In 2020 the Prime Minister of Sudan, Abdullah Hamdok, survived an assassination attempt that had targeted his convoy as he headed to work in Khartoum. Film footage posted online showed two damaged white vehicles used by Sudan’s top officials parked on a street. Another vehicle was badly damaged in the blast of the explosion, but…
Politics
Manfred Weber Re-Elected EPP Chairman
Manfred Weber MEP was re-elected on Wednesday with an overwhelming majority as Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament. The German member presides the biggest group in Parliament since 2014 and was today re-elected for the 3rd time. After the announcement of the election result, Weber thanked his fellow MEPs for the trust…
Fighting to Save the Rule of Law in Poland
Iratxe García Pérez, the leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, met with judges in Warsaw on Saturday who are fighting to save the rule of law in Poland, and with attorney Michal Wawrykiewicz, co-founder of the Free Courts Civic Initiative. After the meeting, García Pérez said,”What I heard today is extremely…
Pandora Papers
Political reaction has been swift to the disturbing new Pandora Papers revelations on Monday about the rich and famous. “The Pandora Papers show once more that the fight against tax havens and letter box companies is only making limited progress”, said Markus Ferber MEP, EPP Group Spokesman on Economic Affairs. The deputy was commenting on…
Rule of Law in Hungary
A delegation from the Civil Liberties Committee concluded on Friday a visit to Hungary in which they met with the Government, the opposition, journalists and NGOs. The aim was to assess the respect for press and academic freedom, judicial independence, the rights of minorities and the wider rule of law context on the ground. With…
Greens Shine in German Elections
In last month’s General Election, the German Greens achieved their best result in a general election so far and became a strong third with 14.8% (2017: 8.9%) of the vote and 118 MPs (2017: 67). 7 German Greens MEP Sven Giegold said, “We even came first in 16 constituencies all over Germany, which we managed…
Saakashvili Imprisoned After Return From Exile
The ECR Group says it is “deeply concerned” about the imprisonment of Mikheil Saakashvili, former pro-western President of Georgia and leader of the largest opposition party in the country, after his return from exile. Saakashvili was fully entitled to return to his homeland. Allegations against him made by the ruling party in Georgia are unfounded. The…
People Power-Why We Need More Migrants
European nations may well be on the threshold of a new migrant crisis that will dwarf even that of 2015–16. That’s one of several stark messages to emerge from an exhaustive new book on migration – “People Power – why we need more migrants” – by the highly respected commentator on EU affairs, Giles Merritt. The…
Investigating the European Court Of Justice’s Verdict: Ideology versus Character
Imagine a gambler who knows for fact that he is losing. He keeps on pulling out his unlucky cards, hoping to get lucky. The players around him know the kind of cards he is thinking of beforehand, writes Abdelkader Filali . This metaphor brings to mind how some so called “Democratic Countries” after realising the emergence…
MEPs call for Commission to Act on Migration
In a letter to Vice-President Margaritis Schinas who coordinates the Commission’s work on Migration and Asylum, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament, strongly criticised the European Commission’s inaction in the field of migration. Since the announcement of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, neither the situation at the EU’s external borders…