Czech Recovery and Resilience Plan

The European Commission has adopted a positive assessment of Czechia’s recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €7 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Czechia’s recovery and resilience plan. It…

Brussels ‘institution’ pays homage to the country’s icons

Chez Leon

Think of Tintin, the Smurfs, the Atomium and Adolphe Sax and you think of Belgian icons. Each of these well known Belgian legends now come together in an unlikely setting – a restaurant in Brussels. The restaurant, Chez Leon, is something of a Belgian institution itself, having existed for well over a century. During the…

Understanding and Protecting Our Planet

Ariane 4

On July 17, 1991, Ariane 4 launched not just a satellite but a whole new perspective on how we can understand and protect our planet. At the time of its launch on Ariane Flight 44, ERS-1, the first European Remote Sensing satellite, was the most sophisticated Earth observation spacecraft developed and deployed in Europe. It…

Islamic Scarves Can be Banned in Europe, but there are Limitations

Islamic headscarf

The top European Union court – The European Court of Justice (ECJ) – has made it clear that employers can restrict the wearing of ‘religious symbols’, such as Islamic headscarves, but only in limited circumstances.  The ECJ found that such policies must be applied in a general and undifferentiated way and that they must present…

European Pillar of Social Rights

According to the EESC, the Commission’s Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights is both timely and necessary to thwart the threat of inequalities deepening across Europe in the aftermath of the pandemic. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has welcomed the European Commission’s Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR)…

EU Needs New Strategy to Deal with China

China's Human Rights Violations

The EU should continue talking to China about global challenges like climate change and health crises, while raising its concerns over systemic human rights violations. In a report adopted on Thursday, by 58 votes in favour, 8 against with 4 abstentions, the foreign affairs committee outlines six pillars on which the EU should build a…

Brexit Divorce Bill Sparks Acrimony

Jenny Chapman

Baroness Jenny Chapman, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Task Force Europe, commenting on the news that Britain and EU are £3bn apart on the Brexit divorce bill estimate, said: “Whatever we think of the sums involved, the difference between the EU’s and the UK’s assessment raises questions for Lord Frost. He was supposed to agree a formula…

ECR Group Calls for Action to Support Cuba

Cuban protests

The ECR Group’s Co-Chairmen, Prof Ryszard Legutko and Raffaele Fitto, have condemned the unacceptable repression of the ongoing protests in Cuba and called on the EU to take action. In a joint statement, the two conservative MEPs told this site, “What has been happening for some days now in Cuba is both serious and worrying. The regime led…

Cuba Libre! Declaration of the Centre for a Free Cuba on the Protests Inside Cuba

Free Cuba

July 12, 2021 The Cuban people have suffered 62 years of totalitarian communist dictatorship. During all this time, the island’s regime has wanted to blame the United States for the misery Cubans experience. However, the one that has blocked the possibility of farmers from selling the food they produce to the people is the regime….

ArianeGroup Blazes the Trail for European Space Policy

Ariane 6

All of the headlines in the tabloids are being grabbed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, and his test flight last weekend. But in the meanwhile without any media hype the ArianeGroup is quietly and systematically laying the foundation stones for the next steps in the development of a robust policy for Europe in space powered…