EU member states have decided to extend the sanctions targeting persons and entities that continue to undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, for a further 6 months until 15 March 2021. The existing restrictive measures provide for both travel restrictions and the freezing of assets, and will continue to apply to…
Law and Justice
ECA Focus on EU Kenya Aid
The European Commission and External Action Service (EEAS) have not demonstrated that European Development Fund (EDF) aid to Kenya between 2014 and 2020 addressed the country’s development obstacles and focused on reducing poverty, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Projects funded under the previous 2008-2013 EDF delivered outcomes as…
The Poisoning of Alexei Navalny
The following is a statement issued by the North Atlantic Council on the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. “Allies condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition figure, with the use of a nerve agent from the banned Novichok group.Any use of chemical weapons, under any circumstances, is a clear…
Calls on Portugal to Take Action Against Racism
A joint statement has been issued by the European Network Against Racism, together with 80+ organisations across Europe and MEPs in solidarity with Portuguese anti-racist activists who have been targeted and threatened by the far-right (including hate speech, death threats and judicial harassment). It says, “We call for an urgent institutional response from Portuguese authorities to…
Call to address Human Rights in Egypt
The following statement has been issued by Maria Arena, Chair of Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), Isabel Santos, Chair of the delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries and Mounir Satouri, Foreign Affairs Committee’s (AFET) standing rapporteur on Egypt;. “We condemn in the strongest terms the sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment issued on Monday…
EU Consumer Policy
The European Commission has launched an EU wide open public consultation on the new European consumer policy for the next period, the so-called ‘the New Consumer Agenda’. The public consultation will provide valuable insight for the setting up the New Consumer Agenda that the European Commission intends to adopt by the end of 2020. Didier Reynders,…
ECA to Perform Audit of EU actions to tackle corruption in Ukraine
Ukraine is one of the largest and most prominent countries bordering the EU and, as such, one of the main beneficiaries of the EU neighbourhood policy. With prevailing corruption threatening the country’s economic growth and social development, the European Court of Auditors will assess the effectiveness of EU action to tackle grand corruption in Ukraine….
Alexei Navalny Rescue Effort
A plane has left Germany to pick up Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in a coma in hospital after a suspected poisoning attack, and transfer him from Siberia to Berlin for treatment, the Cinema for Peace Foundation said. The foundation’s activists had arranged for Pussy Riot member Pyotr Verzilov to be treated in Berlin after…
Protests Escalate in Belarus
Ahead of tomorrow’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting to be held by video link, demonstrations in protest against the violent actions of the authorities have mushroomed in Belarus. Schools, hospitals and state owned factories across the country have gone on strike. Street demonstrations have continued with women young and old wearing white and carrying flowers marching…
#prayforBelarus
The full horror of the atrocities committed on their own peaceful citizens by the Belarus authorities in collaboration with thugs recruited from third countries is just starting to emerge. Foreign thugs completely outnumbered the internal security forces of Belarus who beat and arrested some 3000 peaceful demonstrators in Minsk alone. A three day clamp down…










