European Union

The European Commission on Wednesday (18 October) published its first call for industries to benefit from EU funds to ramp up their production capacities of ammunition and missiles.

An early draft summit communiqué, seen by Euractiv, considers the possibility of highly capable AI models escaping human control or being used to produce catastrophic harm - for instance, to produce bioweapons - among the most significant risks.

On 23 October 2023, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence will hold a hearing on "The situation in Syria 12 years after the revolution: Standstill, Dynamics, EU response, and Future Prospects?". It will provide a reflection on the political, social and economic consequences of the ongoing conflict, which has shaped the country's development in the twelve years since the Revolution.
Members will discuss with experts the geopolitics of the region under the changed circumstances, in which international and regional actors including Iran, Russia, Türkiye and the United States, but also local groups, are operating. The hearing will contribute to the upcoming Recommendation on the situation in Syria that the Foreign Affairs Committee is preparing and which will provide recommendations for concrete political and diplomatic fine-tuning of the EU's Syria policy.
This hearing will take place during the European Parliament Gender Equality week and will be an opportunity to highlight the impact of conflict on women and the importance of women's contribution to conflict resolution and sustainable peace, in line with the UN resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Questions are mounting on how a Tunisian ordered to leave Belgium after having his asylum request rejected was able to stay, before killing two Swedes in the streets of Brussels on Monday night.

The European Parliament has agreed its position on next year's budget, adding €6.3bn to tackle the challenges ahead. This will further complicate the trilogues with member states who have proposed cuts to the EU Commission's draft.

The leaders of Belgium and Sweden and the European Union's chief executive promised on Wednesday (18 October) to tighten border security and step up repatriations after a failed asylum seeker from Tunisia shot dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels.

Members of the AFET Committee will meet on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 October in Antall 2Q2, Brussels

Debates:

• Global Gateway: Strategic governance and implementation
• Debrief on the AFET Ad-hoc delegation to Belfast and London, the United Kingdom
• Debrief from the 12th EU-China Strategic Dialogue
• Deepening EU integration in view of future enlargement (jointly with AFCO)
• Exchange of views with José Manuel Albares, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain

Draft reports:

• Role of preventive diplomacy in tackling frozen conflicts around the world...
• EU-Russia political relations
• EU-India relations

Votes:

• Implementation report on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (jointly with INTA)
• Strengthening the right to participate
• Strategic Compass and EU space-based defence capabilities
• Measures to detect, prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats

Hearing: The situation in Syria 12 years after the revolution

Meetings are webstreamed with the exception of items held "in camera".
AFET-SEDE-DROI meetings 2023
Meeting documents
Webstreaming
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Comments by a Spanish cabinet minister this week have sparked tensions between Israel and Madrid, prompting a harsh exchange and complicating the two countries' diplomatic relationship.

Greek, German and British media reporting on a migrant shipwreck thought to have killed hundreds in the Mediterranean has won an EU award named for a murdered Maltese journalist, officials said.

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

When war goes online, disinformation spreads like wildfire and hate like an infectious disease. As a reporter covering war and conflict, recently, nearly on a daily basis, one is used to a deluge of images and videos depicting horrific scenes...

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

With a proposal for a negotiating text for a pandemic treaty finally on the table, the work towards a global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response is slowly progressing.

Latest polling data from France on Tuesday (17 October) puts the nationalist Rassemblement National (RN), with MEP candidate Jordan Bardella in the lead, while President Emmanuel Macron's centrist and pro-European Renaissance party, lags behind as the European elections draw closer.

The European Union "cannot accept" Israel stopping water supplies to Gaza's population, which "clearly" violates international law, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday (18 October).

A deal on reforming the EU's power market, reached by the 27 EU member states on Tuesday (17 October), paves the way for Paris to ditch a much-decried scheme forcing state utility EDF to sell its nuclear energy production to competitors at below market price.

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Beijing is clandestinely seeking to make Western politics more China-friendly by working on enlisting seasoned politicians, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has said, with a prominent case involving a senior far-right lawmaker in the European Parliament.

To this day, not a single Iranian official has been held accountable for ordering, planning and committing widespread and systematic human rights violations against women and girls through the implementation of compulsory veiling.

US President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday (18 October) pledging solidarity in its war against Hamas and backing its account that a blast that killed huge numbers of Palestinians at a Gaza hospital had been caused by militants.