• Germany and Poland - 24-26 July 2023
  
• Armenia - 19-22 June 2023
  
• Romania and Moldova - 15-18 May 2023
  
• Djibouti and Somalia - 1-4 April 2023
  
• Bosnia and Herzegovina - 20-23 February 2023
  

Draft SEDE meetings' calendar 2nd half of 2024 - 10th legislature
AFET-DROI-SEDE calendar of meetings - 2nd half of 2024
SEDE meetings' calendar 2024
EP calendar 2024
Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

European Union and South American negotiators will meet on 4-6 September in Brasilia in the first in-person talks since April, raising hopes an EU-Mercosur trade deal can be concluded this year, diplomats said.

Lisbon's Administrative Court ruled on Wednesday (7 August) that Lisbon City Hall will have to pay one million euros for revealing data on anti-Putin demonstrators in a case from 2021.

German opposition parties and parts of the government coalition are calling for more border checks to tackle irregular migration, questioning the consensus on Schengen that has long been taken for granted in the country that borders most EU member states.

A Danish court on Wednesday handed a Polish man a four-month prison sentence and ordered him deported for punching the country's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in June.

The French capital’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo is now using the 33rd Olympiad’s success in order to restore her image, before 2026’s municipal elections.

DRAFT OPINION on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Hilde Vautmans

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The European Parliament is in recess over the summer from 29 July to 1 September 2024.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The European Parliament marks European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day and honours the Sinti and Roma murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The European Parliament marks European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day and honours the Sinti and Roma murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP