European Union

The French National Assembly is today examining a bill that would give terminally ill people the right to have their lives ended by a doctor. The prerequisite: the patient's physical or mental suffering must be assessed as unbearable. Until now, only palliative care with painkillers and sedatives - which in high doses have an almost narcotic effect - has been legal.

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday (7 April) it would provide $235 million in US aid to the Palestinians, restarting funding for the United Nations agency supporting refugees and restoring other assistance cut off by then-President Donald Trump.

Europe is strengthening its carbon pricing system for aviation. After having fought the policy under the Obama administration, President Joe Biden has a chance to show that the world has changed and that the US is now ready to support real climate action, argues Jakop Dalunde.

EU member countries have adopted different tactics on how to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite the Commission’s push for a coordinated approach.

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of International Romani Day on 8 April, MEP Romeo Franz (Greens/EFA) spoke with EURACTIV about the continued challenges that Romani communities across Europe face and the importance of legally binding legislation.

European energy ministers on Wednesday highlighted the need to create a stable regulatory framework for hydrogen in the European Union, capable of attracting private investors into a competitive and predictable market.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was deeply concerned by scenes of violence in Northern Ireland after crowds of youths in a pro-British area of Belfast set a hijacked bus on fire and attacked police with stones.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday (7 April) that Israel would not be bound to a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran if that would enable the Islamic republic to develop nuclear weapons.

Average life expectancy statistics for 2019 dropped in Spain by 1.6 percent and in Bulgaria by 1.5 percent due to the pandemic, according to European Commission data out Wednesday. Lithuania, Poland, and Romania also suffered falls of 1.4 percent each. Denmark and Finland were the only countries who saw a modest increase, of 0.1 percent each. But not all EU member states reported figures on time, blurring the overall picture.

Far from making life harder for business, public country-by-country reporting will actually improve relations with investors, and benefit both companies and consumers, writes Elena Gaita.

Myanmar's ambassador to the UK, Kyaw Zwar Minn, was locked out of his embassy in London by a deputy on Wednesday after having criticised the junta back home. "I have been locked out," he told Reuters. "It's a kind of coup, in the middle of London ... you can see that they occupy my building," he said. "This is my building," he added, amid a small street protest.

Developing countries stand to benefit from up to $10 billion in savings after the G20 group of wealthy nations announced on Wednesday (7 April) that it would extend its debt service suspension initiative (DSSI) which launched last May until the end of this year.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Wednesday that unusual blood clots with low platelet counts should be listed as a side effect of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca - falling short of limiting its use, Reuters reported. EMA insisted that the benefits of the shot outweigh its risks, adding that the risk of dying from Covid-19 was "much greater" than the risk of mortality from these rare side effects.

A multilingual digital platform will launch on 19 April, allowing European citizens "to provide their views on any topic that they consider important for the future of the EU," the political organisers of the Conference on the Future of Europe said Wednesday. The platform will allow citizens to "put forward their ideas, comment on other people's ideas, create and participate in events," the executive board of the conference said.

Germany's Bavaria region has reached an agreement to buy doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once it is approved by European regulators, the regional health ministry said Wednesday (7 April).

Beatings, forced sterilisation, police violence and fire bombings by right-wing extremists against Romani communities are still a reality in Europe. The corona pandemic only worsened this situation.