Photo by Rafik Wahba on Unsplash The European Commission has proposed what is calls “an ambitious set of new actions” to support the competitiveness and readiness of European defence industry. It says that two years ago, Russia’s “unjustified, on-going war of aggression” against Ukraine marked the return of “high-intensity conflict on our continent.” The European Defence Industrial Strategy…
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash A new campaign has been launched “to ensure the safety and accessibility of abortion services across the continent.” It started on Tuesday with a petition with over 300,000 signatures – a “first step towards laying the groundwork.” Activists from across Europe, including Slovenia, Spain, France and Poland have formed an alliance to…
Photo by Keszthelyi Timi on Unsplash The ruling Fidesz party has announced that Tamás Sulyok, president of Hungary’s Constitutional Court, will be Fidesz-KDNP’s presidential candidate. Fidesz faction leader Máté Kocsis said, “He is the best person for the job, as he can best express the unity of the nation.” Kocsis said that Sulyok was proposed by Viktor Orbán. Orbán subsequently…
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash New rules are set to be introduced which would protect journalists and activists from abusive lawsuits against public participation. The long-awaited anti-SLAPP directive protects journalists and human rights defenders from strategic lawsuits against public participation that aim to silence them. The new rules contain a set of safeguards to protect victims, such…
Photo by Hans Martin on Unsplash The German city of Frankfurt has been chosen by Parliament and Council as the seat of AMLA, the EU’s new enforcer in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. MEPs and EU ambassadors chose Frankfurt to host the EU’s central enforcer in the fight against dirty money, the Authority for Anti-Money…
Photo by Cédric VT on Unsplash Over 7,000 people took part in a demonstration in Brussels on Sunday against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. The gathering, on the initiative of “Promote Ukraine,” an NGO, is part of an international campaign commemorating the second anniversary of the war. The demonstration was supported…
Photo by Marjan Blan on Unsplash The European Commission has announced an initial €83 million in humanitarian aid to support the people affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine for 2024. On Tuesday, it said that, of the funding, €75 million is allocated for humanitarian projects in Ukraine to provide emergency aid including access to basic needs such as shelter, protection services,…
Photo by Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash EU auditors say that rule-of-law breaches can now be addressed more effectively since the EU’s legal framework was bolstered in January 2021 by the Conditionality Regulation. In a new report they say that together with other protective mechanisms under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and cohesion policy, the framework provides for the…
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash For the first time ever, the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force (NAEW&CF) conducted command and control operations with an all-female aircrew composition. The flight was a regular mission sortie for the multinational crew in support of NATO’s enhanced Vigilance Activities (eVA). NATO says the flight highlights the work of women…
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash A respected think tank says that how the EU deals with China will have a “profound effect” on the sort of economic and geopolitical entity that the Union becomes in the mid-21st century. This is the view of the Centre for European Reform, an independent think-tank. In its annual report for 2023,…
