European Union

The planned medical countermeasures strategy will also likely be discussed in the European Parliament on Tuesday.

President Metsola opened the 31 March - 3 April plenary session in Strasbourg with the following announcements.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Attacks on France's judicial independence have already begun – and they started long before today’s ruling.

In January, the country also became the first in the EU to ban disposable vapes, citing environmental and health concerns.

Swedish EU Affairs Minister Jessica Rosencrantz, like other EU ministers, said she would like to see fisheries linked to an EU-UK security pact.  

The timing of the French roadmap is no coincidence, as the European Commission announced its intention to present an EU Water Resilience Strategy in the second quarter of 2025.

In Japan, 40 million people in a country of 120 million have to be using a platform in order for it to be designated a dominant player.

Alfonso Rueda, president of the government of Galicia, said he would fight to prevent the liberalisation of tuna imports as part of the free trade agreement.

To speed up the transition, the companies are hoping for an extra push from Brussels.

The country currently lacks more than 200,000 skilled workers in STEM fields for the renewable sector – a shortage likely to get worse in the future.

Monday, 31 March

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

After preliminary findings in Germany, France went a step further in finding that Apple broke the law.

"Now is the moment  to step up our actions to better protect and promote democracy in the EU and to reinforce public trust," Commissioner Micheal McGrath said of the European Democracy Shield proposal.

She was sentenced to four years‘ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, and two years’ imprisonment to be served at her home with an electronic tag. She was also fined €100,000.

Cobalt is essential for the European Union and its citizens. It has been designated both as a critical and strategic raw material, and when it is used it is typically essential. From defence to electronics, batteries (for example in electric vehicles) to semiconductors, we need cobalt to keep secure, green, and modern societies functioning.

The European Commission should be allowed to further cut the filling goal “in case of persistent unfavourable market conditions,” a new draft compromise shows.

European Parliament’s spokespersons will hold a last-minute briefing on the 31 March - 03 April plenary session today at 16.30.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In today’s edition of The Capitals, read about the far-right candidate brewing trouble in Poland’s presidential race, Meloni trying to save Albania migration centres again, and so much more.

The new decree will now allow the transfer of migrants with a return decision already in Italy to the Albania centres.

Europe is bleeding strategic raw materials. In 2023 alone, over 1.2 million tonnes of aluminium scrap left the EU—critical resources we urgently need for our green transition and industrial resilience.