Building Energy Efficiency Key for EU’s Future

Building Energy Efficiency

Building energy efficiency is key for Europe’s future and both public and private sectors could contribute to energy savings, EESC hearing concludes. The EU must step up its efforts to promote energy efficiency and achieve those energy savings that are instrumental in the fight against the energy crisis and climate change. This is the main…

Card for the Disabled Proposed by European Parliament

EU Card for the disabled

Mobility, education, housing and active inclusion in public life are key areas where disabled Europeans would benefit from reform, say MEPs. The EU should have a common definition for the disabled and introduce a European Disability Card to mutually recognise disability status across the EU, argue MEPs in a resolution approved with 579 votes in…

Arctic Regional Stability Under Threat

Arctic Security

The European Parliament has called for constructive international cooperation in the Arctic while issuing warnings over emerging threats to stability in the region.  In a new report on geopolitical and security challenges in the Arctic, adopted on Wednesday, MEPs say that Arctic states and the international community should preserve the Arctic as an area of…

Time for the EU to Embrace the Balkans

EU enlargement to Western Balkans

European Parliament president David Sassoli has written to Council President Charles Michel calling for “strong impetus” from the EU side just ahead of the EU – Western Balkans summit in Slovenia In a letter to Michel on the EU-Western Balkans summit that takes place in Slovenia on Wednesday, European Parliament President David Sassoli urges leaders…

Biodiversity: A Real Strategy

Biodiversity

The European Parliament has announced the votes on the Biodiversity and Agenda 2030 report, which was voted on Tuesday. Ahead of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Kunming, this report is key to addressing the external dimension of the EU biodiversity strategy and the role of…

The Use of AI in Criminal Law

Use of AI in criminal law

Members of the European Parliament have adopted a report on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Law.  The file includes a paragraph that speaks out in favour of a ban on any processing of biometric data, including facial images, for law enforcement purposes that would lead to mass surveillance in publicly accessible spaces.  With…

Energy Prices Keep Rising

Energy Prices rising

MEPs have been debating European solutions to the rise in energy prices for consumers and businesses in Strasbourg today, with the European Commission. Recent weeks have seen hefty increases in energy costs with consumers left struggling to afford the hikes in bills. EFA MEP Jordi Solé has called on the European Commission to act. He criticised those…

Giorgi Parisi Awarded Nobel Prize for Physics

Giorgio Parisi

Giorgio Parisi, grantee of the European Research Council (ERC), has been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.  The other half of this year’s award is shared by Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann. The three laureates received the prize “for ground-breaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.” For almost a decade, Professor Parisi…

EU Mining Interests Guilty of Permanent Damage to the Environment

EU Mining damaging Environment

European Green Deal plans will fail to stop runaway mining, creating further permanent damage to the environment and wreaking havoc on human rights. The EU must reduce extraction of natural resources by 65%, according to a new study released today by Friends of the Earth Europe and the European Environmental Bureau.  The report shows that…

Nobody is safe until everyone is safe

COVAX Africa

No one is safe until everyone is safe, according to the Socialist group in the European parliament.It says this was supposed to be the lesson the world drew from the Covid-19 pandemic, especially towards developing countries and low income countries, which have been unable to afford and access vaccines. Reality, unfortunately, looks different, says the group….