European Union

French President Emmanuel Macron revealed his substitute pick for France's vacant European Commissioner slot on Thursday (24 October), naming former economy minister Thierry Breton. EURACTIV's partner Ouest-France reports.

Spanish dictator Francisco Franco was exhumed on Thursday morning from the Valley of the Fallen following a ruling of the supreme court in September. Franco was buried for more than 40 years in a state-run mausoleum that also contains about 34,000 victims of the Spanish civil war. In 2018, the European Parliament asked Spain "to remove all symbols and monuments that glorify the civil war and Franco's dictatorship".

The Élysée has nominated Thierry Breton, the 64-year old CEO of French tech firm Atos, to be single market commissioner. "He's man of action who knows industrial issues inside out and who ... will not have a bureaucratic approach to European issues," a French official told Reuters Thursday. France's first choice, Sylvie Goulard, was rejected on financial impropriety grounds, with Breton's corporate post posing fresh questions on conflict of interest.

The European Parliament will award its Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought in 2019 to Ilham Tohti, economics professor and advocate of the rights of China's Uyghur muslim minority, parliament president David Sassoli announced Thursday. Tohti has been serving a life sentence in China since 2014. Since 2017, over 1m Uyghurs have been detained in prison camps and forced to renounce their identity.

Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur economist fighting for the rights of China’s Uyghur minority, is the winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2019.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur economist fighting for the rights of China’s Uyghur minority, is the winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2019.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

British overseas territories - the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Jersey, and the Bahamas - took five out of the top 10 spots in a ranking out Thursday of which states helped global firms pay the least tax by London-based NGO the Tax Justice Network. EU states The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, the UK itself, Belgium, Cyprus, and Hungary also placed in the top 20 world "tax haven" jurisdictions.

Uyghur economist and human rights activist Ilham Tohti has been awarded this year’s European Parliament Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

Uyghur economist and human rights activist Ilham Tohti has been awarded this year’s European Parliament Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

39 corpses have been found in a lorry northeast of London. The police believe the victims were migrants brought from Bulgaria - presumably via Holyhead in Wales. This route is apparently being increasingly used by human smugglers due to tightened security at other ports. Europe's press discusses the role of EU migration policy in the tragedy.

Carmaker VW has put its plans to open a new plant in Turkey on ice, citing the Turkish offensive in northern Syria. Although the company is still not officially looking for a new location, several countries are positioning themselves as candidates. While media outlets in Romania and Bulgaria openly court VW's favour, those in Croatia are more restrained.

The remains of the former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, have been transferred to a different site under strict security measures in a move ordered by the Socialist government. They were exhumed from a major monument near Madrid and reburied in a normal cemetery. A triumph over history?