European Union

President Sassoli opened the first plenary session after the summer recess in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

President Sassoli opened the first plenary session after the summer recess in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The “countdown for the de-occupation” is running, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the first Crimea Platform summit last month, where 46 summit participants, including 14 national leaders, stressed the possibilities for Ukraine to regain full control of the peninsula.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need to regulate the trade in live wild animals, who could carry viruses. In Europe, the lack of regulation on this subject represents a major health risk.

With France set to take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU (FPEU) in January 2022, the list of issues the government wants to tackle for the occasion seems never-ending.

The most important EU debate of the year, looking at last year’s achievements as well as plans and vision for the future, takes place on 15 September.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

A new report from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has accused Ireland’s data protection watchdog of pulling the breaks on the enforcement of the EU's data protection regulation (GDPR) in Europe and called on the European Commission to intervene, warning that the GDPR was "silently falling".

Monday, 13 September

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Monday, 13 September

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Lawmakers in the European Parliament’s agriculture and environmental committees have staked their preliminary position on the EU's green farming ambitions, voting in favour of a draft report which includes a number of controversial amendments.

20 years have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. They were followed by the War on Terror and the US's invasion of Afghanistan. But the date marks a turning point not just in geopolitics. Commentators focus on the political, social and economic consequences of 9/11.

Chancellor Merkel made her last state visit to Poland on Saturday. In talks with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki she appealed for intensified dialogue in the judicial dispute with Brussels and tried to allay concerns about the now completed Nordstream 2 gas pipeline. Commentators say the chancellor has been too lax with the PiS government so far, but some detect a change of stance now.

After years of negotiations, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenka have adopted the 28 'Union Programmes' in Moscow, which are intended to promote the harmonisation of their two countries' economic and financial policies. Commentators see this as the first step towards the creation of a joint state and point out that Europe has also played a role in promoting this process.