European Union

In an open letter to EU institutions, Reporters without Borders say they have observed around 400 cases of journalists being arrested for "covering massive, peaceful protests against president Alexander Lukashenko's fraudulent reelection." They add that at least 62 cases of physical violence against journalists have been registered since 9 August and 11 journalists are currently jailed. The letter urges the EU to increase sanctions on Belarus and support independent media.

While all governments are seeking to secure vaccines as fast as they can so they can open up their economies, so far only Hungary's Viktor Orban has chosen to break with the EU's vaccine strategy.

MEPs have condemned the near-total ban on the right to abortion in Poland, following the entry into force of the country's Constitutional Tribunal ruling - which makes 98 percent of all abortions carried out annually in the country illegal.

The World Health Organisation team that visited Wuhan to investigate the origins of the coronavirus has dismissed a theory that the virus leaked from a laboratory, while giving some credence to China's focus on the possibility of transmission via frozen food, The Guardian writes. Peter Ben Embarek, head of the team called this theory, spread by Donald Trump, "extremely unlikely" and not "a hypothesis we suggest implies further study."

Kazakhstan has been lobbying the European Parliament to scupper a vote on human rights, as it attempts to gain international standing. But most political groups will move ahead to pass a resolution naming victims of the regime.

If you want to measure how powerful Europe is, ask its neighbours.

Convening citizens' panels and conducting multi-level debates on various policy topics in the timespan of one year, and under social-distancing restrictions, will be either impossible, or will boil the Conference on the Future of Europe down to a mere window-dressing.

The Spanish government mulls implementing additional economic measures to ease the difficult situation of thousands of companies badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of which are SMEs, in particular in the hotel, restaurant, and catering (HORECA) sectors. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported.

New EU rules that will allow online messaging services to scan content for suspected abusive material should ensure that 'error rates are as low as possible' in identifying legal adult sexual content transmitted in online communications, an EU source close to the talks told EURACTIV.

The visit of Josep Borrell to Moscow should not have taken place, say many MEPs, who also criticise the Council for failing to respond to Russia’s aggressive policies.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The visit of Josep Borrell to Moscow should not have taken place, say many MEPs, who also criticise the Council for failing to respond to Russia’s aggressive policies.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

French authorities have launched a new platform to help parents protect their children from exposure to online pornography. EURACTIV France reports.

Klubrádió, the last independent radio broadcasting about public affairs issues in Hungary, will be forced to move online completely from next week after losing its court appeal against the national media council’s refusal to extend its licence on Tuesday (9 February).

France's 'climate and resilience' bill - due to be examined by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday (10 February) - has already come under fire, particularly after a report published on Monday denounced tactics used by the industry to torpedo proposals made by the Citizen's Climate Convention (CCC). EURACTIV France reports.

Facing calls of resignation, EU’s chief diplomat Joseph Borrell on Tuesday (9 February) announced ‘concrete proposals’ towards sanctioning Moscow, as MEPs accused him of ‘falling into a trap’ set by Russia’ foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. “It will be for the...

Accepting the Northern Ireland Protocol was the price that the UK's Conservative MPs had to pay for Brexit. Even so, they did so very reluctantly, at the fourth time of asking, and only after replacing Theresa May with Boris Johnson as prime minister.

On the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis, the EU is currently establishing a new ‘strategic partnership’ with Africa, of which agriculture is a key focus. The aims of the EU’s flagship environmental policy, the Green Deal, combined with the COVID-19...

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told MEPs Tuesday he would propose a list of Russian names to blacklist over the jailing of opposition figure Alexei Navalny. "I will put forward concrete proposals using the right of initiative that the high representative [for foreign affairs] has," Borrell said, referring to new EU human rights sanctions. He indicated it would be by the next EU foreign ministers' meeting on 22 February.

German economy minister Olaf Scholz offered to spend €1bn of German taxpayers' money to subsidise US liquid gas imports last year, if the then US president Donald Trump quashed Congressional sanctions against Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Scholz did it in a letter to Trump's treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, dated August last year, and published by German green NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe Tuesday, amid heightened EU-Russia tensions.

Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) want to be seen as the party of the future. That is the core message of the resolution following last weekend's party retreat. But the SPD's proverbial red thread - on social issues - is missing. EURACTIV Germany reports.