Photo by Saif71.com on Unsplash New laws to combat violence against women have now entered into force. Violence against women and domestic violence affect an estimated one in three of the 228 million women in the EU. However, a new EU wide law aims to offer much needed help and support to victims. It seeks to criminalised certain…
Photo by Manson Yim on Unsplash The EU’s outgoing foreign affairs chief says there has been a “continuous erosion of the rights and freedoms” of people in Hong Kong. Josep Borrell was reacting to the release of the EU’s 2023 annual report on Hong Kong. The former Spanish MEP said the report “illustrates in great detail the continuous…
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash The EU is stepping up its ongoing efforts to protect children from potentially harmful online porn sites. It is asking online platforms to spell out what measures they are taking about the dissemination of “illegal and harmful” content. The sites have until early next month to respond. Failure to do so could…
Photo by Antonio Janeski on Unsplash A leading think tank says the time has come to move from “divisive campaigns” to a coalition that “works for Europe.” The comments come in the wake of the shock EU elections which showed key gains for the centre-right and far right parties. Far from a major breakthrough, though, the Far Right,…
Photo by Farid Ershad on Unsplash The EU has agreed to pump in an extra €150 million in humanitarian aid for the crisis in Afghanistan./ It says the move is needed “in view of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.” On Monday, the EU said it had activated its emergency aid reserve to avoid a risk of famine…
The Spitzenkandidat (lead candidate) process has not fulfilled its promise of engaging the average voter. Still, it has helped ‘europeanise’ the European Parliament elections and is worth persisting with. Who should decide who becomes the President of the European Commission, the EU’s executive body? One option is the (democratically-elected) governments of the member-states. Another is the (democratically-elected) European…
Photo by Michel E on Unsplash The European Commission has given the green light to a second tranche of assistance of €25 million for the Palestinian Authority. It says this will contribute to the payment of salaries and pensions of Palestinian civil servants and disbursed €16 million for UNRWA to provide basic services such as health and education…
Photo by Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash Candidates competing for the EU commission presidency after the EU elections will go head to head in a live debate on Thursday. The Eurovision debate between the lead candidates for the Commission presidency will take place on from 3pm in Parliament’s plenary chamber in Brussels The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is…
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash The European Parliament has approved the creation of a new EU body to help strengthen integrity, transparency, and accountability in European decision-making. The agreement was reached between Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the…
Photo by Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will open its doors to the public for its traditional Open Day on Saturday 4 May from 10am to 6pm. Informing and enthusing people about the EESC and the upcoming European elections, the Committee will organise a number of activities at its headquarters (the Jacques Delors building in Rue Belliard 99-101 1040…
