So it was today when the EU approved the withdrawal of Britain from the EU. The Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council – Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel – have signed the Withdrawal Agreement, paving the way for its ratification by the European Parliament. The Parliament will meet on 29…
Concern has been voiced over Spain’s human rights record, in particular “unfair” detention conditions and extensive pre-trial detention of suspects, during the Universal Periodic Review of Spain at the UN in Geneva on 22 January. The EU member state has been accused of “failing to abide” by international standards concerning fair trials. During the plenary…
Interview with Dr Vladimir Krulj, Economic Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs, London. The next six months will be essential for both the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans aspiring to join the EU, according to European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen. She was speaking in Zagreb at the start…
Romania’s prison conditions are of great concern to the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), as detailed by their report. The conditions discovered by the CPT team fall far below expected European standards for the treatment of prisoners and include attacks by masked intervention…
2020 will see 5G gather speed across Europe. For successful deployment, an inclusive and facts-based approach will be key, according to a debate held in Brussels on 16th January at Huawei’s Cybersecurity Centre in Brussels. The participants discussed how policymakers, operators and technology providers can get Europe on track towards speedy and inclusive 5G deployment….
A ‘phone call between the president of the European Council Charles Michel and president Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation took place yesterday on Thursday January 16, 2020. This was the first contact between Charles Michel, in his capacity as President of the European Council, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The timing was planned so…
Marcel Ciolacu, President of the European Social Democratic Party, has complained about changes to the Romanian electoral legislation. The letter was sent to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as well as to the President of the European Parliament,Davin Maria Sassoli; the President of the Venice Commission, GianniBuquicchio; to the Secretary General of the European Council,…
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are embarking on new cooperative projects for exploring unknown and potentially hazardous environments: harnessing drones for the monitoring of disaster-stricken regions or toxic spill sites and making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to navigate across the surface of asteroids or other terra incognita. These…
Parliament has debated the situation in Hungary and Poland as both countries continue to push the boundaries when it comes to undermining the rule of law, democracy, and fundamental rights. In the resolution that will be voted on this week, the S&D Group is sending a reminder that member states must respect the primacy of EU law…
The EPP Group plans to initiate a new anti-oligarch law to assure a fairer distribution of EU money, and criticises the double role of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš who negotiates the multiannual EU budget on behalf of his country and at the same time, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of EU funds in…
