European Union

MEPs in Strasbourg debated triggering the Article 7 sanctions procedure against Hungary, for infringing EU rules and values - while prime minister Viktor Orban claimed the parliament was about to punish Hungarians for protecting Europe's borders from immigrants.

The European Parliament will vote on its controversial Copyright bill on Wednesday, September 12. The directive aims to ensure that producers of creative content are remunerated fairly online.

The year is 2030. Viktor Orbán is re-elected in Hungary for the sixth time. All of the leaders from the times when EU institutions were voting to ostracise him are gone. Many are forgotten.

After several months of different European leaders beating a path to the African continent, Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission has got in on the act. But for the moment, Brussels is not offering anything new on either trade or investment.

The European Parliament considers the experience of Northern Ireland as an example of the success of the EU's cohesion policy. As Brexit draws nearer, MEPs are demanding that the EU keep funding projects in the region to preserve the peace.

Seven leftwing MEPs from France and Belgium - Isabelle Thomas, Maria Arena, Georges Bach, Guillaume Balas, Jose Bove, Edouard Martin and Claude Rolin - have been barred for five days from all parliamentary activities by the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani. In July, they occupied a control room in support of EP interpreters, striking over working conditions. Parliamentary authorities said it was in violation of house rules.

Europe needs a new vision and new goals, and all true Europeans have to defend EU values in campaigning for next year's elections and forming a new governance system afterwards, said Udo Bullmann, the leader of the Social Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament.

Domestic services now represent eight million jobs in Europe. However, the legal vacuum surrounding these professions threatens “social Europe”, Élisabeth Morin-Chartier and  Marie-Béatrice Levaux told EURACTIV France.

Greek Prime minister Alexis Tsipras told progressive and pro-European parties on Tuesday (11 September) to join forces against “extreme” neoliberalism and far-right populism, whose discourse has become dominant within conservative forces.

Organised by the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus), the Government of Catalonia and the City of Barcelona, Efus’ international and interdisciplinary conference was dedicated to the coproduction of urban security policies.

Although the Social Democrats remain the strongest party after the elections, they had their poorest results since 1911. The conservative Moderate Party also lost votes, while the far-right Sweden Democrats saw their percentage increase by 4.7 points. Commentators seek the reasons for the established parties' losses and see the outcome as a taste of what will come in the European elections.

The EU Parliament will once again debate a reform aimed at bringing copyright into line with the Internet era on Wednesday. Under the reform, instead of the controversial upload filters licences would be introduced for certain content, which platforms like Google News would have to purchase before putting the content online. Not all commentators believe the current version of the reform is a step forwards.