European Union

For years a trade agreement with Thailand has been hanging in the air, but has been held back by inhumane conditions in the fishing industry. Now, the EU wants to reopen the dialogue. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Eliminating hepatitis C should be tackled at EU level by establishing a clear political road map and mobilising public and private funding, Angelos Hatzakis told EURACTIV in an interview.

Poland's political masters have extended their control over the supreme court, while continuing to denigrate EU concerns.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said today (27 July) that a new European Commission is needed with a new approach to migration policy, adding that the days of the current EU executive are “numbered” with its mandate expiring next May.

French president Emmanuel Macron said he was "not in favour" of a "large trade agreement" between the EU and US, after European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and US president Donald Trump agreed to open talks. "We have some questions that we will want to clarify in the coming days with our European partners," he said on Thursday, insisting on reciprocity and the respect of EU sanitary and environmental standards.

The fires in Greece that have killed some 83 people around Athens were likely deliberately started, according to Greek citizen protection minister Nikos Toskas. Toskas said there were "serious indications" it was arson. Some 60 people are still in the hospital following the blaze, which broke out on Monday.

Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting earlier this week with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and the head of Russia's military general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has sparked a political row with opposition parties, given the lack of details on the talks. Gerasimov is barred from entering the EU, following 2014 sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine - but Berlin allowed him in anyway after issuing a waiver.

Augusto Santos Silva, Portugal's foreign minister, on Thursday said the UK should allow in EU "construction workers and waiters" after Brexit. The UK has said it wants to prioritise high-skilled migrants. "The brightest EU migrants are also the construction workers and the waiters," he said.

One of the biggest systemic risks across Europe, illustrated by Hungary and Poland, is the dominance of the executive power over the judiciary and informal channels of political dependency.

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 women in the military and in peace-keeping and peace-making.

Women have proved they can perform the same police, military and civilian roles to the same standards and under the same difficult conditions as their male counterparts. They are also key agents in mediation and peace-making.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

© Getmilitaryphotos / Fotolia

Currently, most EU countries have policies that either prohibit or restrict women’s participation in the military, especially with regard to combat roles and hostile environments. Only 11 EU countries allow women in front-line combat positions – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden. In 2015, women accounted for 10.8 % of military personnel in NATO armed forces.

The EU has made significant progress in recent decades on fostering equality between women and men and it has committed itself to increasing female labour market participation and equal economic independence through its endorsement of the strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019.

The EU has also signed landmark United Nations Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. The 2015 Global Study on the implementation of Resolution 1325 found that women’s involvement in peace processes increases the probability of a peace agreement lasting at least two years by 20 % and the probability of it lasting 15 years by 35 %. The aim is now to involve women in decision-making processes and in all fields of peacekeeping and increase by 40 % the percentage of women in the EU’s internal decision-making mechanisms and management positions in such missions by 2019.

Further information

• EPRS publication ‘Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Leadership and conflict resolution’, 2017, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2017)599302
• European Commission, ‘Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019’, https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/eu-policy/strategic-engagement-gender-equality-2016-2019_en
• United Nation peacekeeping website, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/women/
• Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/focus-areas/peace-and-security/conflict-resolution-and-peacebuilding
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

Thousands of people staged protests across Poland on Thursday (26 July) after President Andrzej Duda signed into law a measure effectively letting the government choose the next Supreme Court chief.

President Donald Trump declared victory for American farmers Thursday (26 July) after brokering a ceasefire in a trade dispute with the European Union, but it is unclear how soon it will bring relief to those hurt by tit-for-tat tariffs.

Agriculture still has to face up to the fact that farmers are ageing and young farmers are not interested. The cause rests in the limited access to land, migration from the countryside to urban areas and the negative media image imposed on agriculture. EURACTIV Czech Republic reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday (26 July) he viewed talks between US President Donald Trump and EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker as "useful", but he was "not in favour" of a "vast new trade deal" between the European Union and the United States.

Greece said on Thursday (26 July) it suspected arson was behind a devastating forest fire which killed at least 83 people and turned the small town of Mati east of Athens into a wasteland of death and destruction.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier rejected key elements of Britain's new trade proposals on Thursday (26 July) even as he and his new British counterpart Dominic Raab voiced a shared determination to reach a deal by October.

President Donald Trump's plan for "vast amounts" of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be sold to the European Union after trade talks with its top representative faces a reality test.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Tweets of the Week. This week, Macron’s presidency in question, Juncker looks in Trump's direction, and an iconic chocolate shape misses out on EU copyright protection.

The European Commission abandoned its customary climate hard talk on Wednesday (25 July) in a bid to defuse trade tensions with the US. EURACTIV's partner Climate Home News reports.