MEPs of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament have decided to take on Dutch MEP Dorien Rookmaker as a new Member. She is representing the ‘More Direct Democracy’ party (Meer Directe Democratie). “The EU should be an organisation of individual member states that work together to protect peace and prosperity. Mutual understanding and…
Politics
Sudanese General in power to be hit with US sanctions?
The United States had been speeding up the long and complicated process of rolling back sanctions on Sudan – including its label as a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism – after Bashir was ousted in 2019. However, the seizure of power by the chairman of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has changed everything. His…
Medical Treatment Needed for Saakashvili
The EPP Group has called on the Georgian authorities to provide Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili an adequate medical treatment in an appropriately equipped hospital. “We remain seriously worried about Mr Saakashvili’s health and security conditions as well as his rights as a prisoner, including in terms of privacy and dignity and as a person standing a…
MEPs Ask Poland to Lift Ban on Abortions for Women at Risk
A year after the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling, MEPs are calling on the government to lift the ban on abortion that puts women’s lives at risk. Last September, a 30-year-old Polish woman died of septic shock because her doctors did not perform a life-saving abortion, waiting instead for the foetus to die because of the…
Albania Ready for IGC to start Accession Negotiations
After three days of a fact-finding mission in Albania, the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur for the country, Isabel Santos MEP underlined that the country has fulfilled all the criteria and has done everything that it was requested to do, to start accession negotiations with the European Union. Santos called on the member states to finally…
EPP Boycotts EP Election Mission to Venezuela
The EPP Group has decided to not participate in the electoral mission that the European Parliament will send to Venezuela to follow the municipal and regional elections on 21 November, “since they will inevitably be used to validate the Nicolás Maduro regime which continues to violate the human rights of the Venezuelan people.” It is…
MEPs Urge Tunisia to Resume National Dialogue
State institutions in Tunisia must return to functioning normally, MEPs say, urging the authorities to resume an inclusive national dialogue. In a resolution on the situation in Tunisia, MEPs express deep concern that powers are too greatly concentrated in the hands of the president and call for respect for the rule of law. They stress…
The Franco-German Axis After Merkel
German MEP Sven Giegold has given his take on last week’s farewell visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel to France’s President Emmanuel Macron. The MEP, speaker of the German Greens in the European Parliament, commented, “Under Merkel, there was both stagnation and progress in the Franco-German tandem. A ray of hope for Franco-German cooperation was the initiative for…
Nicaraguan Elections Denounced as Farce
The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have denounced the 7 November 2021 general Nicaraguan elections as a farce, which will only further cement authoritarianism under Daniel Ortega. S&D MEPs reiterated their call on the Ortega regime to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners; to end the repression and breaches of human rights;…
Romania’s woes: Energy Prices Soar as Covid-19 Infections Rise.
Romania is suffering a multitude of crises as energy prices soar, Covid-19 infection rates are rising to worrying levels, a potential new prime minister is struggling to form a government and the country’s justice system has faced strong criticism in the UK’s High Court of Justice as the judge refused to allow Gabriel Popoviciu to…