Following the expulsion of British diplomats in Minsk for allegedly observing street demonstrations against President Lukashenko, the Foreign Office in London yesterday expelled two Belarusian diplomats from the United Kingdom in direct retaliation for an action they condemned as unjustified. The UK Foreign Office said in a statement: “The UK government reiterates that the only…
Commissioner Didier Reynders was, on Friday, meeting the 11 online platforms participating in the dialogue on tackling online consumer scams related to the coronavirus pandemic, together with consumer protection authorities. The purpose is to encourage platform operators to reinforce their preparedness to address new scams that could appear during the second wave of the pandemic and to prevent…
Women in the European Union still earn less than men. The gender pay gap in the EU-27 has slightly improved since last year: from 14.5% to 14.1% according to the latest Eurostat findings. The European Equal Pay Day marks the day when women symbolically stop getting paid compared to their male colleagues for the same…
EU countries that disrespect the rule of law will risk losing access to EU funds, under a provisional deal struck by Parliament and Council negotiators. “Today’s agreement is a milestone for protecting EU values. For the first time, we have established a mechanism that enables the EU to stop funding governments that disrespect our values…
The Council (member states) have added 15 members of the Belarusian authorities, including Alexandr Lukashenko as well as his son and National Security Adviser Viktor Lukashenko to its sanctions list. This is the list of individuals sanctioned in relation to the violent repression and intimidation of peaceful demonstrators, opposition members and journalists after the 2020 presidential election in Belarus….
The Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), attended online today by 53 delegates from journalists’ unions and associations from 38 European countries, expressed its full support for Belarusian journalists in the face of repression. In Belarus, during and after the 9 August presidential elections, the media, journalists and bloggers were the target of increased…
The European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) has presented its long-awaited report on the role of the German financial supervisor BaFin and the German Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) in the Wirecard accounting scandal. In Germany, BaFin and FREP are jointly responsible for the enforcement of financial reporting. ESMA publishes guidelines aimed at harmonising enforcement throughout…
A statement has been issued by the European Parliament on the consequences of the ruling issued by Ukraine’s Constitutional Court with regard to several provisions on the prevention of corruption and of the Ukrainian criminal code. It reads:“With great concern, we have learned about the 27 October ruling of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court, which declared…
An increase in the number of female firefighters has been welcomed by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), but more progress needs to be made in this area. The latest figures published by the Home Office – covering the period from April 1st 2019 to 31st March 2020 – focusses on a range of workforce areas across…
The European Publishers Council (EPC) has welcomed the Italian Competition Authority’s investigation against Google for an alleged abuse of dominant position. The Authority questions the discriminatory use of the huge amount of data collected through its various applications, preventing rivals from competing effectively as well as adversely affecting consumers. In particular, the authority is focusing…
