European Union

The European Commission announced on Tuesday (5 April) that it will trigger a conditionality mechanism linking EU funds to the rule of law, just days after Hungary's general election saw Prime Minister Viktor Orban secure a fourth consecutive term.

EU ambassadors will discuss a new package of sanctions on Wednesday, including a ban on coal imports worth an estimated €4bn per year.

The European Commission proposed on Tuesday to update EU rules for the prevention and control of industrial pollution. New requirements will gradually apply to the largest cattle, pig, and poultry farms, which are responsible for high levels of ammonia and methane. Separately, Brussels presented two bills to reduce fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting potential emissions. This could reduce a similar amount to the total annual greenhouse gas emissions of France by 2050.

Parliament’s Bureau agreed yesterday to strengthen the institution’s support to journalists with a new scholarship scheme and training programmes for young journalists.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Parliament’s Bureau agreed yesterday to strengthen the institution’s support to journalists with a new scholarship scheme and training programmes for young journalists.

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

European commissioner for energy Kadri Simson is scheduled to attend events that include speakers from Gas Infrastructure Europe, a gas lobby organisation that represents former Kremlin-controlled oil and gas companies, amid the escalating climate crisis.

European commissioner for energy Kadri Simson is scheduled to attend events that include speakers from Gas Infrastructure Europe, a gas lobby organisation that represents former Kremlin-controlled oil and gas companies, amid the escalating climate crisis.

European commissioner for energy Kadri Simson is scheduled to attend events that include speakers from Gas Infrastructure Europe, a gas lobby organisation that represents former Kremlin-controlled oil and gas companies, amid the escalating climate crisis.

In the latest French presidential election polls, the gap between Emmanuel Macron and opponent Marine Le Pen is narrowing, despite optimism from the incumbent's camp at a recent campaign meeting.

Even as massacred civilians are found in the streets and ditches of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Germany still prefers short-term gains through the energy trade with Russia to protecting the rules based world order that made it rich....

Italy, Denmark, Latvia, Spain, and Sweden have joined France and Germany in booting out dozens of Russian diplomats amid disgust over Russian atrocities in Ukraine.

"Of course, communism like it was under Stalin is not going to come back. What will return, however, is national socialism. Not Hitler's, but Putin's." Otto von Habsburg, the son of the last Habsburg emperor, said this back in 2002.

The US would "welcome" Finland and Sweden into Nato if they sought to join, US ambassador to Nato Julianne Smith said Tuesday. Other Nato allies would "be generally enthusiastic", she said. "If they apply, I expect that 30 allies will welcome them," Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said. Finnish and Swedish foreign ministers will take part in a Nato meeting Wednesday amid renewed national debates on joining up.

The EU Commission will launch the so-called conditionality mechanism against Hungary which links EU funds to the respect of rule of law, commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday in the European Parliament. The commission has been under pressure to trigger the mechanism over concerns of fraud and corruption of EU funds and worries over democratic backsliding. The commission will now send a letter to the Hungarian authorities.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola announced on Tuesday she will impose a fine against Bulgarian MEP Angel Dzhambazki from the group of the European Conservatives and Reformists over the Nazi salute incident that took place in mid-February. Dzhambazki will lose his entitlement to the daily subsistence allowance for a period of six days, equivalent to some €2,000.

More than 100 Russian-speaking men were involved in a military operation in March in Moura, Mali, in which some 300 civilian men were executed, according to a Human Rights Watch report out Tuesday. The Russians were suspected mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner group, it added. The EU stopped training Malian soldiers in late March for fear they would fall under Wagner's command. Germany urged Mali to investigate the Moura killings.

Russian nationals in Germany faced 308 attacks, including 15 violent ones, since the end of February, German interior minister Nancy Fraser said in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper Tuesday. Ukrainian nationals faced 109 attacks, including 13 violent ones. Most involved property damage and verbal threats. "This is [Russian president Vladimir] Putin's criminal war. It is not the war of people with Russian roots who live here in Germany," Fraser said.

The chief recommendation in the IPCC report on climate breakdown is the most difficult to implement – reducing demand. Essentially, this means calling on people to travel less.

As most humanitarian corridors are closed, a European non-profit health organisation is giving online training to doctors in Ukraine to help them face the wave of casualties from the conflict.

Putin’s blunder in Ukraine was that he compressed steps that normally take one full year into a mere 24 hours, and it is not clear what prompted him to behave in such an unusual manner, writes Evgenii Dainov.