Early parliamentary elections took place in North Macedonia on 15 July, in the challenging context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a public statement Josep Borrell the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy has commended North Macedonia’s citizens for exercising their right to vote. The EEAS reported that according to the preliminary findings and…
By Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy With its economic strength, leadership skills and commitment to the European project, Germany is in the position to accelerate the much-needed shift in EU-China relations. Will Berlin want to act? On July 1 Germany took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union. The aim, as German Foreign Minister…
Russians voted by a landslide to pass constitutional changes that will allow Vladimir Putin to run for president twice more, according to preliminary results released last night. Around 78 percent voted yes to the amendments, versus 21 percent against, with turnout about 65 percent. There were reports of widespread irregularities including inconsistent tallies of results,…
Three ministers have put forward their candidacy to become president of the Eurogroup: Nadia Calviño, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain – Bio – Motivation letter; Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform of Ireland – Bio – Motivation letter; Pierre Gramegna, Minister for Finance of Luxembourg – Bio – Motivation letter. The…
We publish here in full the text of a petition from the Patriots of Ukraine Worldwide addressed to the Heads of State and Governments of the EU Member States. For the seventh year in a row, Ukraine and Ukrainians have been fighting at the forefront of international efforts to repel Russian armed aggression and the…
The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have published what they call a “recovery plan for democracy.” As the world has worked to slow the spread of the pandemic through restrictive social measures, the S&D Group believes that we need to look closely at how these actions have impacted on people’s rights, including the…
We republish here in full, with the authors’ permission, the text of an article that first appeared in the blog of the Institute for Global Threats and Democracy Studies (IGTDS) Riots in the US were triggered by the murder of the African-American George Floyd by Minneapolis police after being arrested. CNN has released a story…
We welcome the announcement by the UK government that EU citizens from Poland will continue to enjoy the same democratic rights in Britain as they did prior to Britain leaving the European Union. (Poland, UK sign bi-lateral voting rights treaty, Polandin.com This decision is long overdue and follows similar announcements in relation to the rights of Spanish,…
Today more than one million voters in Britain have petitioned the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to sack his Chief Advisor Dominic Cummings for breaking the UK’s lockdown to leave London and stay at his second home in rural County Durham in the North of England to celebrate a family birthday. The Prime Minister has been…
As a young District Officer in 1984 I watched together with dignitaries from the New Territories of Hong Kong the UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sign the Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong together with TENG Xiaoping, the architect of the “One Country Two Systems” mantra. This international treaty paved the way for…
