European Union

Bayer has purchased the US seed producer Monsanto for 59 billion euros, becoming the world's biggest agrochemical business. Should this trigger panic among farmers and consumers or prompt a well-reflected debate on genetic engineering?

Public prosecutors in the city of Naples in Italy have launched an investigation into incitement to suicide after a 31-year-old woman hanged herself. Videos with sexual content in which the woman could be clearly identified had been circulating on the Internet for years, and she had been insulted and mocked on social media because of this. Italy's press is appalled and appeals to Internet users to act responsibly and show compassion.

The Foreign Affairs Committee in the British House of Commons has accused former British Prime Minister David Cameron of making grave mistakes in planning the UK's intervention in the Libya war in 2011, saying Britain's military strategy was based on false assumptions. This is another case that highlights Cameron's shortsightedness, some commentators conclude. Others praise Britain's renewed commitment to investigating questionable interventions.

Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish PKK, has called on the Turkish government and his supporters to resume peace talks. This was the first time he had been allowed to receive visitors since the Turkish peace process with the Kurds was broken off last year. Turkish commentators doubt that his call for peace will be heeded by the conflicting parties.

Hungary has violated the EU's basic values and should be expelled from the Union, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn demanded on Tuesday. The country has attacked the independence of the press and the judiciary and is "not far from issuing orders to open fire on refugees", the minister stated. Commentators are divided on the issue of Hungary's refugee policy.

General : The 14th Dalai Lama visited the European Parliament on Thursday 15 September to meet President Martin Schulz and discuss with members of the foreign affairs committee. Upon his fifth visit to the Parliament, the Dalai Lama expressed his admiration for the spirit of the European Union because it worked for the common interest of the people. “I think this spirit of the European Union eventually should spread in Africa and further in the world,“ he added.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The 14th Dalai Lama visited the European Parliament on Thursday 15 September to meet President Martin Schulz and discuss with members of the foreign affairs committee. Upon his fifth visit to the Parliament, the Dalai Lama expressed his admiration for the spirit of the European Union because it worked for the common interest of the people. “I think this spirit of the European Union eventually should spread in Africa and further in the world,“ he added.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP