European Parliament Committee Leaders

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Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash The European parliament has voted on the leadership of two of its most important committees. MEPs decided on who will steer the two committees –  Internal Market and Consumer Protection and committee on Budgets – for the next few years. The two committees are among the most influential in the assembly and…

Cochinillo and Twente Given PGI Status

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Photo by Kiran kichu on Unsplash Two new items have been given “protected” status by the EU. This comes after the EU Commission approved the addition of Cochinillo de Segovia and Twente to the protected list of Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).  The first comes from Spain while Twente wine is from the Netherlands. Cochinillo de Segovia is meat…

Redesigning the EU’s Relations with Africa

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Photo by Alex Radelich on Unsplash Africa’s needs are bottomless, but they should also be seen as lungs that could breathe new life into flagging European economies. Sadly, this far from original proposition has yet to reverse Europe’s retreat from Africa, writes Giles Merritt. EU policymakers would probably deny this and point to their new strategy for strengthening…

Europe’s Declining Influence in Africa

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Photo by Thomas Bennie on Unsplash Europe is retreating from Africa in what seems likely to be the greatest shift of all in the 21st century’s new era of tectonic geo-political change, writes Giles Merritt. It is five hundred years since Henry the Navigator’s explorers set up Portuguese trading posts that eventually led to European colonialism. Africa was…

The Failure of Brexit

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Photo by Jannes Van den wouwer on Unsplash Most Britons now believe Brexit was a failure, according to a senior former Labour government minister. This comes after a recent survey says 63 percent of those planning to vote Labour in the UK general election on July 4 support Britain re-joining the EU. Another survey says most also want the…

Grids for Speed Report

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Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash Europe’s distribution grids need to be urgently modernised to enable massive electrification of transport, heating and industry, integrate renewables and withstand more frequent extreme weather and cyber threats.  That is according to a major new report, published on Wednesday, by the body representing the industry. Eurelectric’s “Grids for Speed” study shows that…

The Middle Corridor Initiative – Where Europe and Asia Meet

The European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) announces the organisation of the Conference “The Middle Corridor Initiative – Where Europe and Asia Meet”, which will be held on Monday, 27 May 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM at the European Institute for Asian Studies, rue de la Loi 26, 10th floor, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium. The Discussion will be followed…

The Future has Two Wheels

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Photo by Dmitrii Vaccinium on Unsplash The EU says it is “committed” to boosting cycling across Europe. It says it is taking “another important step” in reducing transport emissions by adopting  European Declaration on Cycling. This was done in the margins of the Informal Transport European Council and the Connecting Europe Days. Speaking at the event, Adina Valean, the…

Support for Trans-regional Corridors

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Photo by Rhys Moult on Unsplash In a speech at an event entitled ‘The Future via Carpathia-Caucasian Road Corridor,’ held on March 19th in the European Parliament in Brussels, Ryszard Czarnecki, a Member of the European Parliament, emphasised the critical importance of prioritising trans-regional trade corridors for the economic development and security of the European Union (EU) and…

Economic Governance Reform

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Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash EU Institutions have reached a final agreement on the reform of the Economic Governance Framework.  On Saturday, the EU Commission said it welcomed the deal between the European Parliament and the Council on what it calls “the most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU’s economic governance framework since the aftermath of…