European Union

Sweden's ruling Social Democrats want to grant all parents of children aged four to sixteen five extra days of paid holiday per year. Parents are to use these days to take care of their children during school holidays, the idea being that the measure would mainly benefit workers who can't afford private daycare. How much sense does the plan make?

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has accused Pope Francis in a letter of having covered up allegations of abuse against the former archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick to protect the "gay lobby" in the Vatican. Just before Viganò made his accusations the Pope had harshly condemned the cases of abuse within the Catholic Church. Criticism of the Pope and the Church should not go too far, commentators warn.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Thursday (30 August) "there is no consensus on practical solutions" to migration at the moment and urged member states to show more responsibility towards migrants in the Mediterranean.

The German company Uniper will withdraw from the Nord Stream 2 project if Washington imposes sanctions on the Russian gas concern. EURACTIV Poland’s media partner “Gazeta Wyborcza” reports.

Italy is planning to hijack an EU meeting on the Western Balkans to talk about migrant boats instead.

Women voters were long thought to be relatively immune to policies advocated by right-wing extremist parties. That has changed, however, according a new study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of right-wing populist voters in Germany, France, Greece, Poland, Sweden and Hungary. The proportion of women voters for most of these parties is still lower than that of men, but the gap is narrowing, the study found.

With little more than a week left to general elections, Swedish Security Service, Sapo, warned of increased online activities aimed at influencing the vote and related to news published in international media describing Sweden as a chaotic country. "We see increased activities compared with previous elections in 2014 and also compared to how it was earlier this year," Sapo's deputy department head, Linda Escar, told Swedish radio.

Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and US president Trump's private lawyer, got paid by former FBI director Louis Freeh's global consulting group for sending a letter to Romania's president Klaus Iohannis and prime minister Viorica Dancila. Revealed last week by Mediafax, the letter criticised Romania's national anti-corruption directorate for using unfair tactics against suspects, intimidating lawyers and jailing "many innocent people".

The former first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, resigned from the Scottish National Party (SNP) on Wednesday after Scottish government staff made sexually harassment allegations against him. Salmond, a driving force behind the 2014 push for Scotland's independence, denied the allegations. He is seeking to crowdfund money to pay legal fees as he sues the Scottish government over its handling of the sexual misconduct complaints.

The British pound rose against the euro and the dollar on Wednesday after chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier indicated that progress had been made in Brexit negotiations. "We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country," he told reporters in Berlin after meeting German foreign minister Heiko Maas. The EU would not allow anything that weakened its single market, however.

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for victims of online hate speech.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

Threats, abuse and intimidation posted on social media can go viral within seconds and wreak havoc on the victim’s life. Victims of online hate speech cannot remove the posts as easily as they spread. They depend on online platforms to help them. Over half of the citizens in the European Union (EU) follow debates on social media. According to a 2016 Eurobarometer survey, 75 % of people who follow or participate in online debates had witnessed or experienced abuse, threat or hate speech. Almost half of them said that this discouraged them from engaging in online discussions.

© #104086734 | Focus Pocus LTD/ Fotolia

Hate speech, both offline and online is a criminal offence under EU law. Responding to the growing problem, the European Commission set up dialogues with online platforms and is funding projects to counter online hate speech. In May 2016, the Commission and four major platforms (Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube) announced a Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online. Since then, more companies have joined, and they are increasingly meeting the goals of the Code of Conduct, including removing illegal hate speech within 24 hours. As a follow-up, in March 2018, the Commission recommended a set of operational measures to increase these efforts, before deciding whether to propose legislative measures. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: ‘Online platforms are becoming people’s main gateway to information, so they have a responsibility to provide a secure environment for their users.’

Further information

• Code of Conduct — Illegal online hate speech Questions and answers, 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=41844
• Tackling Illegal Content Online, European Commission Communication, 2017, https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2017/EN/COM-2017-555-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF
• A Europe that protects: Commission reinforces EU response to illegal content online, 2018, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-1169_en.htm

A European Union online survey has concluded that a vast majority of the bloc's citizens are against switching between summer and winter time. All signs point towards the EU now putting a stop to changing the clocks.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal Wednesday (29 August), at the start of a West African tour, with Berlin hoping that development of the continent will help stem migration and boost the fight against jihadism.

Australia’s new prime minister will not walk away from the Paris climate agreement, although his new policies now make it unlikely the country will meet its emissions reduction goal. Ongoing trade talks with the EU could also hinge on how climate policy continues to develop.

The 32% renewable energy objective for 2030 agreed at the EU level in June was a good result, says Jeppe Kofod, but it’s still insufficient to live up to the Paris accord, he told EURACTIV in an interview, setting out the agenda for clean energy battles in the years ahead.

Up to now, French President Emmanuel Macron has been trying hard to claim the mantle of ‘climate leadership’. Now his environment minister has resigned, he has to put words into action, writes Jennifer Morgan.